"Local Energy Advisor" spam calls

mgfvvc

I've been on the TPS for decades and it's reduced spam calls no end, but obviously some people still ignore it. As well as the "bank security department" scams, which probably originate outside the country, one persistent annoyance is the "local energy advisor" calls. These have been going on for years and should have been shut down a long time ago.

Does anyone have any clue why Ofcom seem to be ignoring them and how we get the shut down?

subjecttocontract

I usually use their call to sell them something so I see it as an opportunity rather than a hinderence !

chrisw

The local energy advisors are usually an English sounding lady called Gabby or similar. However, I've noticed that although it sounds like you're speaking to a real person, it's actually a recording. If you give a silly answer, she says thanks for that, and continues with the spiel. When you get to the end, it says an installer will be in touch.

Twenty minutes later, the phone rings and a real trader says I understand you're interested in loft insulation. So the initial call is just a data gathering exercise and any leads are passed on to local traders. I guess they avoid TPS as they're not directly selling anything.

Grey_Critic

I have got fed up of reporting these calls as nobody takes any notice.

sausage_time

I just hang up.

subjecttocontract

Tell them to give you a call back and sell them something.

J_B

I had a call from TPS the other day … it was from a mobile number!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🤣

born_again

Guessing you are talking about a landline.

You are now into the area of unrecognised no, or withheld & you simply ignore it.

brewerdave

These "local energy advisor" calls were one of the main reasons that we abandoned our home phone number last May. The only issues are the local NHS, who seem incapable of removing the home number from their multitude of systems and a couple of banks !

Grumpy_chap

Well, we get the "local energy advisor" calls on the mobile so getting rid of the landline won't solve the problem.

I always as the "local energy advisor" how much embedded energy is in a tin of spiced pork and ham but they never have that information, nor do they get what I am really saying 😔

fwor

I think that getting rid of the landline does help, to an extent. There's no built-in spamming detection in the old fixed-line network, but there is in the mobile network on an Android-based phone (and I assume all other types) - the few that I get are often highlighted as spam before I even answer the call, and I always make sure to mark the call as spam after it's ended.

But unfortunately there's not much you can do in terms of call blocking as they seem to change their calling number very frequently. And, as already said, the calls use a computer-generated dialogue with very basic response recognition, so there's not a lot to be gained by wasting the caller's time.

I reckon I get maybe a tenth of the number of spam calls on my mobile, so for me it was definitely worth getting rid of the landline.