Silent Calls

igdirect

I've been pestered up to 5 times a day by a "silent call" dialler which hangs up as soon as I answer the call. Using 1471, I found out that the ring-back number is always an 0870 non-geographical "let's earn a bit of money from those who ring us up to complain" type.

I then looked up the number on the internet and found out that hundreds if not thousands of people receive these calls every day.

See this webpage - there are a quite a few "silent call" 0870 numbers given there.

Luckily someone had already done the legwork and found out that the calls originate from a company called...

Excell Contact Centres
4 Symington Place
Irvine
Scotland
KA11 5DE
Phone: 01294 225 300
Fax: 01294 225 301
Email: info@excellcontactcentres.com

I called the company on their landline number - for free on my telephone service! - and asked why they called me as I had been a member of the Telephone Preference Service for 3 years. The operator apologised and said they would remove my number immediately. I also asked why they gave an 0870 number for ring-back instead of their landline number, she side-stepped the question and said that I would not be called again anyway and that I didn't necessarily have to ring back.

Now I suppose this is true. But supposing the 0870 number is all I have and I want the calls to stop...?

The TPS website does give advice about Silent Calls. Apparently you can register with the Silent Callgard Service. Guess what their number is...

0870 4443969. :mad:

So, if you receive one of these silent "hang-up" calls, you know who to call at regular phone rates, or even for free, to complain.

Regards,

Ian

thistle1314

Ian, thanks for this good information. I'm near enough on their door step so many the next time I get one of those silent calls I might just pay them a personal visit.

mexicanwaver

That's disgusting!

So do they offer any actual service at all? Or do they just make money from people phoning them back on 0870?

igdirect

If you do ring the 0870 number given when you use 1471, you get through to a recorded message which says...

"You have been contacted by Excell Contact Centre but you were not available when we called. We are working on behalf of a client who wishes us to speak to you regarding an offer or service they provide. We do not need to speak to you at this time as we will call you back at a future date. Thank you for calling."

The simple fact is that, of course, you WERE available or you wouldn't have picked up the phone only to have them hang up on you, right?

The truth is that they use an autodialler to ring hundreds of numbers. If a Call Centre operator is available, the autodialler will connect you to them and you'll actually get to speak to a real person who will tell you about double glazing, conservatories, kitchens, mobile phones, competitions you've won (not...), discounts you've been selected for or any one of many other "offers". You can always tell when this is happening because there's a long pause between you saying "Hello" and the operator replying.

However, if the autodialler can't connect you straight to an operator when you pick up the phone, it hangs up.

Annoying, isn't it!

Regards,

Ian

Sooler

I have recently had a few silent calls from 0870 011 04 15 which lead back to Excell Contact Centres.

I have recently had a few calls from CapitalOne, doing 1471 gave an 0870 number

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0870 011 04 15

magoogy

i get silent calls but when i dial to see who it is the number is withheld - i wonder if this is also them and they have started withholding their number now? why??

WSO

For the first two weeks or so in June we would get an average of 2 silent calls per 3 working day period. Sometimes we were in, sometimes not, but having caller display we had a fair idea it would be a silent call when it showed up as witheld. I wonder if this was the same company?

While the calls certainly weren't overly excessive (had about 10-15 in total) they were distressing and I registered with the TPS and the Silent Calls number found at the TPS.
Fortunately the calls seemed to have stopped now, but I did get a international call about 2 week ago (at least I got a recorded message when I answered, so I hung up - hope this isn't a regular thing)... I don't suppose the TPS has any juristiction over those using international numbers will they?

My number is ex-directory and until then (after 6 years) we had no problems with unwanted calls (the only companies we got calls from were ones we had dealings with and when giving my number out I always checked the "no offers thanks" option).

It annoys me to know there is at least one company who had (guessed?) my number and I don't even know who they are... I only hope that they don't have my name beside the number and sell it on elsewhere. Wish I knew how my number ended up on their list!

clayts

I think that some of these companies knowingly operate outside the TPS - they just programme the diallers to ring a whole block of numbers with scant disregard to the TPS.

99% of the time, you just get a dead phone. God forbid I should actually get to speak to an operator - they'll get it with both barrels from me....

Thanks for the info

(For some reason, I'm always reminded of Homer Simpson and his dodgy dialler scam)

Sooler

Sooler wrote:

0870 011 04 15

Barclay Card also call via this number - for marketing purposes - in breach of TPS

http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/what/
"It is a legal requirement that companies do not make such calls to numbers registered on the TPS."

Report contraventions to Information Commissioner's Office

http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/eventual.aspx?id=95

an0key

Lots of companies use a similar method, called power-dialing...

Basically where I used to work the collections department had this system, everytime an operator would go to the next outbound call, it would dial 3 numbers at a time, the first one to pick up would go to the operator, where as the other two would get hung up...

All these calls would come from a witheld number... very annoying when you just get to the phone and no-one's there and you haven't a foggiest who it was... GRRR :mad:

MrSmartprice

I have also been getting calls from this 0870 0110415, despite being registered with TPS. My call display stores them up, and it seems they ring evey afternoon.

I have also been getting calls from 0800 0191773. This is obviously a freephone number, but I don't know who it is. I am very tempted to try and pester their call centre by continually ringing it and wasting their time and money. Anyone had any dealings with this one?