So what's the answer?

leftcurl

leftcurl

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Leigh
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Yes
ok... so i'm really at the end of my tether now with call centres ringing my home and offering me;

a new kitchen
soffits and gutters
helping with my accident claim (which i haven't had)
helping with my PPI claim (which i've not got)
bringing my Audi in for a brake check
completing a short survey
changing my bank

i could go on, but you get the drift and no doubt suffer the same. I checked on our home phone last night (after another call i didn't bother answering) and the phone stores the last 20 numbers that called... 14 of them were from bum numbers. The other 6 were from the wife's mother, my mum and a couple of the wife's friends. So what's the point in having a home phone? Do any organisations such as banks/building societies insist on having a landline contact number?

Thinking about it... you need a phone line for broadband (which makes broadband a con if i'm paying £10pm for that, there's the added cost of line rental to factor in).. just checked Virgin Media website and i'm not in a fibre optic area yet :bonk:

So what's the best way forward? How can I ditch my home phone when i need broadband? Please don't suggest registering with whoever it is that barrs cold callers etc from ringing me... why should i have to do that?
 
leftcurl said:
Please don't suggest registering with whoever it is that barrs cold callers etc from ringing me... why should i have to do that?
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To cut down the number of these calls.:shrug:

Won't stop them completely but does reduce them.
 
Register home number with TPS as that stops quite a lot. Then go here: www.truecall.co.uk and cough £99. This stops them even ringing the phone if they're not on an approved number list.
 
srichards said:
Register home number with TPS as that stops quite a lot. Then go here: www.truecall.co.uk and cough £99. This stops them even ringing the phone if they're not on an approved number list.
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so i have to set up my own approved number list? Too much faffing. I don't get why i should have to take steps to stop people ringing me. I was x-directory previously, but that's a waste of time too.
 
Unplug the phone then.

The nature of the phone is that anyone can ring you!
 
ACR was good actually. BT privacy might add it for free. Certainly adds Caller display for free and joins you onto the TPS.

There should be an easy way of reporting a previous phone number as a cold call so the phone company could start blocking them when enough people have reported the same number.
 
dont give out your number?

the only cold calls we get now (i register with TPS anyway) are where a previous person had our number and it went back into a pool when they cancelled their telelphone.
 
hmmm... seems like TPS/ACR is the only way forward. Just seems a bloody big con that you should have to fork out to stop people ringing you. Especially if you don't even need a home phone.

Does anyone have Virgin optic fibre? Is the OF available just for broadband alongside a normal phone line? I know i'm not in the area for OF but i'd switch as soon as its available if that's an option.
 
You do need a landline number for quite a lot of things these days, signing up for a credit card for instance. I just use my work phone number.
 
I have a landline at home, but j don't actually have a handset connected to it. The line is only there do that I can get broadband and so that I have a number to put on applications for anything.
If I need to make calls I use the mobile as I've got free minutes to use, and I only give my mobile number to people that I want to call me.
I have a payg sim number to give out to companies that I only check once in a while and that's the number that will get all the spam calls.
 
Signing up for TPS is free and takes all of about five minutes... It doesn't stop people ringing from abroad, but does stop the majority of legit UK businesses ringing - Telesales companies don't want to waste their time ringing people that genuinely don't have any interest in buying, so you'd do you both a favour, they won't ring you and waste both of your times, everyone's a winner :)
 
I registered for TPS ages ago and it does as it says on the tin 90% of the time.
However as mentioned previously a lot of sales calls come from abroad.
I've also got caller ID and don't pick up any number that I don't recognise,
on the grounds that anyone I know, or sorta know will leave a message.
 
i wonder if i can just get a new landline number? Then i could kind of wipe the slate clean :shrug:
 
leftcurl said:
i wonder if i can just get a new landline number? Then i could kind of wipe the slate clean :shrug:
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You probably could, but it seems a bit drastic though?
having to tell "everyone" that you have a new number.

It seems to me that if you do ignore them they get bored in the end anyway.
 
If someone rings using a number we don't recognise, we ignore it. It goes to answer phone, if it's someone calling with a genuine reason, they leave a message on the answer phone. Suprising the number of callers that listen to the whole message before hanging up though. :LOL:
 
We have been with TalkTalk for about 5yrs now Leigh. When we moved house about four years ago they gave us another number as they could not do a transfer at the time, problem was it belonged to someone who had died. We get loads of calls mostly from people the bloke dealt with such as the Bank, also other companies he must have given his details out to. I must admit I have fun with all of them when they call :D but funnily enough I called TalkTalk today to ask about another number and an ex-directory one if there is still such a thing nowadays. Only a case of giving the number to a certain few people, if we forget anyone most have our mobile numbers anyway.
 
When you get a cold call they usually start by saying "Hello is that Mr #####"
(Whatever your surname is)
Just reply "No sorry. We haven't got a phone"
It really makes them think, and they usually hang-up. Works for me.
 
I like the idea of saying I don't have a phone. I'll remember that. Don't get many cold calls though.
 
Cobra said:

You probably could, but it seems a bit drastic though?
having to tell "everyone" that you have a new number.

It seems to me that if you do ignore them they get bored in the end anyway.
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TBH i don't think any of my mates have got my home number... and i've not got theirs either. It's only family really and my wife's closest friends... so it'd be good to cut them lot adrift too :LOL:
 
Just use TPS - and nothing else. I can't remember when I last had an unwanted marketing call on any one of our three lines.
 
leftcurl said:
... It's only family really and my wife's closest friends... so it'd be good to cut them lot adrift too :LOL:
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Fair point well presented :D
 
TPS and an answering machine, the only cold calls I get these days are the iffy foreign ones and they always hang up when they hear the recording.
 
We've caller display and if it's a number a don't recognise, as others have said, don't answer it. They'll leave a mesage if they want you ...
 
I registered for TPS also and I always tick boxes for no telephone correspondence, I did this a long time ago and it never worked. I changed my number many times, but I know it's my bank my telephone and interenet provider who are giving out my telephone number. The reason being they ask for me by the name I signed up to these companies with, I do not use my every day or legal name with business providers.

I get calls from my own bank , broadband and telephone and also other providers. They will call me sometimes in the morning afternoon, but a few times in the evening, the last one last night.

On answering the phone in the past, I have tried to be nice, that did not work, I got angry that did not work, I was rude that did not work. Then I started saying hello Passport office, hello the samaritans , etc non of these worked either.

So now when I answer the phone I simply say, sorry this is a private line for family and friends only then put the phone down!
 
jonbeeza said:
I get calls from my own bank , broadband and telephone and also other providers. They will call me sometimes in the morning afternoon, but a few times in the evening, the last one last night.
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I think you will find when you signed up for these services, (Bank etc)
That there is an opt out clause somewhere, that prevents them calling you with updates.
Its usually on the last page of 300 in their T&C's, and you need to tick the box to opt out.
Of course by page 200 you are bored witless and don't read any further :D

Opt OUT Clauses annoy the hell outta me in all walks of life, you should be able to opt in, not out
(But thats another story.)
 
I thought under the Data protection legislation you had to be ticked to opt IN. I was working for a company in the 90s and they had to change all their forms so they were other way round as they had previously made people tick to opt out of information sharing.

I do wish it could just be banned altogether so companies could not share your personal information with anyone at all.
 
srichards said:
I thought under the Data protection legislation you had to be ticked to opt IN. I was working for a company in the 90s and they had to change all their forms so they were other way round as they had previously made people tick to opt out of information sharing.

I do wish it could just be banned altogether so companies could not share your personal information with anyone at all.
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I wish that was the case, ( in both instances)
I also thought that you had to opt in,
but going on 2 recent "transactions" it would seem that you still have to opt out :(
 
My sister in law had the same kitchen company call her time and time agian, one night she said to me, fancy a laugh tomorrow night, if you do come over to our house at 7.00 pm.

So I duly went over and at 7.30 the door bell rang and a rep from this kitchen company was invited in, he asked Alison what type of new kitchen she had in mind, she said what would you advise and took him into the kitchen. Why would you want to replace what you already have? it looks very new, it is she said, all less than a year old, now will you stop bothering us when I keep telling you we are happy with what we have!

Even he saw the funny side of it, and I was still laughing an hour later...
 
Cobra said:

I think you will find when you signed up for these services, (Bank etc)
That there is an opt out clause somewhere, that prevents them calling you with updates.
Its usually on the last page of 300 in their T&C's, and you need to tick the box to opt out.
Of course by page 200 you are bored witless and don't read any further :D

Opt OUT Clauses annoy the hell outta me in all walks of life, you should be able to opt in, not out
(But thats another story.)
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Cobra said:
I wish that was the case, ( in both instances)
I also thought that you had to opt in,
but going on 2 recent "transactions" it would seem that you still have to opt out :(
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True enough - but you do have to read these 'tick here if you' boxes.......quite often if you just tick no/yes to all options you are actually agreeing to stuff by the way it's worded.

Sneaky:bang:
 
What annoys me also, is when sales people ring me and I say I am in the middle of my tea. They have the cheek to say it will only take a few minutes, I am obviously having my tea as I am talking with my mouth full.
 
When they call and ask to speak to mr ****** or mrs ****** I just say hang on, I will get them for you, I then pass it on to my son or daughter depending who they asked for lol

A conversating regarding peppa pig or power rangers normally sets them on there way
 
Ruffy said:
When they call and ask to speak to mr ****** or mrs ****** I just say hang on, I will get them for you, I then pass it on to my son or daughter depending who they asked for lol

A conversating regarding peppa pig or power rangers normally sets them on there way
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Hahaha.

That's almost as good as putting them on hold !
 
Striker said:
My sister in law had the same kitchen company call her time and time agian, one night she said to me, fancy a laugh tomorrow night, if you do come over to our house at 7.00 pm.

So I duly went over and at 7.30 the door bell rang and a rep from this kitchen company was invited in, he asked Alison what type of new kitchen she had in mind, she said what would you advise and took him into the kitchen. Why would you want to replace what you already have? it looks very new, it is she said, all less than a year old, now will you stop bothering us when I keep telling you we are happy with what we have!

Even he saw the funny side of it, and I was still laughing an hour later...
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I was pestered for ages and ages by a company trying to sell me a conservatory. I kept telling them that I wasn't interested until I finally gave in. I said I was available for their rep to come and give me a free survey but the only time I was available was at 0800 on Saturday morning. Sure enough at 0800 the doorbell rings and the conservatory rep is there. "Is this some kind of joke?" he said. I lived in a third floor flat at the time. Surprisingly they stopped calling after that.
 
The opt in/opt out boxes merit careful scrutiny. A while ago I was applying for something online and reached the terms and conditions page. There was the usual guff, and at the bottom were the marketing tick boxes. Careful reading showed one was a double negative, the other a triple. If I had done the usual and just read the first one, ticked or not as appropriate and filled the second one the same way, I was opting in to being phoned by Bombay call centres at all hours.

They're getting sneakier.
 
I don't think I have used my landline to make calls for at least 5 years and there has been nothing ever connected to it apart from my router.

Luckily my ISP also sells landline numbers for £1 per month which can be routed either to a mobile number (or even assigned to a sim if need be) so all my "landline" calls are via my mobile.

I have ACR set up on all incoming calls and if it ever got to a stage where spam calls were a problem then adding a new landline number and deleting the existing one would only take a few seconds.
 
srichards said:
Unplug the phone then.

The nature of the phone is that anyone can ring you!
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Not if you're ex directory! I am, an it still doesn't stop the buggers!
 
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