Phone scams!

I am really sick of cold callers who have their computers to call me far too often - even though I never respond they keep trying - GRRRRRR - wish something could be done about them - there is one which especially does my head in - I am told 'This is a free message' as if anything is ever free! Dunno what else they say cos I have slammed the phone down by then -

Also I have noticed more and more companies are using voice recognition sotware. This I have to say is a TOTAL NIGHTMARE. I am Welsh ffs! Even though my accent isn't typical Valleys boyo - I still struggle to be understood - I keep getting the machine asking me to repeat over and over until I finally launch a barrage of swear words down the phone - to which I get 'I didn't understand that response - please say whatever it is again - ASRGGGGGHHHHHH -

Are these companies in league with Talk Talk, SKY and BT to keep us on the phone longer? wHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE OLD PRESS N for X - Progress ??? NOT!!!!!

[Dave Fountain]

I'm with TalkTalk and we pay something like £3 a month for the call bar function, basically when a computer or a numpty from China starts ringing up to spam the shit out of me whilst Im eating me beans on toast I bar the call. Sure some of these wankers have many different phone numbers from the same business but since I've started barring calls straight away they don't half dry up quick.

For seven years I've had various debt collection agencies ringing up for a Mr and Mrs Mitchell. These debt collection agencies just sell debts between each other so the whole thing is like a brainless merry-go-round, with me the fking horse stuck in the middle. Not worth wasting your time answering, just contact your phone provider they should have some sort of scheme where you can bar the calls.

[LIQUID]

Be wary of the calls that appear to hang up just as you pick up the receiver, giving you the impression that you got there too late - then you may feel inclined to do a 1471 and phone them back out of curiosity.....shazam your now connected at £25 min or something evil like that. No as many phone sharks (BT, Virgin etc) round up the first few seconds to one minute your stuffed even if you hang up in a shot

[Dave Fountain]

Mr.Mitchell? .................... Hello? ...................... Mr.Mitchell?

[ludwig]

Originally Posted by Dave Fountain

I'm with TalkTalk and we pay something like £3 a month for the call bar function, basically when a computer or a numpty from China starts ringing up to spam the shit out of me whilst Im eating me beans on toast I bar the call. Sure some of these wankers have many different phone numbers from the same business but since I've started barring calls straight away they don't half dry up quick.

For seven years I've had various debt collection agencies ringing up for a Mr and Mrs Mitchell. These debt collection agencies just sell debts between each other so the whole thing is like a brainless merry-go-round, with me the f<img src="/images/smilies/emoticon-0183-swear.gif" alt="censored" />king horse stuck in the middle. Not worth wasting your time answering, just contact your phone provider they should have some sort of scheme where you can bar the calls.

hmm.. very interesting.. but are you sure they're not barring legitimate numbers? Wonder how they know which ones are spam and which ones are normal number?

To the OP are you signed up to TPS? It's free. I also report the wankers to whycall.me. Often if you get calls even after being signed up to TPS it's usually all scam anyway

[Ffabbia]

I'm registered with the Telephone Preference Service, a free opt-out service. It's illegal for any company to make sales or marketing calls to any person on the list.

You can register here, and and it literally takes around 10 seconds:

TPS

This prevents most sales calls from legitimate companies, but I still get scam calls.

My favourite is an Indian gentleman claiming to be calling from Microsoft Windows Support, asking me to secure my computer against a 'new kind of virus attack', that 'anti-virus software cannot detect'.

I looked up the scam afterward and apparently gullible saps are told to access a website, which then takes control of your PC, it then appears to detects hundreds of 'viruses', and we are told that we need to purchase a package costing £160 in order to remove them.

Ho hum......