Nuisance Phone Calls

[bathgatebuyer]

Been getting messages left on my home voicemail service for the past 2 and a bit weeks or so. It's coming from what appears to be an automated service which says my surname (obviously preceeded by something else which has been chopped off the recording!) then, "Please press any key to continue". Yesterday I was called at 11.01, 1.20, 2.04, 4.05 and 5.07 with the same message being left. On Thursday 17th it was 1.20, 2.53, 4.25, 5.56, and Friday, 12.35, 2.07, 3.38, 5.10, and 6.41!

 

It's now at the stage that my voicemail is full of this crap before I get home in the evening and any perfectly valid messages (and I've been applying for new jobs recently!) can't get through because of this.

 

Has anyone got any suggestions how I can get rid of this nonsense and get back to some semblance of a pester-free life?

[buzby]

There must be a fault, as these services usually detect VM and abort the call. What number is displayed or stored when the system calls you? International/Withheld/Unavailable?

[powelll]

If they are coming through as unknown or witheld numbers you can ask your telephone service provider to bar witheld numbers from getting through ( I think on BT it's called Choose to Refuse but am sure other copmpanies will have similar options ).

 

Problem you have is if any of your job application people are calling via a switchboard...

[buzby]

No - its called Anonymous Call Rejection - this costs on BT but is free on Virgin. The action to take depends on what number or flag is presented with the inbound call.

[Guest weegirl]

You could also register your phone number free with the Telephone Preference Service at tpsonline.org.uk, this will stop all nuisance marketing calls within the UK. It will take about 1 month to be fully effective, but it does work. There is also a fax preference service for those of you at work getting bombarded with crap faxes. I think you may have to renew your telephone number yearly.

 

Unfortunately it won't stop marketing calls from outside the UK, but I have found these rare anyway, I have only had two since registering last year. Anyone in breach of this can be reported to the TPS complaint line.

[bathgatebuyer]

Not totally sure what numbers they have been using but there are a few possible ones with one of them being 0208-961-5005. When I redial it, the phone automatically disconnects itself which is no good! Other numbers it may have been coming for are 0114-201-5606 or 0113-213-2001.

 

I'm registered with TPS and also have anonymous caller reject, so I'm assuming that it's one of these numbers it's coming from.

 

Blasted automated dialler!

[buzby]

You can complain about this, as the number presented must allow you to call back, or provide you with an announcement for the most appropriate number to call. Since a number is presented, you can use BTs Choose to Refuse to block them, which is cheaper and more appropriate than Anonymous Call Rejection.

[Guest weegirl]

Yes, sounds like a computer ringing for a call centre. I had lots of those calls for a time, everytime I answered there would be silence and then the phone would click dead. I thought I had a bloody stalker. Turned out it was the auto-dial, and sometimes if they dial and there is not enough call centre staff to deal with the calls, the computer cuts off. It sounds like UK numbers, although saying that I have been called from outside the UK, but the return number is a UK based line that is re-directed. You could try reporting them but I'm not sure of how quick the TPS procedure is, and of course if it is outside the jurisdiction it will be a pain.

[electron99]

There is another possible explanation.I went through a period of six months of up to 20 calls a day.My caller display showed these calls were from all over the country.Ringing back some of these numbers, people were saying they had not telephoned me.Finally BT discovered that there was a fault on my line.I have overhead cables to the house, and every time the wind blew,it was causing my 'phone to ring with a random number.

[bathgatebuyer]

Over the past few days, another pile os these, yesterday calling at 12.30, 2.09, 3.40, 5.12, 6.43 and today at 11.38, 1.10, 2.41, 4.30 and 5.44!!!! The last of these coming from 0207-663-4032. Hopefully someone else will goodle these numbers and I can find out who the hell is phoning me all the time and leaving my voicemail without space come the end of the day.

 

As someone who has been signed off work with nervous exhaustion, I could well do without any additional hassle over the next few weeks.

[edinburghbeerbucket]

I just received a call from this very same number (02076634032) at 3am. As other people have described, all that I hear is ".. press any key to continue".

 

Did you ever figure out who it is?

[Vlad_the_impailer]

Hi, just to let you know if you ever get a recorded call asking to press a number to continue DON'T! It has bee known to connect you to a non-uk premium rate call (anyone remember get caught up with high rate calls to tuvalu on their bill due to rogue dialers?) if it says when you do 1471 'we do not have the callers number to give you' it's probably international, nothing can be done about it but they do move on after a while (defenition of 'while' is yet to be defined!) I worked at BT's nuisance call bureau for over a year and delt with complaints about this daily! You can have withheld numbers rejected and if you call BT customer service they will put it on free (worked there too for a while!) BUT remember that doctors surgeries and hospitals dial out using withheld numbers so contact them and provide them with an alternative number.......geese sounds like being back at BT......ARGH!

[buzby]

Hi, just to let you know if you ever get a recorded call asking to press a number to continue DON'T! It has bee known to connect you to a non-uk premium rate call !

 

Where do I begin? Sorry, this is an urban myth. If you receive a call, you can press any numbers you like but you WILL NOT BE billed. You are not initiating a call, therefore it cannot be charged to your account. If you worked for BT, I would have expected you to know this. Since the calling number 'controls' the line - providing they do not clear down, you cannot make ANY outgoing calls until after the clear down or the call times out.

 

Rogue diallers are different - this requires the computer to dial out, and has nothing to do with voice calls or what the recipient can do with an incoming call that plays a message.

 

As for Hospitals and Doctors surgeries being contacted to give them an 'alternative' number. Sorry, that's their problem. They can also allow their number to be presented by dialling the code to release it, or use another phone line that does.

 

Next, BT do provide ACR Anonymous Call Rejection, but it is a chargeable service and I've been paying it for the last 4 years.