Stop these calls

[Serial_Apologist]

I just thought I'd draw attention to an apparently new outfit of cold callers, Stop These Calls, (http://www.stopthesecalls.co.uk) getting people to subscribe to their service, which purports to prevent telephone call calls better than the TPS.

The lady who called me on behalf of this set-up two days ago seemed to be of knowledge that I had been receiving rather a lot of nuisance calls of late. She offered me a year's subscription for £59.88, deducted using my debit card, with which, being the trusty soul that I am apt to be when letting my guard of cynicism down in odd moments of stupidity, I went along. Almost immediately realising what an idiot I had been giving away personal banking details on the phone, I went along to my bank branch, where I was told that nobody seemed to have any knowledge of these people, but that if I had any fears, here was a phone number I could ring for card enquiries and get a replacement card if necessary.

I sat and waited, and today note that the money has been deducted. I have looked up the firm and note the above website. I'm thinking they may be a bona fide organisation, while at the same time kicking myself for so easily being taken in.

It wilol be interesting to see if the cold callers now cease; I shall be keeping a daily check on my accounts from now on; the point I really wanted to raise, however, is that it is all too easy for those of us of a more trusting generation to be caught off guard by smooth-talking operators. As they used to tell children re drugs pushers, Just Say No.

[Dave2002]

I just thought I'd draw attention to an apparently new outfit of cold callers, Stop These Calls, (http://www.stopthesecalls.co.uk) getting people to subscribe to their service, which purports to prevent telephone call calls better than the TPS.

The lady who called me on behalf of this set-up two days ago seemed to be of knowledge that I had been receiving rather a lot of nuisance calls of late. She offered me a year's subscription for £59.88, deducted using my debit card, with which, being the trusty soul that I am apt to be when letting my guard of cynicism down in odd moments of stupidity, I went along. Almost immediately realising what an idiot I had been giving away personal banking details on the phone, I went along to my bank branch, where I was told that nobody seemed to have any knowledge of these people, but that if I had any fears, here was a phone number I could ring for card enquiries and get a replacement card if necessary.

I sat and waited, and today note that the money has been deducted. I have looked up the firm and note the above website. I'm thinking they may be a bona fide organisation, while at the same time kicking myself for so easily being taken in.

It wilol be interesting to see if the cold callers now cease; I shall be keeping a daily check on my accounts from now on; the point I really wanted to raise, however, is that it is all too easy for those of us of a more trusting generation to be caught off guard by smooth-talking operators. As they used to tell children re drugs pushers, Just Say No.

I was recently sent an email, possibly by a "young lady" - with a name slightly similar to that of my daughter. At the end "she" called me "Dad". I was going to reply, to correct "her" error, but my real daughter caught me in time, and suggested that might not have been wise. Possibly it was genuine - and just a mistake, but maybe there was some other thing going on. It's a shame to have to be so untrusting, but there are a lot of bad guys out there nowadays trying to pull a fast one.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Thanks to both for that. One has to be vigilant.

[ahinton]

Trying to stop unsolicited/unwanted telephone calls is a waste of time. I registered with TPS and FPS years ago and it soptted nothing, largely because most of the nuisance calls that I received originated from outside UK where such organisations have no powers to act. I know nothing of stopthesecalls but would have no more fiath in them than in any other organisations that claims to be able to rid customers of nuisance calls.

[Old Grumpy]

As has been said before (I think) on these boards Caller ID is useful in these circumstances. I don't answer any calls where I don't recognise the caller's number, particularly if the number starts with 0845 or whatever. If a genuine caller needs to get in touch they will leave a message on the answering machine. This strategy worked well during the plague of PPI claim calls.

OG

[jean]

You've got to admire the cheek of someone who offers to stop you getting cold calls by cold-calling you.

[Don Petter]

You've got to admire the cheek of someone who offers to stop you getting cold calls by cold-calling you.

Well, at least now S_A will never hear from them again!

[eighthobstruction]

Well, at least now S_A will never hear from them again!

[Beef Oven!]

You've got to admire the cheek of someone who offers to stop you getting cold calls by cold-calling you.

[umslopogaas]

S_A, have you had problems with TPS? I am signed up to it and it seems to have very successfully put an end to cold calls. The only exception is the very occasional (mercifully) call in a south asian accent, presumably from India or Pakistan, trying to sell me something or other: I think TPS has difficulty stopping calls that originate outside the country.

[Gordon]

We are registered with some cold call preventing outfit or another and it doesn't seem to have done a thing! We use the Caller ID on the handset to decide whether to answer or not.

Some of these people use UK phone numbers as their ID lthough that is a tunnel for an out of UK source and so can be misleading. One favourite is the South Asian gent who tells me there is fault on my computer that he can fix. I tell him I don't have one. I know it's a fib but it works.

If I am caught I feign ignorance and pretend to be elderly and hard of hearing - sometimes gets rid of them quickly! One other way is to counter attack, it at least gives one a sense of striking back. I once got caught by a Scottish power man tryng to sell me electricity. I live in Hampshire so I insisted that he explain in detail how he would get his "Scottish" electicity into my sockets, it being a long way to Scotland. And was it same sort of electicity that I already got from England and would he assure me that it would not damage my cooker. I also ask if that Mr Salmond would keep supplying me if Scotland gets independence - that does get them. He gave up. Fight fire with fire. Non illegitimus carborundum.

[Don Petter]

I have been told that asking them what underwear they have on can get rid of such unwanted callers fairly quickly, but I have never tried that myself, preferring to put the phone down as soon as their nature reveals itself.

[Anna]

I signed up to TPS and found the calls eventually stopped altogether (they did say it would take a couple of months) I did have one recently, an Indian sounding voice asked to speak to 'the proprietor of the house' so I just put the phone down. I've had a look at the website S_A linked, it seems genuine enough but I'm not sure the calls are enough of a nuisance to justify spending £60pa

[JimD]

Caller ID is good. I name them Junk1, Junk2 etc so I see them easily and straight away before picking up. Sometimes pick up and remain silent for the fun(?) of it (though I usually only say 'Hello' in any case). Sometimes not. I'm just a creature of impulse! However I notice BT is about to start charging for it, whereas before you could get it free with BT Privacy. They do seem to go away after a small amount of this treatment.

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks you all very much for your replies and advice.

Since posting my OP this morning, official paperwork confirming my payment has arrived by post as promised. I have to say It does appear genuine, giving length of the agreement (1 year + 1 year free) and a Bournemouth address. Under Renewing Your Agreement it does state that "Unless notice is received in writing (either by mail or email) of Your intention to cease Your Policy Agreement before the renewal date, it will be renewed automatically at the end of Your Agreement Period" [sic], so I'd better remember to let them know!

I'll keep boardees informed of any further developments.