My telephone hasn’t rung since last Thursday. Which is nice. No one has interrupted me to try and convince me that I need to make a PPI claim for PPI I never purchased in the first place. No one has disturbed my peace and quiet to convince me that I haven’t taken up the government’s grant for insulation or that I need to install solar panels. Or, of course, to persuade me to take part in one of their inane surveys.
Although we have not suffered these calls as much as some have, we were certainly getting several per week and as I am often at home on week days, I am the one who was being interrupted. It all came to a head just before Christmas when we started getting withheld calls at around eleven in the evening. No one was there; the old silent call menace. I decided then to do something I had been thinking about for a while. I bought a Truecall unit.
The unit is simple enough to install and has a web interface, so I used that to populate my list of numbers that I want to be able to contact us without being screened (star list) – friends, family and businesses that we have dealings with. I also populated the zap list of those that have already pestered me. Within a couple of minutes two international call centres were intercepted by the device. They were zapped without the phone ringing and I remained unaware until I finished synchronising it with the web list I had been working on.
You don’t have to use the web interface and if you continue to do so after the first twelve months, it carries a nominal cost of £20 per annum. I’m not sure that I will need it beyond what I have already just done – set the machine up. And, frankly, it can be set up with little difficulty without it.
So, now all those call centres trying to invade my time will get a message telling them to politely shove it. If they are genuine, they can make contact, but they have to give their name and I am given the opportunity to accept the call or zap them. Most call centres just won’t bother, knowing full well that the latter is the most likely. So, it’s all peace and quiet. Mrs L did ask why we should have to pay nearly a hundred notes to stop the nuisance, to which I replied that we do for the same reason we install firewalls, spam filters and anti-virus software on our computers. There are always people out there who will try to make a fast buck at our expense and don’t care that they are disturbing us when we are busy, eating, asleep or simply relaxing in front of the idiot box. This is a one-off payment that does the job. So far, it is doing it well. A hundred quid well spent, I feel.
I like the sound of that device. I might get one. I am being persistently harassed by ambulance chasers over a collision I had two years ago. I was stationary at a roundabout another went into the back of me. It was very slow speed but that didn’t stop the other driver claiming for all kind of spurious injuries. In the past 2 years I have had over 100 calls asking me if I want to claim for injuries I don’t have. When I ask them if they will help me recover the £200 per annum extra it now costs me to insure my car (apparently insurers now consider me a higher risk of being rear ended by dishonest, immoral cunts) they ring off.
Rant over.
The Truecall machine could be useful. Can you customise the response message according to incoming number?
Sounds to me that someone is trying to get some referral fees there.
In response to your question; yes, you can. There are a number of possible responses that the machine gives according to differing call types and you can let people straight through from a withheld or unavailable number if they know you. The best way to do this is to use the custom set-up from the web interface, which is what I did. Their web page explains the principle in more detail, so I recommend you go and have a look.
Incidentally, I have a story in the offing about one particular bunch of ambulance chasers. The case is still ongoing, so I will wait until it is complete before going to press.
Me too! I has a PPI call on my mobile while at work yesterday!
Ah, well, at least my reaction amused my colleagues…
My phone address book has all the names and numbers of family friends or tradespeople who might call me. I assign these a certain ring tone. I have chosen a rather pleasant default ring tone for non-recognised calls and I only answer the phone if the friend/family/trades person tone sounds.
I can also put my handset to sleep.
And this costs me nothing, apart from the cost of the phone which I had anyway.
I simply cannot understand why people are bothered by cold callers in the days of Caller ID and phones like mine, commonly available and not expensive.
Same as SPAM. What’s the big deal. Just delete it.
Folk do make a fuss.
Some of us like the sound of silence and place a value on it. Particularly when I have just dozed off to sleep. Now the phone will only ring if it is someone I wish to speak to and in the event of an emergency, I want them to be able to get through even if I am asleep.
Yup, unwanted telesales calls are very much like spam. Truecall is a very effective spam filter. Its real beauty is that it is set and forget – no need to remember to switch off the ringer or set different tones for different callers (although you can if you wish).
Cold calling is intrusive and annoying – that’s how it works. Any tool that foils them is a good thing.
XX Same as SPAM. What’s the big deal. Just delete it. XX
SPAM does not wake you up at 10 O’Clock, the morning after a night shift, no matter HOW fucking pretty the ring tone is.
And whet the HEL makes them think they have the RIGHT to invade my space with their shite?
I operate a zero tolerance policy to all unwanted sales pitches whether email spam, knocks on the door or telephone calls. I do not regard it as making a fuss to object to such anti-social behaviour. It is not beholden on me to have to delete their garbage or to remember to switch the phone onto silent. They have no business disturbing me in the first place. So I have very aggressive spam filters on my email server, saving me the bother of deleting them. Likewise, Truecall is an aggressive phone call filter. It is an all-in-one solution. Once set up, I don’t have to do anything and my phone line becomes mine again.
Just great! I read this and 5 minutes later the phone rings, yes you guessed it PPI. First of the year…
I would have one of these but most nuisance calls are on my mobile, and the answer machine stops the landline ones. Recently found the machine has a call blocker so if they leave a number, I block it and never hear from them again, but sadly most don’t.
Blocking on handsets works fine with call centres that display their numbers. They don’t stop withheld numbers or international callers. Truecall stops them as well.
Most of my junk calls come through the land-line, so it’s the ideal tool for me. I also use a blocker on my mobile – this will stop anonymous callers and block specific numbers.
One of the finest features of the current Android operating system is the ability to block all calls with witheld numbers and create a very effective blocking list. Since upgrading to my Galaxy S3 I have eliminated virtually every spam call. Your call log records what has been blocked so you can work out easily if any voicemails left are worth listening to. In terms of it’s function as a phone, this is one of the single best features on ANY mobile I’ve ever owned.
My Motorola has the same operating system and I can do likewise. That said, I’ve had very few nuisance calls on the mobile, whereas Mrs L has been getting regular recorded message spam calls on hers. I set her system to block anonymous calls, problem solved.
Still leaves one wishing there was a device that would blow their bloody heads off though.
Like in the days of illegal “C.B” radio, where you use a “burner” to blow their radio up.
Not sure if it was an urban myth, but the idea is nice.
My phone hasn’t rung either but that’s because I leave it disconnected.
Like James I leave my landline disconnected but plug it in once a day to check for messages left on the free BT voicemail. The spam and scam calls rarely leave messages.