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The Tea Maker
What’s the worst thing about your phone?
Right! Nuisance calls.
Sorry to start things off with a rant (I’m not really sorry) but I’m fed up stepping into a shower or sitting down to a meal or having an afternoon nap and being disturbed by a ringing phone, only to find out it’s some idiot trying to sell me something. If they’re not selling something, they’re lying to me about all that money the banks owe me in mis-sold PPI. Or they’re telling me they’re from Microsoft and that they can fix my computer. Yeah, sure they can!
In the past month, I went from thoroughly pissed off to reasonably satisfied about all this nuisance call shit. Here’s what happened.
A guy called and said he was Microsoft. He said that he knew I’d been having problems with my computer (who doesn’t?) and that he was calling to help resolve it. Believe it or not but I’d just read an article about this scam a couple of days before so I hung up.
Ten minutes later I got another call. This was a recorded message telling me that I’d been mis-sold PPI and the company that was calling had managed to win back £2400 for me. All I had to do was call them back. I hung up on this lot too.
It was at this point that I got thoroughly pissed off. I’d already gone through all the usual channels by registering by number with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), contacting Ofcom and complaining about nuisance calls and also complaining to people like BT and various government departments.
Tackling BT
I then decided to tackle BT again. I won’t go into the problems I had trying to get in touch with BT’s Customer Service Dept because it would take up too much space but I did eventually get through. It was a complete waste of time because all they had to offer was a Nuisance Call Blocker that would cost me £50. After a long debate about business ethics and customer care policies, the offer was still £50. I hung up.
An hour later, I called BT again with my negotiator’s hat on and told them that I wanted a Nuisance Call Blocker, valued at £50, for free. I then gave them my reasons why and, to my astonishment, the guy on the other end of the line said he’d see what he could do and get back to me soon – but it may take a couple of hours. A week later, I was still waiting, but…
…exactly a week later, I got a call from BT offering me a free Nuisance Call Blocker.
BT + the Government
As for BT, it’s not the easiest company in the world to deal with but if you manage to get through to someone with a brain in their skull, and who doesn’t talk over the top of you, you might have a chance of being listened to. As for Nuisance Calls, BT has the technology to stop these dead in their tracks but it doesn’t have the power to implement the laws needed to make it all happen. That’s the Government’s job.
Are you fed up with nuisance calls?
The magazine Which? has a campaign going at the moment and they’ve already had over 24,000 people voting online to stop this nuisance. Which? is a big national magazine so it will attract a lot more votes than Dorset Eye – or will it? Maybe not.
If you’re fed up with all the nuisance calls you’re getting, let’s get behind the campaign to stop them.
Drop me an email at [email protected] with NUISANCE CALLS in the subject line and tell me, These calls have got to stop. If you want to tell me why, you can do that too. Tell all your friends to email me too.
Here’s what others have said:
Because of these calls, I missed a call from the hospital that I was waiting for about my appointment.
I’ve been off work for two weeks because my mother is seriously ill. Every day I get calls about PPI. I run to my phone every time it rings in case it’s my mother needing help. I find it disgraceful that these people feel that they have the right to bombard me with calls everyday.
The regulatory system does not work. ICO, Ofcom and TPS just play pass the parcel according to the type of call. What sensible person would think that voice, silent, or automated calls should be dealt with in three different ways?
So, what do you think?
The Tea Maker
PS: You can comment on this story by emailing me at [email protected] and I’ll respond to your emails in next week’s column. Your email address will never be published.
