Genealogy Chat

How ironic is this - I was trying to connect with the 'silentcall' website when I was disconnected by....a silent call!!!! Frustration knows no bounds!!

William I am on cable where it's called "anonymous call barring" it costs £1 per month but might be more with BT. I think its well worth it . I work on the theory that anyone calling me should be prepared to allow me to ring them. It gives a message "this caller does not accept anonymous calls" I think people with number withheld can enter a code to reveal their number. Bob

Thing is with these calls are that they are often randomly selected by computer. Yes I have heard about a service that won't allow calls through if the number is withheld. Rather difficult for me as a caseworker as I'm not allowed to give my number out and sometimes trying to get through to clients to organise a visit is a nightmare - but better that than clients phoning in the middle of the night (as has happened in the past)!!!

I dont know if this helps but we have withheld number barring so you cannot get through without people showing you their number. So at least if it is a silent call you call them back to see what they are playing at we are on NTL I dont know if other companies do the same thing. We never get calls now from any sales people all we have to do now is find something for the door! Jan x

Claire The Mail Preference Service can be found on: http://www.tpsonline[.]org.uk/mpsR/html/whatisMPS.asp

Is there a website for the mail prefernce service?

Hi Bob, You're a life saver!! We've been plagued with these 'silent' phone calls for weeks. When you dial 1471 it just says the callers number is not known. I was getting quite paranoid, began to believe it was someone trying to find out if someone was home, as we have had a few breakins in the area recently, including my husbands car. Going to register right now! Thanks!! Debbie

at work we used to get nuisance phone calls that were a pain.....it was a fax machine calling. so we diverted the call to a fax machine, number and it turned out that the calling machine had the wrong std code it was calling 01733instead of 01773

we have had telephone preference for 4 years, and get less unwanted calls than most, but still get the silent calls, a relative has an ex directory number and she also gets these calls, think they must get a code and start at 0001, and dial every number in turn. Val

Kim If you contact your local Police Station and ask for either the Crime Prevention Officer or the Community Safety Officer, they may be able to provide you with a sticker to put on your door which says 'We do not buy or sell at the door'. It also warns that if the caller is not expected, identification will need to be shown, and the details checked. Since I put the sticker on my door, I've had no unwelcome visitors at all!

We had silent phone calls and when I contacted BT they told me that a lot of the calls were done by computer and that as most of the calls came from India, they could not do anything about it! Apparently all the laws etc that govern our phone system do not apply if the call originates from abroad. Sue G

Just wait until you get a phonecall offering a part in a new porno film, double glazing i can cope with, porn no! I have changed my number and it is so nice not to answer silent phonecalls, salesmen etc.

Brilliant what you learn on this site , thankyou all. Only wish could stop double glazing and mortgage/gas suppliers calling too! KIM

I registered with telephone perference service about 3 months ago, and I haven't had a slient call for about 2 months, so far so good. My mum phoned me one day in a real panic, she had yet another silent call, and didn't realise these were probably computer generated, she was realy frightened, thought someone was checking on whether she was in or not, so I registered her as well. These companies who generate these call don't seem to worry about old folk receiving "funny call", but they really worried my mum. Sue

Julie is right that the telephone preference service should stop them. By law, all telemarketing companies are supposed to check this data base first and if you are on it they should not call you. It does not matter whether their systems are automated or not. Thats the theory, in practice the law is being flouted. You can do both as both are free. You can also do the same for junk mail. The link is http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/mpsR/html/Register.asp Bob

Bob I'm registered with the Telephone Preference Service, and have been ever since it first started, but I STILL get silent phone calls. Is the telephone number you've given for the Telephone Preference Service, or something different?

Barbara You can register her number or anyone elses. It doesn't have to be done by the subscriber. Bob

Thanks Bob, my mum has been plagued over the last few weeks by these numbers. She has contacted BT and they are currently trying to sort it for her, but she was told it could take 28 days! They reckon like you that it is these companies using an automated system. How awful that they are allowed to! B

These calls ARE computer generated and there is only ONE way to stop them which is as I descibe above. This information was given to me by BT this morning. Bob

You may find that its a computer generated call by sales organisations ie computer dials 100 numbers and 10 are connected to operators the other calls answered just get the silent treatment. You can register with the telephone preference service to stop them - can't remember the website but should be able to find it on a search engine.