Pestered by phone calls

I've been getting pestered for some time by a persistent company ringing me about some unknown subject. They never leave a message, just an unknown number on the phone. Anyhow, today I was in and this guy asked for me by name. I asked who was calling and what it was concerning. He said he was from GE Capital Bank and that it was about a matter of personal business I already had with them. I didn't recognise the company as a provider of any of my credit cards, so asked him to be more specific about the business. He refused, hiding behind the Data Protection Act, then started asking me to prove my identity! When I pointed out that HE had rung ME and not vice versa and that if anyone was going to have to prove his identity it was him! He didn't seem to understand this and demanded that if I didn't tell him the 'security codes' he was asking for, then he couldn't talk to me. I said fine, I hadn't planned on talking to him this morning anyway!

I then went looking in my paperwork for GE Capital Bank and found them as the provider of credit services to TopMan who I have a storecard for.

My point is this, it's all too easy for someone to ring you up and ask you for information and it's even easier to give in to them and tell them it, just to see what they wanted. Beware, it could be anyone.

Reply to
Dave O'Hara
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They're idiots. Don't give any information to anyone who phones you. You answering the phone is good enough unless they have any reason to suspect you are not the person they want to talk to.

Reply to
Peter Saxton

"Dave O'Hara" wrote in news:buesun$qbi$ snipped-for-privacy@titan.btinternet.com:

See:

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Reply to
Robin T Cox

I believe this can be construed as harassment under The Protection From Harassment Act.

Note the date & time and launch a complaint with BT. Ask them to reveal who made the phone call.

As you mentioned, they run the Burton Group storecards.

Rubbish ! - Warning bells ringing.

Good response - sounds like a trawl for security details. The BT investigation should reveal more.

Reply to
pgreenfinch

I subscribe to 'Choose to Refuse' and had listed the number that was reported as the last call to it (the GM one). I noticed that the number was not the same as the one shown on Caller Display. I rang the number and an automated message said 'this number does not accept incoming calls'. I then rang the number from Caller Display and this said 'One of our representatives has tried calling you and will continue to do so'. Both of these numbers are now barred in 'Choose to Refuse'.

OK, I have since identified the company as being a supplier of one of my Store Cards, but is this harassment? How do I go about taking this further?

Reply to
Dave O'Hara

Play dumb and report it as a series of harrassing phone calls from someone you believe is trying to defraud you.

Reply to
Tumbleweed

As Robin has said register your telephone number with

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This stops companies making marketing calls (as opposed to "real" calls about your account) to you, unless you have given that company permission to call you.

You need to give it about a month for your number to go through all the relevant systems...

If they do then call, you can also report them via that web site.

Regards Sunil

Reply to
Sunil Sood

I don't think that would work as he probably has a customer relationship with GE Capital ... The harassment complaint might work as they could simply have left a message first or second time - or maybe even a complaint to the compnay.

Thom

Reply to
Thom

Thom wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@lboro.ac.uk:

If he had such a relationship it was with another company (Topman), so this was nothing more than a sales call. My point is that being registered with the TPS a) makes them think twice before trying the phone sales approach b) provides a complaint facility.

Since, as you say, it's easy for anyone to pretend to be who they are not ('phishing' being a case in point), it's vital to take your phone security seriously.

The issue of harassment is, of course, also a problem, and the TPS may not help you if you are being pestered e.g. by debt collection agencies over the phone. In this case, there may be other things you can do. For some ideas, see:

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Also see:
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in the section 'Dos and Don'ts'/After they contact you and demand cash/Do not accept invitations to telephone them or to telephone debt collection agencies

Reply to
Robin T Cox

Once again, I have to point out that the 'new' regulated TPS, unlike the old, discredited, voluntary one, does not have an exception for 'existing customer relationship'. If you are on the TPS no-one should make a sales call to you unless you have specifically given that company explicit permission. Leaving an opt-out box blank on form, has been stated by the regulator as not constituting such permission.

Perhaps one day every one will learn this.

tim

Reply to
tim

BUt suppose its not a sales call, for example they call to check on some aspect of your relationship (or so they say)...and then try and flog you something?

Reply to
Tumbleweed

"Tumbleweed" wrote

Surely what should matter, is *who* initiates the "sales part" of the conversation - the consumer or the salesman ... ?

Reply to
Tim

point out that the 'new' regulated TPS, unlike

Hi, Would TPS stop calls from a company that has the number associated with a different name? When we bought our house a couple of years ago the previous owners took their phone number with them, so NTL simply assigned us a new number. But it seems that the number was used by a previous NTL customer and we now get loads of phone calls asking for the previous holder of the number.

I think there are about four or five different companies ringing and each time we tell them to correct the details. We have started logging the calls now so that if someone rings back when we have told them to remove the phone number then we can be a bit more forcefull.

If they have the phone number against the name on a computer system should this not be covered by the data protection act? If so if we ask them to remove the data and they do not do it then presumably we can have some right to complain?

Thanks Andy

Reply to
Andy Coleman

Register for the Telephone Preference Scheme, you will find the number in the front of your BT phonebook. It only stops sales and marketing calls but allows people to contact you as you are their customer. For example if you subscribe to SKY TV they can contact you to upgrade your package. If you arent on NTL then NTL cannot contact you.

Alternatively, just say to the caller 'Do you know I am on the Telephone Preference Scheme and who has given you the authority to contact me?' I guarantee they will put the phone down and never ring you again

Reply to
Paul C

I'm betting he'd signed up to a credit agreement with GE capital ... based on my familiarity with the storecard small print.

Also, it isn't clear that the call was a sales call (as they didn't get that far). I think main complaint here is that they wouldn't leave a message or explain what the call was about face-to-face.

Nothing against the TPS - they've nearly eliminated my calls re: double glazing.

Thom

Reply to
Thom

I have only had one cold call since signing up to the TPS. It was a major double glazing company. When I mentioned the TPS the person concerned had never heard of it and didnt seem concerned when I said I would report them ( which I did ).

Reply to
Tumbleweed

to point out that the 'new' regulated TPS, unlike

AFAIK depends why they are calling, for example they might think they are speaking to one of their customers. If you ahve logged the details and signed with the TPS then if you can tell the TPS when they first called, and kept calling, and the fact you have registered with teh TPs they should be in trouble.

Sounds right to me. They should be allowed the first call, after all they cant be expected to know that someone chnaged their number and didnt tell them but after that they shouldnt keep calling.

Reply to
Tumbleweed

snipped-for-privacy@andy-coleman.co.uk (Andy Coleman) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

Under the Data Protection Act you could issue them with a Subject Access Rights Notice. See:

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Reply to
Robin T Cox

Thanks for all the replies here. The company hasn't bothered me since. It's made me think about this, because they aren't the first company to make a 'Courtesy Call'. If they ask for me by name, I usually ask for the subject of the call. If they won't tell me who they are, I politely hang up. I also have a big bee in my bonnet about people ringing me and witholding their telephone number. If they can't identify theselves when they ring me, allowing me to return the call if needs be on the Caller Displayed No, why should I speak to them at all?

Reply to
Dave O'Hara

It beggars belief that any business can begin a potential customer relationship in this manner. Perhaps their business requires that the business is in control of the relationship at all times and any customer, potential or otherwise, that does not implicitly agree (eg asks questions) automatically excludes themselves, at which point the business is not interested in anything they do.

An entirely reasonable response imo.

I think there are several different options available for banning numbers - try uk.telecom

Reply to
steve

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