Silent calls can be annoying but worrying for some
The phone rings, you rush to answer but there’s no one there.
This is really annoying and irritating, most of us have had at least one or two of these calls, but for some particularly those living alone, they can cause worry and anxiety.
Why and Who makes these calls?
The vast Majority of silent calls are not pranksters or burglars and are simply the work of a machine called a predictive dialer and these predictive dialer’s are used by call centers to phone large number of people in one go.
Mostly used by telemarketing firms, market research firms, debt collection agencies and alike. They work by dialing numbers automatically and when answered by you, automatically diverts you to a call center agent who tries and sells you something. Unfortunately if all the call centers lines are busy when you answer the phone, you are left with a silent line….A silent Call.
What can you do about Silent Calls?
Ofcom has an enforcement program to make sure they are complying with a set of rules.
Bet your now saying I bet they are.
Well in October 2008 Ofcom took enforcement action against silent and abandoned calls and fined companies such as Abbey National – Carphone Warhouse and Barclaycard who received the maximum fine made.
Ofcom is continually monitoring complaints and any company persistently flouting the rules can be fined up to £50,000.
Ofcom published new rules for users of predictive dialer’s, and amongst these are that calls should now carry a short recorded information message identifying the source of the call and they should also have calling line identification (CLI) so that you can dial a service such as 1471 to find the phone number of the person or company who just tried to call you. If you have received a silent call and have the number, you can report what happened by filling out a Ofcom online complaint form.
The information you provide will be used for monitoring purposes and possible investigations.
However, if the number was withheld then you need to call your phone company.
Their nuisance or malicious calls team will give you advice on what to do next and may be able to trace the caller’s number.
They may also put a trace on your line if you’re receiving a large number of silent calls.
You may be offered anonymous call rejection, which will prevent these kind of calls in future.
However, this also has the side-effect of blocking some calls you might want to receive, for example from overseas.
Alternatively and this is for anyone that does not want sales and marketing firms calling is register with the Telephone Preference Service (Info).
It is illegal for a company to call you for marketing purposes if you’ve registered with the TPS, you can register with the TPS online or by calling 0845 0700 707.
It takes about 28 days after you’ve registered before the calling ban takes effect.
If you are still getting calls after 28 days, then you can complain to the Telephone Preference Service.
Hope this helps any comments on this service most welcome.
MD TELEXT http://www.tel-ext.co.uk/telecoms/
