(no subject)

[torkell]

Someone from 08450554454 has been trying to call me for a few weeks now, always hitting the answerphone and not leaving a message. Today they called while I was in, and surprise, surprise it's a telemarketer!

"Can I interest you in a professionally designed kitchen?"
"Firstly, I'm not interested and secondly, I'm pretty sure I'm registered with the Telephone Preference Service"
"Ah, ok, bye" >click<

The magic incantation "Telephone Preference Service" makes for a very strong anti-telemarketer charm over here.

Comments

[torkell]

So far I've found that the mere mention of the phrase "Telephone Preference Service" is enough to instill fear into whoever made the mistake of phoning up (with the exception of one person calling for market research rather than telesales - research apparently is not covered by the TPS). I remember one call where after a couple of questions (to begin with it could have been a legit call from the mobile telco) I casually mentioned that I was registered with the TPS. "Um... I'll just remove your number from the list then". I don't think I've ever had someone call me again after that.

Some research online shows the one that called me to be Kitchens Direct, apparently with a reputation for silent calls and ignoring requests to stop calling (the silent calls come from autodialers placing more calls than there are available people, and so dropping the extra ones if they connect). If they call again then I may well give your method a try - they've had me name the TPS once already, so they can consider themselves warned :)