Letter: Don’t hang up. This is a public information call…

Thursday 22nd July 2010, 7:00AM BST.

Letter: Don’t hang up. This is a public information call…

Letter: Perhaps someone can enlighten me as to why I am contacted three or four times a week by an unidentified disembodied voice claiming to be “a government backed scheme” and a “a public information call” telling me of an assortment of “legal” findings related to credit card companies being “forced” to pay back large amounts of “overcharging”.

Since this “voice” then instructs me to “speak to a friendly advisor” in order to ascertain my eligibility for such a payout I can only assume that this is another example of the wonders of high tech efficiency in a scrambled artificial intelligence application.

It’s certainly not natural intelligence, for who in their right mind, quite apart from all the security advice regarding not giving out banking details, is going to enter into conversation with said unidentified disembodied voice when quite obviously it is going to ask details of any account I might have in order to ascertain my eligibility for a payout or be “removed from our database”?

That’s if the call is even legitimate.

It’s certainly not exclusive to credit card findings, but in purporting to be “government backed” it is significantly undermining the confidence in government to administer good governance.

It undermines my confidence in methods of maintaining security on a domestic phone line and what is in the national interest regarding matters of devolving security.

Since it is a feature of most forms of electronic communications I suspect it might be difficult to prevent except by informing the public of exactly how such a “government backed scheme” would normally provide public information or be accessed for complaint.

I have now transferred my “government backed public information” caller to the pages of your newspaper as an act of voluntary service and to solve the problem.

Name and address supplied


  1. 1
    Andrew finch

    I had one of those calls mine was about claiming back bank charges etc etc they stoppped after a few weeks after I put i blocked the numbers which you can do . I always thought cold calling was going to be banned.

    Report abuse

  2. 2
    Rich

    Register with the TPS online and these calls should stop within a matter of weeks. I too used to get these calls until I registered.

    Report abuse

  3. 3
    Andy

    Registered with the TPS, unlisted number and have never given my phone number to anyone as I only use it to enable a broadband link and still I get these.

    Contacted BT to complain and they said that there was nothign they could do as the calls originated from India and were being instigated through “brute force” ie just dialling every possibel combination as opposed to selecting numbers off a list. So the TPS is as effective as a chocolate fireplace :)

    Report abuse

  4. 4
    darren @ integrity debt solutions

    These are marketing calls from a company claiming to be able to gaurantee you get your PPI back. This is not right what they say as there is no gaurantee at all. It is not a government backed scheme either. We even had them call our offices and they were politly told that they were talking to a debt solutions company who is now going to report them to the financial ombudsman.
    Please ignore the calls and ask them to remove your nyumber from their database or report them like we did.

    Report abuse

  5. 5
    Peter

    The policy of allowing claims to be made for mis-selling of unnecessary payment protection insurance etc. is a government backed one, but these calls are coming from companies similar to the ‘Have you had an accident at work?’ ambulance chasing types who want to pursue claims on your behalf and gain their fees by so doing.

    They’re nuisance calls, and the advice above to register with the Telephone Preference service is good, though there’s little they can do if the calls are coming from abroad, as they often are.

    Report abuse

  6. 6
    Todd Nash

    I used to get them all the time when I lived down in London. We just used to pick up the phone and swear profusely at them. Great way to let all your anger out – except when your mum calls…

    Report abuse

  7. 7
    Martin

    Unfortunately most of these calls originate from overseas and are not covered by TPS and others. If you google the number you will see many complaints from many people.

    I have been ex-directory for over 20 years and I still get the calls, they use an automated dialling system which generates calls to random phones, I beleive if you pick up the call or it goes to a answering machine, it then registers that number as valid and will call time and time again. I have answered the call previously and tried to get them to stop but no avail, next time it will be the ACME Whistle!!!

    Report abuse

  8. 8
    Fed up with these calls too

    I too have just started getting these calls. One week after I moved into my new house and I’m ex-directory. They’re coming to get you. Thats how I read it. We’re all doomed!!

    Report abuse

  9. 9
    spencer

    Tell them theres a knock at the door and ask them to hold a minute, put the phone to one side and pop back every five minutes to see if they’ve given up. Our record so far is 12 minutes………….see if anyone can beat that.

    Report abuse

    • GTM

      I do that! They wanna waste their time when I’ve asked them not to call then I don’t mind helping them, it’s not on my phone bill!

      Report abuse

  10. 10
    Neil S

    I have caller display and generally don’t answer unavailable or withheld number calls. Just occasionally I get caught but if it is a marketing call I politely say no thank you and walk away from the phone without disconnecting it – the caller then cannot make any more calls until I do so! For fun I put it on loudspeaker and then listen as they get increasingly frustrated at their lack of dialing tone! I usually leave it off the hook for about an hour – then they don’t call ME back!

    Report abuse

  11. 11
    Andrew Allport

    I like Spencers idea, I will try that.

    I just pretend to be a decorator and say I thought that was me ringing to see how things are going!

    Report abuse

  12. 12
    Kath

    I don’t know if these are the same ones, but at work we get a lot of ‘Hello! why not save money blah blah’ – but they are clearly recorded messages. No-one to upset by swearing at them :(

    Report abuse



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