Preventing Offline Spam
My Last article was about receiving junk mail from the postman and the frustrations of not being able to prevent it.
That got me thinking and I decided that I would have a proper root around and really see what can be done. I have found some answers. unfortunately, as far as I can see, they only apply to the U.K. and Europe. I realise it's not what WA is about but at the same time it is about being able to help each other and, hopefully, some of you guys might find this stuff useful.
There is no easy route to preventing all the rubbish we get but there are some measures we can take.
How To Stop Spam Calls And Silent Phone Calls
If you are fed up to the back teeth with all the marketing calls (ppi, accident claims etc) then you need to sign up your mobile and home phone to the TPS (Telephone Preference Service).
Once you have done this it will take about a month before you notice any change and it will become illegal for U.K. and E.U. firms to ring you unless you have given them permission to do so.
To register your phone you can either call 0345 070 0707 (cost is standard rate) or you can register online.
http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/number_type.html
It is the same for your mobile plus you can also register by texting 'TPS' and your email address to 85095. Although this may not be free through all service providers and may cost you 15p.
Please remember that this is only a register and not a call blocking system so it generally only gets taken notice of by reputable, legitimate companies, it probably won't make much difference with unscrupulous outfits.
It also won't prevent automated calls. if you are receiving calls from a machine. to stop these you need to contact the Information Commissioner's Office on 0303 123 1113 or on https://ico.org.uk/
As far as silent calls are concerned, you need to register here
http://www.silentgard.com/index2.html
And this needs to be done annually.
Hope this helps a few of you. my next post will be dealing with spam of the snailmail variety.
Recent Comments
5
In the US we have/had a No Call List.
When they started it years ago it worked great for me but even thought I register all my numbers yearly, sadly, it doesn't work anymore.
David