“Hello, may I speak with the person there with responsibility for the telephone?”
Hang on, aren’t I registered with the wonderful Telephone Preference Service making any cold callers liable to a £20,000 fine? Yes, I am but this man does not sound English and this is a terribly odd sounding line if it is coming from inside the UK. Oh dear, I think I’ve just come face to face with a new phenomenon.
I guess voice-over-ip (internet telephone calls) means that it is now possible for companies not based in the UK to start cold calling into the UK. So now we need an international agreement on spam telephone calls?
I too am registered with the TPS and have recieved a few telemarketing calls since. The problem is as soon as you ask how they got your number they put the phone down and there is no caller id. Maybe next time i’ll call their bluff and go through the motions until I get a company name I can complain to.
I got a telesales call back in March of this year, and wrote about it. Several related articles later I’ve had over a thousand comments on the subject, and I’ve been able to help many people get refunds when they’ve got cold feet after buying in haste or being lied to. A mojor problem is that the victims are unaware of their legal rights due to the international nature of the sale. About 98% of the commenters would agree that there is strong case supporting an international agreement (and the other 2% are the people making the calls).