Comments on: BT Privacy at Home

By: Ian Goldie

Ian Goldie — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 15:13:36 +0000

I’m trying to sort something out for my wife’s very elderly step-mother who is being plagued by between 6 and 6 calls most days - very upsetting for someone in their 80s. They mostly seem to be calling from abroad (she’s alreday on TPS), possibly selling cheap phone calls.

I phoned the silent calls number and from there tried Call Blocker Ltd which seems to sell a device for just under £50 which they promise will block ALL unwanted calls.

Does anyone know anything about this? Thanks.

Ian

By: Debs

Debs — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 10:15:15 +0000

Hi Again Guys!, If you are still getting pestered once you have registered with the TPS, ring their dedicated complaints line on 0845 07 00 707 and press option 2, that is their complaints team and they are very good. Again, failing that, you can be re-numbered by BT free of charge, don’t forget to request ex-directory though or you’ll be back to square one. Good luck !

By: Sue

Sue — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 18:20:32 +0000

We are and always have been ex-directory but we were still getting ‘cold calls’ and so we signed up for TPS last year. For a while we had no more unsolicited calls but they started again this year. Over Easter one company rang my husband, son and myslef all on the same number within about 10 minutes, Must confess I played them at their own game and kept asking them to hang on, made them wait for over 20 mins before finally telling them to get lost, politely of course. Today I have had 4 from Toucan (a telephone company)who’s call centre is in Delhi. When pressed the final person I spoke to told me the marketing compnay that they got my number from was Unicorn and gave me a website adress of unicorn_data.com and their contact number as 08000513615. Needless to say the website cannot be found and the number belongs to Norwich Union.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 17:25:29 +0000

I have had the same problem. Serveral calls from outside the UK (call ID just states international). Again T-mobile deny any connections, they (the caller) have my name and the phone number (which is and always has been ex directory).

T-mobile are investigating but they are pretty stuffed to be honest. If anyone knows anything they should call T-mobile customer services and pass it on, they need every piece of information they can get.

When they next call I am going to string them along and see what I can find out.

By: Deb

Deb — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 23:17:28 +0000

Hi Tatiana, I am so sorry to hear that you have been ‘pestered’ by sales idiots !, The way TPS (telephone preference service) works is this…first of all you have to refresh it about every 6 to 8 months for it to be effective, it is only effective on UK based or owned companies as they would be goverened by the UK laws put into place by companies like OFCOM it does NOT work on numbers starting with 00 (numbers outside the UK) , also it is no good having an ordinary direcory entry and trying to use BT Privacy as your number will be 1. Available in the phone book for everyone to see 2. Via directory enquiries for everyone to get and 3. Through the electoral roll, so you need to change your directory entry to Ex directory. If these idiots keep pestering you ask them to remove your details from their database as you are taking part in the TPS ‘dissenter for sales and marketing calls’ and that what they are doing is illegal, if that still doesn’t work then report them ! Ring BT on 0800 800 150 and ask for the TPS complaints number we welcome feedback as does the complaints team for the TPS (how do we know what’s working effectively otherwise)….and failing all that, BT will renumber you free of charge, no questions asked !. Can I say lastly that, whichever phone company you choose, you will get these calls, especially from abroad, at least we at BT are actively trying to do something to prevent them, we are the only phone company that offer this package and although the TPS can stop the majority of calls, we never promise to stop all of them. I hope that this has been some help to you Tatiana. If you need any other advice on the BT Privacy free package, ring 0800 800 150 and we will be more than pleased to give you advice or help you in any way that we can. Debs

By: Tatiana

Tatiana — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 22:25:38 +0000

BT Privacy is a lot of rubbish! Doesn’t work at all!We signed up for ex-directory and privacy and it was quiet for a while,and last week, we got about 6 calls from those some indians or pakistani,saying they’re from T-Mobile.The Uk office of T-mobile denies any conections. Tonight it was the last straw,they phoned at half nine at night, woke up my baby.I wasn’t pleased. Somebody sold our number and name to that company. I’m at the end of my patience, very angry and seeking legal advice.

By: westi

westi — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 15:42:00 +0000

Deb: Thanks for that tip. I’ll have to ring up for one when I get home.

I’ve done some more searching with regard to signing up by phone and there seems to be a direct 0800 number as well. According to the press release here - New BT Privacy service could help crush menace of silent calls) - it is 0800 121 8000

By: Deb

Deb — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 13:58:17 +0000

I work for BT and as part of the new ‘Privacy’ service, we are also offering a “Free shredder” worth about £25 to try and combat I.D. fraud, so ring up 0800 800 150 options 1 then 3 and ask about it……do it now, they will probably run out once the word get around……..see we’re not all morons………happy shredding

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 14:19:36 +0000

Thanks for that Peter… Signed up and all working a treat.

(on another note, nice preview window above this text entry box…!)

By: westi

westi — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 16:48:08 +0000

@matt: I don't know of a specific number to call regarding BT Privacy at Home. Searching around the BT website the best guesses for a number to call would be either 150 / 0800 800 150 which is the standard BT Sales, Services, Billing phone number for residential customers (8am till 8pm Monday to Saturday) or 0800 443 311 which is the BT 24hr Self Service Helpline for changing Friends & Family numbers, checking call charges, paying your bill, advice on Calling Features, and reporting a fault. (I found these numbers amongst the ones listed here: Contact BT by phone)

By: matt

matt — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 13:59:42 +0000

that’s “is playing up” btw

By: matt

matt — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 13:56:47 +0000

does anyone know the number to call regarding the service? my internet did playing up regarding signing up on the bt website.