Have been plagued by calls over last few days from an 0870 no. whereby I answer and they wait a few seconds and put the phone down without saying anything. I dialled 1471 to see who it was and after calling the no. in question get a bland pre-recorded message saying that they (no company name is given) 'were trying to call on behalf of a client and there is no need to take any further action'.....

If they were trying to contact me on behalf of a client then surely speaking when i pick up the phone would be a step forward??

Is this a scam in order to induce people to call their revenue-generating no. out of sheer irritation or curiousity???? Thoughts welcomed.

It's very probably a call centre.

A lot of them now have the option to give a central return number instead of NO number given. If they are an agency selling various products for different clients then that scenario would ring true.

It's also a way around people blocking numbers that do not have a return number (like me !!). It doesn't work with overseas call centres though, unless anyone knows a way to do that ?

Just ignore them or string them along when they get through. Don't forget they work on commission, so if they are on the phone to you for 10 minutes and don't get a sale, they've lost the income.

Satisfaction guaranteed !!   ;D

The only thing is, when i do answer they say nothing and then cut the call after 2-3 seconds, so their sales technique is poor to say the least. It makes me wonder if there's an automated call dialling device at work somewhere which calls numbers at intervals (and the perpetrator hopes to get enough curious/annoyed calls back on 0870 etc to generate some cash....?

No ! That's the automated system that autodials a group of numbers. Usually too many, and the pause is to allow the operators to pick up if others don't answer. Remember, to get their commision they're working on quantity, not quality !

Don't worry. You're not being singled out. They're treating us all the same way.   :o

Cheers. I shall take great pleasure in ignoring all calls for a while until they move on elsewhere.....

I had quite a lot of these on my mobile earlier on this year. It's stopped now, but they always came from withheld numbers.

There was a complaint to Ofcom, 'Silent Calls' - Complaints regarding the making of silent calls.

The report says that these companies must ensure that no more than 5% of calls are abandoned (ie silent) within a 24 hour period.

You could always sign up to the Telephone Preference Service -- it's then unlawful for companies to make unsolicited marketing calls to you (and if they persist, the Information Commissioner can investigate).  The service is pretty effective, although some of the more dubious telesales from overseas still slip through.

I am signed up to the telephone preference service, but I still get these silent calls.

I have even had some sales people cold calling me. A trick they often use is to get a company who claim to be doing market research to call you on their behalf. This apparently gets around the regulations!

Like many other attempts at solving problems the TPS clearly does not work! It's all a matter of policeing. One benefit of dial-up internet is that it is impossible for them to call you when you are on line.  Perhaps I might consider going back for that reason!!!!

A word of caution. BT now charges a service fee when you use the 1471 and #3 service.

The other day I had one better than the silent call. It went something like this.

Hello this is to let you know that your number has been selected....

Can you tell me what it is about?

Hello this is to let you know that your number has been selected....

Can you be more specific?

Hello this is to let you know that your number....

What are you selling?

Hello this is to let you know that your number has been selected....

I'm getting bored with this.

Hello this is to let you know that your number has been selected....


I assume that some call centres just can't get their voice recognition software to work very well. For some we get the big silence - it seems to happen when I answer the phone quickly. For others, the recorded message. Do you know anyone who has ever listened to the recorded message for long enough to find out what product they are trying to push?

Are you saying that BT now charges for 1471?

wrote on Oct 8^th, 2004 at 6:07pm:

Are you saying that BT now charges for 1471?

No, 1471 is free but, (see HERE), when you press 3 to call the last number, they charge an EXTRA 6p.

With regards to TPS have you checked out for yourself whether your number is currently registered with them.  
Sounds daft, I know, but I was under the impression that I was registered (I called them on their freephone number to register) but on checking on the website I found I was not!

I checked my number and found that it said: Number 01495xxxxxx is currently Ok to contact.  I rang TPS to find out what was happening and they said I was not registered.  So I registered online and found that they have now added me to their database.  It now says: Number 01495xxxxxx must not be contacted.

Apparently TPS are not interested in taking any action against any company until your number is listed on their database, which you can check for yourself here

Once your number is listed as 'must not be contacted' and the calls continue, then they will take action - but what action remains to be seen!

Hi Guys, Just to put my 2 cents worth in; If anybody is interested in following up on unsolicited phone calls & registering with TPS, check out these two websites for many links to all kinds of other sites related to all unsolicited matter of all kinds, as well as info on phone number protection.
Bedfordshire Libraries Information and the Preference Services