Arrgghhh >:(

I am at the end of my tether.

I have been a BT customer since Sept at this new house. I have regular land line and one call sign which is used for a advice and support voluntary group thus we have no funding for a seperate line.
In my last house this was the same for aobut 4 years. I only received a few sales call from "people", double glazing, win a kitchen, market research etc.

First thing I did when we signed up to this new  house number was to register with the TPS Both the home number and the call sign.

In the last few months I hav ebeen inundated with calls from International companies, who are usually debt services, as well as today alone, 4 different services, all automated, offering various services.

The problem is this.

I am a disabled person who needs my phone to make emergancy calls.

The call sign provides a much needed support line for people in extreme trauma and distress, often after being the victim of assault, hate crimes and phobia related discrimination.

When these call come through they say things like " this is a call from ...........debt service. Are you in debt? hold on the line to be conected to an advisor"

With this type of call it is usually international so not covered by the TPS, however the main problem with this is that  once you have picked up th phone, the message is played regardless of how soon you put the phone down, even 20 mins later this call is still blocking my line, even after unplugging from the main socket.
This is
a) prohbitive in my making of emergany calls,
b) blocking the line for incoming calls to the support service

Other calls are from this country, take for example the one earlier today.

I received another call, firstly it was automated, in that a recorded messages give some info, not usually the name of the service but something similar. Next you can opt to be connected, which today I did, as I have done in the past, with the sole purpose of finding out more about these callers, the head office etc.

Today I was put through to Robert Henderson, who told me the company was called Debt Advisory Council. I asked where he was based, he stated London. I asked whereabout  and what kind of service DAC provided his was reply was "why? who wants to know". I explained that I would like to know more information about this company (he said it wasn't a company) so I could understand where they were based, a contact number and also who I was giving my details to ( of course I was never going to be giving out my details over the phone on an unsolicited call).

His reply was classic - F*** off. Charming.

I then looked up this company/service on the net and could find nothing, so I rang what was trading standards, who were useless. Told me to ring OFCOM but I was under the impression that ofcom was to do with you not being happy with a telephone provider or similar.

So my questions are this:

Is there anything (free) that I can do to stop this nusiance.

Is it against the law for BT to allow my line to be blocked whilst these companies/services run out their taped messages?

Thanks

I'm as annoyed by unwanted international calls as you are and there is no real solution, except perhaps in the sense that you could, in principal, block all such calls. This would also prevent you getting wanted calls from abroad.

There is a simple fix to the problem of the line being blocked. Call Waiting. This allows you to drop the existing call and get dial tone simply by pressing "recall" or briefly pressing the cradle switch. This certainly works for a regular land line. I don't know about callsign.

I have been told and I don't really know if it works, is that if you press the hash key several times when you get one of these calls it blocks THEIR line. I don't know if this is true, perhaps someone else will agree or say that I am completely wrong.

Thanks for your thoughts on this matter.

I will try repeatedly pressing hash next time though I guess it is an automated service so might not do any good.

As for the call waiting, we have this on our line, plus caller display so sometimes we can see it come up as an international - unavailable number. Not always as easy with call from this country though as it is withheld, the same as someone with an ex directory number- which lots of our clients are.

Also even when we choose to ignore the international calls, if I ring our line straight after it says its engaged when there is no one picking the phone up, so it must be there answer service blocking the line still

Anyone know anything about the company/service I listed?

Anyone having or had the same calls

I know there is no easy way to put up with them, its a difficult sittuation..

However, may I suggest..

. keep your line
. change the number
. block all incoming, everything. Unplug the phone.
. use your broadband with a VOIP/SIP adaptor with your phone
. have the SIP service provide you with an incoming number
. give this number to your clients.

It would be easier with cable too, but since you are with BT you have to keep the line, but there is no point in using it if you can happily get VOIP to work.

I say this because, I have a VoIP in number, and I can say, for years, I have had peace from all them bloody bothersome companies.

For now though, my sincere sympathy for the bother these ass holes cause, they are nothing but scum.

I was going to advise you to try using BT Choose to Refuse, but there are Pro's & Con's if you have a read of this article about it.

You can get it for FREE for the first month, or totally if it's affecting your health. Make some further enquiries with the BT customer services.

I've had Choose to Refuse in the past.  Was great for stopping a pestering ex- ..  (So she took to calling the mobile instead, until her phone bill came in...)

It does rely on the exchange receiving the caller-id, though - they get this even if it's witheld, just don't pass it on to you.  If you get calls coming in as "unavailable" however it's not going to work.

As suggested, using a voip number as a second line is a potential option.  It'd probably cost you less than the Call Sign, too.  Shop around, though, to make sure you get a geographic number and free phone calls for zero rental (Yes, it's possible..)  There are too many organisations out there trying to sell packages that are only marginally cheaper than a real phone line..