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I can't believe that anyone uses an automated call blocker unless they are the victim of a stalker or some other truly malcious caller.

Registration with the TPS (www.tpsonline.org.uk) should be enough to get rid of all the others without even needing to be ex-directory.

The Casino calls are vagely a nuisance but not a real problem and new money transfer rules from ICSTIS will be stopping the problem soon.

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Dorf,

I am not ex-directory (I regard being ex-directory as a deeply anti social, stupid and unnecessary thing to do as it has nothing whatsoever to do with being on the lists of telesales call centres) but in 15 months of TPS I have only had one blatant sales call in flagrant violation of the TPS from my former University (and I am complaining about that to the TPS and the Information Commissioner). And I work at home at the moment so I am around to receive these calls most of the time.

There have been a few automated overseas Las vegas jackpot type calls but I can just hang up on those and new ICSTIS rules delaying payment of call revenues (allowing time to close down new scam 0906 numbers before they het the money) will stop those soon.

I can only assume that those who need to use ACR or Choose to Refuse have either been very careless with their phone number or perhaps have made a lot of enemies in life.

I did have big problems with Spam Mail from Capital One, Direct Line, First Direct etc but the MPS (www.mpsonline.org.uk)  has stopped all that.

I have lived at this address for over 8 years so what is that you are doing to produce these calls that I am not doing?

I am personally astounded by just how well the TPS works.  So why is it that it doesn't seem to work for you?

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You now need to escalate matters by making a formal complaint to www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

They have statutory powers to fine or otherwise take action against bodies which persistently ignore the TPS's list.  The TPS itself only administers the list and tells companies they should not call people on it.  But for the very, very few who violate the list the Information Commissioner is the only way to stop them for good.

Tell the Information Commissioner you have already logged a formal complaint with the TPS but that Space Kitchens are disregarding this and they should therefore investigate.

I trust you have never at any time given Space Kitchens permision to call your number and that if you ever did do this that you have now withdrawn that permission in writing?

As there are still millions of phone lines in the UK not TPS registered I really can't see what someone like Space Kitchens hopes to gain from their activities.

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Dorf,

Lots of people like you seem to believe that being ex-directory will protect them from being targeted by telephone sellers.  But my experience is that telephone sellers don't use the rapidly out of date phone directory and instead buy database lists culled from numbers you have provided to credit card companies etc without ticking the box to say they can't sell the info to other valued partners.

Anyhow personally I am enormously inconvenienced by all the people who I need to contact who are ex-directory who I have no phone number for.  That is more inconvenuient than a few calls that I don't want to receive coming few although I hardly get any of those.

I have sat here all morning and the phone has not rung once from a telephone misseller.  It will not ring from one this week I am sure.  If it rang twice in the year from such a firm it would be a small price to pay in return for people who need to contact me being able to get in touch.

May be I don't get targetted here because this is a prosperous middle class address in far southern rural surrey where most cold callers are likely to get told politely to go away.  But if you live in an ordinary budget housing estate full of lots of Mr and Mrs Average they may think that you are better targets more likely to cave in.

I foolishly never used to tick the box saying don't circulate my details with market research firms etc and only later did I realise the consequences.  Hence the MPS registration which is totally successful - no Hospital Plan Insurance Services, Capital One, First Direct etc in my letterbox any more.

I have done campaiging for a political party from a big call centre in London and we avoid all those with TPS registration, even though we are technically researching and not selling.  Its not worth the potential hassle.

Yes I get the 0906 scamsters from abroad but they dial the numbers at random and don't use the phonebook and are totally outside uk law.  But ICSTIS are changing the rules so they can close the 0906 line operators down before they have passed the money to the overseas firm.  So this problem should stop soon.

I think if some of you get one unwanted sales call in the year its like a personal assualt but for me its not like that just a nuisance.  And the potential consequences of people who need to contact me not being able to get in touch are far more serious.

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The school teacher thing is a legitimate reason for beinge ex-directory as is being a pop sta, major name footballer etc but the reason that 90% of people are ex-directory is because they wrongly imagine it is the main way to avoid telesales calls.  As you seemingly do.

This is not true as you can be in the phone directory year after year (as I am) and never get more than one or two sales calls a year as long as you registerwith the TPS.

If only the TPS would market their services and the lack of need to be ex-directory it would do everyone a big, big favour.  But of course they won't do this as their operation is paid for by the telesales companies so they have a conflict of interest as more registrations with them makes it much harder for most of their clients to do business.

Regarding burglaries my mother has been burgled at least 10 times at her house in the last 20 years but on not one occasion did they call to see if no one was at home.  They just waited till there was no car in the drive and no lights on in the house at night.  For the burglar to know your phone number suggests a level of premeditation and stalking of their victim which is highly unusual.  Normally they just break into the first empty looking house and have no idea of the name of the person living there.

Being anonymous in this forum is quite different as one is giving away a lot more about onself  and one's views than a phone number and address.

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Do you do anything exciting enough to make people actually want to call you just because you are listed in the phonebook?  I am involved in a minor way in local politics and I still only get a tiny number of calls from my entry on a public governmental website.  I don't get anyone at all who rings me up at random because my number is in the phonebook.  The Las Vegas Casino guys generate the numbers at random and don't use the phonebook at all.

Why don't you try registering with the TPS and then get yourself put in the next edition of the phonebook.  I bet you will find that you don't get any unwanted calls at all as a result of your phonebook entry.

Unfortunately a lot of the British always have been a boringly introverted and unsocial lot as the obsession with being ex-directory seems to show.

We've been on the TPS service for many years, we first found out about that via Ed Doolan's programme on BBC WM.

And we fully understand, a lot of organisations use random diallers.

But that doesn't alter the fact there is no good reason for our number to be in the phone book.

I just don't want to be hassled via the phone, by the very people I stood up as witness against in court, just because they have some vendetta, maybe I should have just said I didn't see anything, but I don't think that was the right attitude.

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Ok so you actually have a genuine reason to be ex-directory that has nothing to do with cold call sales people.

More importantly you don't want the people you testified against in court to have your home address.