BT / oftel - Double standards...
I have discussed this with BT / OFTEL (OFCOM now I think)
Seems if as a call centre operator you make 1000's of calls and hence make BT lots of money, calling then hanging with your outbound number hidden is fine - even though call centres who do this, due to insufficient staff are supposed to be stopped by the telco - only ever happened a couple of times in the UK.
However if one of us as an individual started to call 1000's of people and hang up as soon as the phone was answered it would be nuisance calling. If you got your computer to do it and log when it found a fax machine or another computer answering the phone it would be computer intrusion - "hacking" as the press would have it.
Funny old world eh!
BT's usual answer is go on the telephone preference service list and hence block all calls. They can't seem to understand that I don't particularly object to getting marketing calls - I’m a marketer at worst I might learn something as my dinner gets cold. What I object to is anonymous hang up calls.
My view is if I get a call that is not of interest I say no thanks and ask to get removed from that calling list. Once off the list you get no silent calls or actual calls for unwanted products. The problem with the silent calls is that as you can't talk to someone or find out where the call comes from you just get called again and again by the same computer dialler until they actually have staff to field the call the made - infuriating!
The politicians should pass a law making all outbound call centres give (via 1471) a number you can call to either talk to someone about what they were selling or get removed from their call list.
Last edited by Memetic; 15th Mar 2004 at 11:58.