It's simply a numbers game. These people ring millions of numbers, so if just one or two respond it's worth their while. If a hundred respond, they are well happy!
We have BT Guardian and you have to give your name to be connected. Every night before i go to bed i have a look to see how many calls we have had, sometimes it can be as many as 20+ . Friends and family etc get through ok. If you don't say who you are you are blocked.
Nice silent phone , mind you i sometimes miss "playing" with them
Quote: Originally posted by Jo Parker on 30/5/2019
We have BT Guardian and you have to give your name to be connected. Every night before i go to bed i have a look to see how many calls we have had, sometimes it can be as many as 20+ . Friends and family etc get through ok. If you don't say who you are you are blocked.
Nice silent phone , mind you i sometimes miss "playing" with them
yup, we have a couple of customers a week who dont get their shopping because of BT Guardian. you say the name of the supermarket and it doesnt put you through....
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 30/5/2019
Bt Guardian sounds good, and some friends of ours have it too. We are not with BT, so I'll have to see if Virgin do anything similar.
It's just a phone to buy and should work on any network as long as they can give you a 'caller display' facility.
Got the pre-recorded BT scam call for the billionth time today.
I found myself screaming down the phone "Why don't you just f*** right off."
I know it was to a machine, but, boy did I feel better.
Quote: Originally posted by MrDasherD on 30/5/2019
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 30/5/2019
Bt Guardian sounds good, and some friends of ours have it too. We are not with BT, so I'll have to see if Virgin do anything similar.
It's just a phone to buy and should work on any network as long as they can give you a 'caller display' facility.
Oh right, I'll have to look that up. I thought it was something on the BT line. I do already have caller display. Thanks for the info.
Can't see a phone that does what I want, which is requiring the caller to identify themselves before I answer. What I found when I looked up BT Guardian was call blocking, which I already have.
I sometimes have a little fun just to waste their time and give myself a small pat on the back.
When they kindly inform me they have detected fraudulent activity through my ISP I act all distraught and let them know that the computer has been running slow of late.
They are off and running as they have me get my laptop and ask me to follow the procedure as they run through hoping to gain control remotely of my laptop.
I give all the right um's and ah's as we go along without actually doing anything. A custard cream is my favourite biscuit here.
The usual question eventually surfaces "What is on screen now" I quickly explain the image on screen of a person bent over with their trousers down and in flashing neon lights on their backside it says "Kiss My Arse"
The best response was from a woman that was confused when I told her of this screen and ran through it again with the same result. She then passed me onto her "technical" department. The man ran through it again and on explaining the scene in flashing lights to him, he laughed and it transpired he new my mother quite well.
Quote: Originally posted by MrDasherD on 30/5/2019
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 30/5/2019
Bt Guardian sounds good, and some friends of ours have it too. We are not with BT, so I'll have to see if Virgin do anything similar.
It's just a phone to buy and should work on any network as long as they can give you a 'caller display' facility.
Oh right, I'll have to look that up. I thought it was something on the BT line. I do already have caller display. Thanks for the info.
Can't see a phone that does what I want, which is requiring the caller to identify themselves before I answer. What I found when I looked up BT Guardian was call blocking, which I already have.
Thanks for the info. My current phones do all of that except for the "virtual assistant" function. I don't think they block quite as many calls though. Still not 100% certain whether "virtual assistant" is a function of the phone or the BT line though. Think I must be getting a bit thick in my old age.
Just got to weigh-up whether it's worth spending £70 now, as I have 3 phones in regular use. Mine are Panasonic cordless phones which are quite similar in appearance to the BT4600. They are good phones and all working perfectly.
It's a phone function rather than a line function. Basically you programme in the numbers of your contacts and for any number that is not in your contact list or a withheld number, the caller is asked to announce themselves. That announcement is then played to you when the phone rings and you have the option to take the call, not take the call or block future calls from that number. Obviously you would need Caller Display!
Mine is a triple handset version of the BT 8500 bought for £25 in Sainsburys a few years back. First rate bit of kit and haven't had a single scam or unwanted sales call since I got it!
With our present phones I can block numbers if they are persistent, and that is what I do. I seem to remember though that I can only block 300 whereas the BT one does 1,000.
What I usually do if I don't recognise the number is let my built-in answering machine take it and pick up if I recognise the voice. My friends and family know to speak if they are using a phone other than their own. My caller display comes up with peoples' names I have programmed in if I know them. I also have anonymous caller rejection on the line, which means that any number calling from within Britain that doesn't leave anything on caller-display, doesn't get through at all. It is blocked at the exchange. However, the scammers obviously know about that one as their phones usually leave a fake number these days. I have had 3 such calls today, all from "London" numbers which I suspect were really from India or somewhere so I didn't pick up on any of them. They had the right dialling code (0207) but the wrong number of digits, so obviously fakes. You think they'd at least get that right wouldn't you.