Been getting lots of these recently – phone rings, I pick up, short pause (so straight away I know it will be telesales) then when it connects I say something like ‘hello’ but the caller puts the phone down.

Happened about 20 or so times in the last few weeks.

I am opted in to TPS – so I am assuming the caller makes the automated call but then sees on their screen that I won’t accept these calls so hangs up and moves on to their next victim.

Is this correct or am I the victim of some very poor crank calling?

it’s because, once you’re connected, it can’t find someone at its end for you to talk to so it hangs up.

So it puts you in the queue to call back later.

and then it calls you back and can’t find someone at its end for you to talk to so it hangs up.

so it puts you in the queue…

and so on.

if it continues you can talk to ofcom they’re really cracking down on this currently – people have been having hundreds of calls over only a few days.

Some systems ring out to record patterns when a phone is likely to be answered, to be used later by an sales bod.

It is Valentine’s week
It’s probably a secret admirer

That’s quite regular over here, caller rings and hangs up before you pick up though with the objective that you ring them back and caller 1 saves a fortune in costs. 🙄

There’s a new clamp down on autodialer silent calls:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6408229/Silent-cold-callers-will-face-2m-fines.html

BUT if you’re registered with TPS already, then it’s likely that the caller is from outside the UK in the first place and so couldnt give a stuff about Ofcom and it’s demands anyway 🙁

i try not to answer the house fone anymore cos of these kind of calls 😉

We got rid of our landline phone over 5 years ago because of unwanted marketing calls that TPS couldnt stop.

We have a landline just for broadband now. No phone on the end of it.

Hmm, hadn’t thought about that – but I am sure on a couple of occasions I have heard someone at the other end (other sounds in the call centre and I am sure once the caller said hello too).

We stopped getting these calls but just recently they have ramped up. Perhaps not helped by my wife filling out some charity survey or other and they are all now calling us.

I spend my life working with dialers. I know this stuff inside out.

The system calling you has placed calls based on the number of agents available, and the chances of someone answering the phone. This is allowed, even if you subscribe to TPS, as it might be a company you already have a relationship with (in which case TPS means nothing). In addition, I’m pretty sure no-one has been prosicuted for breaching TPS, so they might just not care.

What happens is if you have 4 agents and a 10% chance of someone answering the phone, you launch 40 calls. If 5 people answer, the call has to be dropped to some people, this is what you are experiencing (*probably*). If this happens :

The company must drop you within 2 seconds of you speaking, and they must play an information message when they do so (to say ‘this was a call from xxx you can call us back on xxx’). In addition, all calls must have a CLI (number appearing on your phone screen). The company can’t call you back (except manually with an agent) for 72 hours

Dialers have technology that detects answer machines, based on patterns of voice. Sometimes these mistake a real person for a message. This might be happening to you – if so the company isn’t allowed to call you back (except with an agent) for 24 hours

max fine for big deliberate breaches of the regs is £2m. Where I work we take this very seriously. If you believe a company isn’t complying, raise it to OFCOM and they will follow up

HTH

Hugh

Err, could you do me a favour mate and just put your wife on next time? Good lad 😉

:heavy breathing:

We get silent calls from time to time, and others where I get ‘Congratulations…’ in a North American accent. It doesn’t go further than that as I say F*** **f and hang up the phone. PITA.

The ones we get all show up with CLI of “Out of area”. I’m sure they’re some off shore call centres.

Now when I see that on the screen I answer it and hang up immediately. If it is someone I know – they’ll call back.