YP Letters: Practical ways to avoid contact with nuisance cold callers

YOUR correspondent, Mrs Whitaker, asks if anyone can help her avoid nuisance phone calls (The Yorkshire Post, September 16). Can I advise her to invest in a new phone that not only identifies the caller, but also has a directory where names and numbers can be saved? We are able to avoid virtually all of the numerous cold calls we receive each day using such a phone and a little knowledge.

Any calls beginning with 0203 are nuisance calls, as are any that come up as ‘international’ and these can just be ignored; if we answer a call that shows a number and turns out to be a nuisance call we record that in the phone’s directory with the name ‘junk’ so that if they call again we know to ignore it. Anyone we want to receive a call from is also in the directory so that when they call we know who it is and can answer it with confidence.

While these measures will not stop the unwelcome callers, they do make it easier to filter them out. I hope this is of some help to Mrs Whitaker and others in the same situation.

From: Walter Raine, Pennine View, Northallerton.

HAVING endured nuisance cold telephone calls for years, I have the greatest sympathy for Mrs Whitaker. There is a solution but certainly not with the so called Telephone Preference Service. It is useless. The Caller Display facility will not help either – you still hear the ring and have to get to the phone to see who is calling and then try to remember the phone numbers of people you wish to talk to. You can try the local trading standards office – ours recommends an expensive system needing an annual subscription to keep it up to date, which you do not want.

The solution I found involves buying a new telephone for £30 from a well known store. The telephone is made by BT and is called Advanced Call Blocker – and it does exactly that. You do not even hear the phone ring. It blocked over 30 calls in the first month after I set it up. Setting up is not difficult – all you need do is to go through your personal phone book and enter the details of family, friends and anyone else you are pleased to talk to. These numbers come straight to you.

Callers not on your list are asked by the machine to announce themselves. The phone rings and you hear the name of the caller. Put the phone down and they go away – you can block them. Callers who do do not announce themselves are cut off – you do not even hear the phone ring.