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Bin the PPI calls
By Brian Clegg
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| 'Hello, I'm not selling anything, I just want to ask you a few questions…' |
I'm sure I'm not alone in having been pestered with calls on my mobile, telling me that I ought to get compensation for my PPI (something that, as a self-employed person I couldn't have sensibly taken out) – and just as that fad is fading, we will no doubt be hit by loads of calls for the next banking miss-selling scandal: probably Sentinel card protection insurance.
I never get calls like this on my home phone, because I'm registered with the Telephone Preference Scheme. This is a brilliant service (UK-only, but there may be equivalents elsewhere, particularly in other EU countries) where you register you number and all legitimate call centres should take you off their calling lists. It's not 100 per cent perfect. It can't stop those calls from the Indian subcontinent claiming to be from 'Windows' and telling you your PC is compromised. And the occasional legitimate call slips through where the lists haven't been updated – though they then apologise and hang up if you tell them you are TPS registered. But on the whole, it's wonderful. We never get those irritating teatime cold calls about double glazing or whatever the sales push du jour happens to be.
However, I was increasingly getting those mobile nasties. It had never occurred to me to check whether mobile phones can also be listed – but apparently they can. So I will be running, not walking to the TPS website to register. It's quick and easy. You can register your landline, mobile and even business number if you have one (the only proviso is that the business version has to be renewed each year, while the personal version is self-renewing). There is also a mail equivalent, though most people are less fussy about junk mail, which, after all, is less intrusive.
Have you registered for TPS? If not, why not?
Now Appearing is the blog of science writer Brian Clegg (www.brianclegg.net), author of Inflight Science, Before the Big Bang and The God Effect.
Source: http://brianclegg.blogspot.com/2015/10/bin-ppi-calls.html
