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"Paul Ratcliffe" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 8 Dec 2009 13:07:39 -0000, Vincent
wrote:

That's currently exactly what the law is (it changed recently). All
companies and call centres must now display some sort of CLI. I apologise
if
that's what you meant by this anyway.

Define "company". Have you got a reference for this "law" please?

Now I research it, I was perhaps partially incorrect, but:

http://truecall.co.uk/acatalog/Advan..._Withheld.html

"Until recently most call centres withheld their Caller-IDs, but there are
now legal and self regulatory requirements that mean that most UK call
centres now pass on their Caller-IDs."

....and to balance this with what other people have pointed out in the
thread:

"Certainly, malicious callers always withhold their numbers, but many
ordinary people also do this to protect their own privacy when they make
calls. Doctors, hospitals, the Police, government organisations and many
companies routinely withhold their numbers (and it may not be possible for
them to unblock their numbers and call you back)."

So perhaps I was wrong - sorry if I misled anyone. Still, I've had ACR for
several years, and I've honestly never missed an important call through
using it - either by them un-withholding their number or by calling my
mobile. Still, if the call is important, I'm sure they'd be happy to
announce their name/business when asked by TrueCall. Also, if enough people
start using ACR then such companies/businesses/etc may reconsider their
withholding. There's not really any excuse these days as they can easily set
up a "presentation number", that are just numbers presented to the recipient
of the call to identify who is calling - if you call them back it just plays
a recorded message saying what company called. A lot of places use these
now.

--
Vincent

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"Owain" wrote in message
...
On 7 Dec, 18:27, wrote:
We regularly receive international junk calls, but since we get a lot
of genuine international calls as well it's really necessary to
answerthem all.
I did get an additional, unlisted number for VOIP use, but that
started receiving junk calls almost immediately so it would appear
that random or sequential auto-diallers are in use.

Truecall would do what you want - as well as the 'whisper' function it
also has a bypass code so you can tell your callers to press a digit
when Truecall answers and it will then pass the call to you.

And to balance this - TrueCall is VERY configurable using the web interface.
The number of times I've thought something like "Hrmmm wouldn't it be good
if it could do this instead." and found the option there. You can configure
the "press a digit" setting for example to be for certain times of the day,
if you want, so that calls that come in during the middle of the night don't
wake you up unless it's a person who knows your code. Or, you can tell it to
tell them what button to press so that you don't have to worry about people
forgetting. It's so damn cool.

Check out this review on Amazon for a list of all of the features:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R2IKA...cm_cr_rdp_perm

--
Vincent

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Kay Robinson wrote:

On Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:48:31 +0000, Mike Henry
sharpened a new quill and scratched:


It's a shame that you gave in - did you not kick up a stink when
the calls didn't arrive and get them to change their policy? They
weren't denied access by BT really - ACR gives them a recorded
message telling them precisely how to contact you, but they chose
not to redial, so it's IMPOSSIBLE to plead ignorance along the
lines of "we tried but we couldn't get through". Public bodies in
particular should be accountable (ha!) and easier to get policy
changed.

Unhappily, in real life, no amount of complaining works (I did try) as
the person making the call has no other option except that of using
their own mobile. Such systems are set up by the engineers who install
the hardware and software and typically no-one employed by the company
or organisation has the ability to change it.


Write to the CEO (or equivelent) or your MP (if it is a government
office) and get him to get the policy bods to change it.


This means that whatever
organisation has the equipment installed would need the engineer to
come back and change things, probably met with 'the system you
purchased doesn't allow that modification' or a very expensive call
out charge.


Not your problem



It's those such as BT who are to blame with the creation of all those
0870, 0844 etc. calls which make more money for BT and the company (as
they get a cut). Whenever I can I find out the 'normal' number for
such firms, however, if their system doesn't allow a caller ID the
recipient has no knowledge of who made the call.


Not your fault. Write to the person in charge to ghange policy.



We need to reach a tipping point with enough customers having ACR
for them to change their policies. It's been a long time since CLI
was introduced in 1994, I've had ACR since 1998ish, but we're not
there yet.

Fine if you can afford it and fine if you accept that you miss
important calls. I'm just too old and have too many more important
things to worry about. My campaigning days are gone.


It's not about "campaigning" it's about good old fashioned complaining.


On the scale of
how important a complaint is to these people, females are near the
bottom, pensioners lower still and the chronic sick/disabled the
bottom of the heap.



Because these groups will not persist and persist and persist again.
You have to make a nuisance of yourself to get anything done these days.


I could rant on like this forever, there's so much to complain about.
Nowadays we just get scoffed at and called 'Victor Meldrews' :-(


If we were all 'Victor Meldrews' this country would not have the awful
customer service we experience these days.

MC

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Paul Ratcliffe wrote:

On Tue, 8 Dec 2009 13:07:39 -0000, Vincent
wrote:

That's currently exactly what the law is (it changed recently). All
companies and call centres must now display some sort of CLI. I
apologise if that's what you meant by this anyway.

Define "company". Have you got a reference for this "law" please?

Only companies making unsolicited "sales" calls. Companies
(businesses) can withhold their number for other reasons but must not
misrepresent it.

MC

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Vincent wrote:

"Kay Robinson" wrote in message
...
I used Anonymous Call Reject for a number of years, however, it
created problems as and when the use of computerised call systems
became the norm for most commercial and public bodies. This meant
that calls I was expecting from the local authority, pension
service, bank and other firms I dealt with never came because they
were denied access by BT. That any legitimate caller should user a
withheld number system appals me and appears to be a symptom of
this age where firms don't want to be responible.

This is now illegal. All companies are no longer allowed to withhold
their number when calling customers (or potential customers).

Only for "unsolicited" sales calls.

\\\\mc

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In article , Vincent
writes
Now I research it, I was perhaps partially incorrect, but:

http://truecall.co.uk/acatalog/Advan..._Withheld.html

"Until recently most call centres withheld their Caller-IDs, but there
are now legal and self regulatory requirements that mean that most UK
call centres now pass on their Caller-IDs."

...and to balance this with what other people have pointed out in the
thread:

"Certainly, malicious callers always withhold their numbers, but many
ordinary people also do this to protect their own privacy when they
make calls. Doctors, hospitals, the Police, government organisations
and many companies routinely withhold their numbers (and it may not be
possible for them to unblock their numbers and call you back)."

So perhaps I was wrong - sorry if I misled anyone. Still, I've had ACR
for several years, and I've honestly never missed an important call
through using it - either by them un-withholding their number or by
calling my mobile. Still, if the call is important, I'm sure they'd be
happy to announce their name/business when asked by TrueCall. Also, if
enough people start using ACR then such companies/businesses/etc may
reconsider their withholding. There's not really any excuse these days
as they can easily set up a "presentation number", that are just
numbers presented to the recipient of the call to identify who is
calling - if you call them back it just plays a recorded message saying
what company called. A lot of places use these now.

Also on that site:
"most telemarketing companies pass on their Caller-ID as this is now a
legal requirement for call centres that use predictive dialling
equipment".

Err! what is predictive dialling equipment?

BTW users with wired extensions should be aware of restrictions in
functionality.
--
Peter Pratten
Please reply in group only

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On 10/12/09 01:25, Peter Pratten wrote:

Err! what is predictive dialling equipment?

The call centre automatically dials your number before they have
actually got a person available to speak to you, but when they predict
that a member of staff will finish their current call and become
available by the time you've answered ... if you answer "too quick" or
the agent wraps up the call they're on "too slow" they either play you a
voice message or just hang up the line (I think they're not supposed to
do the latter if calling from within the UK).

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"Peter Pratten" wrote in message
...

BTW users with wired extensions should be aware of restrictions in
functionality.

The restriction you refer to, I think, is that for a very small number of
people TrueCall won't work for them because they HAVE to use a wired phone
that HAS to be on a wired extension that in turn HAS to be connected
directly to the master socket behind the faceplate.

I had several extensions like this as my house has a phone socket in most
rooms, but the solution was easy for me. As all of my extension phones were
cordless, I simply paired them with a single base station (I believe any
DECT base station can pair with up to 8 other DECT handsets from any
manufacturer - it certainly did with mine). I then connected the single base
station to TrueCall. I also have one wired phone which I wanted to keep, so
I attached a splitter to TrueCall's output socket. I could then unplug all
of the other cordless (extension) phones from their extension wall sockets
(as they were now redundant), but I kept them connected to the mains so they
would charge.

Another thought, is that as all hard wired extension sockets eventually end
up connected inside the master socket, it would also be possible to
disconnect those, plug TrueCall into the master socket, and connect
TrueCalls output to a new wall socket, which in turn has the extensions
connected to it. That way, all your extension sockets go through TrueCall.

For the very few people who have no choice (for whatever reason) other than
to use non-cordless phones on hard wired extension sockets, and don't want
to rewire stuff, then TrueCall supposedly sell an extension device that
plugs into any extension socket. Obviously this costs more money. But that's
life - you can't make everyone happy, and I don't see any other solution to
the problem.

--
Vincent

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In article , Vincent
writes

[snip details]
The site mentioned the cordless and fixed wired systems but not
connecting via a splitter which I thought would be a solution. As you
had well promoted the product I didn't want someone caught out by this.

Another thought, is that as all hard wired extension sockets eventually
end up connected inside the master socket, it would also be possible to
disconnect those, plug TrueCall into the master socket, and connect
TrueCalls output to a new wall socket, which in turn has the extensions
connected to it. That way, all your extension sockets go through
TrueCall.

My house had the extensions fixed wired by BT to an earlier standard and
it would be illegal to rewire it myself.
--
Peter Pratten
Please reply in group only

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"Peter Pratten" wrote in message
...
In article , Vincent
writes

[snip details]
The site mentioned the cordless and fixed wired systems but not connecting
via a splitter which I thought would be a solution. As you had well
promoted the product I didn't want someone caught out by this.

Another thought, is that as all hard wired extension sockets eventually
end up connected inside the master socket, it would also be possible to
disconnect those, plug TrueCall into the master socket, and connect
TrueCalls output to a new wall socket, which in turn has the extensions
connected to it. That way, all your extension sockets go through TrueCall.

My house had the extensions fixed wired by BT to an earlier standard and
it would be illegal to rewire it myself.
--
Peter Pratten
Please reply in group only

As was mine but when the BT man came around he disowned the extensions and
said they were now my responsibility.

I told him I did not agree as I had paid a lot of money at the time of
install

the problem was in the street so the conversation halted.

Gary