Not all telephone calls that we receive are welcome - if we wish to remain open to contact by telephone we cannot avoid this fact of life. Some calls are rightly classified as simply "Nuisance". There are laws and regulations intended to prevent the practice of making Nuisance Calls - that is what needs to be stopped. Sadly, poor enforcement action means a low level of compliance.
Our view is that very little is needed in terms of new legislation to address this problem - simply a few tweaks, the need for which has been accepted. The focus must be on measures to achieve compliance, including proper regulation and enforcement action by those best placed to achieve compliance. These are the respective sectoral regulators, not Ofcom and the ICO.
Our view is that very little is needed in terms of new legislation to address this problem - simply a few tweaks, the need for which has been accepted. The focus must be on measures to achieve compliance, including proper regulation and enforcement action by those best placed to achieve compliance. These are the respective sectoral regulators, not Ofcom and the ICO.
 | ← This article indicates a welcome move in response to a demand we made some time ago and have been repeating at every available opportunity → |  See "Other bodies hold specific powers which could be used" |
The ineffectiveness of Ofcom and the ICO, along with the mistaken belief that the TPS is some type of "service", as opposed to simply a means of indicating a widely-disrespected preference, leads many people to seek to take avoidance action themselves.
Not only is this unnecessary, apart from the situation of those who wish or need to have a call filtering device, it can also lead to worthless effort or expenditure. There are companies who seek to exploit the problem of nuisance calls for financial gain, in many cases overstating the likely benefit of what they offer and in some cases being engaged in outright scams.
Not only is this unnecessary, apart from the situation of those who wish or need to have a call filtering device, it can also lead to worthless effort or expenditure. There are companies who seek to exploit the problem of nuisance calls for financial gain, in many cases overstating the likely benefit of what they offer and in some cases being engaged in outright scams.
Click to view Whilst TPS Limited is not itself wholly blameless in respect of improperly raised expectations, it publishes a list of those known to be engaged in offering products and services that are likely to be misrepresented.
We recently appeared in a broadcast of the BBC Wales series X-Ray which covered both a scam service and an ineffective blocking device. Both items are now available to view in a playlist →
Our stated conclusions are that:
Our stated conclusions are that:
- Many companies exploit people's vain hope that there is something that they themselves can do about nuisance calls.
- The only way to deal with the problem is for proper standards of conduct and compliance with the law to be enforced by those able to undertake such action.
 Click to listen to item from Money Box | Subsequent to this original blogging, we appeared in a review of action taken in 2013 by Money Box listeners. This included a number of (sometimes entertaining) ways of dealing with Nuisance Calls - perhaps in the hope of avoiding recurrence. The serious point is the further demonstration of the degree of annoyance suffered, as shown by the lengths that people will go to in an attempt to avoid Nuisance Calls. |
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