Is There a Way to Stop Receiving Cold Calls?
The occasional random cold call every full moon may not be the worst thing in the world, but when you get called every day multiple times, it means that the situation has become a big problem. Receiving a cold call instead of the call you were waiting for a long time can ruin your mood. Companies of such intrusive nature, have even upgraded their arsenal and they’re using pre-recorded messages that play once you answer. It’s quite disorienting trying to understand how all the new and modern methods of marketing have simply ceased to exist in the same dimension that companies who still cold call today are in. Cold calling may have been all the rage 20 years ago, but it has devolved into a nuisance in this day and age.
Fortunately, there is more than one way to protect yourself from receiving unsolicited and badly scripted calls.
Blocking Numbers
If you’re getting a huge number of calls from different numbers frequently, blocking them one by one isn’t a solution. But if you happen to notice that you keep getting called from similar numbers, the easiest and fasted retribution would be blocking them from calling your number. Blocking may be easier said than done. If you’re using a telephone answering service, give them a heads-up so they could help you deal with this common nuisance. Your phone provider may also provide call-blocking services for free.
Telephone Preference Service
Registering your number with the Telephone Preference Service is free and can cut down the number of cold calls you receive to almost zero. The TPS makes companies that cold call reconsiders calling you since it’s illegal for these businesses to call the numbers registered with TPS. All you’ll need to complete the registration process of TPS is the phone number, email, and postcode. You might still receive cold calls from companies that disregard the law.
Directories
Most cold calling companies use online directories to find numbers to call in certain areas. A quick online search with your phone number can net you the directories that offer it on display. You can contact these directories and ask them to remove your number from the list and they should comply. It’s important to mention that companies that abide by the law have to remove you from their cold calling list if you verbally ask them to.
Reporting Repeat Offenders
If cold callers keep calling you, although you’ve asked them not to numerous times, you should report them to TPS, Ofcom, or Action Fraud, depending on the type of call. If it’s a sales call, the TPS should take care of it if you provide it with the information it needs. Silent calls go to the Ofcom, while the Action Fraud handles scams and other mischievous calls.
Be Careful With Your Number
A lot of forms you fill online for different businesses can give you a check box that determines whether they’re allowed to contact you or not. Just checking the box without reading it is basically permitting them to cold call you for any reason. Make sure that you read the check boxes and avoid giving out your number without verifying that the company won’t contact you for unsolicited offers.
Applications
Since most of the cold calls are transitioning to mobile phones instead of the traditional home phone, app developers have worked a way around it. There are a lot of third-party applications that use huge databases containing numbers of hundreds or thousands of robocalls and spammers to identify whether the call is wanted or not. The app will do all the work for you as it will automatically shut the call down before you even realize it. You can even use them to block other numbers you have in mind, whether they’re people or cold callers.
Do Not Disturb
This is the most drastic solution to cold calls, but it’s the one guaranteed to work like clockwork. Most smartphones have a Do Not Disturb mode that simply doesn’t accept calls from any number out there except the ones available in your contacts registry. Unfortunately, you may miss some calls you’d probably wanted to answer without knowing it until it’s too late. Make sure to exhaust all other options before turning to this one.
The industry of cold calling doesn’t look to be dying any time soon due to their detachment from reality. The good news is that you can always use one or more of the methods mentioned to armor yourself against the hordes of unknown numbers that would love to have your billing information to sell you snake oil or whatever today’s equivalent is.
