New service claims to end nuisance calls for good

Telecoms provider Fuss Free Phones is exploiting the failings of the Telephone Preference Service by launching a new paid-for scheme which it claims guarantees users will be able to hang up on nuisance callers once and for all on their mobile.
The service, which includes a one-off charge for the phone of £80, followed by a £20 a month subscription, is being targeted at the elderly and vulnerable and has already got the backing of a number of charities including the RNIB.
When users sign up they provide the firm with a Trusted Callers List. This gives it the phone numbers of the people users want to speak to when through their telephonist service.
For its No Nuisance calls service, which is a free add-on, it uses the list to ensure only the people who users want to speak to can call. When anyone whose number is on the Trusted Callers list dials the number for the Fuss Free Phone, the call goes straight through.
When someone whose number is not on the list calls, they are diverted to one of the firm’s telephonists who will speak to the caller to find out why they are calling.
The blurb states: “If we determine that it’s someone who knows you and who you’ll want to speak to we’ll put them through to your Fuss Free Phone. If the caller is silent, an automatic dialler, a cold sales call or a scammer we’ll hang up on your behalf.
“For those calls where we cannot determine if it’s a genuine caller, we will take a message and call you or someone from your trusted caller list to ask you to phone back.”
Simon Rockman, founder of Fuss Free Phones, says the service will answer 80% of calls within 20 seconds. He is working on a landline version, but says technical issues mean it is still a year away.

TOPICS:nuisance calls TPS