How to Stop Nuisance Phone Calls

Everybody with a landline or mobile can probably relate at least once, if not once a day to getting a nuisance phone call of some sort that distracts you from your daily duties that can also leave you feeling annoyed. The issue of how to stop nuisance phone calls is one that many people will consider everyday but then do nothing about. If you are getting bombarded with sales calls, wrong numbers or more seriously threatening or malicious calls, you need to know how to stop nuisance phone calls.

In general there are 4 main types of phone call that fall into the nuisance bracket;

• Wrong numbers
• Sales and Marketing Calls
• Malicious Calls
• Silent calls

Wrong Numbers

The most common of nuisance phone calls, somebody may just genuinely be looing to call a friend, family member or company with a number almost identical to your own, if they hit one wrong digit on the phone keypad you could get a call.

As long as the person calling understands they have called the wrong number and that is the end of the matter you should take no further action. However, if these calls persist you can report the number to your phone provider and the police if you are worried that they are taking a malicious turn.

Sales and Marketing Calls

Most people will have been a victim on more than one occasion of sales and marketing calls that serve no purpose but to annoy you. There are a few ways to try and prevent this type of call, one would be to ask the company calling to remove you from their database and not to call again.

This doesn’t always work so it is worth looking at adding your number with the Telephone Preference Servces via BT home services. A benefit of this is that it makes your telephone number unavailable to companies and you can choose which companies are allowed to call you. Another benefit of TPS is that it gives you a display to show the number calling, if you do not recognise it then do not answer.

Malicious Calls

It does not matter what type of malicious call you are getting, it will be either upsetting, frustrating or possibly lead to you getting angry. If you are the victim of threatening, abusive or indeed calls of an obscene nature such as sexual talk that you have not agreed to then take action straightaway.

If you pick up the phone and the caller starts being malicious do not give them more ammunition and motivation to carry on, simply remian silent and do not interact with them.

It could be someone you know or a total stranger calling, it does not matter, do not give the person calling any personal information that they could use against you such as your number or name, things will only get worse.

Make a detailed record of any numbers, dates and times of malicious calls. This information could be vital evidence to compare with phone records should you have to involve the police.

Finally, if you are the victim of a malicious call or a series of malicious calls, please do not hesitate, contact the police before it escalates into something potentially more sinister.

Silent Calls

As with sales and marketing calls, a lot of silent calls do indeed come from cold callers or telephone centre operatives simply trying to increase their reported call times to their managers. In this instance you should again register with the Telephone Preference Service.

If the calls are making you feel uncomfortable in any way our you suspect it is a malicious silent call, then again call the police. Nobody wants to feel uncomfortable, even if the caller is silent and not screaming nasty words at you down the phone, do not hesitate and call the police so all instances are recorded.

Sticking with these basic guidelines on how to stop nuisance calls should help you put an end to them quickly and reduce the amount of instances you have to deal with nuisance phone calls.