holding the line

[spuffock]

I needed to make an emergency phone call the other day, but the phone rang as I reached for it. It was some scrote telling me how lucky I was to win some junk.. I hung up and tried again, but "the number you have to call is.." Jiggle the hook a few times, try to dial 999, "pound fifty pence per minute..."
I hung up and made the call from next door. When I came back I picked up the phone and the scrote was still blathering.
Since I can't feed the scrote his spiel at a kilowatt through headphones, I would like to know if there is any way to stop these people from denying me access to my phone. Damage to their equipment is of no concern.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I needed to make an emergency phone call the other day, but the phone rang as I reached for it. It was some scrote telling me how lucky I was to win some junk.. I hung up and tried again, but "the number you have to call is.." Jiggle the hook a few times, try to dial 999, "pound fifty pence per minute..."
I hung up and made the call from next door. When I came back I picked up the phone and the scrote was still blathering.
Since I can't feed the scrote his spiel at a kilowatt through headphones, I would like to know if there is any way to stop these people from denying me access to my phone. Damage to their equipment is of no concern.

Presumably you're in the UK?, but you've not got your location filled in!.

There's a government department in the UK where you can register to prevent these sorts of calls - it takes a while for it to work through the system, but I hardly ever get them these days :lol:

Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the department, I registered by phone many years ago - nowadays you can register on the internet.

 

[spuffock]

I know of this service, you have to pay for it in a continuous basis. I already have a box that deals with withheld and unavailable numbers by answering and hanging up before the first ring, but these buggers latch in and stop me using the phone until they're finished. I could watch someone die while waiting. Maybe someone has by now. Isnt that murder?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I know of this service, you have to pay for it in a continuous basis. I already have a box that deals with withheld and unavailable numbers by answering and hanging up before the first ring, but these buggers latch in and stop me using the phone until they're finished. I could watch someone die while waiting. Maybe someone has by now. Isnt that murder?

No, it's totally free - you just register your details, and your name is removed from the calling lists - as I said, it takes a while for it to work through though.

 

[Styx]

I know of this service, you have to pay for it in a continuous basis. I already have a box that deals with withheld and unavailable numbers by answering and hanging up before the first ring, but these buggers latch in and stop me using the phone until they're finished. I could watch someone die while waiting. Maybe someone has by now. Isnt that murder?

No, it's totally free - you just register your details, and your name is removed from the calling lists - as I said, it takes a while for it to work through though.

I think he was talking ab thte bastards on the other end of the phone not the service.
YOu can also repor tthem to OFTEL

 

[mechie]

Telephone calls not wanted?

Maybe you should contact ...

The Telephone Preference Service

**broken link removed**
https://www.dma.org.uk/content/home.asp

I didn't think a UK exchange would hold a line if you hung up on someone.
Oh well; live and learn.
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[Nigel Goodwin]

Re: Telephone calls not wanted?

Maybe you should contact ...

The Telephone Preference Service

That's what I was trying to remember :lol:

I didn't think a UK exchange would hold a line if you hung up on someone.
Oh well; live and learn.

I don't know about nowadays, but certainly in the past the caller could hold the line open - we used to occasionally get a customer ring us at work and not place the handset back properly afterwards, it used to hold one of our lines locked until the handset was replaced. If it was fairly close, and we knew who it was, we would often send a van round to knock on their door!.