Nuisance calls

Written evidence submitted by John Thompson [NTC 046]

Nuisance calls – charges for an ‘anonymous call rejection service’

In my experience most nuisance calls are almost always anonymous. I know this because in an effort to report then I have tried to get their numbers.

Installing an ‘anonymous call rejection service’ would almost certainly cut down a large proportion of nuisance calls, and the UK based ones that did get through would be identifiable for reporting. Clearly this is not an option open to everyone; some people have genuine callers who for some reason want to be anonymous.

I cannot understand why switching to ‘anonymous call rejection service’ should involve any significant costs yet BT charge £54 pa. It would be useful to ask BT what exactly is the cost rejecting anonymous calls – if it is not close to zero then there must be something wrong with their systems – and how they can justify the charge.

September 2013