If you are in the UK and receive unsolicited post, phone calls or faxes there are several services you can sign up with to reduce these unwanted disturbances to your life.
There is the telephone preference service, the fax preference service, and the mailing preference service. There is also a baby mailing preference service if you receive baby related mailings. They are all free and run by the same people.
I’d recommend signing up the telephone, fax, and mailing preference service. Sign up for the fax one even if you don’t have a fax – if you get silent calls, or calls where you hear beeps then it may be a fax machine calling you.
Since signing up several years ago the amount of junk mail and calls that I’ve received has dramatically reduced.
- Telephone preference service
- Mailing preference service
- Fax preference service
- Baby mailing preference service
Free caller ID
If you get your telephone service from BT then you can sign up for free caller ID. You’ll need a phone which supports this feature. Just sign up to the free ‘BT Privacy at Home‘ service. Caller ID is usually £5.25/quarter so this gets you a premium service for free.
It is too good to be true, I think. As you say they are ment to “reduce” the unwanted calls, post etc, they cannot guarantee that your number will not be used for marketing calls. Here it say:
“If you are happy to receive telemarketing calls from some companies but not others, contact the companies who you do not wish to hear from and ask them to remove your details from their call lists. All companies – including charities and voluntary organisations – are required to respect your wishes.” So it is only a wish that could but must not be respected…