Reading Trading Standards Nuisance Calls Advice

Reading Borough Council Trading Standards are advising local residents to be on their guard if they receive phone calls out of the blue, after a local consumer was contacted twice in the space of an hour last week.

The cold calls can be about anything. These range from informing people that they have got a computer virus that only the caller’s company can fix, to offers of ‘free’ burglar alarms with an alarmingly high annual fee for monitoring and call outs.

here are a few things residents can do to reduce nuisance telephone calls:

Make sure you are ex-directory (please contact your phone service supplier)

If you are not already registered with the Telephone Preference Service, join today, by ringing 0845 070 0707

Get a telephone with a ‘caller display’ function, you can more easily chose which calls to answer

In extreme cases, perhaps for elderly or vulnerable family members, invest in a device that blocks calls from any unknown telephone numbers. Search for ‘call blocker’ on the internet for further details

Don’t forget to just say ‘No thank you’ to calls that do get through