Who to 'complain' to?

[KentPhilip]

I wonder whether you could have a service that has a white list of friends and family numbers, and all the other calls go through to a human operator who can vet the caller and then if ok put the call though but record it and stay online (like a conference call)

[NotAllThere]

...Although he did have someone phoning him trying to sell him life insurance he nearly went for. FFS. Why does an 80 yr old who lives alone need life insurance?...

Wouldn't that be like buying car insurance knowing that in the next few days it's going to be stolen?

[speling bee]

To whom to 'complain'

Blocking unknown caller IDs is a good idea but will block NHS providers. She may want to give your phone no as contact for NHS.

Worth investigating whether the credit card company has any liability under the consumer credit act but the amounts may be too small. Is it time for your mum just to have a cashpoint card and for you to hold credit card?

[Freamon]

Can she do a data protection request to virgin to ask for the numbers of everyone who's phoned her in the last few months? That might help you find out which numbers to block.

Automatically blocking numbers with no caller ID is called "anonymous caller rejection", not sure what Virgin charge for it but it should be available.

[MarillionFan]

The callers are Indian, so suspect the TPS has limited jurisdiction.
I'll get the blocking thing and make sure she knows to press the button when they call - hopefully that will do the trick. Will also trawl her flat for vitamins and see if we can get a refund.

Psst. Does she want some uppers, downers, ketamine. I know a man...

[mudskipper]

Can she do a data protection request to virgin to ask for the numbers of everyone who's phoned her in the last few months? That might help you find out which numbers to block.

Automatically blocking numbers with no caller ID is called "anonymous caller rejection", not sure what Virgin charge for it but it should be available.

Yeah, not sure how calls from abroad come through - sis is in Oz, so don't want to accidentally block her.

Will see how we go with the device we've ordered.

Thanks all.

[mudskipper]

Psst. Does she want some uppers, downers, ketamine. I know a man...

Think she's got most of those in one form or another...

[Zippy]

With the Truecall unit you can block any withheld numbers, but you can give a PIN no to those you want to speak to.

[mudskipper]

With the Truecall unit you can block any withheld numbers, but you can give a PIN no to those you want to speak to.

That sounds good - solves the sister abroad problem. Will see how we go with the unit we've ordered - it seems to have options to block different things - withheld numbers seems to be a separate option to international, so hopefully we can find a balance.

[mudskipper]

They rarely let you ask for specific numbers to be blocked, but I think "stop blocked-ID calls" is a common thing you can have for £0-5 per month.

If they do ring from a number you can see - and she has called ID - you could also buy her something like this, provided you can explain to her how it works. http://www.amazon.co.uk/CPR-Global-C.../dp/B004BTVQ5E

Well, we got this, enabled caller Id, and it seems to be brilliant. She pressed the button twice in the first week, and the calls have stopped. Sister in Oz can still get through no probs. The beauty of it is the simplicity - nothing complicated, just pressing the button - I think she feels quite empowered! Recommend for other oldies!