The first thing to understand about The Telephone Preference Service is that it is a joke.
It is a wholly ineffectual attempt to pretend self regulation by the junk phone callers and a fairly transparent ruse to cloak themselves in an entirely bogus aura of acceptibility. Supposedly, if you register with this service, then about three to six months later, they circulate your number (only) on a file to the junk phone callers telling them not to call you.
But since only 70 junk calling companies (as of 19/08/96) are part of this scheme and new fly-by-night junk callers spring up and replace existing ones continuously, the scheme is worse than useless. It promises little and delivers less. Most of the junk phone callers have never even heard of the Telephone Preference Service.
The other thing which militates against your local sleazy double glazing company from joining the scheme is that they must pay an annual fee to receive the list of people they shouldn't call. This fee varies from £250 to £3000, depending on the size of the company.
And a more "reputable" example: The Royal National Institute for the Blind junk calls for fund-raising. It has made a policy decision not to join the TPS because it 'would cost us far too much'.
Nevertheless, you may wish to avail yourself of this service and it may slightly cut down on the rate of increase of people junk calling you.
You do this by filling out a form which you can get from your own phone company. Actually, it's a one sentence letter stating: "I wish to register with the Telephone Preference Service and I would like to reduce the number of unsolicited sales telephone calls I receive."
Some companies have a Freephone number to get this form.
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0800 398893 - BT 0500 398893 - Mercury 0500 730730 - Cable The Telephone Preference Service 0171 738 9053 |
And of course there were suitable double-speak self serving press releases from Mercury and BT when the Telephone Preference Service was launched in January 1995. The TPS in fact mirrors an older, almost identical scheme in the US which is similar, even to the extent of the same name and the same unreasonable delay before your registration comes into effect.
The following companies (some of which are compilers of junk calling lists, rather than users of them) are "Licensees and Supporters" of the Telephone Preference Service:
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Abbey National plc Acxiom UK Limited AGS Home Improvements Ltd Aluwhite Windows Limited Anglian Windows Applied Decision Systems Ltd Aspen Direct B A C Limited B P H Data Limited B P S Teleperformance Barclays Bank Plc Barnardo's Base Connections Bible Society BLISS Baby Life Support Systems Brann Limited Britannia Music Company Limited British Sky Broadcasting Limited British Telecommunications plc C C N Marketing Limited C N M Limited Calyx Group Ltd Caradon Everest Limited Century Life Churchill Management Ltd CIGNA International S A - N V Commercial Union Assurance Consolidated Financial Insurance Consumer Surveys Limited CPM Intelmark CYBA Computer Services Limited DataCare Datalinx Limited Datamatch Direct Select Ducana (Scotland) Limited Dunn humby Associates Limited Elliott-Medway Fineline Limited Eurodirect Database Marketing Financial Telemarketing Services Limited First National Building Society FORCE 8 (UPVC Conservatories) Limited Foundation & Friends of The Royal Botanic Gardens Grey Integrated Plc Grolier Limited Haymarket Magazines Limited Hermit Consultancy Hoseasons Holidays Limited ICD Marketing Services ICT Europe IMC Direct Marketing Information For Marketing Inpost Limited Interframe Limited Kingston Communications (HULL) Plc L I S (UK) Limited Legal & General Assurance Society Ltd Lincoln National Littlewoods Home Shopping Group Limited Mailcom plc |
Marie Curie Cancer Care Market Reach Ltd McIntyre & King Ltd Mediaphone Limited Mercury Communications Ltd Merit Direct Limited National Geographic Society National Westminster Bank Plc Newsweek International NWS Bank plc Olan Mills Portrait Studios Permanent Insurance Co Ltd Pinnacle Insurance Plc Principal Dynamics Procter & Gamble Limited R R Donnelley Marketing Services Response Analysis & Mailing Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses Salestrac Limited Saveheat Insulations Limited Scholastic Limited Scottish Widows Somervail Computer Services Limited Staybrite Windows Stormark Limited Subscription Services Limited T G Scott & Son Limited TCA Precision Marketing Limited Tele-Connect Systems Limited Teledata Ltd Teledynamics Telemarketing Link Limited Telephone Database Services Marketing Group Ltd The Computing Group Ltd The Decisions Group Ltd The Economist The L & R Group Limited The Labour Party The Mailforce Group Limited The Ops Room Ltd The Plain Truth Magazine The Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Thomson Directories Limited Ultra Windows (Systems) Limited UNICEF United Friendly Insurance Plc Vanguard Windows Ltd Warmerhome (UK) Limited Weatherlite Windows Limited Weatherseal Holdings Ltd Which? Limited White Rose Windows Limited Windowcraft (South East) Ltd World Vision UK WWAV Rapp Collins WWF - UK Yorkshire Cable Communications Ltd Zenith Windows Zurich Municipal |
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