When silence is not golden

Nov 6 2003 By Peter Jackson, The Journal

There are times - increasingly I'm afraid - when I fear I'm sinking into a Victor Meldrewish state of irritable incomprehension at the world.

It comes as something of a relief then to discover that I'm not alone and that something that has really been winding me up is having the same effect on others.

Some months ago, I wrote about mysterious phone calls I receive at home, whereby I pick up the receiver, say "Hello", hear nothing, say "Hello" again and then the anonymous caller hangs up. My guess was that it was some high-pressure salesman hoping to catch somebody old or infirm whom they could easily persuade to part with money, but who gave up on hearing my firm manly voice.

I acquired a powerful referee's whistle and started giving a hearty blast into the receiver after my first "Hello" elicited no response.

I discovered in a Sunday newspaper report that I am half right - a conclusion you've probably already reached from this behaviour.

Apparently thousands are suffering the same calls, causing anxiety to the old, fearing burglars, causing terror to women suspecting cranks, and causing marital discord among couples who suspect the caller is their other half's lover.

The culprits it seems are marketing companies which use computers to dial up to 100 numbers at a time, but which might have only 20 staff available to speak to people. If there is nobody available to speak to the computer's victim it automatically hangs up.

According to the report, BT's nuisance calls bureau says about 90pc of the complaints it receives are prompted by these `silent calls'.

This strikes me as being about as acceptable as a door-to-door salesman playing the game we used to call "ring-and-run". And I would have thought it was in the interests of responsible companies, as represented by the Direct Marketing Association, to campaign for it to be made illegal to withhold a call-back number when making a cold call.

Of course, I'm not entirely objective about this. I'm still smarting having discovered I've been blowing my whistle at a computer.