I know from consulting whocallsme.com that this number belongs to Littlewoods Direct. My partner Lou has an account with them that probably spends the better part of its life in the red. This being the case, they are (in my opinion) perfectly entitled to try and contact her.
So having explained who they are and that I accept them calling our number, why am I doing yet another rant? Well it’s because I’ve just received their third call of the day that goes dead when I answer it. This seems to be a recent call-centre phenomena; keep each operator as busy as possible by dialling more numbers than there are operators. Once all the operators are busy, just ignore the phones that are left ringing. This is a pretty unscrupulous way to run a service so of course there’s no mention of it anywhere on Littlewoods Terms and Conditions as it might give the punters second thoughts about subscribing. Then again, nobody looks at Terms and Conditions, it’s just legal mumbo jumbo required for the litigation society in which we live.
By the way, if anyone did bother to read those Terms and Conditions, they may be surprised at just how wide an audience they’re distributing their personal information to. Littlewoods Direct are a part of Shop Direct Group Financial Services (SDGFS). Needless to say, this is one of those gigantic conglomerates that swallows up companies for breakfast. When you give information or permissions to Littlewoods, you give it to all the members of that group.
OFCOM offer some information on these calls, referring to them as “Silent Calls”. According to this page, abandoned calls must not exceed 3% of the calls made. Also the calls must not be silent, a short message should be relayed explaining who called and why it was abandoned. Failure to comply with these regulations could result in a fine of up to £50k. That should cover Lou’s outstanding bill with them!
My outstanding bill with Littlewoods isn’t quite as much as 50K, but having read your blog, I’ve now figured out why I keep getting calls from this number! OOPS!
I also keep getting silent calls from this number!!! 3 times today while in work, its really annoying
Lou’s bill must be overdue again. Repeated silent calls started on Sunday,(Sunday!) and have continued into Monday. It’s about time home phones caught up with mobiles and presented such features as Reject and Silence.
i too am tormented by littlewoods shop direct i ,have recieved 11 calls in 3 day between 9am and9 pm of wich 9 were silent . they are for my daughter who has paid her monthly amount in full but was 1 day late in paying it . i gather this is what has caused them to start ringing , even though i told them at the 1st call that she would not be at this number for a couple of days , they just keep on doing it . i think they treat their customers dreadfully , and i certainly shant be using them again .i used to be a customer , but never again.