I know why Antoinette feels aggrieved though - BT use the 'not us, we're
only the middle man' excuse far too often.
I received 0800 REVERSE call on a Sunday evening, heard the electronic
voice announcing the call. Couldn't make out the name of the caller, but as
I'm ex-directory and careful about who has my number, assumed it was
someone I knew who needed to contact my urgently from a payphone and
accepted the call.
Two or more teenage boys screaming obscenities & making death threats. Hung
up, dialled 1471 to get the number and rang the Police.
Constable turned up half an hour later, gave me crime number and told me
that he couldn't investigate as the DPA prevents getting subscriber details
from BT. I asked him whether making death threats was a crime - he agreed
and stated that so is making obscene calls, but that BT investigated these
not the Police.
Checked the 'white pages' - load of guff about how BT & Police work
together to combat offensive calls and how BT work with subscribers to
block / prevent repetition. Rang the number given, recorded message as
service only available 10 - 5 from Mon to Fri, gave up!
Realised when the bill came in I'd been charged almost 3 quid to be abused
so wrote to BT to complain.
Their response - they get paid a very small handling fee by 0800 REVERSE
and the bulk of that charge on my bill is passed on, so I have to contact
0800 REVERSE direct for a refund. Too much effort / expense for £3 so gave
up again - already further out of pocket for paper & ink & stamp!
Kirsty E Gray
Access to Information Advisor
Commission for Social Care Inspection
Note: comments for discussion and debate only and do not necessarily
reflect the corporate position of CSCI nor constitute legal advice.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
available to the world wide web community at large at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
If you wish to leave this list please send the command
leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
All user commands can be found at : -
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|