Yes, you are correct asking in your comment “why is the TPS not working?“, the possible reason is that the “cold” unwanted calls are being made from outside the UK.
Yes they are monitoring the internet, I know of organisations that other companies employ to search all the media, TV, radio, newspapers, courts, the internet, just to get information. It could be just to know what people are saying about their product or company, or like the companies who have been telephoning me, to make sales.
I have heard that there are people waiting in hospital emergency centers, waiting for accident victims to be carried in, and they sign them up saying that they will take the other party involved in the accident to court to get compensation on a “no win, no fee” basis.
Some of these companies even listen in on radio traffic of the emergency services, just to get to the victims before any one else so the victim can sue for damages.
TAKE IT EASY? ME?
I see it as a game, to have fun with the callers.
In my article Did I upset you? Unwanted telephone calls. I mention the fact that I said I wanted a conservatory, but when I said I was on the 2nd floor, the caller got upset for wasting their time.
Another example was when I lived on a boat, a rather large boat, a Dickens Class named Mr Toots, I had a call from a replacement window company who had been continually calling for days offering to replace the windows, so I went along with their conversation,
“Yes it would be good to reduce the heat loss and save money,”
“Yes it would be good lessen the noise, especially as the boat was moored under the flight path of Heathrow Airport.“
The call center just did not ask the right questions, they presupposed that I lived in a house, not a boat with small round portholes made of brass.
When the salesman turned up, he was very abusive to me for wasting his time, even giving threats to sue me in court for his lost time and income, until I said I would counter to sue his company for wasting my time.
Mr Toots, a boat I live on in Brentford, London for 6 years
As a small boy, I remember my father answering the door to a “door-to-door” salesman selling cleaning products and vacuum cleaners.
My father let the salesman make his sales pitch on all the virtues of his company’s’ vacuum cleaner, and when the salesman went for the kill, to close the sale, my father said he already had a better one, that offered even more things, and was cheaper to run.
The salesman was taken aback, and started arguing with my father, saying that was impossible as his product was first on the market, and no other company had anything else like it, and he demanded to see the cleaner.
At this point my father called my mother to the front door, and said
“Here is my cleaner, and it cleans, irons, cooks and keeps me warm at night.“
Like father, like son.