'My father wanted to block rip-off calls, but the call-blocking company is ripping him off'

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Dear Which?,

My 82-year-old father was contacted by a company called Infinity Call Blocker a couple of years ago.

It’s charging him £149.99 - every year. In exchange he gets a new landline phone every year, but I'm not sure if this is really necessary.

When I complained about this to Infinity Call Blocker it ignored me. How can I stop the payments?

Paul Blackshaw, Chichester

Put to Rights

Simon Dicey, Which? Money Helpline adviser, says:

Call-blocking devices are meant to protect vulnerable people from sharp practices, but in this case the opposite seems to have occurred.

Your father might have thought he was making a one-off payment when he was instead being signed up for repeated payments via a continuous payment authority (CPA).

This provides less protection than a direct debit: with a CPA, companies can take payments when they like and change the payment amount without asking first. 

Customers aren’t entitled to a refund for costs incurred if a mistake is made with the payment, as they are with the Direct Debit Guarantee.

You should be able to cancel a CPA by contacting the company taking the payments – although, Infinity Call Blocker appears not to want to hear (and didn’t respond to our request for comment). 

Thankfully, you can also stop payments by contacting your father’s bank or card provider: if they fail to help, complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service. 

To protect other vulnerable people, you could also report Infinity Call Blocker to Trading Standards. 

Better ways to stop nuisance calls

If you're wanting to block nuisance calls, you should start by signing up to the free Telephone Preference Service, which opts you out of unsolicited sales calls from UK firms – although not overseas firms or scammers. 

Most of the major landline phone providers now offer a free service to reduce the number of nuisance calls received, such as BT Call Protect and Sky Talk Shield.

If you opt for a call-blocking phone or device, check what the device can do that the above services can’t and how you’ll pay for it. One of the most effective tools is call screening – asking callers to state their name and business before putting them through – which prompts many nuisance callers to hang up. 

Need to know

• Make sure you're not signing up to a continuous payment authority, if you thought you were only making one payment.
• You can cancel a continuous payment authority by contacting your bank or card provider.
• Many major landline providers offer free tools to stop nuisance calls.

Get in touch. If you've got a consumer rights problem you need put right, email us at yourstory@which.co.uk. 

Please be aware that we cannot help with, or respond to, every email that we receive. The inbox is monitored periodically during office hours, Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. 

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