At Channel Five's Gadget Show Live in Birmingham yesterday we came across a stand with a very interesting gadget indeed- one that filtered out nuisance phone calls from telemarketers and (better still) debt collectors.
trueCall is a Union Jack-flying British invention and is the brain child of some ex-telemarketers, so is designed to beat even the best sales team from HSBC.
To hook it up, you simply need to connect it between your phone socket and your handset. Then, whenever you receive a call, trueCall will check the caller’s number against a list of friends and family members stored on the device. If the number checks out, the call goes through as usual.
However, if trueCall doesn’t recognise the number or it’s a silent number, it will ask the caller for their name like your own personal secretary would. The caller will then be placed on hold while trueCall calls your phone.
When you pick up, the device will play back the caller’s name so you can decide whether you want to take the call or not. You also have the option to put the call through to an answering machine, or if it’s a debt collector or a mother-in-law, you can Zap them.
While Zapping someone sounds like you get to use a ray gun, you don’t. Instead, trueCall bluntly tells the person to go away and their number gets put on a “Zap list” so will never be put through to you again.
This little gadget really has been well thought-out with different scenarios all accounted for. If a friend calls from a new phone number, you can just press * at any time during the call to add them to your friends list, so they come straight through next time and don’t have to wait.
Another highlight of this device is that you can sign-up to the trueCall internet control panel to see a complete record of calls made to your phone.
Apart from the obvious use of filtering out telemarketers, trueCall can also act as your personal assistant if you run a small business or work from home. It will also filter out fax calls, number scan calls and annoying recorded message calls.
There is also the ability to pop in a SD memory card into the device to record all of your conversations which can be handy for any disputes over products or services you’ve bought.
For all this, you will be set back a bit with the £97.50 price tag, but if you’ve got someone hassling you, or you seem to be on every bank’s sales list it may just be a worthy investment.
We think it’s a pretty nifty gadget idea and one that has covered all bases so you’ll never again have to speak to a telemarketer when you’re in the middle of watching Home and Away with a cup of tea and a bickie.
To find out more, check out the trueCall website.
5 thoughts on “The Gadget Show Live: trueCall, Stops Nuisance Phone Calls”
a brilliant tip from my own days as a telemarketer- we’re all humans, and we hate the job as much as you hate getting the call, and if you’re rude you WILL be put on the harshest call back available.
If you just say ‘Thank you for the call, but I’m really not interested. Can I be taken off your lists please? Thank you goodbye’ you’ll be taken off and treated nicely.
Failing that join the telephone protection service and telemarketers cannot get hold of your number.
/rant
nice gadget though- I like the ability to filter out aquaintances you really don’t want to talk to! ;)
Good tips on how not to annoy the annoying telemarketer :) I hated when they started calling on Saturdays because you wouldn’t think they would work on weekends- sneakier and sneakier…
I love telemarketer :) as I have no one to ring me. I remember once I wanted to borrow 30 cents to ring a friend and was given 60 cents and told to ring them all……
Far too expensive even if it is useful. Plus many aspects of its functionality can be cheaper with Caller ID and other BT services. People need to educate themselves to the TPS service and stop all sales morons. I would consider buying this if it was half that price.