I have just taken a cold call on my mobile phone and while I did not recognise the number, they hung up after just two rings. Concerned that something may have happened and one of my family were trying to get in touch I called the number back.

“You called me” I asked, concerned….

”Oh yes, that would be one of my colleagues……”

The man at the end of the phone then suddenly slipped into his sales script :-

“Yes, we can help you reclaim your bank charges after the recent ruling in the high court……”

“Hold on I replied, Where did you get my number?”

I then found out that recent changes in the law now allow cold calling companies to call your mobile, but they don’t actually know who they are calling. I was informed that they have a machine which works its way through every mobile phone number in the UK, one numerical change at a time, and the lucky person that answer will have the chance to “claim back some money”.

Now, I don’t mind someone making a living but I do mind someone calling my mobile phone when I know that only a handful of people have the number. The fact it is an unknown number will no doubt cause as much alarm for others as it did for me. So is it morally right to pester someone with a cold call, hard sell?

While we are all able to add our numbers to a national database if we don’t want to receive a cold call, in my view we should be made to opt in if we want cold calls and opt out as a default option. What right have these people got to call us, claiming to help us, when all along they are only “feathering their own nests” and trying to make money for themselves. The name of this company, RECLAIM, so beware!