Mobile Scam?I’ve been getting a lot of odd incoming calls on my mobile recently. They ring strangely and on the screen it says they are data calls. If I answer them I get modem type noises so I have stopped bothering. I have a very low function brick so maybe they are photographs or ring tones or something like that.
They all come from 01772 208600 so I did a search on that and it seems he same number is used by a rogue outfit called Blue Bamboo in Preston, Lancs. who cold call people to get them to buy upgrades to their Orange contract. It is not going to work this way on me, but perhaps the idea is to persuade me to ring them back. Be warned!
Note: this situation has moved on since the original post was made so do read to the end of the comments before jumping to any conclusions.
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Blue Bamboo contacted me on a cold call and they promised the world and DID deliver. It did take about five days to arrive (I was expecting a couple of days) but I upgraded two phones at the same time and I received everything as promsied – no probelms at all. All the accounts were upgraded accurately.
They are hard to phone back in fact I don’t think I managed to get through to them but as I said they delievered what they promised.
Well Phil, I can only say how lucky you were. I can just see so many places in your account where it could have gone horribly wrong; and you still wouldn’t have been able to get through to them I expect.
Sick of these calls from this Numptie Asylum. Can’t they find a decent line of work instead of bombarding people with phone calls!!!!
I upgraded my mobile phone with Blue Bamboo. I don’t think they are a rogue outfit, i upgraded, got a new phone at a cheaper rate. They rang me, but i don’t mind if they are saving me money ..
I don’t really care how good their product is, their marketing techniques leave a lot to be desired and on some days I have to switch my mobile off to avoid getting interrupted every few minutes.
Does anyone know how i can stop these calls from Blue Bamboo. If i want to upgrade or change my tariff i will contact Orange directly. These people are dishonest. They phoned me and said they were phoning directly from Orange and were putting me on another tariff with an upgraded handset. I agreed because they said they were from Orange and NOT a company marketing Orange products…I then spoke to a friend who advised I contact Orange immediately. I did and Orange have no record of my upgrade. It was then i realised after some ivestigation work that it was Blue Bamboo.HOW CAN I STOP THEM PHONING ME..THEY ARE A NIGHTMARE WHO HAVE A PROBLEM HEARING THE WORD NO….
The best bet is probably to complain both to Orange and Offcom, especially as you have been conned. A change of contract should require a written agreement with a cooling off/opt out period, so it is invalid anyway. Also, and I don’t know if this is good advice or not, just don’t pay the bills. Don’t use the new handset if it arrives.
In some way I would love for them to get through to me and try the same trick – my phone is part of a huge corporate contract and they wouldn’t know what hit them if they tried that on.
Thank you for that advice. I contacted Orange who said they had been contacted by a third party who i presume is Blue Bamboo and i need to contact them to tell them to cancel the contract but do this within 7 days. As usual though, i cant get through to them so when the phone arrives i will send it straight back unopened and deny ever agreeing to any contract as i havent signed anything…There word against mine i suppose..and if they record calls i will say it wasnt me !!!!!!What a nightmare…They make me so angry that a “company” (and i use the word “company” lightly) can do business like this…its bullying..
I am getting 10 – 18 calls per working day from these idiots. I have not spoken to anyone because they are data calls that I have to reject incase it messes up my ipaq. How do I stop them? I drive for a living, I used to just pick up any call without looking at my phone, now I have to check which is quite distracting and dangerous.
I get them in batches as well. Once they start I have to switch my phone off. I would suggest complaining to ofcom. Mine is a company phone so I complain internally—I have suggested a formal complaint but don’t know if they have taken it up.
The number has changed slightly – it is now 01772 208601. I also notice that Cold Calls lists 01772 250055.
Having had a load more failed calls today I rang them back (on the 601 number). They say that it is someone else ringing on their number and they have Ofcom, Orange and the police investigating this and apologised profusely. Considering how long it has been going on I am not sure whether to believe them, but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt for a (short) while.
Hi – friend of mine is getting these calls too. She has spoken to Orange who have said Blue Bamboo is a dealership of Orange, however it takes 28 days to remove your number from a general phone database to stop the calls! if you enter the following Blue Bamboo Ltd Orange Dealership into your search engine on the internet it brings up a PDF -look at the PDF and on the bottom page is a website www . jacszone . com which if you then go into the website and onto the FAQ’s you will see Blue Bamboo Orange Dealership with a recording of the number of hits it has had! Not sure what’s going on here, but hope Orange will get it sorted. My friend is currently on the phone to the police reporting malicious calls. Next step is press and bad news for Orange. Lets see what Orange have to say about it then. I suggest all Orange customers receiving these calls should speak to Orange direct * (malicious calls) and report as malicious and if they do not do anything about it then you will call Police.
* Number removed at the request of the Orange Abuse Department. Please call 150 from your Orange mobile if you wish to report a malicious call.
I’ve been getting these calls now for a few months – they generally ring once or twice then hang up, meaning I invariably miss the call and if I don’t think quickly enough, call them back, probably at premium rates. I would probably be more careful if this was not a company mobile phone.
I’ve recently been getting calls from 01772 208601 but have been ignoring them. I’ve now started getting calls from 0161 4440098 instead.
Well 0161 is a Manchester number so it looks like it is a different organisation. By coincidence(?) There is a T-Mobile shop in Birmingham with the number 0121 444 0098!
No, sounds like same outfit. I rang from a landline and the recorded message on answer said Blue Bamboo.
Hi I am the owner of BLUE BAMBOO I would just like to put every one in the picture. We are getting a huge amount of complaints from people who are recieving repetative fax and data calls which look like they are being made from our company! I can confirm that they are not we do not send fax or data calls, and we do not repeatedly call people, we adhear to all OFCOMand DMA regulations. We have reported this ourselves 3 weeks ago to BT, NTL, UK digital, OFCOM, Orange and the police. We are as determined as you to try and catch the person responsible for hijacking our numbers. BT have had their special investigation department in and have stated that we have not dialed the numbers nor have they been generated on the BT network. This is now completely in the hands of Orange with their UK corporate security division heading up the investigation as they are the only people who can trace where the calls are coming from, and take the appropriate action. If you are recieving these calls please make a note of the time and the date and call into Orange direct * (malicious calls department)as this will help to find and stop the problem. From all at BLUE BAMBOO I would like to appologise on behalf of us and Orange. if we all pull together we will be able to stop this. Orange have told me they should have an answer in the next 7 days.
* Number removed at the request of the Orange Abuse Department. Please call 150 from your Orange mobile if you wish to report a malicious call.
That certainly clarifies the position, thank you Ian. It looks like it could be similar to the email spam situation where the return addresses are forged.
I have been getting these calls for many many months but cannot confirm that they were always apparently from the same number so we will have to hope that Orange and the authorities can do something about it. I will post a notice at our company (who all use Orange phones) to make a note of the relevant details and report them as Ian suggests and perhaps they will be able to track them down.