Unwanted sales calls

[thedonal]

Well- I have started getting calls from a blocked number- during the day, so I miss them. Fair play- not bothered if I miss them.

I was in for a call today- just an automated thing "Please do not hang up. This is a free call about a govt scheme for removing debt within a year".

I've just had a repeat call at 8:20pm.

I really object to repeated calls like this- especially when they start intruding on your social or relaxing time.

Anything I can do about these? Clearly, I don't know the number- cos it's blocked. But can BT do something about it for me?

[the white rabbit]

Telephone preference list stopped most of mine but its not immediate.

[hindle8907]

just let the call go though and talk to the people on the end of the phone go along with them untill they ask for your bank deatils.
when they ask you keep giving them the wrong bank numbers and name.
They will soon stop calling.

[hindle8907]

and i think u posted in the wrong section mate lol

[Milky Bar Kid]

Can I just ask...why is this in bikes,talks and issues? I am confused??

[thedonal]

and i think u posted in the wrong section mate lol

Well spotted!

>Looks sheepish<

I'm not well OK!!

Any mods that could move this lovely thread would be thanked nicely!

Anyway- here's an interesting link about the subject-

http://www.digitaltoast.co.uk/uk-debt-information-line-phone-call-recorded

[punyXpress]

Get a VERY loud whistle.
Blow hard!

[appollo1]

i love getting those calls.

a few weeks ago i had one from a double glazing company asking what i would do if i had 10 thousand pound. a new car i told the woman, oh we don't do cars, so why ask what i'd do with it was my reply.

anyway she asked if i would consider changing my windows so i said yes. at no time did she ask if i was the owner of the house and i let her tell me about a fantastic deal her comapny had and then she asked how many windows and doors i had.

you could almost hear the pound signs ringing at the end of the phone.

can i arrange for an assessor to come and measure up she said. of course just let me get in touch with my landlord i said. landlord!! you said you were the owner was the reply. No i did not i told her. anyway she says she can still meet up so i tell her to contact my landlord to arrange it.

what's their name and address she asks







Mrs Elizabeth Windsor Buckingham Palace London i reply


don't know what happened but the line suddenly went dead!!

[ArtyLady]

I get these - I tell them I don't need them because I'm multi millionaire :---) :lol:

Seriously though they bug the hell out of me and I have registered with the telephone preference service but it doesn't seem to stop them :mad:

I had one the other day - a man telling me that someone on my phone number had had an accident at work.

it went something like this,

Him: I understand that somebody at your phone number has had an accident and we can investigate into it.

Me: Oh yes? who?

Him: I cant tell you

Me: how do you know then

Him: because we get the information from the Doctors surgeries and the hospitals

Me: Really? that's confidential information and wouldn't think they're allowed to give it out! tell me who told you this information I contact them right now!

Him: We just get given the information

Me: Well what are injuries?

Him: just cuts and bruises

Me: There is no one here with cuts and bruises

Him: Someone at this number had an accident at work recently and has cuts and bruises

Me: No they haven't

Him: Yes they have

Me: Where are you calling from?

Him: I'm calling from London, LONDON! IM CALLING FROM LONDON! <voice now raised>

Me: Tell me who gave you this information

He hangs up....weirdest conversation I've had for a while :rolleyes:

[Bri w]

I tell them I need to ask my Carer before I can agree to buy anything - the call seems to end about then.

[rob13]

I tend to make up an accent on the spot and just play in character for a bit. I'm currently perfecting a Terry Tibs style

[Spanner Man]

Good morning all.


You should all try having a business number, the level of calls is positively intrusive!
I try not to be offensive, as I imagine the person on the other end would get a better job if they could. It's also illegal, believe it or not.

Humerous sarcasm is my preferred tool on such occasions, I have many standard retorts from straightforward sarcasm, to the ridiculous Such as;


Them; Can I speak to the person in charge of telecommunications please? (mobile phone sales call).

Me; That would be me, but I can't use a telephone, for I've lost the use of my arms.

Then hang up immediately!:D One can imagine some poor sod staring at the phone, thinking 'What did he just say'.


Or; Them. Can I speak to the manager please?

Me. He's not here at the moment.

Them; When will he be back?

Me; In about 10 years, he's doing time for murder! Then hang up.


Upon using the above, on one occasion a woman rang back, & informed me that I had been very rude, & that it was an offence.
My response was; 'No my dear that was sarcasm, if you ring me a third time I'll tell you to bog off'!
She didn't call a third time.:D


If you want to be sublime, just say in as an eccentric voice as you can muster; 'I'm afraid I don't need one, for I have a Giraffe', & hang up.


The TPS is pretty ineffectual at stopping such calls, as they can only control companies that register with them. Pretty pointless really.
So until we get some legislation to control them, I guess it's just a fact of life, so have a little fun with them & amuse yourself.


Cheers.


P.S. To any wrong number, just say; 'That's ok, it was ringing anyway' & put the phone down.

[Philbo]

I tell them I need to ask my Carer before I can agree to buy anything - the call seems to end about then.
:winner:

Brilliant, I might try that one next time!

Remember the calls that go along the line of "Congratulations you've just won £10,000". Then they would try and sell you a kitchen with a £10,000 "discount"? An old work friend used to have a great response to them. As soon as the words "you've just won" were spoken he would whoop and cheer like a looney, shouting "Kids, kids, it's going to be OK! We can keep the house! Woohoo! etc."

[maviczap]

Haven't had any in a while since I signed up for the telephone preference service.

But I used to get great pleasure from winding them up, especially if it was a foreign call centre.

Sometimes I'd pretend to be German othertimes I'd answer with a completely random answer

Something like 'Would I like to buy a helicopter,No, I don't need a helicopter thanks'

Or just hold the phone to the Tv speaker and just walk away.

Hours of endless fun

But I got a call from AOL (my ISP) thanking me for being such a loyal customer and I thought I'd be offered something free. But no, all they wanted to do was sell me cheap telephone calls.](*,)

Another reason to get shot of them once this contract expires :smt067

[fizzwheel]

Registered with TPS pretty much stopped all of it.

[slark01]

Was getting loads of automated phone calls, as soon as I answer the phone a machine kicks in with their shpeel.
So i've told everyone of significance, that if they need me to call my mobile.
I've not actually used the house phone in weeks. I may just disconnect my house phone and do without it. Keep the line open for the broadband of course.
Ste.

[suzijax]

Tell them you are going to get the owner of the house and leave them on the phone for an hour they dont ring back

[ArtyLady]

Good morning all.


You should all try having a business number, the level of calls is positively intrusive!
[lots of amusing stuff!]....

Yes I know how that feels! we both work from home so you can imagine 2 lots of these damn calls!:smt067

I have to answer politely and establish if it is a business customer or not but then when I find I've put my paintbrushes down for the 6th sales call of the day I usually lose it a bit!

Not to mention calls from my daughter (who doesn't believe I actually do any work cos after all I am at home all day), my mother, my son's mates - (even when he is at work - duuh! :smt102) -to mention but a few ](*,)

"they're coming to take me away haha hehe haha" :smt119

[Kinvig]

Whilst the above are all hilarious, I'm sure, they don't get to the root of the problem which is that caller x has your tel no on their database, and in 3 months/6 months etc you may get another call from them.

Ask them to remove your contact details from their database. Job done.

If it's an automated number, I pres the "speak to a person" button, then ask them to remove my details.

[Alpinestarhero]

ask them random quesrions like...what shoes are you wearing? Does the person next to you smell of lavender? Is the oxygen content of the room you're working in high enough for you to be functioning properly? Do you have mud under your fingernails from gardening?

[ArtyLady]

Whilst the above are all hilarious, I'm sure, they don't get to the root of the problem which is that caller x has your tel no on their database, and in 3 months/6 months etc you may get another call from them.

Ask them to remove your contact details from their database. Job done.

If it's an automated number, I pres the "speak to a person" button, then ask them to remove my details.

I've tried that still get more ](*,)

ask them random quesrions like...what shoes are you wearing? Does the person next to you smell of lavender? Is the oxygen content of the room you're working in high enough for you to be functioning properly? Do you have mud under your fingernails from gardening?

I would if I had time! :lol: (err should actually be working now! ;))

[maviczap]

Wasn't there a gadget featured on 'Dragons Den' for filtering out these these calls.

Asking them to remove your name from their list DOES NOT WORK in our experience

[PsychoCannon]

I've had friends in call centres back in my school days who hated the job but also got some people very rude to them for no real reason (other than the fact they were kinda breaking the law by cold callign random numbers and lying on order of their bosses to sell crap to people under false pretences....)
But they would tend to take it personally (why you would do this job and take it personally I have no idea...) and put these people on a "sh*t list" to get called more than normal and at the worse possible hours they could manage just to wind them up....so be careful.

My fave was someone who called me about me "orange phone"...on my Vodafone phone....while I was airsofting, scared the crap out of them making them think they had just called up someone in the middle of a firefight and never got another call :)

[fizzwheel]

Asking them to remove your name from their list DOES NOT WORK in our experience

But it should do.

As above no need to be rude to the callers, they are just doing their job, just be polite and ask for your name to be removed off their database.

If you register with the TPS it does seem to stop alot of it, if however you get phoned after registering for TPS. The company ringing you can get fined if you report them. I've had that before and simply said "I'm registered with TPS why are you phoning me and the person on the other end cuts the calls straight off"

Failing that just answer the phone and then put it straight down again. The automated diallers will keep rining you until they get through i.e you need to pick the call up before the auto dialler will register that the calls been made and answered.

If you get rung and theres nobody at the other end IIRC that is also illegal and the company ringing you can get fined for that as well.

When I dont want to be disturbed at home I unplug my landline. I never enter my mobile number into websites etc etc either....

[embee]

TPS+1

Not perfect but stopped nearly all the auto-calls I was getting about debt solutions. Register online, it's free and helps a bit, takes a while to take effect though.

[ArtyLady]

Nope TPS does not work for me at all - re-register every year -still doesn't work :(

We can't ignore our phone because we may be missing our customer's calls.

Also I'm lead to believe that if they are calling from outside of the UK then it is not illegal?

[littleperson]

I've found open the automated ones if you can be bothered to listen to the end then theres an option to push to stop them

If the calls are live then you tend to know cos it doesnt connect straight thru then HANG UP!!!!!!!! before they get you lol

If you've got children old enough get them to lie that your not in and they dont know when you'll be back or do it yourself - (yep done that to lol)

[zsv650]

i usually find **** off does the trick.

[Spiderman]

Nope TPS does not work for me at all - re-register every year -still doesn't work :(

We can't ignore our phone because we may be missing our customer's calls.

Also I'm lead to believe that if they are calling from outside of the UK then it is not illegal?

If they are still pestering you then youonly need report the company to TPS and they will get them to stop it. TPS is a good tool but like any tool not infallable.

And yes, if its from outside the UK the TPS are powerless. However you have to make them see that calling you is costing them money for no return.

Telling telesales that so and so aint in only means they will keep calling to get to so and so, so what to do? Waste their phone bill and try to keep them talking for as long as possible...especially if its one of those that says "please hold to call us back for free" or whatever.

I did once and the girl was "hi, thanks for taking the tiem to talk to us"
me: no worries, i never get to speak to people on the phone, i dont have that many fiends you see"
Gril: "ah well, erm, ok....anyway we are calling to talk to you about visiting duisneyland"
me: Wow, thats cool. whats the weather like over there?
Girl: What at Disneyland?
Me: No, where you are
Girl: Erm, sunny...erm hot.
Me: nice, its rainy here. I miss the sun. The sun is nice. Can i ask you something?
Girl: Sure, sir.
Me: Its nothing pervey.
Girl: Errrm, fine. Good, ok.
Me: What shoes are you wearing? Like i said, i'm not a perv. Just cant picture what shoes someone in a call centre wears.
Girl: Errrr,.... well,, they are just shoes
(at this point i can hear her talking to someone in background..probably asking what the hell to do here)
Me: Nice, what colour are they?
Girl: Erm, blue. But i dont see what that has to do with this call sir. So about Disneyland.
I let her carry on with her speach and then just out the blue interupted her with...
me: You have a really nice voice you know. I can see why they chose you for this kind of job.
Girl: I'm sorry,... what?
Me: just saying what a nice, warm, friendly voice you have, thats all. Sorry didnt mean to interrupt you...you were saying
Girl: errrm, yes (carries on with scropted speach)
Me: (after she finished with a leading question about how interested i was in going to disneyland) So do you do this as a full time job?
Girl: Errm, yes. Well thats neither here or there tbh sir.
Me: No you're right. i just thought if you got to use the phone all day that perhaps one day you could call me back and we could chat like this again.
Girl: Errn, NO sir. I CANNOT do that. this is a sales call. Are you interested in visiting disneyland?
Me: Oh good god no but please dont go, lets talk some more...where in thw rold are you calling from?
click brrrrrrrrr

:winner:

Secret is to completely ignore what they say and keep your own conversation on track, act like you really do wanna talk to them cos you're a sad lonely type and i GUARANTEE you they will never, ever call you back :lol:

[james160987]

call centre worker here, ( trying to find anthor job, but not much out there) used to be inbound calls, now its changed to outbound customers from 1 month ago to 6 years ago ( yes we can have youe details for 7 years)

simple tips and advice:

if we say hello is that mr x and you hang up WE WILL CALL YOU BACK, not because we/i want to, but because thats what the company tells us to do, unless we have a postive or negative answer we will call back another time, a polite, im sorry im not intrested, will get you normally removed from calls for x time ( in our comapny 1 year) - if you say im not intrested, please remove me from your database ( removed permantly- no call backs)

o and for people who like to play games, well were bored at work normally, doing a mundane job, it give us a laugh, but we'l still proberly call you back in a few months,

f off, - well that wouldnt remove you permatly from my comapny, if it was me who called you, and you were just a rude git, id prob stick you down for a call in a few months, :)

[madnlooney]

But it should do.

As above no need to be rude to the callers, they are just doing their job, just be polite and ask for your name to be removed off their database.

If you register with the TPS it does seem to stop alot of it, if however you get phoned after registering for TPS. The company ringing you can get fined if you report them. I've had that before and simply said "I'm registered with TPS why are you phoning me and the person on the other end cuts the calls straight off"




This is what ive done. it does seem to drop the amount of calls and if i ever do get calls i mention i am on the TPS and i would like the callers name and company as i will report them. They normally say sorry and remove details. never hear from them again

[ArtyLady]

call centre worker here, ( trying to find anthor job, but not much out there) used to be inbound calls, now its changed to outbound customers from 1 month ago to 6 years ago ( yes we can have youe details for 7 years)

simple tips and advice:

if we say hello is that mr x and you hang up WE WILL CALL YOU BACK, not because we/i want to, but because thats what the company tells us to do, unless we have a postive or negative answer we will call back another time, a polite, im sorry im not intrested, will get you normally removed from calls for x time ( in our comapny 1 year) - if you say im not intrested, please remove me from your database ( removed permantly- no call backs)

o and for people who like to play games, well were bored at work normally, doing a mundane job, it give us a laugh, but we'l still proberly call you back in a few months,

f off, - well that wouldnt remove you permatly from my comapny, if it was me who called you, and you were just a rude git, id prob stick you down for a call in a few months, :)

I feel for you I really do what a horrid job :( sometimes it feels just as bad at this other end when you are taking 4 -5 of these calls per day.

FWIW I have asked and asked from several companies to be removed from the database politely and it still doesn't work.

I wish that the powers that be (that reminds me I think I'll get on to my MP about it) do something soon about this invasive, irritating (and sometimes distressing) practice. :rolleyes:

[james160987]

normally are data is our own customers from anyhwre in the last 7 years, dont buy databases from other comapnys, but its still just as bad,

[thedonal]

Well- a call came through at midnight last night from a blocked number- probably the same company. Didn't press 5 to speak to anyone- just cancelled it and switched the phone off as I wanted to get back to sleep.

Needless to say, next time the call comes through, someone is going to get "spoken to"! Wasn't impressed.