The new polite aggressive sales patter

[tigersaw]

I'm getting pretty fed up with the way telesales have ramped up their marketing to what are frankly possibly illegal methods.
Take British Gas the other day ringing to flog me their electrical and plumbing 'add on'. I listen to the sales patter and politely refuse. They then ramp it up a notch to tell me how much trouble and expense a leaky pipe could mean or the inconvenience of an electrical problem for my family - but of course just one call to them (once subscribed to their recurring direct debit payment) would take all those worries away. Now thats mild scare tactics and I told them so, and not to bother me again - just once more and I'll move suppliers within the next hour.
So, we'll see if that works.
Today I call my insurance to renew my policy. You'd think they would be pleased, but oh no, the lassie has to try and sell me their lost key/mis-fuel whatever add on, which once again I refuse. As with B.Gas, she then goes on to tell me how much these disasters could cost me, and 'do you think you could afford to pay that?' Now this time I asked her for an apology and to mind her own business what I can or cannot afford, and what I decide to be acceptable risk. So she is sorry and we do the transaction. But hey presto, one last shot to sell me another add on before we are concluded,this time for some legal cover nonsense.

I know these people have a job to do, but frankly its getting too high pressure and older / vulnerable people will undoubtedly buckle under pressure.

Esure - you have a complaint in your inbox which I'm sure will result in a standard platitude of a reply.

[Bibio]

i got one of those telesales from India the other day, i was not a happy chappy as someone has sold my details without my knowledge. how do i know this well, my phone is an private IP phone that i have had for yeeeeaaarrrrrrssss and i'm always very very careful who i give my number out to and i don't ever give it out to companies i buy stuff from. this is the first time i have ever had cold calling on my number and i have a sneaky suspicion that it's Motability as ever since i have given them my wife's details and my home number we have had nothing but spam mail threw the door for her, they are the only company with my wife's details. every other organisation my wife deals with know that i am her power of attorney so all mail gets sent to me. it's strange how all the marketing that is in my wife's name is insurance related and only started when my wife got the Motability car as previous to that we got very little in her name for about 4 years. you trust these people with your sensitive data but they don't care as long as they can sell it and make money. ooohhh and weird thing is it's my name on the motability insurance.

i also think the government is at it as before my wife got the Motability car she used to get mail threw the door from motability soooo the only way they could have got her details and knew she was receiving higher rate mobility payments was threw the government.

it's beyond a joke.

[timwilky]

I had one the other day, telling me that BT wanted their number back.

But it has never been BT.

It has been moved to Virgin

No it hasn't

Your on Virgin

Only for internet, not telephone

So we want you back on BT

But I don't want to.

Why not

I don't pay line rental, call connection charges etc.

But you already pay Virgin for them in their monthly cost.

Your not listening,I don't have a telephone contract with Virgin.

Yes you do otherwise how am I talking to you (as if I am a complete idiot)

No I don't I use voice over IP, I don't pay for a line, or call connection charges. My monthly bill is less than £5, how can BT better that.

But you pay Virgin for Internet.

Yes.

Well will you consider BT.

When they can provide me a service.

Yes sir, according to our figures you should be able to get.......wait for it...... 0.75Mb


Yes, when you can provide me with a service call back.

Yep I've noticed too, I dunno what it is but I get the hump when they assume I'm a dead behind the eyes consumer which their training has made us all out to be.

I keep getting Severn Trent water telling me I need to insure my supply from the street stop tap, no I don't, if I get a problem (which there hasn't been since 1937 when my house was built) I will repair it myself.

British gas keep telling my rads need urgent cover too, I probably fit more rads than half of their technicians, so no thanks.

[Sir Trev]

Comparison sites have their uses but now my home insurance is round for renewal I'm getting all sorts of calls and mailshots which I don't get at other times of the year. It must be coming from the comparison site - I cannot believe insurers would sell each other their lists to bombard each other's customers.

Next time BT calls to offer you a "great deal" on Infinity fibre optic doo-dah broadband tell them it's too fast and can you downgrade to dial-up. The last Infinity call I had was trying to tell me I needed the faster speed it offers, and would not accept it when I said I didn't. They get grumpy when you contradict them enough.

[yorkie_chris]

Lol muppets.

My favourite was Npower trying to tell me I should pay by direct debit after I was calling them up to tell them that I hadn't used £600 of gas in a month.

"yadda direct debit, give you a discount, yadda yadda"
"I'm sorry but I lack the confidence in your accounting departments competence to execute basic arithmetic. In short, the sufficient hold on their faculties to run a **** up in a brewery."

It went a bit quiet for a minute


I am just wondering, is it the party line to assume you're an idiot or are they just all cnuts?

[daveangel]

Bloke from BT rang me to try and flog me BT Vision instead of Sky when it first came out, let him big it up then told him friends living a mile away had had it installed and had endless problems until it was taken away and replaced with Sky.

Caller I.D. display is brilliant, you only have the hassle of looking at the phone screen not the drivel and scaremongering that follows.

[L3nny]

Why would anyone still have a home phone?

[Brettus]

because for anyone even vaguely rural, BT still have a vice like grip. No alternatives until cabling comes out this way and that ain't gonna happen. Apparently if I'm lucky I might be able to get BTs 21CN sometime in 2015 now that the government are footing the bill.

none of the providers invested in LLU here so 8mb ADSL Max is the best we can hope for which requires a phone line (yes I don't have to have a handset plugged in but I'm still having to pay for it)

[madcockney]

Originally Posted by L3nny

Why would anyone still have a home phone?

Well you still need to get the broadband to your house one way or another and it is usually better than a dongle that only operate in certain locations. I use my mobile for most calls but still have a phone line to run the broadband and IPT (VoIP) over,