COLD CALLS
- Stanley
- Global Moderator
- Posts: 90856
- Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 12:01
- Location: Barnoldswick. Nearer to Heaven than Gloria.
COLD CALLS
I'm sure we are all getting more unsolicited calls at the moment. I have been subject to the usual insulation offers and this morning had two calls from the 'Worker's Office' informing me I had a claim against my employer for various injuries. The favourite at the moment seems to be ear damage from excessive noise. No claim, no fee. Guess what my response was.....
Stanley Challenger Graham
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Re: COLD CALLS
Pardon?Stanley wrote:The favourite at the moment seems to be ear damage from excessive noise. No claim, no fee. Guess what my response was.....
Kev
Stylish Fashion Icon.
Stylish Fashion Icon.
Re: COLD CALLS
I had three calls off that same company yesterday and two from them today, I don't think they will be calling me back soon after I told them where to goStanley wrote:I'm sure we are all getting more unsolicited calls at the moment. I have been subject to the usual insulation offers and this morning had two calls from the 'Worker's Office' informing me I had a claim against my employer for various injuries. The favourite at the moment seems to be ear damage from excessive noise. No claim, no fee. Guess what my response was.....
Doc
Site Administrator
Chief Stoker - Royal Navy (Retired)
Re: COLD CALLS
I just tell them to remove my number from their data base. I am sure there is a number you can call to stop unsolicited calls.
Say only a little but say it well.
- PanBiker
- Site Administrator
- Posts: 16558
- Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 13:07
- Location: Barnoldswick - In the West Riding of Yorkshire, always was, always will be.
Re: COLD CALLS
I find that speaking in Polish or Russian can often help with the cold callers. If you detect the classic sign of a delay before they start their pitch, answering in one of the forementioned languages normally shortens the exchange. I hasten to add that I don't speak either but it's very good fun making it up!
Ian
Re: COLD CALLS
Sometimes you can wind them up and have a bit of fun, occasionally I have started the conversation asking them stupid questions like if they would like to sign up to my East German pre-1950 Film Club before I listen to their pitch, quite often they just hand up.
Doc
Site Administrator
Chief Stoker - Royal Navy (Retired)
- catgate
- Regular User
- Posts: 175
- Joined: 24 Jan 2012, 11:23
- Location: Just over in that corner -->
- Contact:
Re: COLD CALLS
The best way to deal with them, that I have found, is to just keep them on line, by talking any sort of nonsense that might be faintly plausible. Sooner or later they realise what is happening and then ring off....with a nice addition to their 'phone bill.
Re: COLD CALLS
As I once mentioned long ago and in a faraway place (the old OGFB website) I just say “hang on a minute, there’s someone at the door” then I leave them waiting while I go off and do other things. Apparently they aren’t supposed to hang up first.
We don’t get many cold calls now as we’re signed up to the TPS (free) although call centres from foreign countries aren’t bound by it.
http://www.tpsonline.org.uk
It’s the sister organisation to the Mail Preference Service.
We don’t get many cold calls now as we’re signed up to the TPS (free) although call centres from foreign countries aren’t bound by it.
http://www.tpsonline.org.uk
It’s the sister organisation to the Mail Preference Service.
Re: COLD CALLS
I'm registered with TPS and MPS but I still get a small number of cold calls and junk mail.
Apart from wasting their time, when I'm able - I usually ask can I have their details and once I have them, tell them that as I'm registered with the TPS they will now be reported for comitting an offence......cue rapid hang up or sometimes a grovelling apology.......which doen't stop me reporting them!
The junk mail just goes straight into the recycling bin.
I'm a bit annoyed that you have to register online with the TPS, I'm aware of a couple on elderly persons who do not have 'puters who need to register.......
Anyone had the "microsoft engineer" ring them to say that you have a serious virus on your 'puter.... ....???
Apart from wasting their time, when I'm able - I usually ask can I have their details and once I have them, tell them that as I'm registered with the TPS they will now be reported for comitting an offence......cue rapid hang up or sometimes a grovelling apology.......which doen't stop me reporting them!
The junk mail just goes straight into the recycling bin.
I'm a bit annoyed that you have to register online with the TPS, I'm aware of a couple on elderly persons who do not have 'puters who need to register.......
Anyone had the "microsoft engineer" ring them to say that you have a serious virus on your 'puter.... ....???
Saluton. Mi estas fervojistino, kaj vi?
visit http://www.ipernity.com/doc/312383/album
to see what has been done! Perhaps we can do something for you?
visit http://www.ipernity.com/doc/312383/album
to see what has been done! Perhaps we can do something for you?
Re: COLD CALLS
Yes, I get cold calls. There's always a pause, then they start going on about something or other. I just say "sorry, I'm not interested" and put the phone down. I notice they usually start saying "could I interest you in such and such" again I'd say "no you can't, goodbye".
- Stanley
- Global Moderator
- Posts: 90856
- Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 12:01
- Location: Barnoldswick. Nearer to Heaven than Gloria.
Re: COLD CALLS
Little doubt that there are a lot of desperate companies out there trying to get money out of us and that probably explains the frequency of calls of late. I heard a bloke talking about Face book this morning on the news and he was saying he was visiting a marketing company and they showed him how, with one click of a button they could extract from Face book over 7,000 names of people who had expressed a liking for a particular brand of biscuit. Contact information like this is invaluable to the marketeers, hence the current vogue for Nectar points. I avoid them like the plague and this is why I never use Face book, Twitter or similar sites and never walk round with a mobile phone switched on advertising my location to the world. George Orwell ('1984') didn't predict the half of it! Big Brother is alive and well.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
- Stanley
- Global Moderator
- Posts: 90856
- Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 12:01
- Location: Barnoldswick. Nearer to Heaven than Gloria.
Re: COLD CALLS
Definitely an increase in the 'your computer has a problem' scam over the last few days. Paul Lewis has been drawing attention to this and the 'wine investment' schemes. Some people have lost hundreds of thousand of pounds....
Stanley Challenger Graham
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
- EileenDavid
- Avid User
- Posts: 887
- Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 13:12
Re: COLD CALLS
This is a nuisance. We have also put our number on the TPS and the MPS I have also registered my mobile with them as it would seem the pests have now bought mobile phone register. The occasional one slips through. BT say that they have no control over the overseas callers. We just put the phone down it seems rude but they are rude for disturbing us. Eileen
- Stanley
- Global Moderator
- Posts: 90856
- Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 12:01
- Location: Barnoldswick. Nearer to Heaven than Gloria.
Re: COLD CALLS
Best policy Eileen. Manners doesn't come into it.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
- PanBiker
- Site Administrator
- Posts: 16558
- Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 13:07
- Location: Barnoldswick - In the West Riding of Yorkshire, always was, always will be.
Re: COLD CALLS
Just had five minutes of excellent fun with a gent who wanted to see if I qualified for a new gas boiler. Before he could launch into his script I thanked him for his call and told him it was his lucky day adding that he had called on the last day of my exclusive offer of a new bathroom suit for his house. All I required from him was his name, address and telephone number and bank account details, I even gave him the option of paying by credit card. As extra incentive to take me up on my offer I told him that as it was the last day of my promotion I would only debit his card or bank account by £25,000.00 instead of the normal price of £30K. He had to complete the transaction on the phone though in order to qualify.
Strangely enough he didn't take me up on my offer and rang off.
Strangely enough he didn't take me up on my offer and rang off.
Ian
- Stanley
- Global Moderator
- Posts: 90856
- Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 12:01
- Location: Barnoldswick. Nearer to Heaven than Gloria.
Re: COLD CALLS
I just ignored him....
Stanley Challenger Graham
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Re: COLD CALLS
That's wicked, Ian...but how satisfying!
When we were selling science books I had a cold call from someone selling double glazing. I told him I already had it but tried to interest him in buying a book on fish oil. He was so surprised and intrigued that we had a conversation about fish oil before he finally declined!
When we were selling science books I had a cold call from someone selling double glazing. I told him I already had it but tried to interest him in buying a book on fish oil. He was so surprised and intrigued that we had a conversation about fish oil before he finally declined!
Nullius in verba: On the word of no one (Motto of the Royal Society)
- Stanley
- Global Moderator
- Posts: 90856
- Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 12:01
- Location: Barnoldswick. Nearer to Heaven than Gloria.
Re: COLD CALLS
I always feel so sorry for the call centre operatives who are forced by economic circumstance to work as operators. Not a lot of job satisfaction or potential to develop in that trade!
Stanley Challenger Graham
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Re: COLD CALLS
Whenever I received a cold call in the past I used to worry that if I wasn't polite to them that they would say that I had accepted their offer just to get back at all the people that had said no and been rude to them ( I would be the straw that broke the camels back). Crazy I know. Anyway I haven't had one since giving up my landline phone.
I also have a Do Not Knock sign at my front window, but that doesn't stop charities or religious callers, it's only for business callers.
I also have a Do Not Knock sign at my front window, but that doesn't stop charities or religious callers, it's only for business callers.
I know I'm in my own little world, but it's OK... they know me here.
- Stanley
- Global Moderator
- Posts: 90856
- Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 12:01
- Location: Barnoldswick. Nearer to Heaven than Gloria.
Re: COLD CALLS
There has been a problem here Cath recently because fund raising businesses working for charities have been using some very questionable tactics reminiscent of the worst cold callers. Bullying, harassment and what amounts in some cases to persecution. The targets are often people who have already donated because their details are known.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Re: COLD CALLS
It's as well to remember that the Telephone Preference Service only applies to sales calls, and not to surveys etc. Most of these are spurious, but some are from genuine market research companies, who will disclose their details for checking.
I still find them largely objectionable, and since they are not allowed to hang up, you can waste a bit if their time (and yours) if you're in the mood.
I still find them largely objectionable, and since they are not allowed to hang up, you can waste a bit if their time (and yours) if you're in the mood.
Born to be mild
Sapere Aude
Ego Lego
Preferred pronouns - Thou, Thee, Thy, Thine
My non-working days are Monday - Sunday
Sapere Aude
Ego Lego
Preferred pronouns - Thou, Thee, Thy, Thine
My non-working days are Monday - Sunday
- Stanley
- Global Moderator
- Posts: 90856
- Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 12:01
- Location: Barnoldswick. Nearer to Heaven than Gloria.
Re: COLD CALLS
I regard 'surveys' as nuisance calls. They want my time for nothing......
Stanley Challenger Graham
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Re: COLD CALLS
And most of the surveys aren't much use anyway, even the genuine ones, as shown in that article by the BBC head of statistics to which I posted a link.
Todays Telegraph, `The kingpins who get rich from deluge of nuisance calls' LINK
Todays Telegraph, `The kingpins who get rich from deluge of nuisance calls' LINK
Nullius in verba: On the word of no one (Motto of the Royal Society)
- Stanley
- Global Moderator
- Posts: 90856
- Joined: 23 Jan 2012, 12:01
- Location: Barnoldswick. Nearer to Heaven than Gloria.
Re: COLD CALLS
The thing that strikes me is the similarity between the regulatory efforts to control these people with those used for the bankers. Don't bother with fines, bang the principals up in gaol, they will then think twice before doing it again....
Stanley Challenger Graham
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net
"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!
Re: COLD CALLS
*bump*
First point - I am registered with the TPS, and have been for years.
which seems toothless as it can do nowt about the overseas call centres, or even some of the home-grown pests.
Secondly, the call centres seem to work in waves, both overseas and home-grown versions.
It has got to the point I rarely answer "international" unless I'm expecting a call.
However, the "withheld number" is another problem.
I tend to answer these as the care system looking after my 99 (almost) year old father has a number of parts, several of which use switchboards which withhold the numbers - so I can't ignore calls. Anything I don't want gets short shrift !
Just recently I've had a few calls from representatives (call-centre based, I can hear the typical background noises) of the "telephone preference management system" wanting me to subscribe to their service.
That's a scam - registering with the tps is free ...
Last time they called I asked; loudly, repeatedly and politely; to speak to the call centre supervisor. they hung up !
First point - I am registered with the TPS, and have been for years.
which seems toothless as it can do nowt about the overseas call centres, or even some of the home-grown pests.
Secondly, the call centres seem to work in waves, both overseas and home-grown versions.
It has got to the point I rarely answer "international" unless I'm expecting a call.
However, the "withheld number" is another problem.
I tend to answer these as the care system looking after my 99 (almost) year old father has a number of parts, several of which use switchboards which withhold the numbers - so I can't ignore calls. Anything I don't want gets short shrift !
Just recently I've had a few calls from representatives (call-centre based, I can hear the typical background noises) of the "telephone preference management system" wanting me to subscribe to their service.
That's a scam - registering with the tps is free ...
Last time they called I asked; loudly, repeatedly and politely; to speak to the call centre supervisor. they hung up !
Saluton. Mi estas fervojistino, kaj vi?
visit http://www.ipernity.com/doc/312383/album
to see what has been done! Perhaps we can do something for you?
visit http://www.ipernity.com/doc/312383/album
to see what has been done! Perhaps we can do something for you?