annedonnelly
Girl from the North Country
- Location
- Canonbie
I worked with a chap who did this but used half-eaten sandwiches, used tissues, etc. to stuff the envelopes. I bet it wasn't a very pleasant job opening them at the other end!
Cold Callers
- Thread starter mr_cellophane
- Start date
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I worked with a chap who did this but used half-eaten sandwiches, used tissues, etc. to stuff the envelopes. I bet it wasn't a very pleasant job opening them at the other end!
BigonaBianchi
Yes I can, Yes I am, Yes I did...Repeat.
- Location
- Iskele TRNC & Mordor UK
some bloke just quoted me £500 to pressure wash my driveway!!
deptfordmarmoset
Full time tea drinker
- Location
- Armonmy Way
The last Indian guy with an implausibly English name to phone me up was instructed to do something illegal with a close relative. I was a bit surprised when he phoned me back to ask in a rather offended way, ''What did you say?'' but, ever the gentleman, I patiently repeated it.
Normal rules governing civilised behaviour do not apply when number-withheld callers start their first sentence with a fake name.
Normal rules governing civilised behaviour do not apply when number-withheld callers start their first sentence with a fake name.
Mugshot
Cracking a solo.
I remember hearing a number of years ago about a chap that worked in a call centre who made a call and was subjected to a barrage of abuse. Although he was used to regularly receiving abuse from people he called for some reason on this particular occasion he felt quite upset by it, so he made a note of the number of the person for future reference. Apparently, if he was having a rough day and needed a bit of a boost he'd call the number and when it was answered he'd shout a very rude swear word (the rudest one) at the person that had previously abused him and then hang up. He said it cheered him up no end.
It's odd that our society tends to see cold callers in a more positive light than spam emailers, even though they essentially do the same job (and in fact the cold calls are more intrusive). We're not expected to send polite replies to spam emails, but we are expected to be polite to the cold callers.
There is no human interaction in a spam email, it'd be odd to send a polite reply. Who knows why the caller is working in a call centre, but it could be me, it could be you
phil_hg_uk
I am not a member, I am a free man !!!!!!
EltonFrog
Legendary Member
asterix
Comrade Member
- Location
- Limoges or York
Back in the 80's the forwarding agency I worked for went through a bad patch like the rest of the economy. Redundancy was not a pleasant prospect as I'd recently bought my first house so on my own initiative I got the phone book and started ringing round companies on the off-chance they might want our services. We got a few jobs but it was hard work. Only the dock messenger got made redundant.
Years later, the only job I could get was answering the council 'help-line'. I was very pleased when the temporary placement came to an end - it was an eye-opener how rude people can be to a complete stranger just because they answer the phone on behalf of an organisation!
WRT cold-callers, I suppose you could say that these are people prepared to take a job, probably one they hate, rather than sit watching day-time TV on JSA or whatever.
We're ex-directory and TPS. It seems to keep us under the radar mostly.
Years later, the only job I could get was answering the council 'help-line'. I was very pleased when the temporary placement came to an end - it was an eye-opener how rude people can be to a complete stranger just because they answer the phone on behalf of an organisation!
WRT cold-callers, I suppose you could say that these are people prepared to take a job, probably one they hate, rather than sit watching day-time TV on JSA or whatever.
We're ex-directory and TPS. It seems to keep us under the radar mostly.
Saluki
World class procrastinator
- Location
- ...Norwich over the water.
What I would really love to know is how do the cold callers know when you have just got into the bath? It seems to me that they only ring when I am in the bath.
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
My Mum once answered the phone to be told "Hello, I'm Mandy, I'm calling from Leicester Fenestration Services", or something like that. Mum said "I don't need any windows, thank you."
Mandy said "How did you know I was selling windows?"
Mum: Because I'm old enough to have studied Latin at school. Goodbye! "
Mandy said "How did you know I was selling windows?"
Mum: Because I'm old enough to have studied Latin at school. Goodbye! "
Lullabelle
Banana
- Location
- Midlands UK
Trouble is, they call late at night when all you want to do is relax after a long day at work, ok that is when we are at home but it is rather annoying, the obvious false name and false mateness. We used to get 1 at work from a guy who spoke dreadful English and no one could understand him, my colleagues tried Hindi, Gujarat, Swaheli still nothing even though he was clearly from India. We just hung up but he kept on calling, he was sworn at in many different languages till he eventually gave up. To this day nobody has any idea who he was or what he wanted. All we could get was that we were due some money... We all have a right to work and earn money and not be abused but sometimes they are easy picking.
"Hello, I'm Ben from the Energy Saving Trust"
"No, you're not"
"Sorry?"
"The Energy Saving Trust is a charitable foundation that doesn't do cold calls. You're from a scamming company with a deliberately similar name intended to mislead me, selling over-priced or in some cases downright dangerous energy-saving products with a fictitious government grant reduction quoted in your inflated price."
Click
There's a number of these around, selling loft insulation, double glazing and energy-saving gadgets. They claim to be the Trust so they seem to be legit if the name is googled. In fact, their name will either be similar or very different with "energy saving" somewhere in their blurb. This is so that they can claim customers misheard them if they get complained about
It's not a tactic that stops Trading Standards but it is one that is used for more than just the EST - they can use names similar to other real companies as well.
"No, you're not"
"Sorry?"
"The Energy Saving Trust is a charitable foundation that doesn't do cold calls. You're from a scamming company with a deliberately similar name intended to mislead me, selling over-priced or in some cases downright dangerous energy-saving products with a fictitious government grant reduction quoted in your inflated price."
Click
There's a number of these around, selling loft insulation, double glazing and energy-saving gadgets. They claim to be the Trust so they seem to be legit if the name is googled. In fact, their name will either be similar or very different with "energy saving" somewhere in their blurb. This is so that they can claim customers misheard them if they get complained about
It's not a tactic that stops Trading Standards but it is one that is used for more than just the EST - they can use names similar to other real companies as well.
