Cold Callers

[chriss2.0]

id love to put siri on the other end of the line, that would be sooo funny!

hmm, gaffa taping a tire to a envilope, Genius, i may do that, iv got a 30lb block of metal somewhere

 

[cd365]

A lot of years ago I moved into a new house (well new to me) and I was plagued by a regular call for a double glazing company asking for the previous occupant did I want a conservatory. I informed him that I was the new occupant and did not need nor want a conservatory. After about half a dozen calls I was really fed up of them, the next time they called my response was “he’s dead, why do you keep calling him?”, they never bothered again.

My response now to cold callers after their opening spiel is “for legal reasons I have to inform you that this call is being recorded and traced, are are happy to continue with the call?”. Every one of them hangs up on me straight away.

 

[mr_cellophane]

I never give out my true mobile number to business or websites etc, instead I give them my YAC Personal number.

070 numbers - those favoured by Nigerian scammers. I would never ever call one. I am surprised you get many calls.

 

[Spinney]

Got one of those calls about 'your computer is running slow', kept up the thick computer user act for 10 minutes, until they explained that although my computer appeared to be working 'externally' it was not working 'internally' because of all the viruses. At that point I asked if they couldn't get a better script, the woman sounded a bit put out at being called a liar, and had rung off by the time I finished a 60 second rant...
At least that was 10 minutes of not trying to defraud pensioners/the gullible...

 

[goo_mason]

I'm proper using that one

Something advocated by Mark Thomas that I'm adopting is returning spam pre-paid envelopes stuffed with as much other spam, takeaway menus and virgin broadband leaflets as you can find.

The spammers pay for the delivery, ok, as a bonus of course, the money goes into the Post Office so supporting its dwindling buiseness. Everyone's a winner.

I once wrapped a huge pile of spam mail up with a few telephone books / Thomsons Local Directories and sent it back via a persistent spam mailer's Freepost address. The bill they'd have been landed with for it would have been satisfyingly huge

 

[goo_mason]

I've been TPS registered for well over 10 years, but get 2-3 calls a day (which I let my answering machine pick up every time). I used to answer them but got fed up of them all using the 'this is a survey, which is exempt from the TPS' line to avoid the rules. They still proceeded to use my answers to try to sell me stuff though, so now I just don't bother answering.

 

[ianrauk]

My response now to cold callers after their opening spiel is “for legal reasons I have to inform you that this call is being recorded and traced, are are happy to continue with the call?”. Every one of them hangs up on me straight away.

I have just used this on a Indian call centre cold caller - result = instant hang up

 

[Andy_R]

This has found a place next to my landline. 'Tis very loud.

 

[postman]

I have been pestered this past two weeks from a chinese lady,saying she is from Virgin.She has called twice today despite me talking to her last week,and telling her i was not the account holder.She has no need to know why.She asked for the two letters of our password for the account.i did not give them,why?because i Googled the number and came up with page after page about her. One entry was from October 2010.I have informed Virgin but i have no idea if they will stop it.Let her ring i will just ignore her.

 

[welsh dragon]

We go through waves of calls then nothing, then another wave. I pick up the phone and someone says they're name is george or robert. Clearly that is not they're name.

I shout no thank you, slam the phone down, then pick it up and slam it down 2 or 3 times. This makes me feel better, but MR Dragon gives me the look. The look is the one that all women will recognise.

 

[Leaway2]

There is often a 5 second delay while the call is allocated to a free agent. Its usually enough time to put the phone down. I am in the TPS scheme, but of late I am still getting calls.
I often do the "wait a minute, I'll just get him", and lay the phone down.
The notion that many people are employed in call centres does not hold water. Yes they may be big employers, but most are answering customer calls, not making calls.

 

[Cygnus]

I signed up for the TPS and it worked for a short time but I started getting them again. I've now signed up to anonymous caller rejection, that has filtered out quite a lot, now I only get just a few and I let them go to answerphone. If I don't recognize the number then I let it go straight to answerphone.

 

[cd365]

I have just used this on a Indian call centre cold caller - result = instant hang up

Works a treat doesn't it

 

[Arch]

My grandad used to do that!

Hats off to him. One of those unsung jobs people would miss pretty quickly if no one did it.

 

[Leedsbusdriver]

My landline and mobile are registered with TPS and that seems to keep away most unwanted calls. It takes a good few weeks to kick in though.

The best thing I've seen for landlines is TrueCall, although too expensive for me at @£100.

I never give out my true mobile number to business or websites etc, instead I give them my YAC Personal number. This is free for me, lets me redirect to other mobiles or landlines, and gives me free voice message to email notifications. If I do get a cold call on that number I'm happy to keep them talking in the knowledge that it's racking up a charge to them of 60p per minute.

GC

Think i have mentioned this on here before.But get a call blocker phone,they are great for blocking cold callers and international callers.
You do need caller ID activated though.