It's just worked .

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postman

Legendary Member
Location
,Leeds
Just answered the phone .Some call centre asking me to take part in a survey .

So i asked them had they heard of TPS cos'this number is on it .Could i have their web site so i could browse .

They put the phone down on me .

Brill .
 

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
postman said:
Just answered the phone .Some call centre asking me to take part in a survey .

So i asked them had they heard of TPS cos'this number is on it .Could i have their web site so i could browse .

They put the phone down on me .

Brill .

It's easier to save your breath and just put the phone down without speaking.

Having said that, my son sometimes works in a call centre and has horrific tales of the abuse that they sometimes have to deal with. He seems to be a star performer and regularly exceeds his targets.

I'd rather poke sharpened sticks into my eyes than work in a call centre.
 
U

User482

Guest
I put the phone down, but don't hang up. They sometimes speak for several minutes before they realise no-one is listening.
 

taxing

Well-Known Member
The TPS doesn't stop you from receiving market research calls, only sales calls. This is from the front page of the TPS website:

As TPS registration only prevents marketing calls, organisations will still be able to call you for the purposes of genuine market research.

I used to work in a market research call centre and just hanging up doesn't work because they're allowed to call back. We had a policy where we would call 3 times or until we got a direct refusal. Whereas if you tell them explicitly NOT to call your number again, they're not allowed to. Much quicker and can be done politely.
 

Brains

Legendary Member
Location
Greenwich
I'm on TPS

Still get occasional calls

My object is to keep them on the line as long as possible so that they waste the maximum amount of time at the most cost.
I want the entire speil, always ask every awkard question, and ensure you get the exact name of the company and look it up on the net there and then and read it back to them to ensure it's correct, ask for the name of the MD ect.
Obviously every question they ask, you ask them a question back ("what is your name" you ask same question back), you are filthy rich, have money to ivenst, holidays to go on and insurance to buy.
Finally you ask for the supervisor, if they have not twigged by this time (my personal record is 12mins into the call) then you start to get shirty, either they put the call down or you get to speak to the supervisor, you of course know the company at this stage and relay everything back and point out you are on TPS.
Esentially the idea is to make their day horrible.

It's a shitty job, and nobody has to do it.

I used to work in City broking company where when this type of call came in, the object was to pass the call to the next broker on the desk. A great cheer would go up if you all suceeded in passsing the call to every single menber of the desk (15-20 people). Some calls were kept going for over an hour at a time, an immense waste of time and resources to all concerned.
 
Sometimes I say -
"I charge £30 to accept marketing calls - do you accept the charge?"
That usually sends them into freefall and is quite amusing.
Once one said yes and so I took their details for the invoice but then the penny dropped and he made a swift exit.
 

mr Mag00

rising member
Location
Deepest Dorset
I usually ask how they got the number and then tell them the number they have called is highly classified and a top secret govt dept and we are tracing their number.
 

ASC1951

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
vernon said:
It's easier to save your breath and just put the phone down without speaking.

Having said that, my son sometimes works in a call centre and has horrific tales of the abuse that they sometimes have to deal with.
I always give them a 'sorry, no thanks'. It costs nothing and I've never seen the point in being offensive to someone just to make yourself feel better.

TPS doesn't protect you from overseas sales calls, btw.
 

AndyCarolan

Do you smell fudge?
Location
Norwich
Ive had a lot of calls recently conducting "market research", it appears that if they say that, they believe that they can bypass TPS rules :/
 

Fnaar

Smutmaster General
Location
Thumberland
"Hello... please don't hang up. This call is..." click...brr....

Actually got loads of these automated calls just before general election... seemed to be some government thing trying to get rid of loads of money before the tories got in...
 

taxing

Well-Known Member
AndyCarolan said:
Ive had a lot of calls recently conducting "market research", it appears that if they say that, they believe that they can bypass TPS rules :/

The TPS doesn't stop market research calls, so if they genuinely are just doing a survey they aren't breaking the rules at all. If they try to sell you something at the end, then that would be breaking the rules.
 

potsy

Rambler
Location
My Armchair
I tend to go for the put the phone down method,where as my OH ends up talking to them for ages as she's too polite for her own good,doesn't help that i'm in the room laughing at her and mouthing 'cut them off':biggrin:
 

Spinney

Bimbleur extraordinaire
Location
Back up north
The last one I got was a marketing survey, but said that you would only be contacted by the companies you were interested in. So I answered all their questions in the negative - e.g "would you be interested in switching to Scottish Electric if they could reduce your bills", 'No', "I'm sorry madam, did you say no?" etc. "Would you be interested in donating a small amount of money per week to help starving children..." 'I already do'...

So not directly a marketing call, but leading to marketing contacts. Just the latest way of trying to get round the TPS, I suppose (which I am signed up to).

Reminds me of the 'security survey' call, which ended up with them offering to send an advisor round - who no doubt would have tried to sell me something. This also seems to get round some of the rules for buying things on the doorstep - they make a point of saying that you invited them to call...
 

goo_mason

Champion barbed-wire hurdler
Location
Leith, Edinburgh
If the number that comes up on my phone is "Withheld" or isn't a number in the phone's address book, I just leave the answering machine to pick it up. If it's someone I know, I can hear them and I'll pick up.

Despite being on the TPS, I seem to come home to at least two withheld numbers who've called every day. For a while I tried picking the phone up and then just laying it down, so they'd be talking to themselves. I hoped this'd eventually put some of them off, but it failed to deter the ones who're just running an autodialer and playing you a recorded message saying you've won a cruise when you answer...
 
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