New way of dealing with telesales callers

[rodgy-dodge]

this is what works for me...

ring ring...ring ring...click

"hello can I speak to mrs Thompson Please"

me: "hello"

"hello can I speak with Mrs Thompson please"

me: "hello"

"hello is that Mrs Thompson?"

me "hell-O"

"hello Mrs Thompson"

Me: silent....

Punjabi discushions going on in background.....

"the other person has cleared"

or

ring ring...ring ring....

"hello can i speak with mrs thompson please"

me: "just a moment" hold the phone a while

me: "your call is very important to us please hold"

leave for ten minutes usually the other person has cleared


I've registered with TPS but still get these calls

 

[PpPete]

[quote name='swee'pea99' timestamp='1308347298' post='1712898']
Spike Milligan used to love doing this kind of thing in The Goons. You'd hear a knock, followed by a lock being unlocked...followed by another lock being unlocked...followed by another...and another....and another.......till finally, a creaking 'door opening noise', and Harry Secombe saying: 'Mr Smith?' 'No.' and a door slamming. Secombe: 'Damn. It's next door.'


[/quote]

There really ought to be a market for a phone with features built in for this.

An "unwanted caller" button - followed by a choice of recordings 0-9 of varying degrees of lunacy from the receding footsteps to full-on Goon Show. For best effect of course it would also turn on the speaker so you could listen for puzzlement at the other end.

I do feel sorry for the call-centre workers, but a careful choice of recordings could even brighten up their dull days.

 

[danphoto]

Can you imagine what a pisser that must be for your MIL? There she is working in the call centre and your number comes out of the hat yet again.

Oh, nice one ...

 

[Angelfishsolo]

I've had a few of those as well.

I do get texts from someone convinced I could be owed money following my 'accident'....

 

[Bluebell72]

Yes, where do they come from?

About the phone calls, since I registered with the TPS I get precious few, but I can ignore most, as I have a caller display panel on the phone, and if it shows up 'international number' or 08456... then I don't bother answering.

The times that I don't bother to look, I have usually got flour/pastry covered hands and pick up to hear the recorded message types - 'do you have a debt problem? ' Grr.

These days no-one really rings me on the house phone, for work and everything else it's my mobile.


As a digression from the thread, has anyone a way of stopping the pizza/taxi/home improvement leaflets that come through the door?

I know these people are doing a job, but I'd never buy anything from a company thru door advertising.
They bung 'em through halfway, and if I'm away a couple of days, it's an invitation to burglars.

Apart from supergluing the letter box shut, I mean

 

[Ticktockmy]

I really enjoy playing with them.
After having established who I am, I ask them why they have woken me up, as it 2:00 AM in the morning here in Malaysia, that buggers them up, then we have a convesation, about them saying I am the UK and me saying I am in Malaysia. ( my 2nd Home is in Malaysia) I then explain that all calls to my UK home numbers are auto transferd to my KL home number

If it is the Mobile phone company, and they ask who my current moble provider is, so i tell them is is Maxis which is my Malaysia phone provider, which of course is not on there list of UK providers, so confused.com.

But they do carry on normally, telling me the phone is already on it way, and the usual bullshit. I then ask what address are they sending it to: again confused.com, asking it to be sent to My home in KL.
After about 30 minutes, they transfer me to the Supervisor, who ends up just as confused, as I revert to speaking Malay...lol

Longest I managed to keep them online was one and a quarter hours.

Bob G.

 

[Arch]

As a digression from the thread, has anyone a way of stopping the pizza/taxi/home improvement leaflets that come through the door?

I know these people are doing a job, but I'd never buy anything from a company thru door advertising.
They bung 'em through halfway, and if I'm away a couple of days, it's an invitation to burglars.

On the occasions we have to leaflet about the recycling service, (christmas dates, service changes etc), we always make sure we push stuff right through - often at peril to our fingers from highly sprung flaps, or dogs! A nice easy letterbox with a loose flap makes it very much easier to get flimsy paper through.

There are some houses with stickers (offical police ones) saying "Please ensure all items are pushed right through the letter box", so that might be worth trying. Others have stickers, official and hand written that say "No junk mail, menus etc" - again, worth trying, even if it just cuts it down.

The calls that annoy me are the ones where there's a pause and a recorded voice kicks in with "This is an important message..." Because they are recorded, you can't even have fun with them, or make a point by slamming the phone down.

 

[ufkacbln]

Friend of ours used to do a graphic impression of having sex, interspersing "I am sorry you have called at an inconvenient time" with suitable grunts, squeals and noises.

The other option was to apologise for being on the loo and again making suitable noises.

 

[ufkacbln]

As a digression from the thread, has anyone a way of stopping the pizza/taxi/home improvement leaflets that come through the door?

I know these people are doing a job, but I'd never buy anything from a company thru door advertising.
They bung 'em through halfway, and if I'm away a couple of days, it's an invitation to burglars.

Apart from supergluing the letter box shut, I mean

I use these as a sad form of revenge.....

Every time I get a prepaid envelope with a flyer I fill it with these and post it back.... seems only fair, if they can send me junk, why can'y I send them junk?

 

[XmisterIS]

I use these as a sad form of revenge.....

Every time I get a prepaid envelope with a flyer I fill it with these and post it back.... seems only fair, if they can send me junk, why can'y I send them junk?

I've heard by way of anecdote that if you get one of those pre-paid spam mail envelopes, you can stick it to something huge and heavy (e.g. a box of old bricks) and send it with the envelope sellotaped to the top; the post office will post it and the company in question has to pay for it ...

 

[smokeysmoo]

I've heard by way of anecdote that if you get one of those pre-paid spam mail envelopes, you can stick it to something huge and heavy (e.g. a box of old bricks) and send it with the envelope sellotaped to the top; the post office will post it and the company in question has to pay for it ...

Excellent, I've been looking for a way to get rid of all my old bricks

 

[XmisterIS]

Excellent, I've been looking for a way to get rid of all my old bricks

Mine are getting broken up for hardcore under the patio that I'm building ... any left over will be sent to spam mail companies.

 

[vernon]

I've heard by way of anecdote that if you get one of those pre-paid spam mail envelopes, you can stick it to something huge and heavy (e.g. a box of old bricks) and send it with the envelope sellotaped to the top; the post office will post it and the company in question has to pay for it ...

I've also heard by anecdote that it makes no difference as the postage is prepaid per item and the item has to be a letter else it is rejected.

 

[Hover Fly]

There's also the little matter of getting a brick or bricks into a pillar box, you would have to take it to the post office counter.

 

[HLaB]

I've had legit reminders for hospital appointments and also warnings from my credit card company that my card has been blocked come through this way - so perhaps listen a teeny bit longer before hanging up.

I do get texts from someone convinced I could be owed money following my 'accident'....

They don't usually start with 'Have you heard' or 'Congratulations your postcode has been selected' etc