Grrr!! Grrr!! bloomin unwanted phone calls......WARNING RANTY!!!

[phantomnamechanger]

what's your most recent/most annoying one and how do we deal with them?

Just now, making pastry (homemade meat pie), just about finished the rubbing in phase. phone rings. I HAVE to pick up because its the time that DDs would ring if their school bus had not turned up. Also DS is at a sports club and may have got hurt.
But no, its someone offering me a free service on my dyson I DON'T HAVE A BLOODY DYSON & NEVER HAVE! I have lived here 14 years, there is no dyson registerd at this number in my name, she expressed surprise that their data as wrong and said "so what brand do you have instead then?" and I said "NOT INTERESTED, GOOD BYE"

cheeky sods, they are chancers and trying to sell me one. LEAVE ME ALONE.

Ah that's better!

[steam coming out of ears emoticon]

[ADishBestEatenCold]

You are so NBU! I don't know if it's just me, but in the last month or two, it seems worse than ever before ... I am getting an average of 5 or 6 per day, despite having Telephone Preference.

I have thought about blocking withheld numbers, but many official bodies that I might want to speak to do have withheld numbers and, in any case, many cold calling companies no longer block their numbers.

Some are polite, and clearly just trying to earn a living; far too many others are not so polite and it's incredibly invasive.

Don't know how to stop it happening.

[ajandjjmum]

DS had some time on his hands and answered one of these calls. He said to the guy that he would answer a question, so long as he got to ask one in return. The guy agreed. After being asked if he was married, where he lived, what his wife did for a living etc., he put the phone down on DS.

Made us laugh a lot!

[Scousadelic]

I am also getting 5-6 a day despite the telephone preference service. Driving me mad!

[GemmaTeller]

.....and thats why we got rid of our landline.

[ForeskinHyena]

Tempted to get rid of my landline too. It's sooo annoying! I also run a business from home so have to answer in case it's work, but I get at least one of not two every day and it's always the same companies.

Sometimes they ask to speak to "mrs slightly-wrong-surname" and I just say no and hang up. Sometimes I try to reason with them and say "I wasn't interested yesterday, I'm not interested today and I won't be interested when you call again tomorrow so please take my name off your list" and other times I tell them to fuck off I'm less polite.

BT really need to get a better way of dealing with this, why is it you can block certain numbers from your mobile but not from your landline?

[MissFenella]

we get about 5 a day offering us a new boiler - as we qualify for a Government scheme.

There seems no way to stop them as they are out of area and we cannot block on the phone.

Its very tedious.

[phantomnamechanger]

Oh please, someone invent a button you can just press after you hang up and block that number!

I am sure its the same PPI ones phoning several times a week, and also being hounded by "no win no fee" rouges saying "it's about the accident you had a few years back did you know you may be due some money" - I HAD NO ACCIDENT NOW BOG OFF!

When I challenged one of these PPI callers about what loan were they on about, they had the nerve to say "taken out in 2004 and repaid in 2008, for home improvements or a new car" THIS IS A LIE, NO SUCH LOAN HAPPENED. They are banking on the majority of people having had a loan at some point and being unsure of the exact dates etc.

[Wolfiefan]

Microsoft keep calling me about my computer. I don't own a fucking computer.
I may or may not have actually told one of the scam merchants to fuck off!

[Littledidsheknow]

Getting rid of the landline won't help, I'm afraid... I have started getting them on my mobile, even though I never give out my mobile number to anyone except family and close friends and always leave the mobile no blank when filling in forms.
There's no escape!

[LittleprincessinGOLDrocks]

I have been hassled by the same recorded message for months now. It started with one call a day, and slowly increased in number. This week the calls have been every hour on the hour from a withheld number, same recorded message, and if I am not in I return to a full answering machine of the recorded message.
There was only one option, to press 2 to speak to someone.
So today I did just that. I got straight through to a woman and I said "This is the 4th call I have had from you today. I am absolutely sick of receiving these calls. It is bordering on harassment now. Please remove me from your call list."
She seemed genuinely shocked that I was not interested in their offer and said they had lots of satisfied customers, but if I was happy to miss the offer she will remove my number if I insist. Yes I do insist.
Best thing I could have done - not a single phone call from them since I complained... though I shan't hold my breath, there is always tomorrow!

Now just to get rid of all the other annoying sales calls. I get about 10 a day from other companies.
I can't block with held numbers as I often get calls from official places, like school, GP and hospitals. I only answer the phone as I am waiting on calls from the hospitals.

[Poledra]

Oooh, I've been desperate to get one 'about the accident you had' since I read about the person on here who answered 'Yes, it was terrible. In fact, fatal - I died.' As I recall, there was a little pause then the caller said 'i'll remove you from the database then...'

[Mrsjayy]

Somebody telling me I am entitled to loft insulation under a new scheme I do t have a loft I tell them that e ery other frigging day when they phone

[punter]

YANBU at all. In fact i would swop the idea that we pay 5p per plastic bag for a scheme that would block these unwanted calls. My aged parents find them intimidating despite them being on the TPS.
(Btw I usually have bags for life with me when I shop but if I don't then I use the plastic bag to line a bin or use as a dog poo bag. so next year I shall have to buy other plastic bags for those purposes ...)

[Sallyingforth]

Oh please, someone invent a button you can just press after you hang up and block that number!

They have! It's called Truecall. It does lots of other clever things too.
www.truecall.co.uk/

[Mrsjayy]

Barclays phone my mobile with an automated message im not with Barclays

[phantomnamechanger]

'Yes, it was terrible. In fact, fatal - I died.' As I recall, there was a little pause then the caller said 'i'll remove you from the database then

^^Thank you Poledra that has cheered me up again! I am so using that next time!!!

Sallyingforth, thank you - I am off to look at that RIGHT NOW

[phantomnamechanger]

and yes, punter, its even worse for the vulnerable elderly - MIL once agreed for a double glazing rep to visit her, then got all in a panic and rang us because she did not really want them to come at all, but they had given her the talk about the money she would save on her bills, and how they were doing good deals and working in her area etc etc, - DH dealt with it and they did not visit but it did make her really quite anxious about dealing with phonecalls like that.

[ChelsyHandy]

Its very annoying. I often work from home, and answer my landline in case its work related. I then get these stupid imposing nosy questions asked of me during working hours while I am at work.

So I have taken to saying "This is my chargeable time. My hourly rate is £xxx.00. Where should I send the invoice and what is the name of the billpayer? You have now used up one unit of chargeable time and I must be reimbursed for it"

Except most of them are so bloody stupid for some reason they can't understand what I'm saying!

[BackforGood]

I've been registered with the TPS for years and years and never really got these until about 2 months ago, when they've started coming thick and fast, sometimes several a day - getting rid of landline doesn't work as I've been getting them on my mobile too.
I too get the rage.
Sometimes I just don't put the phone back down in the cradle - I don't know if this still works, but it used to mean that that line was then blocked and they couldn't call anyone else until I hung up. Of Course, you can't if you are expecting a call from someone else.
The other thing I've now started to do is report them to the TPS.
Don't know if it actually helps but at least I feel I've done something.

[pigsinmud]

Same here. We're registered with TPS, but get loads of these calls now. Bloody solar panel automated calls. I'm very interested in that Truecall device. I looked up the cost of blocking numbers on BT the other day and it was about £3.75 a month.

[mummylin2495]

I have invented a new language for these bloody annoying calls. I just make up words as I go along and they hang up, although this happened last week when my brother and his friend were here and they could not stop laughing and I had to not look at them, 4 times she said she was calling about " my accident" since then I have been waiting for the next call but not a single one has come ! She probably though she was talking to a nut case ( she was )

[ForeskinHyena]

MissFenella, I've had the boiler ones too, even agreed to have someone come and quote for it. Funnily enough I didn't qualify in the end (despite being a single parent on a low income with a 12 y/o boiler!) but they were happy to sell me one for £2k.

I've also just started getting them on my mobile but they are addressed to my ex. It used to be his number many moons ago, so it seems that some very old lists are now doing the rounds and perhaps that number was someone else's before yours?

[LottieJenkins]

I have had a company harrassing me for two years, i have rung them back and had no luck. I have now reported them twice to the TPS and today i received a letter from the TPS saying my complaint had been reported to the Independent Ombudsman as they were repeat offenders!!!

[PigletJohn]

do you have caller display and an answerphone? they will deal with unwanted calls.