received a cold caller and left the phone off the hook

[crystalglasses]

We have registered not to have cold calls but one company just keeps calling - from India by the sound of the accents and I've receved a about half a dozen calls this week - wanting to know if I've had a road accident and need their assistance. I usually just say no sorry I'm busy and hang up. Last time I asked for his phone number so I could call back and he hung up. Today I decided enough is enough and I just walked away from the phone, leaving the caller to talk into empty space. I think this is going to be my tactic in future . I wonder how many more calls I get from this company? What do others think and how tdo you deal with these callers?

You can ring BT/Sky/etc and pay to have them block unknown/withheld numbers. We get these calls ALL the time at work. The same people calling 3 times a day despite me saying we're not interested. I just put the phone down on them straight away.

And we must get about 20 of the recorded PPI messages a day as well

Worra TPS doesn't cover foreign call centres

It does if it's a UK company using foreign call centres Lilac and they almost always are.

Recent withheld numbers I have had :
School
a hotel I'd made a booking with
HMRC
a company I'd ordered something from

all of which were calls I needed to get ....

PPI messages - if you get one, keep them on the line as long as you can, and

try to sell THEM something - my fave is cupcakes
THEN you will come off their lists :-)

I used to do all the fun things with these callers: try and sell them something, agree to wanting a new kitchen then after all the questions say I must go because the nurse is here with my meds, ask 'them' if they have ever been missold a mortgage/insurance/whatever and offer loads of sympathy, tell them I'm being held hostage by george Bush and Mickey Mouse, shout and scream at them, threaten them with legal action..... but then it got out of hand.

The phone was ringing contantly. You can't ignor a ringing phone for long and can't work if you are contantly answering it. The phone ringing while I'm out made the dogs cry and this was unfair on my neighbour. So, it's now unplugged.

I tried everything possible to get them to stop. But they won.

One of the "i'm ringing about your pc windows problems" scammers got me on a particularly bad day. Instead of my usual, not interested and hanging up response, I really had a go at him. How can you do this...think if I were a gullible person or an old person...how can you sleep at night...I know times are tough but can't you find a real job ...don't you feel terrible scamming people all day, etc etc. He seemingly got really aggrieved and annoyed and said "I don't have time to talk to you now". In between laughing, I did point out that he'd phoned me.

I put dd2 (aged 2) on and tell her it's grandma. . "Ello mamar. Ows you? Lovely day. Watching peppa pig. Got my daisy" etc, etc. She could go on all day and it keeps her entertained.

DH has gotten two calls like that at work, and when they realized they were speaking to a constable's office they hung up and never called back! Now when I get them at home I interrupt them and say "Do you realized you've called a law enforcement office?" and that takes care of it. Never hear from that number again.

We've solved it in our house. Our phone is broken and no longer rings.

Most doctors surgeries use caller withheld numbers because it's annoying when patients ring back wondering who at the surgery has tried to get them and the receptionists have to play hunt the person. If you have had any tests done or recent hospital appointments then ignoring the phone may delay things whilst a letter is sent. One of my kid's school also withholds their number so I'm selective about when I ignore these calls.

I find that as soon as I mention TPS they hang up, wherever they're calling from.

I get the recorded message PPI ones all the time. I put the phone on mute (don't want them to invade my privacy) and leave it off the hook sometimes for a couple of hours, hoping that they will be unable to disconnect and run up a bill. It probably doesn't work these days but it used to, way back in the days of analogue everything.

How ate you all getting details removed? Does the caller have the ability to remove you from a list there and then?

We are on the TPS but they get round it by asking for the previous owners of our phone number. This has been going on for nearly four years and if anyone has any idea how to stop those ones I would appreciate it.

I don't have caller ID and have to answer the phone in case it's the school etc., even if I am changing a nappy, breast feeding etc at the time. REALLY annoying!

inmylife I've had that "I don't have time to talk to you now" line before. Baffling.

That is also a trick of mine, and for the junk mailers I love to send them all each others letters back in the pre paid envelopes. I have also been known to stuff them with doodles the kids have done, banana skins etc. They have to pay for it too.

I do the same thing as TeaOneSugar, mention I'm on TPS and they never call back. If it sounds like it's coming from overseas, I try to get as many details as possible 'where are you calling from? what company do you represent? What's your name, do you have an employee ID number?' Usually they hang up on me and never call back.

It does seem like some UK companies (usually the ambulance chasing types) have outsourced to overseas call centres to get around TPS, and they get nervous if you start asking too many questions.

Wormshuffler, I had a music club that would not stop sending me junk, even though I'd returned their stuff in the pre-paid envelopes ripped up. So the next time, I filled their envelope with loads of pebbles, taped it up very well so it wouldn't break, and enclosed a note promising to do the same every single time if they didn't stop sending me junk.

It worked that time!

Also, remember they've called you, and you didn't ask them to, so you're under no obligation to speak to them, if they persist I just say "I'm not interested, good bye" and put the phone down, no need to be rude but also no need to engage.

Mention TPS, has worked every time I've done it. Wish I had heard of them earlier as one particular company started calling me over and over when my very prem baby had just come home from the hospital and I was getting very little sleep. TPS was a godsend - stopped it all cold.

Singing at them is funny (Total Eclipse of the Heart is suitably dramatic) as is handing the phone to young children to sing mike the night or some such inane song. Laughing hysterically or crying also tends to shift them, quick sharp.

Excellent inmylife. OH had one such phonecall recently. He is fully aware of this scam and is very good at seeing people off - he isn't at all concerned about who he upsets. I don't know what he said, but I don't think it was half as good as your response.

We're registered with TPS but we 'have to' give our number to British Gas for when a technician calls to service the boiler. He can let us know that he's on his way. Our number is also used though for trying to sell us a boiiler. I just say that I don't deal with cold calls and if they want to contact me they can write a letter. I don't hear from them again until a year later.

I kept my maiden name like another poster - tis marvellous.

"Hello, can I speak to Mrs X"
"No."
"Is Mrs X there?"
"No, she doesn't exist."
"Will Mrs X be back soon?"
"No, because there is no such person."
"Oh. Bye then."
"Byeeeeee!"

Yay!

Even if you are registered with TPS any company that you already deal with can contact you. I insured OH's car through Swinton Insurance and they never stop ringing us. I put the phone down on them yesterday.