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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Accidents Helpline cold caller told me to get fucked!

131 replies

Primafacie · 29/12/2012 10:56

AIBU to post this here to name and shame that company?

They are calling us all the time. We have tried everything - humour, politeness, hanging up. This time I just lost it, and told the guy " I don't know how to impress on you that we don't want you calling. We don't even have a car. Please put your boss on the line so I can get my message across". To which he replied "Fuck you!", and hung up.

Smooth. Very smooth.

Gah. I was having a good day so far.

OP posts:
Booyhoo · 29/12/2012 10:57
Shock

name and shame and report to their CEO!

Dawndonna · 29/12/2012 10:57

They've said similar to me before. There's nowhere, it seems to report the idiots. Now, if they ring I stick dd on the 'phone. They soon get freaked out by her talk of unicorns prancing on rainbows. (She's 16)!

jessjessjess · 29/12/2012 10:58

Time to register with the TPS.

KenLeeeeeeeInnaSantaHat · 29/12/2012 10:58

I had this with the same company. I told them I was registered with TPS and they shouldn't be calling me; his response was to scream "fuck off and die, you fucking bitch" down the phone at me. Delightful.

HarkTheHattifattnerSing · 29/12/2012 10:58

Telephone Preference SErvice here ...sign up to stop a lot of cold calls - not the irritating ones from foreign parts, but many local ones.

everlong · 29/12/2012 10:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ImperialBlether · 29/12/2012 10:58

That is disgraceful! I can see that the guy has a really awful job and I'm sure there are massive demands on him in terms of targets etc, but he shouldn't have said that.

Calls are recorded, so take this further.

hiddenhome · 29/12/2012 10:59

Just put the phone down without speaking.

ScarletWomanoftheVillage · 29/12/2012 10:59

Get tps on your phone. Telephone preference service. It's free. Stops all cold callers and makes it illegal to ring. Anyone does, and you say "do you know about tps? That gets em off phone quickly.

notactuallyme · 29/12/2012 11:01

oh, we should have a thread to name and shame persistent callers - Anglian ring a lot. Despite being told after Xmas. Last time i said they'd stayed several hours, and she disbelieved me. I had to serve dinner to the dc on the floor, as the man stayed so long.

LIZS · 29/12/2012 11:01

We are registered with TPs but they don't stop calling ,especially if overseas. Had one the other day offering a "free" security assessment as they were in the area. When I said we had an alarm and didn't need it he wished me luck in not being burgled and slammed the phone down. He had no idea whether I was vulnerable or not , perhaps having previously been a victim of crime.

drjohnsonscat · 29/12/2012 11:02

I had this too. I am on the TPS and told the caller politely he was breaking the law by calling me. He told me to fuck off. Obviously a part of their script now.

Actually I think he probably wasn't breaking the law because he was obviously calling from a foreign call centre. All those firms do is push up car insurance costs and harass people but since they are overseas they seem to escape the TPS.

HarkTheHattifattnerSing · 29/12/2012 11:04

if you are registered with TPS and then they call you, put in a report on the TPS site. If they get a couple of calls about the same company, they send it to OFCOM who them get heavily involved and start issuing fines...believe E.ON or one of the big power companies were done recently.

inde · 29/12/2012 11:06

TPS doesn't stop all these calls. It is quite likely that the calls the op is getting are from outside the UK. We are registered with tps and still get about four spam calls a day. It's got so bad that if we don't recognise the number we don't answer but it's still very annoying.

NothingIsAsBadAsItSeems · 29/12/2012 11:07

Answer the phone and then leave the phone next to the TV. If they are still on the line after a few minutes I hang up.

Or answer the phone realise that it's some cold caller, gather the dogs and have an impromptu 'speak' training session next to the phone Grin

CSIJanner · 29/12/2012 11:08

Complain on their Facebook page & twitter. Companies love it when you do that... Xmas Grin

Binfullofgibletsonthe26th · 29/12/2012 11:11

I was at a friends house for lunch once when those Accident types rang. My friend answered the phone and politely said, your call is important to me, please hold. He then put the receiver next to the radio, turned up radio 4 and returned to the table to continue eating his lunch.

Strangely after lunch they weren't on the phone anymore.....

TiggyD · 29/12/2012 11:14

Always ask the callers name.

Then where they live and what they're wearing and do they have children and where do they go to school and can you visit them etc. In short, get personal and get banned.

StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes · 29/12/2012 11:17

I find say 'can you tell me where you got my number from please?' makes them disappear rapidly, if not I say I am TPS registered and they hang up. although I did have a fun conversation with a foreign chappie once who insisted I had recently had a car accident, I repeatedly told him no actually I hadnt and on it went until my amusement factor ran out and I hung up.

WaltonzAroundTheXmasTree · 29/12/2012 11:29

Prima, I just wanted to thank you for starting this thread. I have been getting calls from EON (our energy supplier) for months now, trying to flog me a service contract for our boiler.

I've told them repeatedly that our boiler is brand new, under a 5 year service contract from the local installer, and that I didn't want to receive any further calls from them. Despite that, the calls kept on coming every 3 - 4 weeks. I called to complain about them and they told me to register with the TPS, which I have been for 15 years!

After reading your post, and Hark's reply, I went over to the OFCOM website and they pointed out that I should be able to change my preferences online. Nipped over to the EON website, and sure enough, I had been "opted in" by stealth to receiving marketing calls.

I have now very firmly opted out! Why the idiot in EON's complaints department couldn't have told me that ... because they don't want people to opt out, of course

Hope your day improves, and maybe buy a very loud whistle? Xmas Wink

Lovesabadboy · 29/12/2012 11:40

That is appalling.
Not only are they invading your privacy and intruding into your home and time, THEN they proceed to insult you! Shock

One thing we have started using is to ask the caller for 'the password'.
Tell them that they cannot talk to you unless they can give you the password!
Makes for a very amusing few minutes...normally followed by a hangup!

Seriously though, it really is time for Government intervention on this matter, especially now householders are being sworn at.

Furball · 29/12/2012 11:47

I think this makes a Grin

warning it has the odd swear word so keep little ears away

Original poster
Primafacie · 30/12/2012 11:23

Thanks everyone. I think I will revert to just hanging up without saying anything. I think the call was from abroad so not against TPS rules. It is just so irritating - just needed a rant really.

OP posts:
trixymalixy · 30/12/2012 11:29

I once had a call from one of those scammers pretending to be from Microsoft. I told him how despicable it was trying to scam people and how the people that fell for it were generally people that couldn't afford to lose any money and how could he sleep at night. He called me a fucjing bitch so I hung up. He then proceeded to call back several times to call me a fucking bitch and only stopped when I got DH to answer.

specialsubject · 30/12/2012 11:30

To report to the TPS, you need the company name and their phone number. Newbies at the call centre will give this, the experienced ones won't. So if you can be bothered, try and get this out of them and raise a report.

TPS doesn't stop the crooks from abroad, I now just hang up straight away if the number comes up as 'unavailable'. One of them was even stupid enough to leave a message.

thanks for the reused phone number, BT -argh!