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]

Oh and I had the boiler one yesterday.......

I was told that the automated calls aren't illegal, in the same way that it's illegal to cold call you if you are on TPS. I don't know if this is true or not.

I have to answer withheld numbers as DS2's social worker's number is withheld!

Get a chatty 3 year old to answer the phone. Puts them right off

I often get the thick Indian accent asking for the our buoys owner so I just say I'm sorry you've got the wrong number. Which they have. They usually ignore me and carry on talking so I hang up.

One particularly good one was when the caller told me no, you are Mrs PreviousOwner really. No, I'm really not. He then started arguing with me and calling me a liar! I gave him a piece of my mind and hung up but he was still shouting as I cut him off. Loony.

Oh and the one that rang the other day got it too. I've got a really painful leg at the moment. I hobbled off the sofa to answer the phone to be met with the usual bollocks and I told the girl exactly how much pain I was in after getting up just to answer her nuisance call. She said she'd take me off the list. I bet she did.

*the previous owner, must remember to proof read

when I get the Mumbai ones pretending top be Microsoft, or pretending that they are dealing with an accident I had, I sometimes say

that isn't true, and you know it
does your family know that you have a job where you call strangers and try to defraud them?
Have you no shame?
Are you a religious person? What does your religion say about lying to people and trying to trick them and take their money?
Do you have a son? Would you like him to grow up into a criminal, like you?

I just say "This is a private ex-directory number. Could you tell me how you obtained it please". Repeatedly. Until they hang up. It's working well for me so far.

there must be hundreds of these scamming "companies" if we are all being bothered several times a week.

I hear it's a big market abroad. Call centres are good jobs in places like India. Presumeably some of them are scammers.

yes I know, it's quite sad that its looked on as a good job for Indian graduates with good English skills - I still can't understand half of them, they mispronounce common English words and can't even say their own fake western names correctly

My brother gives the phone to his 2 year old and tells them it's mr tumble

Oddly I don't ever receive any. I'm in the US and I ought to get hundreds but I just don't...

7 bloody boiler messages i've had today, have pressed 2 but there is never anyone there. Arghh and I can guarantee we won't qualify as our boiler is only 18 months old and we have an above average household income and no mortgage!! How an earth do we get them to stop? It started as 1 a day, then 2, but it's just getting stupid now .

I don't understand
a) why people answer if they're busy. That's why 1571 was invented

b) why you just say sorry not interested bye.

I only have a landline BTW. I find the random calls just peter out after a while.

reveal - I gave 2 good reasons in my OP why I HAD to answer the phone even though busy. for others it might be because they work from home, or are awaiting an important medical call, or don't want to wake a sleeping baby etc.

I do say no thanks goodbye, am always polite but brief, and don't allow them to respond.

Its the sheer NUMBER of this type of calls, its a twice daily event.

We get the boiler ones too. Up to 6 times a day. All on the answer phone when I get in from work. We don't qualify for a new boiler, we followed it up once. This doesn't seem to worry these callers.

We have got a phone where you can press a button to block a number, but it works on recognising caller ID. Since EE don't seem to be able to activate this, then we are a bit stuck.

My elderly parents are forgetful and forget to keep the phone by their side, meaning that they have to struggle to their feet and half way round the house to get to the phone, only to see on the caller display that it's just a nuisance call. They are both frail, unsteady on their feet and prone to dizzy spells. If either of them takes a tumble and breaks a leg it could quite possibly prove fatal. I don't care if 'they are only trying to earn a living', anyone who is willing to earn a living in a way that puts vulnerable people at risk, and cold calling undoubtedly does, be it through pressurising them into spending money they don't need to spend or simply through risking them injuring themselves getting to the phone, should be ashamed of themselves.

I called a local double glazing company for a quote THREE YEARS AGO. It was too expensive so I went with someone else.

They call me every three months to ask if I want double glazing and every three months I say no thanks, none planned, you're too expensive anyway TAKE ME OFF YOUR DATABASE AS I HAVE ASKED MANY TIMES BEFORE.

They're in breach of the DPA but of course I'm never annoyed long enough to write to them to point it out. Grrr.

I don't answer. They never stop. I have caller display so ignore anything withheld or international and basically anything that's not local which I don't recognise! It just annoys me though. The constant sound of the phone ringing.

I always say we don't own the house, they can't sell you anything if you're not the owner and it seems to make them take you off the list.

If they call my mobile I block them - and the text messages too. Iphones are marvellous for quick blocking!

Landlines however, If it wasn't the only number my nan rang I would happily get rid of it. I'm sick of calls from India at the same time every day asking for the same person (who doesn't live here) I've taken to giving the phone to the kids

I asked one for the password once. I said I couldn't answer any questions until he gave me the password. He got very very annoyed and told me the password was "f-u-c-k o-f-f" spelling it out. I hung up on him and he rang me back to say "just one more thing madam- fuck off" and put the phone down. I like wasting their time.

I don't have a land line now. Blessed peace.

Well, quite honestly I think you're all a bunch of moaners!!!!

I got a lovely phone call today from a foreign lady called "Mary" who informed me that I'd won a free cruise with £10,000 spending money - all I had to do was pay a small admin fee and she'd send me the tickets.

Obviously I don't remember actually entering the competition but, as I get older, I can't be expected to remember everything!

It goes without saying that I was very happy to give her my full credit card details over the phone ( I also gave her my bank details and PIN just in case the credit card transaction failed). Once she's taken the £10 admin fee the cruise is mine!!!!!

Really don't know what you lot are complaining about!!!!!

I was getting a daily automated one and I pressed a number and spoke to them telling them I was registered with the tps and calling me was illegal. Never heard from them or anyone else since.