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]

We are registered too I dont know how they are getting through although a lot of the numbers are now 01 wnd not 0845 iyswim

Best thing you can do from experience is to say firmly 'I'm not interested, and I'd like you to remove my number from your database'. My understanding is that they have to remove your number from their records if you specifically ask them to, and certainly whenever I've asked companies to do this I don't hear from them again.

I've been getting daily recorded messages about boilers.

Then there was the woman who insisted that the previous tenant still lived here:

"But this is his telephone number, ma'am."

"No, It's my telephone number."

"No it isn't. He must live there."

"I'll go and check in the cupboards then, shall I?"

Trouble is kitkat that sometimes they've hung up before I even get to "please remove me from your data base"

I keep the phone switched off because I work at home and have tons of these calls daily - its ridiculous. I have just realised though, after reading this thread, that we have had none at all since we switched phone & broadband to BT last Friday!

Something that is worth doing is emailing or contacting your local council as they sell the electoral roll on to companies. Also, if the TPS don't manage to stop calls the ICO seem to be more effective. The email address is on the TPS website.

If all else fails and they ask for you by name tell them the person they want is in prison for murdering a sales caller!

Kitkat lucky you! I tell then every time apart from the times I tell them to fuck off but they still keep ringing. Bastards.

I had a few when at work (note - I work in a historic building, not a standard house or office).

in a sickly sweet voice "Hi my name is Marie, how are you today?"
"Fine thanks, what are you selling?"
in a not-so-sweet, indignant, abrupt tone "What makes you think I'm selling anything??"
"Well, are you?"
muttered cursing and swearing and hanging up rather forcefully

I also had a chap try to sell us double glazing. I was in the middle of waxing lyrical about our needs for well-insulated artillery apertures when he hung up :(

I got rid of my land line . One of the best things I ever did.
I have had a few calls about claiming back my non existent missold ppi on my mobile though

I got a phone call on Monday evening just gone from Sy asking me whether I'm happy with my broadband speed and if not can they sell me broadband, phone and Sy in a bundle.

I had already spoken with one of their representatives only in the past month and we had just signed up and gotten E-Fibre installed.

I asked the Sy representative if they had increased their broadband speed to match that of E-Fibre and he said they couldn't do that. I then asked him whether he thought it would be a good move then to switch to a service that is of lesser quality than one I'm already receiving from their competitor just because they could give me the service in a bundle. He in fairness to him, said that it wouldn't be a good move. I said to him (as it did say at the start that our phone call may be recorded for training purposes etc), that if and when Sy were able to at least match the speed of E-Fibre, then they could phone me back but until then, I'm not in the market for phone, broadband and TV S*y all in a bundle.

All very nice, all very polite and not a rude word was spoken.

These guys are being paid to do what I think is a difficult job, especially if they get on to someone who is pissed off at being disturbed in what they are doing. They don't want to disturb your day but they are trying to do their job. I try and keep it as polite as possible without losing the head with them.

Some of these are funny :) I use caller display and answer machine. If I don't know the number I don't answer. Anyone who needs me will use a message :)

Would love to answer "this is the freezer, the answering machine is on holiday, please leave a message after the beep. Speak slowly, I am writing it on a post it nite and will stick it to my front."

Post it note

I worked in a call center. They only take you off the list if you let them read the whole speil, of you interrupt or hang up then you will get called back. Also if you are rude, some people are mischievous and mark you as someone to be called back.

I love sales calls I like to see how long I can keep them on the phone before hanging up. Sometimes I tell them that the phonecall was fate as I
can sense we are meant to be, sometimes I pretend im a time traveller and ask what these magic things they speak of are. Sometimes I sing to them. I think im on a black list now as I don't get any anymore

Just to add I (very briefly) did some work in telesales after I left Uni and was completely skint and it was all I could get at the time. I only lasted a month because I hated it. I have to say I do appreciate telesales calls are annoying (they annoy me too!) but some people are completely rude and over-the-top in their responses to them (instantly becoming threatening etc). Most of the people who call are inevitably also doing a job that they probably don't particularly like because they need the money. Some people were so abusive they nearly had me in tears (hence why I lasted such a short time). I know they are annoying but some people do completely over-react to these calls to. I'm not saying it always works 100% of the time, but generally if you firmly (but politely) tell them no and ask them to remove your number from their database it's generally a lot more effective than shouting abuse down the phone.

We have turned the ringer off and calls go straight to the answering machine. Anyone with important things to say will try to leave a message, at which point we pick the phone up. Nuisance calls have completely stopped now.

I'm not saying it always works 100% of the time, but generally if you firmly (but politely) tell them no and ask them to remove your number from their database it's generally a lot more effective than shouting abuse down the phone.

It rarely works, in my experience. I work from home and the problem became so bad that, yes, I did end up being rude. That didn't work either.

In fact, the only thing that has ever worked is this

Note the 'Nuisance' in the title. Because Telesales are a nuisance. I never realised just how much of an intrusive problem they were causing me until suddenly, blissfully, the calls stopped.

They were talking about this on radio 4 today. A guy had made £22k by charging the cold callers for wasting his time. He said if everyone did it eventually cold calling would become unprofitable for companies.

Also if you are rude, some people are mischievous and mark you as someone to be called back.

I unleashed both barrels on someone once, got called back by precisely the same person within an hour. I think they found me entertaining, or wanted to record my reaction for training purposes, or something. I just hung-up, the second time.

KitKat - people get annoyed though when the company has been asked over 30 times to remove our number from their database, and still hasn't.

Ironically, I've had 3 cold callers in the last month trying to sell me a service which they will say will stop cold callers. Sadly, the person I did have a conversation with, out of the 3 who called, didn't even understand the irony of it.

You need to actually talk to them sinister. If you talk to them and tell them you are not interested then they will stop calling you! Dont be rude or else "revenge" os often taken!

No it isn't. He must still live there

Maybe she knows something you don't coppertop

I'd check those cupboards for certain if I was you....... mwah ha ha

I dread being rang by an Asian with a genuine reason I hung up on DH's freinds wife when she called to speak to him whilst he was staying with us, she's from 'forrin parts' very embarrassed when she rang back saying who it was
I liked the one where someone suggested asking for ID, so, hello, its keith from bodgit windows.... Oh hello can I see your ID please.... baffled pause, ID? yes I never admit anyone without ID as how do I know its really you? they tend to hang up rather quickly.