AIBU to be rude to cold callers?

[Yambabe]

Seen a few topics on the subject of people being telephoned for various scams, selling purposes etc recently, and I am amazed at how many people engage with the caller. I assume this is mostly because of good old good manners?

My phone is registered with the TPS but I still get cold calls (I think the foreign ones aren't subject to the regulations and some UK companies know that they can be hard to trace so just don't care) so to me they are fair game. I am perfectly happy to cut them off, speak sharply to them (although I never swear) or sometimes if I'm bored string them along for a bit for comedy value.

DH is even worse than me.

My Dsis works in a call centre (although it's for one of the big energy providers so she doesn't cold-call) and says I should have some sympathy for the people making the calls, they are just trying to make a living. I kind of get this but my perspective is I have opted out of having to deal with them and if they persist in still calling me despite this they certainly don't deserve my respect or any more of my time than I care to allow them.

AIBU to not care about the person, just get rid of the call?

Quinn - sorry, but Mori cold-called me just last week and I've been on TPS for over a decade!

So obviously things have changed since you were there and they are not meticulous any longer.

Unless it's a scammer, I don't know why you'd be rude to someone who has to make these calls in order to eat, no matter where you live.

Because they are an intrusion.
Because they are unsolicited.
Because they call when they know people are likely to be at home - you know at teatime, childrens' bedtime etc and drag you away from what you are doing
Because you're tired and have just got home from doing your job (which you need to do in order to eat) and really don't need this interruption.
Because you have to answer calls from unknown numbers because you have a relative in frail health and dread getting "that" call.
Because so many of them are con merchants.

I had an interesting discussion with someone trying to sell me an extended warrantee for my TV. TV draws a pension; warantee was most certainly not "about to run out".

They wouldn't take no for an answer. The icing on the cake was when they informed me that my TPS registration counted for nothing as it needs to be refreshed every three months. Which, as confirmed by the TPS themselves, is not the case.

flora- I'm inclined to agree.

My 1st act as prime minister is to:

a. ban loose adverts in magazines that fall on the floor.
b. ban strangers knocking on doors to sell goods.
c. ban cold callers on the phone.

Anyone can caught participating in any stage of these newly illegal practises will be given between 1000-3000 hours in the nearest salt mine.

ps in the meantime just keep a loud whistle by the phone….

Annoying though solar panels/new boiler calls are, the worst are those that target the elderly, and I'm sure there must be an "easy to con" list that can be bought. I've worked with the elderly, often in the first stages of dementia, and the TPS appears to be totally ignored by these companies.

Calls start with their name "hello Mrs Easily-Conned, how are you today", then continue with either your loft insulation hasn't been checked reacently, when would be convenient, your electric chair needs servicing, your Sky guarantee is running out, etc. One not demented old lady got rid of her PC as she was so worried by the computer has a fault calls. TBH an old, vulnerable person is quite easily sucked in by these calls, and they definitely know how to target them. It's morally reprehensible (though I did have fun telling them how terrible I thought their business was).

Whenever I mentioned TPS I was always told as they weren't selling it didn't count. Is this true?

I give them short shrift (without swearing at them).

I don't like to get sucked into conversation with them (if you can call it that). I make it clear that if I decide I want or need something then I will shop around for it myself. I never buy anything from unsolicited phone calls or on the doorstep.

I have been on TPS for years. It used to work well but increasingly some calls are getting through again now.

Theoretician- I don't know how you would actually enforce that £100 you were charging them!
I think your comments are unfair. I was made redundant from a great job and I had rent to pay. I signed on to job seekers who got me an interview with a small telecoms company, I couldn't turn the interview or the job down or I would have lost my benefits. So I took the job. I hated it when it was selling telecoms, but after a couple of months they brought in a load if guys who told us we'd be doing personal injury. It was awful. I was in tears every day, but didnt feel like I could leave because again, I wouldn't have been entitled to any benefits. You honestly think I should have lost my home and started begging instead of working there?

I try to be civil - I am on the TPS and when a call comes in I ask for the company name - and when given it I say thank you, I will be reporting you to the TPS- most foreign calls hang up at that.
BUT remember to report them - does everybody ? I do.
I did have a call from an obviously English lad who told me the TPS couldn't help as he was ringing from France - made me smile at the cheek!
Its the automated ones I hate

What is annoying is when you ask the caller "is this a sales call?", they fudge it to keep you on the line for longer. That is dishonest and a waste of my time and an insult to my intelligence. Therefore, if I have to cut them off, it is difficult to find it in myself to feel guilty.

Agree with what KatieKaye says. There are so many reasons to object to these calls! They are intruding on you, unsolicited.

Whilst having sympathy with people forced to take these jobs (did it myself for a few weeks once -double glazing - sorry! - was many years ago), so many of these callers are so pushy and some are even criminal (Microsoft scam).

And I notice some posters on here who have experience of working in call centres say that a refusal, if not done in the right way, can lead to being 'put on the call back list' or even on the 'call to harrass' list. And they write this as if this is perfectly reasonable. It's as if the companies have a god-given right to expect people to listen to them. And what do they hope to gain from this? The person refusing is hardly going to relent and sign up for whatever it is because of persistent harrassment. How dare they?

I am never rude to cold callers, I just hang up on them. It must be a crap job to have to do and if I was doing it I'd rather have someone hang up on me than give me a volley of abuse and swearwords.

They are a sodding pain though and as loads of you have already said they always ring at a really busy time. Recently though I've been getting them at times when I'm ok to chat. I just don't wish to chat to cold callers!

OP, YANBU.

Most cold callers are lucky if I don't swear or rant at them these days. Asking to be removed from their list doesn't work and neither does the TPS. I know the person at the other end of the phone is just doing a job but I'm so fed up of sales calls that I stopped being polite several years ago. Nothing stops the calls (and I have to answer the phone due to elderly family) so being abusive is the quickest way to get rid of them!

To people saying that they are still receiving calls, if you have ever given permission for a company (and their partners, by that they mean that you are giving them the right to sell on your details) either by opt in or not opting out, then this does not come under TPS rules.

Its easy to do when you are in a rush or misread the tick box so you opt in to calls instead of opting out (the fact that the boxes are easy to misread is another thread I think!), so that may be why you are still receiving calls.

Also, some of you seem to be lumping the scammers in with legitimate marketing callers. Scammers are illegal, the police do what they can but as the calls originate from outside the UK their powers are limited and all they can really do is to warn people about these scams. They are scum, I agree.

However, companies who make legitimate calls are not breaking the law and are not doing anything wrong. Yes it can be annoying but telemarketing has been around for years and if it didnt work then no one would do it. The person on the end of the phone is just doing a job, a job that they probably wouldnt be doing if they had a choice to do anything else. There is no reason to be abusive to them. If you feel that you have genuine cause for complaint then take the company details and make a complaint about them to TPS, but as I said, you may find that at some point you opted in, or didnt opt out, of these calls.
complaints.tpsonline.org.uk/consumer

Also, automated calls dont come under the same rules as live calls, although there are still rules around them.

"Telephone Preference Service (TPS) will help reduce receipt of live unsolicited direct marketing calls but will not stop pre- recorded calls.
Organisations that use recorded phone message to try and sell or promote their products or services have to comply with the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. These say that marketers who leave recorded phone messages must obtain prior consent from the subscriber before they can make such a call.
Where a subscriber receives a recorded phone message they haven't agreed to there may have been a breach of the regulations. If you are receiving recorded messages and have not given prior permission and can identify the organisation leaving the message, you can complain directly to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), who are the body responsible for enforcing the above regulation. Their details are:
The Information Commissioners Office
Tel: 03031231113"

I don't have caller display on my home phone.. I have an old fashioned ones that plugs into the wall.

Sometimes I am rude if I feel like it. Especially when someone was trying to sell a pension to my 15 year old son.

I had one the other day who informed me he knew I had been working with loud noises. I told him the only loud noises I am around in my children, but nope, he insisted I work in a factory dealing with loud noise and my ears might be damaged as a result.

I find cold calls incredibly intrusive.

I turn my ringer off unless I am expecting a call.

I check my caller display screen periodically and ring back if it's a number on my contacts list.

Other numbers I might put in the google search box asking 'who calls me from this number?' Without fail there are reports from other victims.

I realise the ringer off ploy may not suit everyone but it works for me.

Bogeyface, complaining to the TPS doesn't work. I've complained dozens of times to them when there is a number displayed. Even the ICO can't stop certain companies calling me (and I've never had any dealings with them so nothing to opt out of).

The only option is either to be so unpleasant to them that they hang up immediately or not answer the phone.

nadiawadya:"And I notice some posters on here who have experience of working in call centres say that a refusal, if not done in the right way, can lead to being 'put on the call back list' or even on the 'call to harrass' list. And they write this as if this is perfectly reasonable. It's as if the companies have a god-given right to expect people to listen to them. And what do they hope to gain from this? The person refusing is hardly going to relent and sign up for whatever it is because of persistent harrassment. How dare they?"

This.

Maybe it is just a few rotten eggs that do this in the call centres but it sure does not make give me a benign impression of call centre workers "just earning a living". They accepted a job that requires them to deal with rejection. I have no sympathy for impotent people who break the law to get cheap revenge.

I have been polite and feel annoyed when they hang up on me immediately without saying goodbye. If I receive a foreign call, - obvious foreign accent - I would feel I was giving foreigners a very bad impression of my country if I was aggressively rude to them, so my compromise now, after saying hello and realising who they are, is that I just go silent on the line; they only wait for about 30 seconds and then hang up. FWIW I feel I'm being a little bit rude perhaps but it's in a kinder way.

When I worked as a cold caller the really rude people were diarised for another call... The polite no thank you's were marked down as not interested, do not

This

When I did cold calls years ago, the biggest arseholes got their number added to each of 5 databases we used, to repeat. Which meant about 5 calls a day for the next month.

My MIL is 95 and struggles to get to her phone, she has a cordless phone but invariably leaves it on the other side of the room. She's a bit short with cold callers . I'd be horrified if someone added her name to receive extra calls just for someone's amusement.

NoSunday - And you think that is an adult and responsible and decent way to behave? You should be ashamed.
If teenagers kept knocking on your door, or someone kept pestering you in the street, it would be classed as harassement, and rightly so.

Just wait until you are working at home and really trying to concentrate on something, or you are trying to get a very sick child to settle, or you are waiting from a call from hospital about a desperately ill relative, or some other situation when intrusion is positively harmful.

There is no God-given right to annoy and disturb other people just to try to make money for yourself or for your employers.

Whether these callers are legit or not I DONT WANT THEM TO CALL ME. People have a choice whether to work for these companies or not, no-one holds a gun to their heads to make them. Therefore I have the right to tell them to feck off.

I have a TrueCall unit, worth every penny as I work from home!
www.amazon.co.uk/TrueCall-The-Nuisance-Call-Blocker-White-Silver/dp/B002GP7HQM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417981827&sr=8-1&keywords=truecall+blocker

I have it set up so that anyone ringing from a withheld number has to announce themselves before they get through, the number of cold calls that get through has reduced considerably.

I know we shouldn't have to, but my sanity is worth the expenditure.