To lose it with the umpteenth caller regarding PPI/the technical department etc

[drzeus]

Just had my third unsolicited call today to my mobile asking about my PPI claim. Earlier it was "the technical department" about my computer TELLING me, not ASKING me to check stuff on my PC. Fed up to the back teeth with these calls. Am registered with the TPS but it has absolutely no effect. Cheeky buggers too. Argumentative even. Told the last one to "f@@k off" and he STILL.wouldn't shut up!

Any ideas how to stop these pests?

Aargh an ad for claims has come up on the thread!

The last PPI call I had woke the baby out of a nap he had beenffighting for hours. If it was possible to send death rays down the phone I would have

Acme Thunderer whistle from any sports shop ??????

Have also set DS on them but as he's 18 and his mates were round, the call about my "accident" ended with one of them breaking down in tears on the phone so another had to take over and tell the caller how distraught he was at his mothers horrific (and graphically described...) injuries ??????. No calls since.

At work I keep getting calls from people in S Asia asking to speak to 'the owner of the business'. In the past I've tried to explain that we work as a collective & don't have an owner (not that unusual I'd have thought). Having done that they would either disconnect the call without so much as a 'sorry to bother you' (clearly don't want to try to sell their stuff to me) or else they misunderstand & say 'when will he be back'. HE?
Now I just say no thank you.
The ones which puss me off most are the ones who say 'this is John from XYZ electronics, how are you today?' As if I'm going to share my state of health with you, random stranger. Once I did tell them, in great detail, about my recent knee op then said 'it's very nice if you to phone asking about my health, thank you for calling, goodbye'.
And don't get me started on the agency which sells public performance licences. When I said we don't need a PPL as we don't play music in the office, he said 'that's not for you to decide'. So, what, you get to decide if we play music in the office or not?
My dd gets cross with me if I am a bit rude, it's a crap job & they probably have no other options.

Puss me off?? PISS!

Ring off now please.

If they don't: Ring off now or regret it.

If they don't: referee's whistle. Their choice!

I can't even do that.
I keep getting the automated ones.

Why do they bother!
I'd like to know if even in the history of automated calls the bunch of twats calling a company actually managed get a customer though them.
Anyone here?

Strangely enough I seem to get very few of these calls now; maybe they've just given up with me. I get the odd ppi recorded thing on my mobile, never on my land line, but mostly I just a recording telling me that if I want to stop the calls I should press 9 - don't know if they're ppi related or not. I never press 9 as I suspect it could be a scam and I'd end up paying out lots of money.

I tend not to answer calls that come up as withheld or unknown, but got caught on that the other day when I didn't answer one that came up number unknown; turned out it was my mortgage company wanting to clarify some important points for my mortgage application.

Love love love TalkinPeace's answers. Almost tempted to plug the landline back in so I can use them. Yes - we pay for a landline that is largely unusable due to the endless calls day and night. Very depressing.

My 82 year old mother was told she was very rude by a PPI caller yesterday.
She refused to give the caller her name so they could check her non-existent records.
Well done mother!

Don't use a referee's whistle. Or any sort of whistle.

YOU could be the one in trouble for causing harm. Can't remember if it's ABH or GBH, but definitely you could end up prosecuted for this.

DH's technique is to out-annoy them and get them to hang up on him. Helps that he's naturally quite irritating.

I had loads of calls a few weeks ago which promised to not sell me something, checked my name and then went on about technical assistance with my computer problems. When DH answered the call he kept saying "I will neither confirm nor deny that" to them and "maybe I am, maybe I'm not" very calmly until the guy on the other end said "I can't talk to you" and hung up. That particular one has left us alone since - much better result than me saying not interested and hanging up

Love Talkinpeace's ideas though - might get him to expand his repertoire.

Even if you don't get in trouble, don't use a whistle. They're being paid very little to do a massively depressing job.

It's mildly annoying for you for a minute or two, not really worth giving someone hearing damage for.

Hello, I am calling about your Microsoft Windows
Oh good, can I have a door?

May I speak to the homeowner
Do you have a ouija board?

Hello, is that Mrs Peace
Which one, we are Mormon?

I'm phoning about the road traffic accident you saw
Oh yes, which one?
Do you see lots of accidents?
Yes, I'm a traffic officer
Click

I'm phoning about the PPI on your loan
Oh cool, I got the money last week, your rival firm were great.

I used to get loads of these were I used to live it didn't matter how many times I said I wasn't interested they would just phone back the next day when we moved we went ex directory so far in eighteen months I don't think I have had one! I do get an increasing amount of smiling people calling at my door asking whether I have had a nice day and do I want loft insulation and calling me love no I don't I rent!

Ah yes, people who call at your door and say 'don't look so worried it's nothing bad'. Once I was actually laughing (at something dd had said) when I opened the door - I wasn't looking worried I was grinning! They can't depart from their script. And are there really a lot of people who assume a knock at the door must bring bad news?

Hello, I am from the Accident recovery centre about your Accident
It wasn't accident. I deliberately drove like that.

Hello, I'm advising you about grants you can get for solar panels on your roof
That's nice, I'll ask the people who own upstairs.

OR
what I actually did today
"that's nice, I'll let you talk to my cat" - and put the phone, on speaker, on the chair next to said feline.

The guy miaowed down the phone to the cat

Just get caller ID and don't pick up for numbers you don't recognise or those that are "witheld" or "private caller". It's really simple and avoids all the agro. I've avoided two already this evening. Engaging with them is pointless.

westend
Not possible if you have dealings with hospitals as they often block their outgoing numbers
Or local authorities
or universities
or HMRC

and if I ignored all unknown numbers I'd get no new clients work from home

I take your point. 9 times out of ten, though, it's not a call you want. Very annoying.

I usually use Skylarks boss' method of shaming them. I ask if they are religious ( they always are) and I ask if their God or priest would be happy with them scamming poor folk or I do the 'are your parents proud of you? Do they meet with their friends and say "our Dave is a scammer who calls people to get money out of them by telling lies" ? This is for the ' I am from windows' calls

I get Lots of calls for me in my ex married name ( not used it for 10 years) so I know they are using old phone books. When they ask for 'electricalapple' I say she has just died leaving 10 kids under three years old.

The accident claims one I like best
Hello I am calling about an accident someone in your household has had
Oh my god who is it? Is it my daughter? She is dangerous with her skateboard... Which hospital is she in? Oh my god oh my god
It's not your daughter ma'am
Omg is it my son? He rides his scooter so fast etc etc....
It goes on with lots of hysterical OMGs and wailing...

I then stop and say something rude!

The other days call was a PPI and I said I wasn't interested - the bloke told me I was stupid for not doing as he said and I must be thick. He spoke to me as I I had rang him and was wasting his time!!! I rang 1471 and lo and behold it was a number! So I called it and played merry hell with them!

I felt better....

Electric
oooh, what was the number : just that quite a few of us have inclusive call phone bills

If they leave their number...I phone back repeatedly, stay quiet for a while then say "how does it feel when someone phones you and stays silent, now stop f*@cing calling me"

I've ordered a thunder whistle