Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how you deal with cold callers.

186 replies

Missrubyring · 18/02/2015 11:13

Hi, I'm new to MN and just wanted to post something light hearted to start me off so ....

How do you deal with cold callers. Both at the door and on the phone.
I once had one ring who was trying to sell me something, I didn't have time (I never do) and so simply said 'I can't talk right now, I'm driving.' To which he simply said 'okay, sorry, bye.' Not realising the number he had called was a landline. (Not the funniest i know)

So has anyone else got any funny/ creative ways to deal with cold callers, whether they've been put into practice or not??

OP posts:
Comingfoccacia · 19/02/2015 18:49

Had another one today, said that mrs foccaia had died. He said he would update system. So hopefully i have a big red "deceased" next to my name!

OublietteBravo · 19/02/2015 18:53

Conversations tend to go like this:

Them: can I take a few minutes of you time to tell you about

Shodan · 19/02/2015 18:58

Door-to-door callers of the double-glazing variety are usually informed that we are about to start building work, but if they care to leave their leaflet I'll call them at the appropriate time. None of them have ever left one.

Phone callers- I try to be polite, except with the pretend Microsoft ones. 'I'm not interested, but thank you for your call. Please take my number off your list.'

The exception was the cheeky blighter who chirpily called me by my first name ('Is it ok to call you Shodan?') and proceeded to try and patronise me. That one got icily informed that as we had not been formally introduced it was NOT 'ok' to address me by my first name and he needed a lesson in manners.( I confess, I had just finished a long and tedious phone call with my DM, had pmt and wasn't at my best just then.) He put the phone down.

Fozzleyplum · 19/02/2015 22:54

I am every cold caller's nightmare. If DS2 is at home, I tell him it's for him and he starts a surreal conversation with the caller until they get exasperated and hang up. They don't call back.

If we get an industrial hearing loss claim, I raise my voice (a lot) and shout "I'm very sorry, I can't hear you very well. I'm deaf, you see....."

If they claim that they have records that suggest I've worked in industry and am likely to have suffered loss, I sometimes quiz them on precisely which records and matter about data protection.

Most of our "I understand you were involved in an accident" type calls come during the day, which is very distracting as DH and I often work from home. I tend to ask if we are expecting this call, as we will not take cold calls. That sometimes works, but if they persist, I make a show of taking the details of the calling company and then say, "Let me make this very clear. Mr Fozzley and I are both solicitors with home offices. I am formally asking you not to call this number again. If you do, your employer will be entering into a retainer for our services and we will invoice our time to your employer at an hourly rate of £X. Now, please can you assure me that you will arrange for our number to be removed from your list so that you do not trouble us again". I've noticed that we are getting ever fewer calls.

I had one a few weeks ago from a claims company claiming they were solicitors. I kept them talking and checked on the Law Society website - and they were no such thing. I reported them to the Solicitors' Regulation Authority who police this - I was the 5th solicitor that week to ring in and complain about that company. It's very irritating when it takes 6 years and huge expense to qualify, and work in an increasingly regulated profession, to have charlatans muscling in.

I am NEVER impolite to the caller. They are usually low paid and doing a horrible job; it's their employers who annoy me.

SomewhereIBelong · 20/02/2015 08:37

I'll stick with "I'm sorry, I'm not interested, can you remove my number from your list please"

One call this year so far - politeness seems to work.

PercyGherkin · 20/02/2015 10:53

I just say I'm not interested, please take me off your list. Although I did say "I know you're trying to scam me, you should be ashamed of yourself" to someone who phoned me to tell me that "my internet had a virus" and he could help.

Does occur to me though that SKY's awful response to MrsDeVere saying her daughter was dying is probably at least partly because of the sheer number of people who claim someone has died when they answer these calls to get people off the line. Hardly surprising callers are sceptical if they are told that every day.

Nomama · 20/02/2015 10:58

I've used that line for over a decade though. The same people keep phoning back - and that's with TPS.

Now we have moved and I am trying an experiment. I have NOT signed up with TPS. My conspiracy theory is that you can buy it, to ensure you remove all the listed numbers. But you could also rely upon it being an up to date, used number with real people at the other end...

9 months later and 0 cold calls. Could I be onto something? Smile

HellKitty · 20/02/2015 11:38

We got one last night and DP answered.
'Is Mr Pringle there?'
'Who?'
'Mr Pringle'
'Eh?'
'Are you Mr Pringle?'
'You can fuck right off'
Made us really REALLY want some crisps though.

muminhants · 20/02/2015 14:25

Oh well in the last 20 minutes I've had the RSPCA charity chuggers (I saw them coming so was able to draw the curtain and therefore ignore the doorbell ringing as they couldn't see me) and the same person who has called me from the same number every day this week and every day I say "please don't call this number" and hang up.

I wonder what they don't understand?

As for the TPS - I have definitely had fewer calls to my mobile since I registered it. I got very few on my landline anyway, mainly from Anglian Windows who are subject to different laws to everyone else...and always say it's a courtesy call (nope, no such thing, it would be a courtesy NOT to call me).

ItIsNoneOfYourBusiness · 20/02/2015 16:19

If it hasn't already been mentioned, Tom Mabe (an American Radio Presenter I believer) did a cracking one. Just put Tom Mabe Cold Callers into google and you should get it. In fact, I am going to listen to it again later as it is hilarious!

maddy68 · 20/02/2015 17:18

I'm always polite
My son used to do this for a loving. It's soul destroying. You know it's annoying, but it's a job.
Always be polite,
I always say sorry not interested thank you.. Hope you have better luck soon and hang up

MrsClueless · 20/02/2015 18:18

I use the rented house line for any wall insulation/window/home improvement telephone calls/cold callers. Works a treat. The PPI ones annoy the hell out if me as do the accident ones. As soon as I start asking for details of the cheque they supposed to be sending me they get fed up.

laughingmyarseoff · 20/02/2015 18:22

I just say 'thanks but no thanks' on the phone, I'm arsey with cold callers, we've got a no CC area and notices up.

Someone I know from work was mortified at her response to a cold caller once, they leant on the bell until she staggered to the front door worried that it was a neighbour in trouble. The cold caller, no idea what he was collecting for, just had time to pitch his an 'don't you think it's terrible' line and she vomited at (and on) his feet and legs.

LollieLoves · 20/02/2015 18:45

DH has a special phonetic alphabet he's devised, for using on the scumbag scammers who try to trick you out of your bank details etc..... When he's giving them 'his details' he makes sure they've got the right letters by means of gems like 'A for anus', 'B for b*llocks' etc. It's hilarious to see how far he can get before they twig. The native English speakers rumble him quickly but with the foreign ones it usually takes a while for the penny to drop....

Latara · 20/02/2015 18:52

I just had a cold caller at the door, so I didn't answer. There's (frosted) glass in the door, plus my lounge window is right next to the front door (with net curtain) so they can't see me but I can see them.

If the person looks like a chugger or salesperson or JW (eg. with a badge, fluorescent gilet, clipboard or ipad, smart 'Sunday Best' or similar) then I never answer.

Seriously I used to answer but a couple were so rude to me that it upset me and I just thought sod it, if it's urgent they'll write me a note.

Paddleslowly · 20/02/2015 18:56

I don't give them a chance to draw second breath. If it's over the phone I say listen to this, I hang up and they get to listen to a dead tone!

Notrevealingmyidentity · 20/02/2015 19:08

I accidentally hung up on my mum last week because I thought she was one of these Blush

SomewhereIBelong · 21/02/2015 07:50

So many rude people on mumsnet - how much does it cost to just be nice.

If they are rude, does you being rude back set a great example to the kids? Two wrongs don't make a right and all that..

treaclesoda · 21/02/2015 08:11

Why would you be nice to someone who is trying to con money out of you?

Following that logic, would you be polite to a mugger who steals your purse? After all, two wrongs don't make a right.

SomewhereIBelong · 21/02/2015 08:21

would you be polite to a mugger who steals your purse

I'd probably visit him in hospital - yes... Grin He'd have to be a bloody brave man to try and take my purse.

I have never had a call that is trying to con money out of me. Double glazing, God botherers, charity, PPI yes, but no one has tried to con me.

treaclesoda · 21/02/2015 08:34

A lot of the calls I've had have been the Microsoft scammers and they are out and out thieves.

But any unsolicited sales call is an attempt to trick you out of money. They are trained in it, they are trying to get you to buy something you don't need and often don't want by running rings round you verbally if you'll let them get a word in, getting you to agree to something. My elderly parents get dozens of calls a day (despite TPS) because presumably the companies have their DOB on record and know that they will be more vulnerable. I don't care if they are legitimate businesses trying to sell something, that sort of tactic is despicable. Luckily my parents have caller ID so don't answer but they can't get peace in their own house because the phone rings constantly. It makes their life pretty miserable just so that someone else can earn some money.

JollyFrog · 21/02/2015 08:34

I don't answer the door if I can see its someone with a clipboard, tabbard etc.
the 'accident' one, I say "oh yes I was in an accident, im afraid it was fatal"
That usually does the trick.
mostly im not quick enough and just say "no thanks" until they get the message.
A friend once invited a garage door salesman to give her a quote as he was so persistent. She lived on the 8th floor! X

JollyFrog · 21/02/2015 08:42

To all those saying be polite (I am usually) these people on the phone are not at all polite. As soon as they realise your not interested they turn nasty and slam the phone down! They become more and more aggressive and dont let you get a word in!

wouldliketoknow2 · 21/02/2015 09:05

Does anybody ever get anything they need (and at a good price) from a cold call? Or is the fact that cold calling is so prevalent mean that they do manage to convince scam a lot of people to part with their money?

wouldliketoknow2 · 21/02/2015 09:06

does the fact