To ask how you deal with cold callers.

[Missrubyring]

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??

I have regularly got magazines I want for £1 for 5 copies, newspaper subscriptions for £1 a month for 6 months. (for the past 5 years I have not bought a full price magazine or newspaper - when I would have bought it at full price if it weren't for cold calls)

Cold calls prompt me to check on insurances before they become due - always say it is due 2 months before it is, to give time for comparisons - and they give you a cheaper rate if they call you rather than the other way round , and prompt me to change suppliers for gas/electric.

Cold calls joined me up to our local "green scheme" which has so far given me £10 in iTunes vouchers and 2 "mega rider" week long bus tickets.

Cold calls informed me when the latest plays were on at my local theatre and offered me cut price tickets to one that I wanted to see anyhow.

of course they work and give people what they need - otherwise they would not bother.

It is just some people refuse to take (or even listen to) a bargain when offered because they are too busy being affronted at the intrusion.

I have only had one proper cold call this year so far - I feel they are getting wise to our ways...

You get better cold calls then I get somewhere. I get PPI, accident ambulance chasing and various deals on getting things that no one would want because you can get cheaper online and would do your own comparison and quoting anyway. I get the accident one more than anything else, as does my sister who doesn't own a licence let alone a car!

Cold callers often target the elderly, especially donation CC, they then sucker some of them in because they don't like to say no and because it's too hard and filled with anxiety to cancel they keep up the donation! That's why largely it's so successful with charities, they manipulate the vulnerable.

And to the person who suggested changing one digit of your number at the end, please don't. Some poor fucker, like myself, then gets bombarded with your calls and it's very hard to get rid of them, you keep being told 'i'll call back later' even when you've said wrong number!

I put the phone down as soon as I realise that it's a cold call. I certainly don't engage with them.

I have had a "solar energy" one this year, but no PPI, ambulance chasers or charities.

With door to door cold callers, I just tell them I rent and off they go pretty sharpish. On the phone, I just tell them I am sorry I am not interested, and put the phone down, despite them still talking.

Wow, Who knew there were so many hilarious mumsnetters and their husbands out there?

Doesn't make you big or clever to reduce someone to tears in the toilet really, and I'm quite sure they've heard it all before. Just say no thanks, please remove my number. I know I'd be more likely to do that and to the hilarious husbands i'd mark them down as a potential warm lead for callbacks.

I am polite. If they are polite to me and accept me saying No.

If the cold caller, either phone or at the door, starts trying to argue, then I start getting firm and maybe even rude.

Kato but the problem is that asking them politely not to ring back doesn't work either. I couldn't count the number of times I've been promised 'we won't ring again' and then a few days later, there they are.

It's ok for the cold callers to leave people feeling intimidated and harassed in their own home, but heaven forbid that the poor caller should be left feeling bad? Why is that ok?

And fwiw, I am firm but not rude. But a lot of callers are fairly aggressive from the moment you answer the phone.

I am polite to most cold callers - the ones trying to sell me new windows or a new kitchen or bathroom etc. But I have absolutely no compunction in being less polite to people who are trying to con me.

If someone rings me up to talk to me 'about an accident' I have had - we all know that that is someone working off a script - they don't have a list of people who have recently had accidents - they are going through a list of numbers, and with the number of road accidents and other accidents that there are, sooner or later they will hit on someone who has had an accident - and then they will go on to try to persuade them to use Sue, Grabbit and Run solicitors to claim compo.

Why should I be polite and friendly to someone who starts off by lying to me - and telling me they know I have had an accident is a lie.

Or the caller who gives the clear impression that they are from Sky or Dyson, and is asking me about the warranty on my Sky box or Dyson vacuum - they are never from the company they want you to think they are from - they are selling service packages from a third party, which has no relationship whatsoever with Sky or Dyson. And if you watch Watchdog, you will see that these companies may not be entirely honest in the way they carry out the service package - they will replace things that don't need replacing, and charge you for it - and lie to get you to spend more money.

These people sometimes lie outright - I have had callers telling me they are from Sky, when further questioning elicits the fact that they are nothing to do with Sky - and sometimes they lie by omission or by using weasel words to give you the impression that they represent Sky or Dyson or whoever.

Again - why should I be polite and friendly to someone who is trying to deceive me into buying something from a company that is going to rip me off?

These calls usually sound as if they come from the UK - so the operators making the calls must know what they are doing. I understand that any job is better than none - but if you have a job where you know you are lying to people, can you honestly expect them not to get cross with you?

Computer ones I usually say 'Thank you so much for telling me. I've got a friend who does computers. I'll get him on to it straight away. Bye.'