Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Those 'We heard you were in a car accident' cold callers

145 replies

notwonderwoman · 14/02/2018 11:58

Not really AIBU because I don't really care but ...I've been getting so many of those strange cold callers telling me I've been in an accident I've started to have a bit of fun when they call. It's been going on for about 18 months now at least and I can't get rid of them.
This morning one called me up and I started singing 'Baby one more time' by britney down the phone to them. The sour voiced woman still kept asking me if I'd been in an accident Grin I said maybe I bumped my head? And kept singing. She hung up.

The other day another one called me, I tell them they really should get a better job and they are worth more then working for a sham company (the companies don't even exist if you google them) and she still kept asking the same questions. Poor love.

Another one called me up when I was on the toilet. I'll let you guess what I told them.

How do you deal with them? Smile

OP posts:
noenergy · 14/02/2018 12:34

I hand the phone to my 3 year old

NightRaven52 · 14/02/2018 12:36

I hand the phone over to 7 month old DS as soon as I realise it's a cold call. Somewhere between his babbling and him chomping at the speaker, they eventually hang up.

DriggleDraggle · 14/02/2018 12:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ShotsFired · 14/02/2018 12:37

@notwonderwoman And they are extremely robotic when they speak to you , no emotion In the voice at all just the same question "can you confirm you have been in a car accident" no matter what your answer is!

They are starting to use automated calls now. They are basically a series of pre-recorded (by a real person so they do sound genuine) questions which either move on to the next question after a suitable time delay or wait for a verbal response which prompts it (like when you have to tell your oh-so-matey gas co automated service why you're calling). I guess at some point they will hear a keyword or a time trigger which then diverts you over to a real agent for the fleecing to continue.

IwantedtobeEmmaPeel · 14/02/2018 12:37

Rebeccaslicker - Grin - big respect to your Dad

ppeatfruit · 14/02/2018 12:39

We have an answer phone on our house phone ALL the time, the cold callers NEVER leave a message it's brilliant.

I had an accident one many years ago , I HAD been in an accident in Spain but that was no good at all they hung up and never repeated.

Grumblepants · 14/02/2018 12:39

I was getting about 2 of these calls everyday when I had just had ds. The calls would wake him or wake me if I finally managed to get any sleep. I broke down in the end and just cried down the phone to them begging them to stop harassing me. I did feel sorry for the poor bloke as be was only doing his job and was very appologetic. They stopped for about 2 weeks then started again! Grrr

Nicknacky · 14/02/2018 12:42

I got really enthusiastic when I get them (and I have had LOADS this week for some reason) and agree it wasn't my fault etc, they go through all the talk and I say

"Wow am I getting more money on top of the £4K compensation I got? That's fantastic". They always hang up.

I did genuinely have an accident and did get compensation.

NoHunsHereHun · 14/02/2018 12:43

bigfatfanny can now take these from beyond the grave Grin
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/3166936-Apparently-Im-Dead?

BewareOfDragons · 14/02/2018 12:45

Some of these responses are hilarious.

I told the last one who called me inquiring about 'my accident' an ambulance chasing asshole. He said 'what?' I repeated myself. He hung up.

LinoleumBlownapart · 14/02/2018 12:45

I used to get these all the time, didn't even have a car at the time. One even told me I was in a fatal car accident Confused. After a while I started having fun with too. I didn't have a car as I was always wit zip car. I heard once that it's an NHS data leak, not sure if that's true.

Risen · 14/02/2018 12:46

"Yes, I had an 'accident' in a car, it resulted in triplets, would you like to know more?"

Haven't ever said that,
but would love to. 😁

DerelictWreck · 14/02/2018 12:48

Problem is, when you answer the phone you're marked down as receptive, and lists of receptive callers get sold on and on and on.

This is why I don't answer calls from any number I don't recognise - has completely cut down on the number of scam calls I get!

StickThatInYourPipe · 14/02/2018 12:48

Put them on loud speaker then pop them next to the tv, leave em chatting to a character from Corrie for s little while

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 14/02/2018 12:50

A group of us were at a friends house when one called

When she said 'oh you want to know about my accident' we all shouted very useful comments like 'thats the one you died in'

We were having a high old time and then they hung up Shock

And my poor friend hadnt had a chance to say anything!!

Glenscoconut · 14/02/2018 12:50

I always say, very enthusiastically, oh yeah the one in which I was decapitated. Was a bad one that.

They usually get excited and agree with me and then try and continue with the claim.

A few clock on and hang up.

I hope I'm not tempting fate with my response...

RustyBear · 14/02/2018 12:50

Once GDPR comes in in a couple of months, I am planning to ask them a few more questions - the GDPR doesn’t ban cold calling but it does impose stricter rules.

I will ask where they got my data (they have to tell you), ask whether they have done a balancing test, and whether it is documented (this needs to be done to prove that their legitimate business interest outweighs the “interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject“ I will also mention the fine of up to €20 million for breaching the GDPR.

I found this blog interesting - it’s written from the point of view of cold callers, telling them how they need to act to comply with the law, but equally useful to victims trying to find out what they can and can’t do
callcentresoftware.co.uk/blog/2017/november/can-companies-still-cold-call-under-the-gdpr/

Update - I’d like to say this is an amazing coincidence, but sadly it’s not that surprising - just as I was writing this post, I got a call from someone asking if I was in an accident! I told her I was actually discussing the question of cold calls on a forum at the moment and started to read out my post. She hung up.

mustbemad17 · 14/02/2018 12:50

My five year old gets the phone. She's a bit hard of hearing so it's usually 'what did you say? I can't hear you, talk properly. But mummy drives the car not me. I can't heeeear you'

gillybeanz · 14/02/2018 12:51

I don't like them either but if they aren't real companies why/how can they employ so many people.
Surely, it's one or the other.

I don't like them either as they have no details and are fishing for customers.
However, it is true they are unable to give details they do have, due to DP. It's the same where I work, I can't confirm peoples addresses in case it isn't the person I need. Stupid I know as less people are prepared to confirm their details to randoms on the phone, and rightly so.
For some people it is a proper job and the only type open to them, please don't tell them to get a proper job, it isn't their fault.

gillybeanz · 14/02/2018 12:55

Must add under the new ruling, individuals of a company can be fined for breaking data protection laws, not just the company.
So when you do receive a cold call, the agent will be playing it by the book.
You obviously don't have to agree with the book, but once again that's not the poor agents fault, ringing out, day after day or night after night foe min wage.

KERALA1 · 14/02/2018 12:56

I work from home and have now put a block on my landline. Everyone that rings has to give their name before the phone rings and I am asked by an automated voice if I want to accept a call from that person. If I do I press 1 and they are through if not blocked. The cold callers don't bother. Bliss!

Driven to this as certain we were part of the TalkTalk data breach and our details being sold around Delhi. I was getting on average 2 calls a day from "TalkTalk" and I work from home doing something I need to concentrate at it was driving me mad and I found myself being increasingly mean to the callers.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 14/02/2018 12:59

When ds1 was little, he could talk the hind leg off a donkey on his specialist subject - trains. On several occasions I handed the phone to him, and told him that the caller (a cold caller) wanted to know everything he knew about trains.

Sadly he has grown up and moved away, to get a job, and isn't available to offer this service any more. How thoughtless is that!!? Wink

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 14/02/2018 12:59

I haven't had too many of those, I usually just put the phone down. The one company that I'm always rude to is Safestyle. I have asked them over and over again not to bother me as I would rather board up the windows than have them anywhere near my house again but they don't seem to understand.

I did feel a bit bad when the last caller told me everyone takes it out on him, but I pointed out to him I knew it wasn't his fault but as he's working for a shit company he should really expect it.

BitchQueen90 · 14/02/2018 13:00

I'm a cold caller. Not one of those "have you been in an accident" ones though!

I've never been told to get a proper job. It is my proper job and the only one I could get, it was that or stay on benefits.

To be fair though I am very thick skinned and being told to piss off doesn't bother me. I'm always polite and if someone asks me not to call back I remove them from the system.

longtompot · 14/02/2018 13:01

I get them. I can't drive, and I don't own a car. I just tell them they are lying and hang up. Not had one for a loooong time (prob jinxed it now Sad )

Swipe left for the next trending thread