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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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 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?

OP posts:

dadshere · 14/02/2018 21:18

The companies are running this from India, and so are able to ignore our laws with impunity. My DH loves cold callers, he chats to them for ages asks them about their family, tells them about his doctor's appointments. He kept one lady chatting for nearly half an hour. I think that lonely old people might like to do this too.

alleypalley · 14/02/2018 21:28

They gleam your details from the car insurance comparison sites. There's a box to tick if you don't want these calls - in very small print.

-not always the case. I haven’t owned a car in over 10 years and still get them. I tell them I don’t have a car and they say it could have been in someone else’s car. I tell them to remove me from their list, ask them where they got my details, block the number on my phone but I still get them.

I managed to get on an American call list recently, I got over 30 calls in one day, every call came from a mobile number, every time I blocked it but they kept coming. When they started again at about 8am on the second day I properly shouted down the phone at them that they were cunts. Thought I’d pressed the hang up button and threw the phone on the bed, I hadn’t hung up though and I could still hear them talking and asking me the same questions. I hung up properly and 2 mins later it rang again, I actually burst out crying on the phone (I was very tired) and begged them to take me off their call list; which she must have done because I didn’t get another call.

OutyMcOutface · 14/02/2018 21:31

I normally just say yes I was and then wait for the bit where they ask how bad the injury was to tell them "Oh it was really bad! It was fatal" they ask for clarification and I say "Iy was so bad I died-how much money do you think I could get for that?"

goose1964 · 14/02/2018 21:37

We have sky shield and this has stopped all landline calls. If I get a cold call on my mobile I just tell them that I'm registered with the TPS and if they call me again I'll report them .I think I've had 2 in the last year or so.

Registering with the TPS is a really good idea, it only doesn't stop the overseas calls

Argeles · 14/02/2018 21:43

I respond very differently depending on my mood at the time of their call, and what they’ve interrupted me doing.

I usually get really angry and tell them ‘no accidents fortunately, now take me off of your list and don’t fucking call me again.’

I sometimes pretend that I can’t hear them and just keep on repeating whatever crap comes into my head.

I’ve also passed the phone to my 3 year old DD and let her chat away to them.

Pericombobulations · 14/02/2018 21:54

I had over 20 in one week six months after a car my mobile is linked to (as the only contact number as its a elderly relative) was involved in an minor accident (scrape in a car park).

I know its that accident as it was incorrectly linked to another relative who is also on the insurance. They always ask for him. So they ring, say can they speak to X? I always say that this isnt his phone and take me off your records as Im registered with the TPS, and then block the number.

I know the bulk of calls were from that accident too, as the other insurance company are notorious for dodgy behaviours so must have sold my number on.

The calls have decreased but not stopped and registering with the TPS only stops UK based call centres.

Early on when it was at its height, I had one really grumpy woman, who when challenged got really angry as I was laughing at her. She kept insisting they were a regulated company with the full details but couldnt tell me any actual details of the car, the policy or the accident. She hung up on me in the end.

AnneElliott · 14/02/2018 22:02

Some of these responses are great! I normally say I was in an accident and was decapitated. It's funnier if the call handler doesn't know what that means and carries on!

I sometimes pretend to be the police and tell the control room 'inspector' that these people are wanted by Interpol and we need to trace the call - that works quite well with the Microsoft one.

Andrewofgg · 15/02/2018 00:41

“Just wait please, there is someone at the door”.

Wait about ninety seconds.

“Thank you for waiting. I have just phoned my office which is the Fraud Investigation Division at OFCOM - we can have any call traced in about two minutes and if it is in the UK we can block it from use and if it isn’t we can stop it calling any UK number while we investigate, do you wish to continue?”

Click. Gone.

slithytove · 15/02/2018 00:59

I usually play along with lots of yeses and accident details.

When I have them good and excited I say “so do you really think I can get compensation? I had stolen the car and was drinking at the time but I could really do with the cash”

One actually went to check with her supervisor. Turns out that no, I could not claim.

MrsDilber · 15/02/2018 01:37

I can deal with them, buy elderly or people on the spectrum, would be really vulnerable to it. So no, I don't care if you used to do the job, it's as bad as being a medium, preying on the vulnerable people.

Birdshitbridgegotme · 15/02/2018 02:23

I say she's dead

IHaveACuntingPlan · 15/02/2018 04:09

I got one last year and I told him that it must've been a bad accident as I didn't remember it at all (the way he'd worded it made it sound as though it had actually happened). He laughed, said something about amnesia, wished me a good day and hung up. He wasn't unpleasant and I don't think I was rude to him. I blocked the number after the call though.

I got another one the other week asking about my recent car accident. I thought it was genuine at first because I did crash my car just over a month ago so that caused some confusion until she mentioned compensation and I told her that it was my fault as I'd slid into a parked car. She asked if I'd had any other accidents and I said no and hung up. I blocked that number too.

DianaT1969 · 15/02/2018 04:40

I wish there was a 'spam the spammers' campaign, where some clever researchers would publish the phone numbers of CEOs and owners of these companies and we, the public, could call them up all day with nonsense calls.
I'd particularly like the home address of the marketing directors of random credit card companies that send unsolicited junk mail every month. I'd gladly forward all my junk mail as they like it so much.
#spamthespammers

JustDanceAddict · 15/02/2018 09:32

i Never answer the phone unless I recognise the number or if it’s local to me.

Onlyoldontheoutside · 15/02/2018 09:35

I just had one of these,first time on my mobile.
She asked if I'd been in an accident,I said no,she said thank you I will take your number off the data base.
I was gob smacked,why can't all the calls be like this?

SilverySurfer · 15/02/2018 15:44

I'm hard of hearing so phone calls are not easy and it really depends on the clarity of the person's voice at the other end. I really have trouble with mumblers and foreign accents. One cold caller became so irritated with me being unable to understand her Asian accent she shouted down the phone 'How ridiculous, you have no business picking up the phone if you can't hear what people are saying.' You need guts to phone someone and tell them what they can and can't do in their own home.

RibenaMonsoon · 15/02/2018 16:02

DH is amazing with car accident cold callers.
Agent - our records show you've been in an accident.
DH- OH MY GOD!! Who's been in an accident?? Are they okay? I'd better call an ambulance!! (He continues this dramatically throughout the conversation) it's hilarious to listen to.

I just carry on talking at them. Confirming my "accident" for about 10 minutes so I can waste their time untill I let slip I actually mean a trouser accident. They normally hang up.

swampytiggaa · 15/02/2018 16:40

Our local schools phone using withheld numbers so I can’t ignore those. I have started saying that I had a fatal accident if I can be bothered

Feckitall · 15/02/2018 16:55

If I am in one of 'those' moods it goes like this:

Them:We understand you recently had an accident
Me: Thank god you called
Them: Pardon?
Me: I'm sat here...arms in plaster..legs in plaster...bandages round my head....what happened?? Tell me what happened?
Them: Have you had an accident?
Me: you tell me....I can't remember...

They hang up...

Singingtherapy · 15/02/2018 17:37

Thanks for calling but I'm afraid you've been given incorrect information. The accident was actually entirely my fault. I was driving blindfolded for a dare.

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