GrrrSnarlGnash! Pesky FAILED junk calls!

Why not just ignore the call or hang up straight away and save your brain power for better things?

Because it took all of about five seconds to say, I’d just opened the letter formalising my PhD (so I was quite chuffed with myself after three years’ hard slog), and to be fair, it wouldn’t really tax anyone’s brain too much to come up with that.

It would just have been easier if they’d noted the TPS list and not called in the first place – they could have saved their brain power and time for better things [/sarcastic wink]

We get a fair number of calls per day at the bike shop asking about our electricity/phone/gas (non existent) and there’s two of us who work here, sometimes there’s only one of us working and it is a right pain in the arse to stop what your doing, wipe your hands,sit the tools down and have to deal with some ****wit on the line reading from a script but we have to answer the phone to all calls as it’s a small business and the incoming calls could be important to us whether that be a customer or supplier.

As soon as they start their speil i just end the call, or if it’s the electricity cretins i mention that i’ve tapped into the meter next door and steal their leccy, that usually shuts them up.

I do have a house line/number at home coz of the BT Broadband line and the fact you need a phoneline whether you use it or not but i don’t have a phone plugged into it, i use my mobile for everything and it’s got to the point now that if my phone doesn’t recognise the number i don’t bother to answer, i’ve had 18 calls today from these **** cretinous call centre parasites and the sooner cold calling is banned the better, and i don’t agree that it is a worthwhile job – a worthwhile job produces something of value or is of beneficial help that is of need to the user.

Swearing at them is not on, it’s somebody doing a job rather than doing nothing. It’s also a legal job mostly if there in the UK. Swearing at them won’t change anything as they have targets to hit so will just move on to the next caller but might be the person who does something regrettable due to listening to tirades of abuse all day at work while just trying to earn a living.

If you want to make a difference either collect their details and report their company (if you are on TPS).
If not say Goodbye and hang up.
It’s like the people trying to sell CC’s in motorway services etc. they are not there because they have a life long passion for Barclaycard or own the company, they are there because they need a job. A polite no thanks is not the hardest thing you will do, they wont remove you from the list because they can’t but abusing them isn’t called for.

My dad, being a total ****, now responds to any calls asking for him with some variation of “He was my father, he died last week”, and to “Is that the occupier”, “No, nobody lives here” Everyone’s got to have a hobby.

When I was building up my cycle courier business in Aberdeen many, many years ago, I worked in a double glazing call centre as a team leader. My job was to follow up ‘bites’ from my underlings. I hated doing it but saw it as a means to an end. Can’t stand being called at home by sales types but it’s just a job. A swift no thank you then hang up is all that’s required.

The job allowed me to buy a mobile phone, business cards, leaflets etc. And on the plus side, several hundred people ended up with good quality windows and doors :-):-)

I’ve had about 10 of these calls with the dreary woman’s voice talking about my claim for mis-sold PPI. I have added each one to my address book as “Nuisance caller” and a few I got from lists on the web. Now I have “Nuisance caller 1″ and Nuisance caller 2” eaxch with 9 or 10 numbers and it’s starting to work; I have been able to ignore four of them in the last week.

A question for those who feel that it’s wrong to be rude and that these people are ‘only doing a job’ …

Would you want your son or daughter to be doing that job?

It’s all very well being sanctimonious but don’t forget that these companies have not operated by the rules, ie checking with TPS. They also fail to disclose the correct company name and details when asked.

I will carry on telling them to foxtrot oscar. 🙂

A question for those who feel that it’s wrong to be rude and that these people are ‘only doing a job’ …

Would you want your son or daughter to be doing that job?

I’d prefer it to a life on unemployment, drug dealing, petty crime, scamming layer, daily mail columist or prostitution. This could be the job they took to keep their family going.

It’s all very well being sanctimonious but don’t forget that these companies have not operated by the rules, ie checking with TPS. They also fail to disclose the correct company name and details when asked.

Your beef is not with the caller it’s with the company. Just say No Thanks, it wont change anything your end.

Maybe blowing a mountain rescue whistle down the line would wipe the smile off their face?

Use anything you like – a whistle, an air horn, an pneumatic road breaker, a rolls royce jet engine. To the caller it will be as loud as…. a telephone receiver.

Jeezus cg!

I just say “Sorry mate, not interested, thanks.” and hang up.

I have a sweary word in my mobile and each number that tries selling me shite gets added so that I don’t answer in the future.

I find I’m much less stressed after polite refusal rather than telling someone to **** off.

If it’s an unrecognised number, ignore it and google it to see who it was. If it’s spam add the number to a spam group folder with a silent ring tone.

I think you lot are directing your hate at the wrong people and you say that cold callers don’t offer anything…. They clearly do.

Because if wallys and goons didn’t buy the rubbish that cold callers peddle, then the cold calling companies wouldn’t use it as a profitable sales technique …. and then the sane amongst us wouldn’t be getting these calls.

So if you wanna hate… and this being STW means you do…. Save it for the clowns who get sucked in by cold callers.

“No thanks, bye” … and put the phone down.

If we all did that, they’d stop.

I ran a small company doing cold calling. We supplied a B2b need for other small companies that couldn’t afford or didn’t want the hassle of employing their own sales staff. Sales is the lifeblood if ANY business, has to be done, otherwise there isn’t a business. We called mostly financial services to small firms, but we did calling for local garages, did marketing gathering / surveys, small firms selling playground equipment to schools and councils, did electronic components, training courses….loads, and we were signed up to the DMA, we TP cleansed every list, and we gave the TPS number out to people who wanted it and advice about MPS as well.

Rude customers goes with the territory, but we spoke with loads of lovely folk, saved someone’s life, I talked to one guy who was threatening to top himself ( small business going bust) while my colleague called the ambulance, they found him with a rope, saved another from an accountant who was stealing money to the tune of thousands a year… And listened to a baby being born.

It’s also a legal job mostly if there in the UK.

I can’t remember the last time I had a cold caller based in the UK. And if I did, they’re breaking the law. Remind me again why I should be polite to criminals?

It is a legal requirement that all organisations (including charities, voluntary organisations and political parties) do not make such [unsolicited sales and marketing] calls to numbers registered on the TPS unless they have your consent to do so.

Wot Cougar says^

Aren’t these people required to ask whether it’s a convenient time to call? If so, they never do so and clearly fail to treat me with courtesy so consider I’m fully justified by my choice of terminology.

Another thing, following a car accident at the end of last year I was besieged by calls two days after reporting it to my insurance company – Aviva for those who wish to avoid.

I spoke to Aviva who obviously denied it, I wrote and escalated my complaint and still was fobbed off. Was intending to go to the Information Commissioner’s Office with it but another fight was taking up my time.

Those of you who support CC because ‘it employs people’ should understand that those jobs are usually very short term.

I’ve just realised why you guys hate the cold callers so.

Your phone ring and you think you are popular… “oh I wonder which friend wants to speak to me” , you think…. Then you look at the screen and realise … nop I’m still Jonny No Mates beacuase it’s a blooming cold caller.

I know this beacuase it happens to me when I get a text and it’s vodaphone telling me my monthly bill 🙁

understand that those jobs are usually very short term.

I had people with me for 5-8 years. I’ve left the company now, but its got the same people working for it now that were there when I left nearly 3 years ago.

‘usually’

I worked on B2B many years ago for six months. Then the boss did a runner and company folded.

A question for those who feel that it’s wrong to be rude and that these people are ‘only doing a job’ …
Would you want your son or daughter to be doing that job?

I doubt many people choose call centres as a career, but the people who do the job do it so they can take pride from actually having a job. If my kids went to work there every day knowing that they would insulted, abused and screamed at, yet they chose that over getting benefits and living and easier life doing not very much then I would be extremely proud of them

I don’t get many calls and those that I do get don’t really affect my life.

I was called by a nice girl from Energy Saving Trust a while ago, she must have been new and sounded terrified. We had a chat for a minute or so, I told her that we already had loft, cavity wall etc etc then thanked her for her call. She was stunned and said that I was the first person that had been nice to her all day!

That made me feel much better than just insulting her.

Or maybe they do the job under the threat of sanctions from the DWP?

I answer the phone, check it’s a person on the end of the line then pass it over to my 2 year old.

The record so far is in excess of 5 minutes trying to get mummy/daddy to the phone and the little ‘un LOVES speaking to people on the phone.

Obviously, there are call centres, and there are call centres.

The sort of operation nickc describes I have absolutely no beef with. They’re operating within the law by honouring TPS. All the people here going “well, they’re only doing a job”, that’s a fair comment as it’s a legitimate company. And having worked in a call centre (albeit tech support / customer services), I don’t doubt that staff turnover is massive. It was about 200% when I worked in tech (ie, the average lifespan of a support engineer was six months).

The thing with companies like that is, by definition, as I’m TPS-registered I never hear from them. They’re not the ones I have a beef with.

I’ve worked in a call centre, I was young and needed the money… Crap job, and as a result I’m very much in the “no thanks, bye” rather than F.O. camp when it comes to answering.

Any unsolicited sales calls are saved to my phonebook, and set to go directly to voicemail, so they only ever bother me once.

Anything that does get through, I answer, put the phone down but don’t hang up. Or hand it to my two year old daughter.

Its the recorded message calls that really boil my piss.

If you can’t even be bothered to speak to me why should I have to answer the phone to a recording.

Press 1 to hear more, Press 8 to be removed from our calling list

I used to press 8 and kept getting the same recorded calls. Now I press 1 and tell them what I think of recorded calls or on one more memorable call how stupid selling solar panels in Scotland is.

or on one more memorable call how stupid selling solar panels in Scotland is.

Almost a days worth of extra daylight each week compared to some of our southern buddies just now – 8 days electricity generated for the price of 7- total madness to sell solar panels here. 🙂

and almost a day less in winter

Almost a days worth of extra daylight each week compared to some of our southern buddies just now – 8 days electricity generated for the price of 7- total madness to sell solar panels here.

Average power generated by a 1 square metre installation in the British Isles is 11W, I’m guessing it might be a bit lower in Glasgow

So yes pretty pointless

After several calls in one day (I’m self employed, so have to leave my work) I got really annoyed with a cc and told her what I thought. She rang me back 2 minutes later and said how rude I was and that I should be ashamed of myself, but not giving me a chance to explain that her call was one of many I’d received that day.
Her calling back made me think a little and from now on I just say I’ll call you back in a moment and put the phone down. Of course I can’t check on 1471 as they never leave a number.

Oh and does make me laugh how Asian call centre workers always give themselves common English names, such as Norman or Colin.

Which Mag are trying to get the government to act on unwanted calls. It’s on their website, I think* you can add your name – 50 000 already.

*I’m a subscriber, I might get special treatment there.

“Sniff sniff, Daddy died today sniff sniff.” is fun 😆

No excuse for abusing another human being. It is perfectly possible to express displeasure without verbally abusing/swearing at someone who is just trying to earn a living. I see some far worse business conduct in my day job and that is not a licence to start effing and jeffing at those responsible.

If you don’t like the practice then campaign for better regulation or controls dont target the poor sods who in a shit job market have managed to get some unpleasant, repetitive and soul destroying job to make ends meet.

There’s a funny comment on the Which website about handing the phone to chattering four-year-old twins.

No excuse for phoning me up to try to sell me something I can’t afford, don’t want, don’t need, wouldn’t buy over the phone anyway if the preceeding weren’t true: dialling too many numbers and letting the call fail after I’ve answered it, when I’m on the TPS list anyway.

Rant over.

No excuse for abusing another human being. It is perfectly possible to express displeasure without verbally abusing/swearing at someone who is just trying to earn a living

Bike thieves are just trying to earn a living.