I don’t know my landline number, no idea what it is, I know it’s on my mobile, but since we only use the landline for the internet we don’t need it.
I’ve never given it to anybody, used it, put it on application forms or anything else. We have only had it two months, we are ex-directory and nobody bar me, who put the number onto my mobile once to save it, knows it.

So why do I get some twunting computer calling me once a day about Natwest and some other crap, angry asians (twice now, heavy Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani accent shouting at me) demanding that I listen to their sales pitch, and polite well spoken people trying to sell me stuff.

I signed up for the preference service but that has meant bugger all.

How can I stop these twunts calling and how do they have my number?

If you don’t use it for anything, any mileage in just not answering it?

How long ago did you sign up to the Telephone Preference Service.

It can take a few weeks before you stop receiving calls but it did work for me its stop 95% of the “marketing” calls I used to get

They possibly got the number by random number genearator from a computer.

Problem is that the calls are probably over IP (over the internet)- and not originating from the UK so the TPS is of no use.

And once you’ve answered one – the overseas telesales will probably sell / swap your number.

If you dont use the phone – why not set the ringer volume to zero / off?

Get caller display and don’t pick up on withheld numbers, works for me 🙂

It was…..but then the missus saw it in a drawer, put it on charge and answered it when it rang.

I understand the not answering bit, but it’s the principal it all.

I presume it’s a random generator, unless BT secretly sold my number.

Saturday’s fella was screaming at me “Listen to me man, it’s not a sales call”
I kept asking how he got my number
He started saying “Your mother gave it to me, when I called her”
At which point I gave him a tirade of abuse…..then he appologised……..then asked if I was ready to listen.

Think I will hide the phone away again.

I kepp them talking for a while and talk quieter and quieter. Them once I think they have their volume nice and loud, I blow a whistle I keep by the phone really hard.

They get quite upset sometimes.

Am I a bad person?

I love it when they ring me, I tell such a pack of lies they don’t call back. I worked in telesales best thing to do not answer, if the landlines just for Internet do as someone else said and switch the dial tone off.

the ones that p*** me off are the ones that hang up as soon as you do answer. Who was that? what do they want? why did they hang up? Why ring me if you’re going to hang up?

Curiosity eventually got the better of me so I rang it back (london number) – and bugger me but it it was a sales pitch after all 👿 “have you ever been mis-sold payment protection insurance?” – but now they had me paying the sodding bill! I told them to cease & desist, and so far it seems to have worked…

When we first moved into this house, we had a call one night – imagine a Bradford accent, if you will…

them: “is that AB Music on Lumb Lane?”
me: “no, sorry, wrong number”
them: “oh, sorry to disturb you”

10 minutes later
a different caller: “is that AB Music?”
me: “no”
caller: “are you sure?”
me: “duh, yes”
caller: “ok, sorry”

half an hour later, a third different voice repeated the trick and started getting very abrupt before I just hung up

no idea what that was about and they never rang again

How long have you had the phone number? Surely it is more likely that you are using what used to be someone else’s number.
I have had my number for over 2 years now and I’m still getting people ring for the lady whose number it used to be. Some of them even appear to be her friends, clearly not that good friends!!!

If they try to sell me something I can ever hang up on them or sometimes I will mess with their heads with inane questions and the random answers to their questions.

The best one is you tell them that you are just going to go and get the person that they need to speak to and you don’t return for 5 or 10 mins. I have no idea how long they wait for, but I like to think its a good while.

You need to turn it around and have some fun with them as they wont take no for an answer and wont give up. Something as simple as answer the phone and once they start just leave it to one side, soon you’ll hear the Hello ? Hello ? followed shortly after by the dial tone, you can also use the ‘hes down the bottom of the garden, hang on and I’ll get him for you’ I like to put them on speaker phone now while they ‘wait’ as I like to hear them puffing and sighing before they hang up. Dont get as many as I used to, shame really….

All I do is answer the call and leave the phone on the side and ignore. You can hear them going hello, hello, then they hang up, perfect. It can take a few goes for them to understand.

I’m with virgin media, they recycle phone numbers the lovely people that used to have my phone number didn’t like paying their bills, so i get constant phone calls from bailifs/debt companies/ loan offers/ banks and other such dross.

Number is new as far as I am aware. Old number as different to this one

It’s almost certainly wardialed. They have machines that dial numbers randomly / sequentially (hence the silent calls). They’re illegal in this country, but if they’re sourced overseas, we’re buggered.

I get them all the time asking for “Mr Jones” – my grandad who used to own the number and died mid-80s. I usually reply “I’m afraid Mr Jones is deceased” in a quivery voice. Sometimes they have the good grace to sound vaguely apologetic, but often not. Bastards.

Ring BT, and report it,as a nuisance caller.

There’s a sure fire way of getting rid of them.

“No Thanks, goodbye.”

No need for hysterics, war, subterfuge…and they go away, amazing

BTW, Industry standard behavior is if you’re madly abusive, you WILL get more calls, you liven up an otherwise dull day, d’you see?

I did “Ring BT, and report it,as a nuisance caller. “

They said it’s a wardialer, and I should use the preference service. Told them it might be coming from overseas and was told there was nothing we could do.

does anyone ever buy anything off a random sales call? surely there can’t be any sucke^^^^customers left

bassspine – Member
does anyone ever buy anything off a random sales call? surely there can’t be any sucke^^^^customers left

Posted 20 seconds ago # Report-Post

When bored run them along, asking more and more detailed questions and then at the last moment put the phone down,

When Yellow pages repeatedly ring up, pretend you know nothing of them and due to your asbo are not allowed to use the internet to do any research, really winds them up. other colours of directiories that cost a lot to advertise in are available.

As a teen, I worked for a few months in a double glazing call centre (just a cr@ppy room in a cr@ppy office full of (other) spotty teens and telephones).

As above, the highlight of the day was to find some poor fool who would become apoplyctically angry and lose it, shouting, swearing and threatening all kinds of (sometimes sexual) abuse.

We would then take it in turns to call the number and get the speakerphone on for the enjoyment and amusement of the whole room.

😳

Very funny and contains language some may find funny/ offensive

Not really safe for work,contains words and pictures

Aye – exactly that. But then we’d phone him back. And Diane would hand out the hobnobs for us to spit over our phones.

allthegear…why? I hate sales calls as much as the next person, but I wouldn’t punch the guy sticking leaflets my face next time I’m walking about town or spit in the face of a traffic warden who’d ticketed me.

If they are rude/pushy then a bit of verbal is fair game, but acoustic shock is assault and if they chose to pursue it then you’d have the police at your door. Bear in mind calls are recorded for this reason.

The reallocated number thing – as far as I know numbers are not reallocated for quite a while and I’m sure that there are system that prevents a number that is still being called from being reallocated. More likely that the person being chased for debts etc has just made up a random number and it just happens that its yours.

Rubbish spooky. If he is on TPS they are breaking the law by phoning him if they are UK based and if they are overseas then they cannot complain to the UK police.

I do the ” that sounds interesting – hold on a mo” and then just leave the phone down – or swear at them

Cold callers deserve no compassion whatsoever. Parasitic and unpleasant.

Tell BT and they just offer to charge you to have the withhold number service (unless the calls are of a personal sexual nature). I had this a while ago (before TPS) and they gave me the service for 3 months for free, after which I had to pay. Yeah right.

i was bored once waiting for her indoors to get ready and pretended i did want BT to upgrade my line. numpty on the other end spent 20 odd minutes asking all his dumb questions, and eventually the missus announced she was ready.. i just told the boy i had changed my mind and hung up.

I could think of better ways of spending 20 minutes watching my wife get ready 😉

Cold callers deserve no compassion whatsoever. Parasitic and unpleasant.

Nice, I employ 8 people, and quite a few students to be “parasitic and unpleasant…” Some of the companies I’ve done calling for have been family run small firms that have gone on to bigger and better things, everything from making plastic machine parts to embroidery to accounting, and everything in between. Often the people we call comment on how professional we are. Now, clearly not all call centres are like ours, but still, I’d rather not be tarred with your enormous sweeping generalisations thanks all the same

Come to think of it, I think we’ve had this discussion before…

Cold caller = w*nker in most people’s eyes. sorry

Old but funny if you haven’t heard it before..

http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=16733006

“No Thanks, goodbye.”

Controversial, but the simplicity of it is almost beautiful. I can actually see it working too.

Indeed imnotverygood.

Days are gone now when consevatory co’s used to cold call but it was always good drawing out their pitch, arranging an appointment then when they asked for your address giving “Top Floor Flat…”

nickc – I seem to remember you making a decent defence of your business before but I am afraid the much of the world sees cold calling as both parasitic and unpleasant.

To phone me up without my consent is very rude and wastes my time. Why should I show any compassion to those who do this?

Whats the problem?

The phone rings, you answer it. Its a sales call. Just say no thank you and wish them a nice day.

Its no different to what I do if asked in the street.

Do you do the same with sales calls you get at work?

Why should I show any compassion to those who do this?

Because you’re a normal human being with normal human responses and a decent level of education to understand that they’re just human like the rest of us, and just earning a crust, and they deserve the same modicum of politeness and respect that you’d give any person you’d otherwise meet in your life?

Presumably.

I have to say, despite what gets said on threads like this, In all my years doing this, I’ve had maybe one or two people that actually behave anything other than politely.

Nickc – as far as I am concerned they have been rude and disrespe3ctful towards me by their actions – so have forfeited their right to respect and politeness back.

To phone me up without my consent is very rude and wastes my time. Why should I show any compassion to those who do this?

It is annoying, but getting all wound up over it just shows you’ve got issues managing your own anger, and therefore you should go to a group therapy thing or something. All you do is stress yourself out and giver yerself high blood pressure then you’ll need tablets to stabilise things.

I know it’s difficult for a lot of people on here, but the trick is to learn something called empathy. On the other end of that ‘phone line, is some poor sod who really doesn’t want to spend a significant part of their life ringing up a **** like you, but needs to eat and pay the bills, same as you do. So, save your anger for the company that employs them, and cold-calling tactics. Email or write to them requesting they desist. Probably a bit futile in most cases, but no more than having a rant at the poor call-centre bod.

And find other outlets for your anger and frustration; sports, masturbation, maybe even go for a ride on your bike. Crazy idea I know…

Or just don’t have a land-line ‘phone. They don’t call mobiles, do they?

as far as I am concerned they have been rude and disrespe3ctful towards me by their actions – so have forfeited their right to respect and politeness back.

Yeah, well maybe your face is offensive to others; how would you like it if you got punched in the face in the street, because someone’s offended by your looks? Eh?

Maybe you should pratcice what you preach, and not offend others. Get yourself burka’d up.

Better for everyone really, in’t it?