My gast is really flabbered!

Silverfish, the calls we get are not from people like you. My DH was caught by boiler room scams and lost a lot of money, so we are on the. 'Suckers list.' We have the TPS but it makes no difference, we are phoned regularly by scammers wanting us to invest in gold, land, forests, etc. when I answer I am usually told to fetch my husband!! I have been called an f ** b* , left shaking, had abusive and persistent callers , and they now call my DH's mobile. He needs both phones for he is a car hirer.
Usually the calls are at five past twelve, five past one, and three pm. Now I always try to answer as DH actually talks to them, I put the phone down at once. But two of our sons have to use the number witheld because of their kobs, so I always answer.
But you have no idea how much I want to give them some truly shocking language!!

I've been reading this thread with interest. I used to be quite naughty with cold callers - I told one person selling replacement windows that we didn't have any windows in our house, much to teenaged daughter amusement. She eventually went on to temp in a call centre in her gap year, so I had a bit more insight into how horrible the job can be.

However, I DO find cold calls intrusive and annoying, and now aim to be polite but firm. If they ask "Is that Mrs **?" I say either no, or ask "Do I know you? Did I ask you to call?" followed by "No thanks" and the phone goes down. Life's too short to be messing about with unwanted, unsolicted callers.

I confess in the past though to responding to "Is that Mrs. *?" by saying no and saying I'll go and get her, then coming back and saying she doesn't want to speak to you. Silverfish won't like that, but breathe easy because I don't do it now. However some of us do like a bit of creative sport from time to time to brighten the day in the face of the annoyance that these unsolicited calls can cause - it brings our the inner actress in us

I don't advocate being rude or cruel to anyone, but I reckon that there is far too much use made of the telephone to do business these days.

When OH was terminally ill, we would often receive calls from medical people who were using their personal phone with "number withheld" or "private caller" so we could not ignore those. At one time we had four parents and inlaws whose health was dodgy, too, so every phone call could have been news of them. Overseas calls from foreign nationals whose grasp of English is imperfect, to say the least, are not blocked by TPS.

And even of you ignore the bloody ringing of the phone, it still interrupts your train of though while you check whether it is showing a number that you want to speak to. These people would not march into my house uninvited to speak to me personally, so why are they ringing my phone?

Siverfish "By the way I never ever get sales or any other unsolicited calls. I would be happy to do market research and would listen to any callers but never get the chance. I rarely get unsolicited e mails" so you have not suffered from the same phone call several time a day from a disembodied voice (not from the government, but from a boiler seller) telling you that the Government have initiated a boiler replacement scheme - bur not telling you that they want to you to buy it from them and that your chances of being eligible are pretty slim? To find out more you woiuld have to call them back (at premium rates)

And that is just one of a dozen subjects that you could be inundated with on any particular day. If chalenged, they claim that they are not cold calling, they are giving you information or getting market research information. TPS is fine, but it is only effective against sales calls, and many organisations are ignorant of, or ignore, the TPS rules.

Ana Thu 12-Jun-14 23:17:58
I've never been pressurised ...
YET !
The scheme only started at the very end of April, and the Government is only slowly forcing the Voluntary and Charitable sector to accept this pressed labour.
So far around 400 small and large V & C organizations have refused to co-operate.
Next time you're in one of the shops :
Please ask the Manager if they will or won't be taking on Conscripts.
Please ask the Voluntary Volunteers what they think about working with Conscripts.

AAA

Spot on - Silverfish.

If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die?

AND

No One is an island,
Entire of ourselves,

I've never been pressurised to buy anything in any of the charity shops I frequent. They just don't do that - where on earth do you live, Happy Man?

Silverfish
How very heartening to read your messages - a voice of cool and gentle consideration for the plight of others forced into jobs that they probably hate as much as we dislike the products of their forced labour.
What a contrast with the schadenfreude of those venting their spleen on these unseen unfortunates, and bragging about it here, rather than creeping into a corner in shame.
It reminds me of that (in)famous remark of Sir George Young, a high ranking MP. ''The poor? Oh yes, the people we have to step over when we come out of the Opera.''
Not content with frog marching people into such ''jobs'', as from the end of this April, certain people have been pressganged into Volunteering to be Volunteers [Un-paid] - at the risk of loosing all the ''Scroungers Largess'' on which they're living a life of luxury. [Ironic emoticon here, please.].
And of course, if they don't pull their weight, then out they go, and their bountiful benefits will STOP for months.
So next time you go into a 'Charity' shop, and are pressurized to buy some item that you have no use or desire for - don't harass the messenger, just stop and think where we're going as a society - that's if you think that there is such a thing such as 'society'.

I don't find them intrusive as I just don't answer them, I would not rush in from the garden and my elderly mother gets them too sometimes at 2am.
If some wont take no for an answer its because they are under such pressure to get a sale or survey etc. They are desperate and if they fail and get sacked the dwp will not pay them and they could get blacklisted by the company.

It cant be so hard to say 'thanks for ringing but I'm not interested' and put the phone down. I have cried writing this as it has brought back memories of the jobs I hated. Please just think of these people as human and under pressure.

To anyone into Shakespere think of Shylocks speech, 'if you prick us do we not bleed'.
Correct me anyone if I have quoted this incorrectly.

The thing is Silverfish some people get lots of these calls, and elderly people, like my mum, are confused and alarmed by them.

As I've said before, I do feel sorry for people doing this job and I don't believe in being rude to them or, for that matter, anybody else, but those that won't take a polite no for an answer are very irritating.

But Silverfish, don't you understand how intrusive a lot of people feel this type of phone call is? (and it's the same with cold-callers at the door).

Sometimes the calls are at an inconvenient time, you might be waiting for an urgent call from a relative, or have rushed in from the garden...

I had one today from someone asking for Mr A, the woman said she was 'aiming to raise public awareness about industrial injury claims'.

By the way I never ever get sales or any other unsolicited calls. I would be happy to do market research and would listen to any callers but never get the chance. I rarely get unsolicited e mails

I may be being judgemental but I still feel the same about what I said on my last post. It is rude and ignorant to be horrible to these callers. I was brought up to be polite to all.

If someone feels so strongly why answer a withheld number, if it is a friend or relative they will leave a message, I have a free answer service which I understand that most of the bigger phone providers offer.

There was something on TV a few weeks ago and it said that the public would like to ban calls from abroad but they said it could not be done as it was a multimillion industry and to put all these people out of work would be impossible. Even people who live abroad have families to support.
I worked in one call centre for a big bank and I was doing a satisfaction survey-getting the public to have their say as to how they were treated as a customer, I thought this would be harmless but was amazed how rude people were, some never even gave me the courtesy of listening to what I was asking.
Holly, they have to check that someone is in the correct group to have a new boiler, they cant just dump them willy nilly, that would cause mayhem. By the way I cant wait till Im 60 to get my free boiler.

The TPS doesn't apply to foreign-based call centres, *Wheniwasyourage'.

Silverfish, what annoys a lot of us, I think, is being phoned when we have registered with the TPS specifically so that we can avoid having sales calls which we don't want. I often ask if the caller has a copy of the TPS list, and sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. In your experience, is it generally available, and why do so may firms seem to ignore it?

I just look at the caller display, and don't bother to answer. Or, sometimes pick up and just listen..... if you don't speak then nothing happens. If you allow the phone to ring it will only ring a few times for a cold call.The odd time I have heard a voice at the other end, I just say 'no thanks' and end the call.

I feel for the people who are having to do these jobs out of desperation. I didn't realise it was like that, and I couldn't imagine who would apply for such a job out of choice.

It seems it's the same all over the world.

Here in Germany it is unusual to have a phone which does not display the caller's number and it is also now illegal for cold callers to suppress their number. So they have found a trick by which, even if they are phoning from abroad, it looks as if it's from a harmless inland number. If one of these numbers calls, we don't answer, and check on the internet if it's a suspicious number (which it invariably is) I then allocate that number the name "Don't answer!" so that we never answer them.

The foreigners also have astoundingly authentic German names, usually a very common first name and a single-syllable surname.

What annoys me is I pay for a telephone for my convenience, not to be used as a tool for someone else to try an extract money off me for whatever reason. No one has the right to phone me unless I have given them my number or permission to do so. Well that's how I see it

Do you get the one that says "You MUST have a new FREE boiler installed before 2015..." If this is true then why are they not just delivering them to our doors?

They, of course, are not stopping us from doing our job by interrupting us with irrelevant requests for facts for their sales databases!

It seems like cheating to not display their number doesn't it Elegran. I said that some people I want to speak to have 'Private caller' numbers so I have no option but to answer. Cold callers who do that deserve all they get IMO.

I decided to play one along yesterday but refused to tell him how old I am. He got very shirty with me because I was stopping him doing his job and he put the phone down on me!

If I walked into a call centre and interrupted everyone's work while I gave them a sales pitch, or made them fill in a questionnaire, I think I would be escorted to the door and told in no uncertain fashion not to come back.

So why is it rude of me to object to receorded callers interrupting my train of thought several times a day to tell me of a new government initiative to exchange my old boiler for a new one. I am quite happy with my existing boiler, thank you. and it is a diffferent number calling each time (but the same recording!), sometimes even just "private caller" so I can't block them.

And that is just the boiler. There are a lot of others who think that my time should be spent answering the phone to insistent strangers.

I too feel quite sorry for people doing this horrible job and generally try to be pleasant but firm. I get really annoyed though when, even after I've said that I'm not interested, the caller ignores me and keeps rattling on, at which point I say "I'm putting the phone done now" and do so.

I must proofread and also stop pressing m instead ofmthe space bar!

I do understand Silverfish's point about the poor souls who have no real choice but to take job like this if it's offered. She is right about not being able to turn down a job if it is offered, without losing benefit.

Most of the calls I seem to get are not scams, but people trying to sell me stuff, or energy conservation measures or to get me to apply for compensation for whatever accident or industrial injury I have.

Most of the real scamming stuff I get is internet based.

When I have any foreign callers I reply in Gaelic. Soon stops any further chat.

When I get local calls I just say, no thank you. If they continue with their spiel Imputmthe phone down.