Just a thought about nuisance calls

Do you want to borrow my GS? He loves to answer the phone and deals with them very well. He's 4.

I had a nuisance call last week offering me vouchers that I would never use like two for one in Pizza Hut, (The nearest one is 45 mins away) facials and coupons for shops I've never heard of. When I pointed this out he said I could pass them on to a family member if I didn't want them myself. The punch line, of course, was I would be expected to pay £69 pounds a year membership to this wonderful scheme!!!!

I told him I had no intention of spending £69 on something I would never use as these vouchers were aimed at younger people than myself. There was a possibility my daughter might be able to use them but if push came to shove, if I had £69 to spare, she'd probably rather have the cash and in any case, all these vouchers would require extra expenditure so I'd be mad to sign up to something that would be a complete waste of money.

There was silence at the other end and when I asked if he was still there, he said, 'Yes but I can't get a word in edgeways'

I do hope that conversation was recorded for 'training purposes!!'

I'm amazed anyone can bother having a 'conversation' with a cold caller, I don't get them often but always put the phone straight down, they don't ring again.

tanith when I hung up on a cold caller, she rang me back and demanded to know why I had hung up!

I've wondered the same thing, tiggypiro but I don't know the answer either. Not much help there then...

DH either pretends to be a takeaway and keeps asking what they want to order or pretends they're listening to an argument between a father and son where the son has stolen the phone from a pawn shop and the father wants him to take it back. It's amazing how quickly the caller puts the phone down

I told one last week he was wasting his and my time and he yelled "How dare you speak to me like that you rude woman" I put the phone down before realising I should have said"It's surprisingly easy to a p**t like you". What a wasted opportunity.

I had a cold and my voice was a bit husky , so when the cold caller asked to speak to mrs .... I deepened my voice and murmured "What can I do for youuu " ..... he hung up on me

I tell them that I know the customer has to say no four times so I say 'no, no, no, no'. That gives them their four and they can ring off. Usually works although I prefer DH's.

tiggipiro - in answer to your question, no, not putting your phone down would make no difference. It is only the person who initiates the call that can disconnect it, so your caller would just put his phone down to disconnect.
I too sometimes talk non stop to a cold caller, or ask them to hold the line and put the phone by my radio playing music. They have gone by the time I go back to the phone! Usually however I just say no thanks and put the phone down.
It is just so annoying, to be disturbed for no good reason.

"ask them to hold the line and put the phone by my radio "

I used to do that, but they just used to call back even more out of revenge. They'd hang up as soon as I pick the phone up, and then ring back again as soon as I put the phone back down.

The best fun I had was with one at the door about twenty odd years ago. He knocked on the door while I was eating my dinner, so I made sure I answered chewing a big mouthful. He was pushing cavity insulation, and wanted to know if he could send the surveyor round to do a quote, so I said no thanks. After he'd had another half a dozen or so no thanks I was fed up, so I said yes, ok and went back to my dinner before it went cold.

The following evening there was a tap on the door while I was cooking:
"I'm the surveyor, I've come to measure up"
"OK"
I shut the door. A quarter of an hour later I was eating my dinner, and he knocked again:
"Yes?"
"I've got your quote"
"Good for you"
"Can I come in"
"No, I'm eating my dinner"
"Well, we're not the sort of company that does business on the doorstep"
"I don't care, you're not coming in, I'm eating"
"Don't you want a quote, then?"
"I told your mate I wasn't interested last night, but he wouldn't take no for an answer"
"He's no mate of mine"
"I can't help that, give me a price if you want to, of you don't, don't"
"It's £300"
"Oh" I said, and shut the door.

He was beetroot faced as he stomped off down the drive, slammed the door of his Volvo, and set off with a squeal of tyres!

Thanks for the answer Nanabelle which makes perfect sense when I think about it. Very annoying that it wouldn't work though!

Crun, I love it

Nuisance telephone calls - After they have asked me if it's me I usually say who are you? in the shortest possible manner. When I've found out I say well, I don't want to talk to you and if you call again I will complain! Then the phone goes down. They don't call back! I'm quite sad that some people do this sort of work - perhaps they can't find anything else but I do feel they are invading my privacy thus my response.
My mother always had fun with door to door salesmen. She had a vacuum cleaner man come and asked him to demonstrate - he ended up cleaning the whole of the ground floor and then she said she wasn't interested. Naughty

But part of me feels sorry for people who have to make a living in this way.

I always feel really sorry for people who have to do this job, so try to be polite to them - it depends on their attitude. We used to get a lot of calls on a Sunday - not from this country. After the third Sunday in a row, I asked them where they were calling from, because England is a Christian country, and we don't do business on the Lords Day, and so I would rather they didn't call me. "Sorry" said the caller - and no one ever rang back. I can imagine the marker - "religious nut job - don't call!"

I have the answer machine on 24/7, if you don't pick up the phone you don't have to talk to them. I find that as soon as the message cuts in they put the phone down. Going back through the call registry the nuisance calls are 99% of all calls.

With all the calls we have had recently the carbon footprint above my home should be zero after the fitting off cavity wall insulation/solar panelling/energy efficient boiler/double glazing/loft insulation etc,and of course the energy suppliers who can give me a better deal its a wonder my family don't find the phone constantly engaged,it must be a soul less job not something I would like to do but they must get some takers somewhere mustn't they ?

I do the same, harrigran. Sometimes the automated calls will record on the answer phone, but if it's a real person they don't bother.

I sometimes just lose it with cold callers. They often ask to speak to Mrs x (my mother) or Mr X (my dad). I once said "of course you can but only if you're a *** medium. Mum died 3 years ago and Dad 12 years ago. At other times I ask if they wouldn't consider finding a better job than phoning dead people. I know its awful of me but some days it's just too much. Number has been registered with TPF ever since it started!

ayse latterly I usually tell them they're breaking the law by calling someone who's registered with the TPS, and they make some excuse about my not being on their list (even after fifteen years or more) and hang up. I had one idiot who argued that the TPS doesn't apply to landlines.

The point about salesmen is that they have hides as thick as a rhinoceros, so telling them to p.ss off won't really bother them, as they can just move on to the next punter in seconds. What really gets under their skin is if you waste their time (like your hoover rep).

I once kept a double glazing salesman busy all evening. He was sat on my sofa from 8pm to midnight while I kept saying "well I'll have to think about it". He must have thought I was driving a hard bargain, as the price kept coming down and down, but I had no intention of buying anything.

There was an episode of Equinox about junk mail donkeys years ago, apparently the hit rate for that stuff is only about 2%.

It occurred to me that if everyone were to return the junk in the reply envelope it would probably put a stop to it almost overnight. If they had to hire fifty times as many staff to open the post, but had no more business from it, that would probably make the whole process completely uneconomical.

I was mopping up the kitchen floor after a leak from the fridge (milk everywhere) when I got a call. He asked how I was. (Grrrrr!) When I said I was not very happy as I was dealing with a calamitous leak and was this call really important he said, "No Ma'am not compared with what you are dealing with". I was quite impressed! Still don't know what he was selling.

I've just lost my rag with one. Told them I'm TPS they said but I'd definitely had a RTA in the last year and their IT department was very up to date. I swore at them and banged the phone down. Most unladylike I know, but they'd made me lose my place in my crochet pattern and it's Saturday afternoons!
The number was withheld, so I can't even block it!

We have caller display and unless I recognise the number I just don't answer. I reckon if it's a genuine call then they'll leave a voice mail and I can call back. I picked up 6 messages in one day and only one was a friend...the rest were automated calls trying to sell solar panels, boiler scrappage, PPI and a couple who just hung up. What's the point of registering with TPS, these firms are just ignoring it.