Sales call - cheek!

We have caller recognition and have named the nuisance callers so that they show as Microsoft scam, double glazing, ambulance chaser and so on. Today all the calls were from Microsoft scam and they rang nearly every hour but I did not pick up the phone. When we don't answer the house phone our mobiles often ring straight after, I would like to know where they get my mobile from as I never give it to tradesmen.

I got yet another call today asking for Mrs. Smelly. As if I wouldn`t change it if that really was my name! And another asking if they were speaking to MR. S, my voice isn`t that deep!

The last cold caller I had asked me "why are you being so rude to me ?" I honestly didn't think I was It depends on my mood I'll either say "No thanks" and hang up or I'll string them along a bit.

With regard to funeral plans, mum pre paid for her funeral which we were grateful for because she got to decide exactly how she wanted things. DH and I keep meaning to do ours.

I didnt know it was possible to do that, prepay and therefore decide a funeral to that extent. hmm, how interesting.

I had a cold caller yesterday who said he worked for a legal firm and someone at my home had recently had an accident - I stopped him mid spiel and asked the name of his company, he said he didn't understand, so I asked him who he worked for, he said the line was breaking up and he couldn't hear me (although I could hear him perfectly). Eventually he got fed up of my asking for the name and hung up.

In my defence I was feeling a little bored as normally I would just say no thanks and hang up!

One of DDs friends worked for one of these companys for a short time and told us if the call she made lasts 2 minutes she got paid, so now I tend to let them finish their spiel and then ask them to repeat it in English.
When they ask me why i do not speak French, always seems to be in french, I just tell them they called me so I expect them to speak my language, if I called them I would speak to them in French or Dutch.
One young man said yes fair enough, have a nice day.

We get a lot of cold calls here in France - lunch time being a favourite time. The last time I had a Microsoft call obviously from India I asked him if his other knew he was doing this for a job - trying to con people out of money - the line went dead and I have not had any of those for a while.
However the phone rang Tuesday evening about 9pm and as it came up with a masked number I was quite short when I answered - and this voice then said was it Madame - and I agreed and he quickly said this is Dr L- our GP - he was ringing from home to give me my blood test results - we both had tests that morning - he gave them to me for OH too and then told me how he wanted to adjust my pills as my sodium was too low - he also said to put salt on my chips!
I apologised to him for my attitude when I picked up the phone and explained I thought it was a cold call as it was masked and he said that was fine - he was like Zorro and had a mask!! This is a Frenchman with a good sense of humour.
It is common for the doctors in the Practice to call with results especially if something needs doing or if it is the sort ot test where they know you will be worried and they call to tell you it is OK or not. I am so glad I live here and it is the most worrying aspect if we did decide to move back to UK.

I think I may have mentioned this before; fairly soon after DH died I had a cold call from someone asking to speak to him. I said no, and was asked why. Because he's not available. Why? Because he's not here. Is there any good reason why I can't speak to him? Yes, because he's dead. Silence....... I felt quite good after that.

Callers asking to speak to DH have more or less stopped now as he has been dead for 4 years, however, shortly after he died I had a call from someone asking to speak to him, I broke down in tears and said he had recently died and they then went on to try to sell me whatever it was they were selling!! I'm afraid I did rather lose it and told them where to go in no uncertain terms!

Call me a grumpy old git if you like (and many people do) but I never answer ANY call from a number I don't recognise. I have done that ever since the introduction of caller ID. If anybody needs to contact me they will write when they can't get through by phone.

I do not know why we generally feel the need to apologise for 'engaging' with these nuisance cold calls that purport to be from insurance companies/ computer companies/etc etc. (A)They have chosen to call us and are often most insistent with their questions, (B) they are either trying to sell us something that is hard to sell (either its a service that does not bear close scrutiny or would not survive in the legitimate market place) (C) Sometimes its just an out and out scam trying to catch out the venerable. Thus my argument is that as long as we are polite what harm is there in playing along should we feel in the mood - hey sometimes I'm just a bit bored!

lefthanded I agree that is a good idea (I have caller ID myself) however I have family living abroad and two have recently had health scares and as a result I get phone calls from mobiles whose numbers I don't have which come up as unrecognised or unavailable, which is why I tend to answer them. Surely with the technology we have these days it can't be impossible for BT (or whoever your provider is) to stop all calls where the number is deliberately withheld (those I don't answer)!

Hilda I get what you are saying , but for every smart person who can cope with the calls , there is some poor soul conned out of their money . We do not ask for them to call so are under no obligation to speak to them .I have tried to talk politely to some , but they are so belligerent I put the phone down

If they opened the front door and stepped in, calling out "I've come to sell you a funeral plan/fix the non-existent fault on your computer/tell you about a scheme for the government to pay us to install a new boiler if you jump through the right hoops" we would tell them to get out right now and not come back. We should not accept the invasion of our telephone either.

It is quite irrelevant that they are trying to earn a living, it is an aggressive way of getting us to buy their product or use their services. The individual caller is not to blame (unless they get abusive) It is the owners of the business that they are representing.

I believe that they can be prosecuted if they ignore a direct instruction to stop calliong you, so the way to get rid of them (well, from that firm anyway - there will be more) is to say politely but firmly "No, I do not want xxxx and do not call me again. Please remove my name from your calling list and make sure that I do not hear from your firm again. And what was the firm's name again? How can I get in touch with them?" That at the very least puts the wind up them.

They are legally obliged to tell you the name of the firm they are calling for, and their own name, so that the call can be identified. If they don't/won't they have something to hide. If you can be bothered, make a note of the caller's name, the firm's name and contact details, and the date and time.

There are call-blockers which block all withheld number calls, or all calls from overseas, or all calls from numbers known to be cold-calling pests, or a few other categories. I bought one and have had hardly any unwanted calls since. You can give overseas family a code to enter before dialling your number, which lets them through.

You don't have to put up with it.

BT's advice home.bt.com/news/bt-life/how-to-control-nuisance-and-unwanted-calls-11363906182494
(and they have a new call-blocker phone, which is also on Amazon, could be cheaper on there)

My call-blocker

There are others - search for phone call-blocker on amazon.

Which call blocker is that Elegran? And do they charge?

Foloowing on from what lefthanded said, my husband also says that they can also leave a message on answerphones.

Are you all Masochists? I NEVER talk to these phone calls. Just put the phone down. Also, never be in a rush to answer the phone. The call centres put out a dozen or so calls and respond to the first pick up. Your friends will hang on. I am using texts more and more and would gladly have the phone removed if it wasn't part of an internet package. Also (amd correct me if wrong) do you get these calls on your mobile or is it too expensive? Pensioners are sitting ducks jumping to the landline all the time.

x post!

Detracting from the "cold calling" part of the thread.....believe me, it would have made things so much easier (no less sad) but easier, if DH would have had a funeral plan....I myself will be making one (when I can afford to) I would encourage every one to plan ahead, once it's done then it can be put to one side and never to be spoke about again until the time comes. Although I would deff not! be taking one up with these cold callers, I would be going to the funeral home of my choice, they all have funeral plans.

soontobe I have put a link in my previous post to my call-blocker, which has been very good. Once you have bought it and plugged it in, between the phone socket and your handset, there is nothing else to pay. you have to set it up to block what you want it to, but that is not difficult.

I don't know anything about the BT call-blocker phone, the cost of that is on the Amazon site and I would imagine that there is nothing else to pay once you have bought it.

If you are a BT customer, they have a call-blocking service, which you pay for, but I don't know how much.

Thanks for that.
We have got something, have had it for a while, but it is becoming more and more useless at blocking. I think that we pay a yearly charge.

I was in no way encouraging engagement with these daft calls.....they are a nuisance at the very least. I'd also recommend all available screening procedures. I was just saying that I do not think we should feel guilty for having a bit of fun with them should we wish to do so.

Today the unanswered calls showed as a company trying to sell me a security system. Would I really employ someone to fit a burglar alarm that rang me out of the blue ? My landline has a facility for blocking 200 numbers and they are all in operation so further numbers are identified as scam or nuisance. If I get 10 cold calls a day I can check the list and probably find another 15 or 20 where they were blocked without the phone ringing.

Soon if you're using a call blocker you need caller identify enabled on your line, which may be an additional charge, depending on whether your tariff already includes it. (It costs an extra 99p/month on my PlusNet tariff.)