middle aged moment and Microsoft

Must be the season felice I had one too. I was just settling down to read the paper so decided to have some fun with him. Pretending to be deaf in response to him identifying himself as being from Microsoft I 'misheard' him and welcomed him

'Michael? Not heard from you for ages!'
'Not Michael, I'm from Microsoft'
'Hang on a minute, let me get my hearing aid Michael, don't go away'
He assured me he would wait (made him repeat it twice)
Came back after about 3 minutes and asked
'Michael, I'm very sorry I can't remember what you asked me to get'
He replied I was going to find my hearing aid. I asked him to speak up but at this point he put the phone down.

Pity! I was enjoying myself

I must try that one Anya...

Chuckle!

Anya

Anya! Superb!

Anya nice one

Well done Anya

For some reason they don't like my rape alarm.

My 80yr old FIL has been doing something similar recently. He's just had new hearing aids (at last ) and in the weeks before, he really struggled to use the phone. He's realised now though that his deafness is rather useful when he gets unsolicited calls and he's started to pretend he can't hear the caller properly (especially if they are abroad). He doesn't speak to many people during his day, so he can have a bit of fun with a call to break up the monotony. Old devil!

Superb Anya, I hope I get the opportunity to try that one

lol, sometimes good to wind them up.
I know of someone who let "David" do his little speech, paused and then asked him if he could ask him a question. "Yes, certainly sir" David replied (bet he was thinking he'd hooked one) and then the question. "is your Mother proud that she raised a liar and a thief?" followed by silence and then a click.

For my Dad we (all family friends know) always let the phone ring a couple of times, hang up and then ring again. He then knows it's someone he can safely talk too, anyone else takes a chance if he can be bothered to pick up.

I confess I often feel sorry for the callers (phone or doorstep) because it's probably the only job they could find and it must be soul destroying work (not the phishing attempts of course) .

With you on that one Wilma

Thing is Wilma and Nina these are not simply cold callers, these are scammers after your money, bank details, etc...it's a well known scam that's returning. Gullible people have had their bank accounts cleaned out

I had a young man at the door this afternoon offering me a hot tub, on the roof. What!!!????

I let them rabbit on with a lot of confused old lady questions about their so called satellite knowledge of the "virus"
Eventually I say 'I can't find the Microsoft app on my ipad' guess what? They hang up

Anya that's why I said except for the phishing attempts.

My Mum and Step-Dad were affected by the recent TalkTalk security breach. Despite my Step-Dad being a retired police inspector, my Mum stopped him twice just in time from being fooled by phone scammers - one pretending to be from TalkTalk. It scared the wits out of them and now they don't answer the phone to unknown numbers (all the family now has their own ringtones) and they Google every unknown number. I mentioned my 80yr old FIL before. He lost £99 twice to the same company offering unnecessary Sky box insurance over the phone. He felt so stupid. Now he's registered with the Telephone Preference Service and has a piece of paper by the phone with a little speech to use if he gets unsolicited calls - when he's not playing his hearing aid tricks that is! But seriously, it's shocking how common this stuff is and it's not just the elderly who are targeted.

This was interesting Company fined £850,000

Yes Anya I know someone who was scammed and lost £1000s.
However, there are some legitimate call centre workers who struggle to make a living because these nasty people give their industry a bad name.
I know what that's like having worked for a well known market research company.

I do feel sorry for the callers working in call centres (not the scammers of course), and appreciate that it could possibly be the only job they could get, but my home is my sanctuary, if I am interested in solar panels/free boilers or whatever I will make the enquiry.

If I do answer these calls I usually politely say I'm not interested and hang up, although I did have one woman who rang me back and demanded to know why I had hung up on her! That was a bit disconcerting. I must confess sometimes I do lead them on a bit with the "deaf/forgetful little old lady" act!

A catalogue I have used for years would regularly phone me and try and persuade me to order. I asked a couple of times for a note to be put on my account saying I didn't want this and that I would call them
Eventually it was done by the man who I told very firmly "Look I know this is your job, and I admire you for getting out there. I'm not being rude but don't call me again.

Just in case some posters don't know about the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) this is the link to register

Telephone Preference Service

I've found nothing cuts a call short quicker than mentioning the TPS and they apologise profusely as they go because they are trained that way to help prevent their organisation getting into trouble for not following the industry code of practice.

This is the link for the Mail Preference Service to stop junk mail too

Mail Preference Service

WilmaKnickersfit - I love your name. Go the extra mile with the TPS and ask for the name of the firm before you mention TPS. I have tried saying, "sorry I didn't catch who you were from" and then when they answer, I say "thank you for letting me know the name of your firm because I have Telephone Preference Service and now I know who to mention when I complain." Some apologise, some slam the phone down and one asked what TPS was.

On the rare occasions I answer 'withheld' or 'International' calls I always tell them I have just had 'a new kitchen', 'solar panels', 'free insulation', ' a new boiler' etc etc, which usually does the trick.

Anya l love your 'misheard' technique. I have done the repeated 'Hello, Hello ....Who is that?... Is there anybody there?' thing which also makes them hang up! Yours is much more mischievous. I love it!

I once inadvertently got the right answer. Someone was trying to get me to change phone provider and I said,'I think it's a good idea, but I just had a glass of wine with my dinner and make it a practice never to make a decision when I have had alcohol.
He Immediately said we aren't allowed to deal with someone who has had a drink, and rang off.