middle aged moment and Microsoft

I take your point ethel everyone has to earn a living but in the past I've been sitting by the phone anxiously waiting for news of desperately ill relatives (mum and my husband) A phone call would have been bad news I knew that so I was very on edge.

Friends had been told not to ring that day so when the phone rang 3 times and each one was a cold caller I was beside myself and told them the situation. They were very understanding but that's not the point.

Thankyou for the links WilmaKnickersfit I have been meaning to register for ages

Most of our intrusive (not cold!) calls are from autodiallers. An electronic recording starts to inform me of 'rights' that I apparently have or that their database tells them that I'm due something fabulous. Can't do more than slam down phone! Grrr

I have a lot of sympathy for ethel. I also get many 'silent' calls and other cold calls to which I usually just say "no thank you" and put the phone down. It's quite simple and takes less time than being rude. When I worked for a high street bank, I sometimes tried to call customers to let them know they were going overdrawn and might incur charges. Because the bank's phone number said 'number withheld', I often had the phone slammed down on me. The same customer wold then complain about their bank charges and ask why I hadn't called them !!

2 of my sons have worked in call-centres- they think the joke answers are hilarious, something different. But then they didn't take the work all that seriously.

Ethel my OP was with regard to scammers, some of whom have stolen thousands of pounds from vulnerable people, these calls should never be acceptable to anyone. I also know people who work in call centres and I was not targetting them or you.
On another note I would never fill in a survey over the phone how do I know what the data will be used for, more cold calling probably.
I am quite capable of deciding if I want to buy something, I do not need a stranger on the phone trying to persuade me to purchase products I have never seen.

ethel if this post upsets you, nobody is forcing you to read it. I want peace in my own home- no telephone calls from cold callers and nobody banging at my door trying to sell their wares.

ethel, you have a point but when you live alone and not so able, have to struggle to get to phone it is annoying. If is real prob get caller display and don't answer
I worked in a Care home where some had private phones and they can become very distressed.
I did give extremely short shrift to a cold caller who rang a blind 90 year old resident in the evening.

To all of you with these 'witty remarks' that you all find so amusing:
What is wrong with just saying 'no thank you, Im busy'?.
Would you feel the same if your relatives got a job in this industry?.
I find this thread very hurtful and insulting to hard working people like myself. I know of several people who work in call centres who have had nervous breakdowns because of the abuse by the public. There is no need to be so horrible

One very naughty one I've only used once so far is:
"If you want sex talk I'll need your credit card number".

Hopefully that might get me struck off the list of "easy marks".

My home is muy castle, why should i be irritated by these cold callers even if they do happen infrequently because I am also ex directory, registered with TPS but even so some do filter through.

We're ex-directory, registered with TPS, with caller ID, but still get international silent calls. My husband immediately places the phone on the table and leaves it there for about 10 minutes, in the hope that it will cost them a small fortune. I am somewhat hard of hearing, so never answer the phone anyway, but have done cold-calling, so sympathise with the poor salesman at the other end. However, my most irritating experience is debt collection agencies for a long-out-of-statute debt. The woman phoned me on my new mobile number one morning when I was on my way out and said I owed her company money. The debt was a) 13 years old and b) paid off and I just said "I owe you nothing. How did you get this number?" She replied that I must have given them the number, which, of course, I denied. "This debt won't go away, you know". By then I'd lost my temper with her. "Dear,
just run away and check on "Statute of Limitations" It means precisely that it has gone away!". As I put the phone down, I overheard her saying "How rude!" Maybe, but haven't heard from them since! I do like the idea of mishearing the caller on the other end - will try it sometime! Wish they would make cold calling illegal, none-the-less!

I always say 'I am au pair - no spikka Inglese!' They usually hang up, but if not, I do!

We are signed up with the Telephone Preference Service 0845 07 007 07, which helps stop cold callers. We also have a phone that shows the number of the caller. The only nuisance calls I get are occasionally on my mobile, saying they have learned I was involved in an accident and was I interested in claiming .......etc. I simply say "No I haven't been, don't intend to be, don't bother me again!" These calls have tailed off.

I am registered with TPS but still get them. I usually say very politely "I am sorry but I don't accept unsolicited calls," and hang up.
My son, who was visiting when someone from one of the "You have a problem with your computer" lot called, put on a strong foreign accent, pretended to be shouting at a wife he called Irina and blaming her for shopping on-line. He carried on screaming, informing the caller that "he knew how to deal with her" banged a few things about and then hung up. Goodness knows what the caller imagined was happening!

I say to any cold callers that I don't give information out on the phone. If they continue even innocuous questions like,'Are you the homeowner?' are answered by a repetition of my refusal to answer queries on any subject. They soon give up. If a heavily accented person announces they are 'David' or 'Janet' I point out that, in fact, they are not. I am perfectly polite since I realise that some poor souls are only trying to do their job. This way it gives them the choice as to whether they wish to continue to waste their phone bill and most hang up abruptly.

I don't get many cold calls now but when I did I used to pretend I was French and kept saying "pardon," and "je ne comprend pas," luckily none of the cold callers spoke French and they soon gave up.

ethelbags I can understand why you would be angry at the tone of this thread.

However, it's not callers like you who work for a company that follows the MRA Code of Market Research Standards who are being discussed. It's the unethical scammers and the companies who do not follow any code of practice. It's the companies that have bought data that should not have been sold and are using it to try to make money from vulnerable people.

It's unfortunate that improvements in technology create so many opportunities for the unethical and criminals to take advantage of people, not least because it reflects badly on bona fide organisations and companies.

We have been registered with the TPS for years. We still receive cold calls. Some are from abroad (over which we accept that the TPS has no control) but many are made from within the UK.

We can't see that the TPS does a good job in this regard as we sometimes contact them to report a gleaned telephone number. They thank us politely and say they can't do anything about the calls but will pass the number on......

Wonder if anything changes.....

I love some of your responses to spammers etc. I've been in the 'no thank you' camp but may change tack (but only to the genuinely 'orrible ones!).

ethelbags - I suspect this is the thread that made you cross today? Please don't be cross - you sound like a very nice lady and I doubt your polite interviews about important issues such as the ones you mention are the slightest bit annoying. It is more the nuisance telephone calls that are being discussed here.

I read your comment with interest. I am a cold caller and have been for almost 20 years.
First: It is not because it was the only job I could get.
Secondly I happen to like it
Thirdly: the ignorant pigs who make fun, act stupid, pretend they are deaf etc etc are not clever although they think they are.

Can I now explain a bit about my work which I love, I work for a huge multinational company which dates back about 60 years. We seek information for our clients who may be sales companies, medical research, the nhs, or universities. We do not pass on anyones details full stop. We pass on statistics only. Any companies who pretend they are doing market research and are selling are breaking the law. Our company is regulated by the Market Research Society, who have extreme laws regarding protection of the publics privacy. We also work under the data protection act. A lot of my work is social research where we are finding out how people live in order to improve their lives. I have done medical research such as finding out how certain medicines affect some patients. I do shopping surveys to find out what people like to buy etc.
In my work as a professional interviewer I have interviewed several professional footballers, actors, a famous tv presenter and so on. I find it varied and no day is like the last. No one could say that about a boring office job. I left a few years ago and got an office job, I hated being inside and returned to the streets.
so please when anyone knocks at your door don't make fun/be rude/pretend to be senile or deaf or something. Just act like a normal polite person and listen to what the person is saying, then simply say 'no thank you' if you do not want to take part. We are not trained to be pushy or rude and we will just say 'thank you goodnight'.
Good manners cost nothing. Before someone says they get sick of people at their door please remember that we do not know how many people have knocked before us. We are just trying to do an honest job unlike many who sit on the social and say they would not do our jobs. We pay the tax for the scroungers.

I have tried a few games with whoever rings me and my latest is "Good afternoon Mrs. Charleygirl, how are you?" My reply- I am so pleased that you have called, have you got a cup of coffee in front of you and a comfy chair and I will tell you exactly how I am. That usually gets rid of them.

I had 6 double glazed windows replaced about 6 weeks ago. The fellows did an excellent job on the Monday- fine.

Tuesday evening- a call- how are your windows? They have not fallen out just yet- did you expect them to? He soon left.

Wednesday evening, the manager rang, am I happy with my windows etc etc. I was polite to her, no idea why.

Thursday evening yet another rang and I lost it, telling him to find caller a) and caller b) and get my replies from them.

A week later another called and again I lost it but managed to calm down long enough to get my name taken off the database forever. I also said to him instead of calling me he could sort out the paperwork such as the FENSA certificate.

It puts me off having any work done by a large company.

Aitch. My daughter moved house very recently and bought one of the BT "call guardian" phones and she says it is Brill. It's a bit strange when I phone as I have to announce myself - will mention to her about pressing button 2 - but she loves not having all those scam calls.
BTW, the "Windows" woman called me last week and I told her my phone is being monitored by the Metropolitan Fraud Squad and she didn't call back! I reported the same scam to the Met about a year ago when a super persistent woman wouldn't take no for an answer and phoned from lots of different PC generated numbers every few minutes. That was REALLY annoying, but as soon as I mentioned the Fraud Squad she stopped. The. MFS were very helpful and keen to take all the times of calls and numbers used.

Love all these comments ! I was at my mother's the other day when the phone rang .As she was having a nap I picked it up and was informed that they had found a fault with the computer in the house . I led them on a bit and listened to the blurb , eventually told them that it was a bit of a surprise as my mother doesn't have a computer. The phone was slammed down !

I occasionally get similar nuisance calls, though not many as we are ex-directory. As Wilma says, be careful about signing up for things where they ask for a phone number. A useful ruse I advise is to give an old mobile number that I know longer use. Luckily it's still imprinted in my memory.
I recently received an unwanted caller on my mobile (the ones where they use your first name although you've never met them- grrr!). I politely said I wasn't interested in what he was offering and would he mind taking my number off their database. Normally they reply 'of course' but this chap said ' no need to be rude' when I hadn't been rude in the slightest!