Fun with nuisance caller

I love your strategy Sunseeker. I may adopt it just for the sheer joy of it! At the moment I tend to say "you should be ashamed of yourself being involved in a scam like this" if it's the Microsoft or similar, and "The landlord doesn't live here" if it's cold callers.

I say "yes" to everything.....
Am I speaking to Mrs Whatever?
"Yes".
You are owed money from when you took out PPI
"Yes"
We can get you this money back.
"Yes"
Could I please have your postal address.
"Yes"
Okay, whats the first line of your address.
"Yes"
No, I need the first line of your address.
"Yes"

This game can go on for ages, it's great fun!

I"m desperate for one of the callers to ask me if I'm taking the pi**, just so that I can say........"Yes"!

We once had a young man with a very strong Indian accent ring about double glazing or some such thing.. He said his name was Sean!!! I asked him how he was spelling his name, He put the phone down

Tizliz: That "how are you today" question, from a complete stranger on the other end of the phone really, really winds me up. Because I'm generally too polite to tell them to mind their own f**** business, I usually end up growling some meaningless answer. It's never crossed my mind just to say "busy". I'll try that next time, and at the rate I get these calls (three in the last hour) I shouldn't have to wait long.

One of my friends exclaims with great joy, "I'm SO glad you've called. I MUST tell you about Jesus"! Instant hanging up from the other end!
I normally just gently put the phone to one side and let them carry on until i get a dialling tone - but since my phone is unlisted, it is rare now to get nuisance calls.

I nearly fell off my chair when I replied 'busy' to the question 'how are you today?' and they lady said 'sorry to have troubled you, goodbye'. Must be a first.

I'm registered with TPS as well, so I know that any sales call is illegal. That doesn't stop the ones who say they "Are only doing a survey" or the ones who are trying to scam me because what they are doing is illegal anyway.

I have used the line "I'm registered with the TPS so making a cold sales call to me is illegal. That means you are a criminal." Unfortunately that usually gets the "Oh, I'm only doing a survey" response.

I did once spend about 20 minutes with "Windows support". I did everything he asked me to very slowly, while reading emails on another screen, until he wanted me to connect to a website in Russia. Then I told him it was time to part company. Another time I got "Windows support" we were part way though and I told him he had missed out part of the script. That ended the call!

More often I just lay the phone down and wait for them to give up.

I have a friend that puts her 3 year old grandson on the phone. That sorts them out!

I like Stephen Fry's response to these callers.
When he gets such a call he tells the caller that he will be delighted to talk to him - "but first, can I tell you about my Lord and Master?"
Apparently it works all the time.

Love that sunseeker???

I always say they need to speak to the owner of the house - tell them to hang on and I put the phone down on the table and leave it there -- and just get on with what I was doing. I check 15 minutes later and they have usually hung up and no doubt put some blacklist mark against my number for future calls.!

I don't think TPS affects calls from outside the UK, as most of ours show as international. I like a bit of sport too, and my record is 25 minutes with the fellow ( Hector, if I remember correctly, though he sounded very exotic!) from Microsoft who had detected a dreadful problem with my PC.
He talked me through the procedure which would have given him control of my PC ( which I didn't have on) , and was very patient with my " dithery old lady" persona. When he asked what I could see on my screen I told him it said, " Hector is a scamming ba*$#rd who is trying to get access to your PC"

He hung up.

We have caller identification on our phones, so we automatically let it ring if it is a call from abroad - everyone we know abroad is logged in our phone so it would appear as the caller name. Also we are with the TPS, but it does not stop some getting through still. On the few occasions when I do get cold calls, I tell them that we are with TPS and they should not have been ringing, and every time they apologise.

I knew someone who was unfortunate to have to work in a call centre for a while - she was in exactly the position that Nelliemoser describes - and she said it was very stressful - their calls are being eavesdropped all the time, and they have unrealistic targets to meet or they only get a very basic pay. She was very glad when she was able to get out.

The only puzzling thing is that I know no-one who does not hang up on these people, but someone somewhere must buy the stuff or the call centres would wither and die.

Fortunately our answer machine is weeding out most of them now. With the few that do get through I've taken to being the nice old lady whose so thrilled to have someone to talk to, especially when it's such a nice sounding young man. I talk a lot about the weather and if we should leave the EU, but they always seem to hang up

Although both are equally annoying there is a difference between these unsolicited callers. I am usually polite to cold callers and tell them I have TPS and ask them therefore to remove my number from the database. However with the Windows scammers I can be inventively difficult and think they deserve everything they get. My favourite is to share how proud I am of my own sons and how disappointed in them I would be if I were their mother. Twice I have then received death threats, including one lovely chap who said he would cut me open - I wasn't too worried as I suspect the air fare from India may be somewhat prohibitive.

I've just looked at some employment ads for call centres, I certainly don't feel sorry for them now -- they are too well paid for annoying me.

I do see Luckygirls point about the poor beggars who work in these call centers They would probably feel obliged to take it or lose their benefit. If you were on the dole and had to prove you were looking for work you would probably have no choice but to take such a job if you were offered it.

I wonder if there are any rules about these small canvassing companies as opposed to the business related call centers for your insurance company or bank.

It seems to me though that most of the cold calls I get seem to be run by small canvassing companies. Double glazing, PPI, hearing damage etc.

I'm sure that the person making the call is well aware that they are working for a disreputable company. Many of these calls originate from outside the UK.

sunseeker Well done that woman! I bet you enjoyed that.

Maggiemaybe. Next time explain that you need to discuss with DP and you'll ring them back, it may get you the number!

suzied If I receive an order for a pizza and I am in bed (this usually happens after 11pm) I say that I am a member from my local police station and that gets rid of these late night callers. One of these nights it will be a member of my local police force ringing to place an order and getting me!

My OH quite often pretends to be a Chinese takeaway and asks their order in a shouty Chinese voice. Very un PC, but quite amusing ( the first few times)

TPS does not mean you won't get calls, we have been with them for years and we are still bothered. I used to just leave the answer machine on but I have that many hospital and specialist unit calls that I must answer now, they won't leave a message because of the privacy thing.

I should have said withheld their number and gave a ludicrous made-up name

I have been known to report cold calls, as we are TPS registered. complaints.tpsonline.org.uk/consumer

But I do have sympathy for most of the people making the calls, who are only trying to make a living at some awful call centre. I had a very rude and arrogant one the other week, though, who claimed she wasn't cold calling, she had been down our street and seen for herself that our fascias were in bad repair and needed replacing (!!!), and that she certainly would be ringing again even though she was told not to. Unfortunately the firm withheld their number, so I can't report, and they have rung three times since (not Miss Narky though, who will be getting even more of the rough edge of my tongue if she does ).