How can we stop this nusiance?

Grannyguitar, when I was off work with sickness and diarrhea I had a call which started off with them asking how I was today. It ended very quickly when I told them quite graphically how I was. Best I felt all day

avalon123 Great advice! I will do that! I wasn't sure how to deal with the mobile ones but quite honestly, by the time I get my phone out, it's rung off anyway.

I do admire all you people who can spin a yarn and make up all sorts of wonderful scenarios to drive the cold caller crazy! I am very dull by comparison!
Indoors I still use the land-line. I have and answer-phone message on it asking people to answer and give me time to get to the phone. So I know who's there! That way I screen my calls. Anyone who knows me knows I take a while sometimes to get to the phone so they are fine with it. Cold callers sometimes just wait in silence but if they don't talk then neither do I! The only draw-back is having to erase the messages because they always let the machine begin before hanging up.

p/s If you are asked for your number (s) when ordering something online or whatever, just make one up! This works a treat.

If you answer cold calls it will be registered as a 'live' number and you will get more and more. The answer is to never answer the phone unless you recognize the caller's number. I never answer my landline and just let it ring out. If an unknown number rings my mobile I wait to see whether they have a left a message or sent a text instead. If not, they are nuisance calls and you can block the number. Nuisance texts are also blocked. I have told all my friends and relations and contacts I do this and if they want to ring my landline they can always text me first to say they are ringing and then obviously I will pick up. So far this is working very well. Call blocking companies are a waste of time because they don't work.

Unknown callers to our landline have to announce themselves and we can choose whether to answer or block the caller. Most of them don't even get that far and unwanted calls have fallen by at least 90%

if you google TPS (telephone preference service) you can stop cold callers on landline and mobile

I have a call blocker . It does two things - only lets numbers known to you in your contact list call straight through and secondly does not accept automated dialler calls.

So if there is not a person on line to press 5 then they are just not accepted, doesn't ring the phone and job done !

Id say we maybe get one call every few weeks from a real person dialling and cold calling , if that.

Squiffy you are right, so as others have commented as it is only an issue with my mobile, I don't answer unless it's in my contacts, they never leave a message! The landline has BT Guardian which means we only now get genuine callers.
I used to block those unlisted/ unknown numbers to my mobile but the callers are not told the numbers are now blocked so that's a waste of time!
I'm more than incensed that I get lots of all types of contacts when I've just bought something on line where they insist on your email OK --AND then your mobile n landline too. Frankly I'm convinced they just sell those details on!
Like holidays you book with one company and get inundated by every other holiday company!

They always start with 'Is that Mrs ......" Just say 'I'm sorry you have the wrong number' then block the call or don't answer it if you don't know the number then block it.

If I do pick up the phone I don't say anything until someone speaks - these days it's usually a recording in any event. If you don't say anything the "robot" hangs up

A couple of years ago I had a call from someone telling me my computer was downloading illegal sites. I said no it isn't and hung up. The caller rang me back and demanded to know why I had hung up on her. That's when politeness went out the window and I told her exactly what I thought of her and her job.

I do understand some people work in call centres trying to sell things and whilst they are annoying if I answer I am always polite but if I find I am talking to a scammer - all bets are off.

I got this call from a guy calling himself Alex! with a definite non English accent ( the one claiming to be from Microsoft and they have detected a problem on my computer and they want to connect to my computer to rectify it ....... I find a shrill whistle does the trick.

I simply tell them 'there is nothing wrong with my computer
Jocork; I remember being told by someone who is far more IT savvy than me, never speak to any of these "callers", even though they are probably robots as they can extract words , even a simple "yes" or "no" in your voice and use in another context.
I use an answering M/c; robots or similar ring off as soon as my "Welcome" fires up, legit callers can be intercepted by picking up the hand piece, or leave a message. Almost everyone I know uses a mobile for everything, but being a Luddite I'm still hanging on to my landline.

Think it’s important to distinguish between cold callers who are genuinely, but annoyingly, trying to sell you double glazing for example amd and scammers.

The first are trying to earn a living in call centres and deserve a modicum of politeness. The latter deserve all they can get.

Incidentally my call blocker (on mobile) has just blocked a call from Sierra Leone. Good old MrNumber! No prizes for guessing what kind of call that could have been!

caocao - I love winding up the callers about my 'windows computer' but I've not tried your method. I usually ask which computer they are talking about, is it my work one as I'm at home, and waste as much time as possible before telling them I don't have a computer at home. They usually hang up on me! If I'm in too much of a hurry I simply tell them 'there is nothing wrong with my computer, as they well know, as they are lying scammers' then I put the phone down on them!
I once had a particular company repeatedly calling and after many calls told them if they rang again they would regret it. When they did I screamed as loud as I could into the mouthpiece. They never called back!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNRMa9zkqlo

Probably now regarded as a classic this never fails to make me laugh

If I have time, I let them go through their entire script, then say ‘sorry, I didn’t quite catch what you said’ so they go through it all again, then I say no thanks before hanging up.

We have something similar called 'TrueCall'.Automatic calls don't get through, and you can choose to block numbers.

I thought, but may be wrong, that the GP surgery and hospitals, etc, can reveal a number to people who won’t or can’t answer their phone if the number is blocked. Certainly when I worked in the community, the district nurses were able to get the IT/telephone Dept to programme in a ‘no-reply’ number that was recognisable to patients who wanted to see who was ringing them.

It might be worth asking your GP or local hospital to do this for you if you don’t answer blocked calls. It may, of course have changed since I worked for the NHS. ?

I hate the ones who say "And how are you today" As if they care. We wonder if we should answer them with a long-drawn out tale of woe, giving dreadful details such as painful piles, awful diarrhea etc! Might put them off for a while!

I'm with Chewbacca . . . .it's the most fun you can have . . . providing you have the spare time and inclination . . . I too pretend all sorts of things . . . . mind you I was once told I was a "mother f*****" once the caller realised what the game was!! . . . . . but still . . . as I said to him . . . . I am not at all upset at his language I could probably out swear him!!!

I get frequent calls on my mobile, telling me they are calling about my accident.

I answer a few of their questions fictitiously then say, I don’t own a car and have never driven.

On my landline at the moment I am getting loads of calls from BT about switching back to them. Nothing has stopped them, not even asking them to take my number off their system.

I never answer the landline or mobile unless I recognise the number. If it’s important they can leave a message.

Well I definitely tempted fate saying I hadn't had many recently - I've had 4 since I posted this morning !! But I didn’t answer them !!

I get cold calls in spasms none for weeks then pilots for a couple of weeks I don't have number ID .I am quite rude to the cold caller as soon as I realise what it is I know it's their job but I also know most of it is a scam