Those annoying dialers...

[TheMusicMan]

Totally random I appreciate, but heck, that's what this category is for eh!

Has anyone else been recently experiencing a huge increase in the amount of automatic dialers calling your home number? But wait for it... not with a person at the end of the line trying to sell you something... but a darned machine voice recording trying to sell you something... :shock: :? :shock: :twisted:

Always in the evening or even on Sunday afternoons... and during these last few months I must have experienced at least two dozen of these pestering calls, and am considering complaining to BT/NTL or even the BBC's watchdog show (or similar)...

Have you experienced anything like this... :?:

I have a great response for the calls where there are people at the end of the line, but there's no similar way to deal with machines...

 

[Naomi McFadyen]

:shock: what ever next!
I havent experienced or heard anything like that before... only the prank jokey ones! :lol:

Sounds annoying though...
see you on TV soon then! ;-)

 

[dyl]

I got one a while back saying something like 'We are sorry, this is a recorded message intended for an answer machine. Will now hang up.' Completely baffled me that one! :roll:

 

[Di]

We don't get ANY calls trying to sell anything now. We got totally fed up with new kitchen, double glazing, conservatory, etc calls and found a number to call about it. :twisted: Would have to look up who it was. They send you a form and you fill it in and within a very short time, ALL calls cease.

 

[Lisa]

I have a great response for the calls where there are people at the end of the line, but there's no similar way to deal with machines...

Ooh, what's your response? No thank-you?? Or something a little more assertive? :wink: :lol:

 

[PeterBale]

There is a number you can call to get your number taken off any lists used for marketing purposes - not fool-proof, but it does help cut it down. I'll sort it out and post it here tomorrow if no-one's beaten me to it.

There was also a case in the paper a couple of weeks ago where a marketing firm was landed with a hefty fine for allowing calls to be made which then went dead because they didn't have enough operators to pick them up.

 

[six pints]

dont have a house phone at uni or ashington, so urm, no! but unlucky!!

 

[PeterBale]

My wife just rang, and told me this was what we did:

Ring Operator (100) and ask for the TPS number (telephone preferential service). Ring that and ask for marketing calls to be stopped. They then sent a letter out confirming they would be stopped, apart from any arrangements you may have made with firms you have dealt with yourself.

 

[TheMusicMan]

I have a great response for the calls where there are people at the end of the line, but there's no similar way to deal with machines...

Ooh, what's your response? No thank-you?? Or something a little more assertive? :wink: :lol:

Hehe.. no - it's much much better than that...

When they come on the line asking you to buy or consider buying something you say that you are interested but don't have the time to talk now. You then ask the person who is on the other end of the line...

"So sorry, but I can't talk now, but I really am interested in your product/service, I tell you what... can you give me your personal phone number so I can get back to you?"

There then should be silence on the other end...

You ask again for their private number, their ex-directory number their personal home or mobile number... you say...

"Hello... errm.. I am interested so can you give me your private number, your ex-directory number so I can call you back when you are eating your tea, or when you are perhaps at home in private with your family..."

... they are likely to say

"sorry, but it's not our policy to give out private numbers"

... you then say...

"Oh... well.. I am interested in yoru product.. go on.. let me have your own private number, you know so I can pester you at home when you don't want these types of calls and havent asked for them, in a similar manner to how you are pestering me rigt now."
... then they are likely to say...

"but I can't give out private numbers"

... and you say...

"Oh.. why's that...? don't you want people calling you on your own private number, on your personal home number eh...? you don't want to be pestered when you are at home by someone trying to sell you something you haven't asked for eh... is that it...? is that right eh? get the message yet moron"

Then you calmly put the phone down with a huge smile on your face.

I have done this many times and by gawd does it make me feel gooooooood...

 

[Di]

How bout "yes, i'd really be interested in a double glazed conservatory, that would be great, - my address, oh yes, - TOP FLOOR FLAT .......... :lol:

 

[ScrapingtheBottom]

I dunno though I kind of feel sorry for the people who have to make these calls - usually cash-strapped students!

 

[Raspberry]

We regularly get callers with Asian accents asking for the same name they use all the time - but the number of calls has subsided a little bit when I tell them to not call this numbr again! :twisted:

 

[JessopSmythe]

My favourite response to a cold call came from a friend of BigMamaBadgers. When approached by a couple of Jehovahs Witnesses and asked whether he would like to speak to them about God, he replied "No thankyou, I'm a theoretical physicist". By the time they'd worked out how to answer that, he'd shut the door and gone back to the TV.

 

[iggmeister]

I had a couple of the recorded message thingys but have now phoned the no. that Peter referred to and it has stopped!

Best way of treating cold call salespeople is as follows...

When they ask, "Can you spare a few moments of your time?"

Reply, "Yes, fine".

Then put the phone down. Not on the receiver though. Lest them carry on gassing.

Wait 5 minutes and then they will have hung up and you have wasted their phone call (and time) and can bask in the added bonus that you have increased their phone bill. It's a sort of revenge and makes them think twice about phoning again!!

Igg

 

[neiltwist]

I think you guys have got the wrong end of the stick! do you think theses people enjoy calling you?! the reason these guys ring is because they get paid.

In my opinion there is no excuse for being rude. No matter who is on the other end of the phone. I will admit these calls are annoying, but do you think the people on the end of the phone don't get them? the best thing you can do to satisfy all parties is to sound surprised, and say you've just bought the product, or have arranged an appointment, shuts them up, and there are no hard feelings.

 

[dyl]

So you're saying it's better to lie than be 'rude' as you call it? I actually don't think it's person receiving the call who's being rude, but the company making the call. We didn't ask them to call did we - it's them that are intruding on our time.

 

[neiltwist]

So you're saying it's better to lie than be 'rude' as you call it? I actually don't think it's person receiving the call who's being rude, but the company making the call. We didn't ask them to call did we - it's them that are intruding on our time.

exactly, so by being rude to the caller, you're just winding them up for the next person they call.

and yes, sometimes it is better to lie!

 

[impycornet]

How many times though do you answer the phone to find the line is dead 'cos whoever else they were dialling at the time answered before you ??

That should be banned !

I must admit though that if I do actually end up talking to a person - my stock response is " Sorry not interested" Hang up - usually before they have even started their spiel about the product :?

 

[Big Twigge]

I trundle out to the garden and tell Dad that Max is on the phone. Despite sounding like a work colleague and asking, not for Mr Twigge, but for John.....Max is not, he's trying to sell windowsm, evidently manners don't matter anymore :evil:
I know that these people are only doing their jobs, but there's no need to trick me! If I'm not busy I'll listen to them and do the little surveys about what papers I buy etc, but on my terms!

 

[TheMusicMan]

Neil..

Thing is, when you receive so many of these pestering calls without having asked for them, it most certainly becomes an intrusion, an invasion into ones privacy. If they did it during office hours, it would be marginally easier to understand, but they don't. To receive these annoying calls most evenings or on weekends... this is definately a no no as far as I am concerned, and the initial subject matter of my post totally enrages me even more i.e. auto calls by auto diallers by robots not people.

Dyl is right, we don't ask these people to call us, and if you try to be polite by saying no thank you you get a harder and harder sell. This is what they are trained to do. They do everything in their power to keep you on the call, after all, they won't get their sale if you're not on the call eh. How do most people react when someone with a catalogue approaches them in the high street... not with open arms that's for sure.

When these people take these jobs with marketing/promotion/double glazing companies, they know what they are letting themselves in for, and they also know that they are going to recieve a hostile reception quite regularly... and their employers train them in spin methods to get around this...

I do feel sorry for the individuals concerned, but really it is their employers fault. They do however take the jobs knowing full well what's potentially in store for them... and as for the point I make by my 2nd post in this thread, these people also don't like it when they are on the receiving end of their own medicine...

I am not a rude person, but firmly believe in fair play. They won't give me their number for the same reasons as I don't like them calling me.