Some companies really need to sort their sales departments out. got a cold call from a company called Carrington Windows today, they asked for me by
name and then started the speil..."we are in your area..blah, blah..." and I just said, " no thanks, we are in a rented property",
at which point they hung-up!! 
I rang the number off their website and explained I was not happy on 2 counts - a) it was a cold call and b) they were extremely ignorant!
I got a humble apology, "it shouldn't have happened, will pass the details on to the manager, very sorry etc."
So much for setting up the 'no cold calling' thing on the phone line 
Hrmpphh!!
It is becoming crazy... We are also on the don't call list (telephone preference service), but we get on average 2-3 calls a day I would say. It really annoys me when they just hang up - sometimes whilst you are still mid-sentance! The most worrying part of this, is that our telephone number changed, and we are ex-directory from when we moved in 18-months ago, yet we get calls chasing payments the previous owners failed to make - I would love to know how they got our number!
I too am on the telephone preference list but not sure if it has much effect, about 2 months ago I was called by a company offering services to stop
cold calling! when I said he shouldn't have called me in the first place he sort of said no one takes much notice of that anyway. I got too
annoyed to take his details to report them
Telephone preference service only affects callers from in the UK.
Most cold callers ply their trade from call centres in Mumbai etc.
I answer and speak rather quietly, after the first couple of questions I ask if they're circumcised, "err, pardon me ?", I ask them
again. Usually they're confused by this, and hang up, but sometimes they actually tell me they are or aren't, which continues to "why
not, it's cleaner ?" etc.
They still call, but it amuses me (and the kids if they're around) 
Nowadays I just say no thank you and put the phone down, I can't be bothered any more explaining that my windows and gutters are fine and we don't have cavity walls and that my computer is uploading viruses to the FBI because the Taliban is paying me to do it.
We havent had any calls like this for some time now, but my parents do, even though ive registered them with TPS
its got to the point now that they dont answer the phone, and then do 1471 or let the answer phone take the "odd call"
I was round at there house a couple of months ago, when they had a call from Sky, and my old 80yr old dad was very confused, so i took the call,
posing as my old dad, this non english person was trying to fleece my parents with a sky maintenance insurance policy
the amount i can not remember, but £100 plus,
i tried to ask why we HAD to pay for this insurance, and he kept going on and on and on that if our sky broke, it would cost a fortune
to repair, all this time my mum was getting irate, to tell them ..................
Mum and Dad have not had SKY for nearly 10 years, there on Virgin, as we are
I said this to him, and he hung up,
All i can take from this is it was a scam, to get two OAP's to part with there credit card details over the phone
I was F***"g furous, and did 1471, and later googled the number, and it was a well known scam, so printed all the info out and gave it to Dad,
He was not amused !!!
Why can this be allowed to happen, ??
Steve
Just to add, this is about the same as my Parents were getting about once a week
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/sky-insurance-scam-sep10
http://www.safefromscams.co.uk/SmallBusinessScam.html
To be honest I don't think there's much that can be done. I'm sure you can get some sort of auto dialler that places the next available cold call worker onto the next phone number in the list. And if you start with 01111 111111 and work up from there I can guarantee you (given enough time) that system will get everyone in the country
I had a cold call from a company called Environmental Widows or something similar. The guy on the phone launched into the sales speil and when I could
eventually get a word in to say sorry I'm not interested, he shouted 'What a wanker' and hung up!
I Googled them and they have a string of complaints about them.
We also are registered with the telephone preference service but still get around 3 cold call a day.
depending on time and moods.............. I like to play along with them, sometimes slipping into Norman Collier mode, scrunching a crisp packet up
near the mouth piece, or just tell them to hold on a minute as I've got something on the stove and just leave the phone off the hook for
20minutes...........brilliant fun
they don't seem to ring back after that !!!!
quote:
Originally posted by clanger
depending on time and moods.............. I like to play along with them, sometimes slipping into Norman Collier mode, scrunching a crisp packet up near the mouth piece, or just tell them to hold on a minute as I've got something on the stove and just leave the phone off the hook for 20minutes...........brilliant fun
they don't seem to ring back after that !!!!
someone made the mistake of calling me whilst I was on paternity leave, my daughter had just fallen asleep in my arms. I had no where to go so kept talking to him. lets just say I was called a bloody idiot more than once. at least he didn't bother someone else whilst talking to me.
Just remembered, my m8, tells the scum, being charged £10 a miniute automaticly for this call
they hang up !!
i doubt i will remember that one next time
I have been pestered by a call centre in India, I think, as it is an International number and they speak with an Indian accent. No matter what they
are told they continually phone back, usually at dinner time. Now I just ask them 'what part of f**k off do you not understand' that usually
gets rid of them.
[Edited on 13/12/12 by se7en]
There was a guy in the papers recently who sucessfully to them to court and won a claim for his wasted time. He had recorded conversations and given them warning etc. He then sent them an invoice which they ignored. Then a recorded delivery invoice followed by a small claims court order. They eventually paid him. Excellent EH.
I got one recently from the company we insured out pet from. I explained that I wasn't interested and they stated to run the "make you feel
guilty" script. I told the drone that we were just going to leave he dog in the garden to die and we didn't care. They went away.
I would have been impressed if the RSPCA turned up, but of course, they didn't.
Footnote: we didn't leave the dog in the garden to die... We ate it.
I just play them along until they realise I'm wasting their time.
We get a couple of unsolicited sales calls a week out here.
Usual format is, the 'phone rings between 7 amd 8pm and a female starts blethering away at 100mph in Spanish. I don't wait for her to pause,
a simply shout into the 'phone (Peter Kaye style) "Whoa-whoa-whoa me old cocker. Doesn't tha' speak English?"
100% success rate, they hang up immediately.
there is a magic game where by you as the recipient of the call have to gather as much detail as possible about them, who where, age children
education, etc, it is brilliant fun, I have had several calls that have lasted over 20mins and have had pages of info, it goes in the bin.
My job is in sales so I am well versed in getting people to talk,..
to be fair the number of calls has dropped off recently so I am not getting to play the game so often.
Could always ask them what they're wearing, and if they'd take it off
I used to get the Indian calls ("Your Windows computer has a virus...", which is interesting seeing that I use Linux...) and in the end I
fitted one of these gizmos:
Call Blocker
Most of the Indian calls were "number unobtainable" and they get chopped as soon as they connect. The box comes with a list of known dodgy
numbers that automatically get blocked. If a sales call comes in with a caller number then I just press the button and they get chopped, and
won't be able to get through again. The best bit is that the caller still has to pay for the call, but we don't get bothered!
I was annoyed that I had to spend that money, but it has made life much better at home.
quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
I used to get the Indian calls ("Your Windows computer has a virus...", which is interesting seeing that I use Linux...) and in the end I fitted one of these gizmos:
Call Blocker
Most of the Indian calls were "number unobtainable" and they get chopped as soon as they connect. The box comes with a list of known dodgy numbers that automatically get blocked. If a sales call comes in with a caller number then I just press the button and they get chopped, and won't be able to get through again. The best bit is that the caller still has to pay for the call, but we don't get bothered!
I was annoyed that I had to spend that money, but it has made life much better at home.
quote:
Originally posted by steve m
We havent had any calls like this for some time now, but my parents do, even though ive registered them with TPS
its got to the point now that they dont answer the phone, and then do 1471 or let the answer phone take the "odd call"
I was round at there house a couple of months ago, when they had a call from Sky, and my old 80yr old dad was very confused, so i took the call, posing as my old dad, this non english person was trying to fleece my parents with a sky maintenance insurance policy
the amount i can not remember, but £100 plus,
i tried to ask why we HAD to pay for this insurance, and he kept going on and on and on that if our sky broke, it would cost a fortune
to repair, all this time my mum was getting irate, to tell them ..................
Mum and Dad have not had SKY for nearly 10 years, there on Virgin, as we are
I said this to him, and he hung up,
All i can take from this is it was a scam, to get two OAP's to part with there credit card details over the phone
I was F***"g furous, and did 1471, and later googled the number, and it was a well known scam, so printed all the info out and gave it to Dad,
He was not amused !!!
Why can this be allowed to happen, ??
Steve
Couple of things...
Almost all of the people you send your details to (insurance, home insurance, compare the beermat sites, your bank, any company you give a land line
to when shopping has the potential to sell your details on which bypasses your TPS registration.
Calling from outside the UK bypasses the TPS. (many employ foreign companies for it)
These days I just put the phone down immediately.
Just recently I had a similar thing. Never had them before. Kept saying not interested and they kept ringing back. So I finally said fine come round
and quote for new windows. When they arrived I just said no thanks and closed the door. After 3 wasted appointments they stopped calling.
But you may soon need new windows!
quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
But you may soon need new windows!
The implication was that by missing appointments with a dodgy company they may well receive broken windows, not that the might ACTUALLY need new
windows and want to call the company back!
