Tackling the telephone sales nuisance

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

I hung up but when I picked up the phone a minute or two later to make a call, he was still on the line and still rabbiting on! There seems to be a problem with some of these cold calls in that it seems to hold the line even after you have hung up, on this occasion mentioned above I had to unplug and then reconnect the line to get rid of him!!

 

This is quite normal. Whilst his line is active with his voice his computerised exchange (and yours) will not drop the line. Only when the exchange recognises that the line at your end no longer has a device attached to it, will it drop the line altogether.

 

A lot of this thread has ideas on it which no longer work due to technology and the advance of sales techniques. Usually, the main sales company will employ agency staff to answer calls and the call results are measured by the ones that answer with a human being NOT what was said.

 

So, you answer the phone at all and the number goes on a hit list and stays there until the phone stops being answered.

 

Caller display is by far the best although an answerphone runs a close second.

 

The answerphone can be defeated by a smart caller yelling your surname and demanding you pick it up as they have an urgent message.

 

A lot of people have started using mobiles as their principal number but that has other side effects.

 

Without doubt, telephone canvassing is a nuisance but it must be productive or these companies wouldn't do it and they wouldn't fight tooth and nail to get your details unless they had value.

[kevinlms]

You could simply tell them that you're not the least bit interested in their product.

 

Pause and wait for them to continue, as they always do.

 

 

Interrupt & ask them, 'what part of I'm not interested, don't you understand'? Then promptly hang up, is my approach.

 

 

I have much better things to do with my time. Obviously, many here have got plenty of spare time and some are even prepared to spend money on hardware.

 

:rolleyes:

 

 

Kevin Martin

[mezzoman253]

My idea would be if they don't release their calling ID to the called party, i.e. they must release their calling ID for every call, then the call is rejected. That way you see the number and if you don't recognise it you don't answer, and if they don't comply, it's a failed call. That would soon stop all these calls as no one would answer any. The technology exists to do this, and has done for a long while, but the regulators won't go that far and make it mandatory. I wonder why?

 

Rob

[kevinlms]

My idea would be if they don't release their calling ID to the called party, i.e. they must release their calling ID for every call, then the call is rejected. That way you see the number and if you don't recognise it you don't answer, and if they don't comply, it's a failed call. That would soon stop all these calls as no one would answer any. The technology exists to do this, and has done for a long while, but the regulators won't go that far and make it mandatory. I wonder why?

 

Rob

 

An idea, but some people need their number blocked for good reasons. Often this is work related. I won't bore you with a long list, but police officers, teachers & those working in the legal profession wouldn't normally want their personal numbers sent out to everyone.

 

 

On the other hand, if you don't answer any calls for which the displayed number doesn't come to mind, you could very well miss out on a genuine call from the lottery people advising that you have won a major prize, but the address listed is corrupted!!!

 

We did used to survive without this information. The best way of dealing with the OP's question is to get rid of them ASAP off your line. Obviously these calls must be successful otherwise they'd stop.

 

So, own up those that have been conned by these callers - if its 1 in a 1,000, that means at least 12 of us have done so.

 

 

Kevin Martin

[mezzoman253]

There's no good reason why a legitimate business should not give out their number. I take your point re police, etc, but any busiiness should be happy to do this. The reason they don't is they don't want you tracing them. The telephone companies make an awful lot of money from these so called businesses, that appears to be one reason why it continues to go on.

 

The TPS are powerless if the caller says they are conducting a survey, they have to be selling you something. Of course at the end of the survey the sales pitch kicks in, by then it's too late.

 

Rob

[MikeTrice]

Tell them at the start you are on the TPS and will be recording the conversation. Ask for their name and company, then listen to them hanging up very quickly.

[DavidH]

So, own up those that have been conned by these callers - if its 1 in a 1,000, that means at least 12 of us have done so.

 

Well, not me, but I know someone who nearly got conned a few years ago by "BT Wholesale" offering them reduced rates on their phone - got as far as the person asking for bank details, when suspicion kicked in - "Why do you need my details, I'm with BT?". "We're not BT". "But you said you were ...".

[BoD]

Them: Can I speak to .....

Me: Who's calling please?

Them: blah blah blah.......

Me: <hang up>

 

Easy.

[kevinlms]

There's no good reason why a legitimate business should not give out their number. I take your point re police, etc, but any busiiness should be happy to do this. The reason they don't is they don't want you tracing them. The telephone companies make an awful lot of money from these so called businesses, that appears to be one reason why it continues to go on.

 

The TPS are powerless if the caller says they are conducting a survey, they have to be selling you something. Of course at the end of the survey the sales pitch kicks in, by then it's too late.

 

Rob

 

Absolutely.

 

Some of these callers won't even give their business name, they just spout off their headline. An example being that since you are a loyal customer, you don't need to pay phone line rental any more, blah, blah, blah. An obvious give away, to me at least.

 

As for the phone companies 'making money from them', if the caller is from overseas, they don't make anything I believe. Don't they have an international agreement (like postal services) to deliver incoming calls for free?

 

The trouble is with exemptions is that they get broken. A medical doctor, might what to have his number blocked with good reason, but what about another doctor, who is a doctor of music?

 

Kevin Martin

[45156]

The UK operator of the network (BT Wholesale/Openreach/VIrgin Media) does not receive any income for delivering a call - the charge for the call is initiated at the originating end - wherever that might be in the world. The overseas calls actually earn income only for the phone operator in the coutry of origin.

 

CLI withhold rejection is very much a double edged sword as there are many, many genuine operators who have their number withheld for legitimate reasons - my vet, for instance, has a second line for various applications, and uses that when calling out to speak to clients so that the main (published) number is not tied up. However, he does not want any inbound calls to the number as he has a couple of lines on his main number, and that is the one that he wants the clients to call in on. The same is true in many other medical institutions, and I for one would not like to see a call from my doctor or hospital consultant rejected by a system for no CLI information, just because sales calls usually are also withheld. The service does exist, albeit at a cost, and can be purchased from your telephone provider (often called anonymous call rejection) but I have used it to resolve genuine nuisance call issues in high level complaint cases, and it is surprising how many calls that the customer missed which were genuine.

[Guest dilbert]

As for the phone companies 'making money from them', if the caller is from overseas, they don't make anything I believe. Don't they have an international agreement (like postal services) to deliver incoming calls for free?

 

Phone companies do a lot of invoicing between themselves - not only with national calls, but also with international calls. These are called bilateral agreements and the 'owner' of the last mile raised the final invoice to the customer- an 0800 call from one country to another is not delivered FOC... dilbert

[kevinlms]

 

Phone companies do a lot of invoicing between themselves - not only with national calls, but also with international calls. These are called bilateral agreements and the 'owner' of the last mile raised the final invoice to the customer- an 0800 call from one country to another is not delivered FOC... dilbert

 

Whether or not there is a payment required, surely the called 'owner' is expected to deliver what is being sent to it. If anything it is up to the 'originator' party to determine whether or not it is worthy of sending it (perhaps on the basis the phone bill is up to date).

 

So the problem with these calls, as per the OP, is with the 'originating network' and so there is little the 'local' phone company can do, as British, Australian or wherever laws cannot apply if from offshore.

 

The same applies (sadly) to email spam, since no one is going to sue a sender 'protected' by the laws (maybe there aren't even any) of another country.

 

Kevin Martin

[Chris Chewter]

I like sales calls. My chance to be naughty!

 

The best was the woman who categorically said I had an accident and could make a claim.

I said I would quickly check my files or said incident.

Put the phone down and walked off.

Came back 5 mins later, she was still there!

I asked who she was?

She politely went through the same script (Accident. I could make a claim etc.)

So I went through the same role.

I put the phone to one side and went to check my files.

Came back 5 mins later, she was still there!

I asked who she was?

She asked whether I was messing her around.

I said yes and hung up!

[melmerby]

 

Well, not me, but I know someone who nearly got conned a few years ago by "BT Wholesale" offering them reduced rates on their phone - got as far as the person asking for bank details, when suspicion kicked in - "Why do you need my details, I'm with BT?". "We're not BT". "But you said you were ...".

 

I had that a few years ago when I was using a phone for business. All the spiel said it was a division of BT and I even got them to send me the sign-up form (no bank details had been asked for at that time).

When it arrived it was not BT and the "contract" had a huge cancellation fee if you wanted to leave before 24 months were up. I promptly told them where to go and reported them to BT.

 

Keith

[Pacific231G]

Most of the spam phone calls I'm getting these days seem to be from the "computer services" fraudsters so TPS seems to be working fairly well for the UK as these are all from abroad. I usually give these very short shift and warn them that they're employed by a criminal conspiracy before putting the phone down and I never confirm that I'm the name they've got. I've tried the pretending to go along with them to waste their time but they usually put the phone down very quickly if they don't get whatever response they're after. I think in future I'll just say when they ask if it's my name - they invariably mispronounce it- that we have a Mr. so and so in the fraud department and would they like me to put them through.

What I could do with is something that plays the sound of a fax line or a computer connection or better still something that makes them think they've dialled somewhere they'd wished they hadn't.

[RFS]

I realize this is an old thread but the problem has not gone away, indeed it seems to be getting worse.  The latest "fad" is to use recorded messages as these don't require an operator and I believe do not breach the rules of the Telephone Preference Service.

 

Got to the point where we were getting 3-4 junk calls per day: with caller display we've been able most of the time to ignore the call and let it go to answerphone, but even that is disruptive.  I can deal with junk mail and spam at my leisure, but junk phone calls have to be dealt with there and then.

 

Although I resent having to spend money to deal with these people, I've decided to splash out £100 on the Truecall telephone blocker.  I've only had in place for a few days, but how the house is quiet now! No more junk calls and we've taken back control of our telephone line.

 

Ours is configured so that International and Unavailable callers have to enter a 2-digit code which only our family know, unrecognized callers have to press a digit on their phone (which deals with silent and recorded message calls), whilst all phone numbers that I've had in the past from telemarketers are now on the "zap" list and  "star" callers (friends and family) get straight through.

 

I've no connection with this company - just a very satisfied customer.  If you're buying now you need to get the latest version, as the original 2009 version was substantially upgraded recently. You have internet access too which means you can see easily set up your options and phone lists, as well as see what callers were rejected.

[Mallard60022]

I have a device called Truecall. It was a replacement for an answer machine that konked. It is a screening service (and a lot more)  and cuts out all the rubbish you don't want. It's great and I can recommend it.

Quack 

[melmerby]

I realize this is an old thread but the problem has not gone away, indeed it seems to be getting worse.  The latest "fad" is to use recorded messages as these don't require an operator and I believe do not breach the rules of the Telephone Preference Service.

I am on TPS and unlisted/ex directory and get these recorded calls.

All my calls are routed through an answerphone so they start off merrily with their recorded spiel whilst the answer message is being played. By the time it gets to the "please leave your message after the tone" bit most of the call is over so the whole point of it is lost!

If the call is someone I recognize, I lift the receiver as soon as I see the displayed number.

 

Keith

Edited April 4, 2013 by melmerby

[TheSignalEngineer]

A very nice-sounding lady phoned yesterday and tried to interest me in a pension release scheme. Unfortunately I had to tell her she was a little late for that.

[QuoitsPlayer]

We have one of those phones you walk around with, land line not a mobile, the other day I was outside repairing some guttering that had been brought down and decided to have some fun while sat on the roof having a tea break and answered one of these nuisance calls waste as much of their time as possible! They were offering me a deal on the electric so i decided to play along 'oh right yes, yesm yes' then decided to ask what was so special about there electricity? The operator couldn't answer except the price, 'so is it nuclear? coal? hydro?' er er no sir its just cheaper 'who produces it?' 'well it comes from er..' you get the idea, its sad i know but it made me laugh, one rang a while ago asking about my gas bill that was interesting as the nearest gas main is about ten miles away! I asked that one if they could send me a sample they put the phone down! Oh another good one one tell double glazing companies you have a wind turbine and solar panels they never know what to say.

 

Matt

[Guest]

I got one of these.

Forty quid and it comes with 200 known blocked callers with a 100 number memory to add your own.

Also it can block international calls, id withheld calls and voice over IP calls.

You can also add wildcards and block callers by area code.

 

Blocking numbers is simple, just press the button on top and never hear from that number again.

 

Works great for us and has completely stopped calls from India where they don't care if you're TPS registered.

[Mod5]

By all means if you have equipment that you use and can vouch for it to actually work then post the information to assist others. If, however you are just going to post to tell us all how you amuse yourself by whatever means with these callers then we have been through it all several times before in this and other threads. No need to repeat it all in here.

[clecklewyke]

Tell them at the start you are on the TPS and will be recording the conversation. Ask for their name and company, then listen to them hanging up very quickly.

 

We run a B&B and have been deluged by cold calls, despite having TPS, so we now have caller display but even this is not enough to deter these pests.

 

The most blatant example I have experienced was a call with a British phone number which was trying to sell me - wait for it -  a telephone service which would prevent me receiving cold calls. Like many such callers he had never heard of the TPS and nor did he understand the irony of his action.

 

Ian 

Edited April 4, 2013 by clecklewyke

[Tel2010]

I started getting junk calls to my mobile,really anoyed me,which is a android phone.Ive found that there are good free apps out there,one being called Call Control which has black lists and white lists along with options to just ring silently or hang up.It also has a number look up feature. There are even call recorder apps which ive found useful.usual disclaimer,nothing to do with apps but just a satisfied customer.

Tel

[trisonic]

Or you can lobby the Government to instate what we have over here which is a Federal "Do Not Call" List. takes one telephone call to get  on it then if you get any more calls the company responsible gets a hefty fine.

 

Best, Pete.