Ways to stop overseas sales calls discussion

kermitfrog

I posted this on another board, but I do think it's a point worth making here as well -

My rule of thumb is that the worst thing I can do from their perspective is to waste as much of their time as possible. Time is money after all.

I initially reply with something like, "Hold on, I'll just get the bill payer/subscriber/householder/wife/husband etc. Won't keep you a minute".

I then place the receiver down somewhere near the radio (it's nice to keep them entertained) and go about my business. After all, they're paying for the call. They will often hold for several minutes before eventually hanging up.

Alternatively, if you have time on your hands and feel like a bit of entertainment, play along with any rubbish you can think of to string the call out for as long as possible.

Whatever you do, remember the golden rule - THEIR TIME IS MONEY!

.

scheming_gypsy

kermitfrog wrote: »

I posted this on another board, but I do think it's a point worth making here as well -

My rule of thumb is that the worst thing I can do from their perspective is to waste as much of their time as possible. Time is money after all.

I initially reply with something like, "Hold on, I'll just get the bill payer/subscriber/householder/wife/husband etc. Won't keep you a minute".

I then place the receiver down somewhere near the radio (it's nice to keep them entertained) and go about my business. After all, they're paying for the call. They will often hold for several minutes before eventually hanging up.

Alternatively, if you have time on your hands and feel like a bit of entertainment, play along with any rubbish you can think of to string the call out for as long as possible.

Whatever you do, remember the golden rule - THEIR TIME IS MONEY!

.

there's a flaw in that.

1 - the person on the other end of the phone is just trying to earn a living.

2 - the longer you keep them on the phone doing nothing, the easier you're making their day. If you keep them on the phone for an hour then they only have another 7 hours of work left.

Pont

About 6 months ago my teenage daughter answered a cold call. My daughter put on a very young voice and told the caller that she was feeling unwell and mummy was out. She kept the caller on the line for quite a long time before hanging up. A couple of hours later the cold caller telephoned again to check if 'Amy' was feeling better and told me that I was a bad mother for leaving a sick child alone in the house!

kermitfrog

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

there's a flaw in that.

Only if you care.

.

garethgas

I use an online questionnaire generator to produce 100 or 200 random pointless questions and print them off.
When I get a cold caller, I insist that they complete my security/anti terrorist questionnaire.
Some refuse point blank, some answer 5 or 6 and I've had (only) one that went all the way to 30 before he twigged.
If they get any wrong...fail = hang up.
My favourite is:
Q Whats God's favourite colour?
A Red
No, sorry, its blue.
Good bye

tealady

garethgas wrote: »

I use an online questionnaire generator to produce 100 or 200 random pointless questions and print them off.
When I get a cold caller, I insist that they complete my security/anti terrorist questionnaire.
Some refuse point blank, some answer 5 or 6 and I've had (only) one that went all the way to 30 before he twigged.
If they get any wrong...fail = hang up.
My favourite is:
Q Whats God's favourite colour?
A Red
No, sorry, its blue.
Good bye

Love it! I am going to do that myself next time. In fact I can't wait for the next cold caller (and that includes the doorstep ones!)

Favfly

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

there's a flaw in that.

1 - the person on the other end of the phone is just trying to earn a living.

2 - the longer you keep them on the phone doing nothing, the easier you're making their day. If you keep them on the phone for an hour then they only have another 7 hours of work left.

I disagree:
1. So what? The same could be said of a burglar breaking into your house. In both cases, their services are not required, and they should leave people alone.

2. If the cold caller doesn't make a certain number of sales per day, they'll most likely be out of a job. If the call centre fails to make a certain number of sales in general, they'll lose their contracts with the companies they're promoting and/or their business will fail. In both cases, good riddance.

MackemPunk

Do a Homer Simpson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahTv16l9nzQ

fannyvart

Favfly wrote: »

I disagree:
1. So what? The same could be said of a burglar breaking into your house. In both cases, their services are not required, and they should leave people alone.

2. If the cold caller doesn't make a certain number of sales per day, they'll most likely be out of a job. If the call centre fails to make a certain number of sales in general, they'll lose their contracts with the companies they're promoting and/or their business will fail. In both cases, good riddance.

Comparing them to burglars is a really bad comparison and does your argument no favours to be honest.

Agree with 2.

IAD_2

Phone scam about a problem with your PC
From india
gives address as 124 baker street Westminster
Other people have had this too