Ways to stop overseas sales calls discussion

WhiteHorse

I let the last one rattle on for a bit, then I asked him if he knew where he had dialled. He said No, so I said 'a Police Station'.

*click*

Dr.Rock

There's a few games I play if I have the time but my favourite is to only speak to them using lines from Arnold Schwarzenegger films.
The only down side is not being able to see the caller's face when I say things like "Give me your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle" or ask them "Who is your daddy and what does he do?"
If they start to get abusive you can always roll out "You're a ****ing choirboy compared to me!"

hippygran

I was horrified when my dad had a stoke, and we stayed at his house for several months to be close to him, whilst we were sorting things out, to discover he was getting a MINIMUM of 15 cold calls EVERY day, most of them occurring between 6 and 9pm.
Many of them were asking for my dad, or his ladyfriend by name, but at least half of them were asking to speak to my mum, who died several years ago.
I found the ones asking for mum quite distressing, and I know they would have distressed my dad, coz even years later, the subject of mum brought tears to his eyes.
I started to be rude, started getting nasty, but nothing seemed to work.
Often I could tell that these were the same people, over and over again, because I began to recognise the voices.
So I started doing the following:
In response to question 1. Are you was Mrs ........, (dads partner or my mum), I would just say NO.
Mostly they did have the sense to not ask me if I was my dad, as I am obviously female.
In response to question 2. Can I speak to Mr..... or Mrs...... (dad or his partner). I would just reply NO. But if they asked to speak to mum, I would reply 'not unless you are a damn site better clairvoyant than I am, because I have been trying for years, so if you have any luck, can you let me know, and show me how to do it?'
The people asking to speak to mum generally were first speechless, then apologetic, then couldnt get off the line quick enough!
Question 3 (in relation to dad and his partner) was 'Do you know when they will be available' - may answer NO.
Every call, every time I just gave them negative answers of NO or DONT KNOW. No conversation other than that.
Guess what, by the time the house went on the market, and I went home, it was down to 1 or 2 calls a day, on mostly these were the silent/hang up variety.
So, they must 'communicate' in some way, because after the clairvoyant conversation, which I did twice in one day, calls to mum stopped straight away, and although it took about 4 weeks for the others to virtually stop, the message seemed to have got through in the end!
Could just be a massive co-incidence though!!

purpleweasel

i once had a call offering double glazing or some such. Told them i was not interested and put the phone down. They immediately rang back to ask why! 10/10 for cheek but i still didn't buy their stuff!

Amatrix

I know this sort of thing has been mentioned before, but I got my elderly mother a "True Call" unit for Christmas last year and it's the best present she's ever had. She never ever gets any silent calls, call centre calls, overseas calls EVER now as they are intercepted by the unit and guess what? None of them can be bothered to be transferred through so my mother isn't even bothered by the ring tone - she isn't even aware that anyone has tried to call. Numbers in the address book and regular callers are connected seamlessly.

I went online to the web servicing site for her unit after 6 months and discovered that over 1500 calls had been intercepted in that short time that were never connected from withheld, overseas etc numbers. That's a lot of calls for an old woman to get stressed about! Her life has been revolutionised by this box, I cannot recommend it highly enough. No I don't work for them or have any interest in the company, all I know is that it has guaranteed none of these calls ever gets through and mother's life is now bliss! The downside is that it now costs £80-£90 ish depending whether you go direct, through Amazon etc, but to be honest, while annoying that you have to pay for this, it was worth every penny to stop the hassle, stress and disruption as the calls were really starting to upset her. And that, as they say, is priceless.

mrich536

At home we use caller ID which was free when we were with BT and is free now with Sky to identify calls coming in, so all those international calls do not get answered but go to our answer phone (see below).

We also use the screen calls function and allow our answer phone to come in before we answer any call. The message I have recorded goes something like this>

' Hello. We are unable to take your call at present so please leave a message after the tone. However, if your call is tele-sales related then please hang up and do not call this number again'

Doing this means if we hear a voice we know we can pick the call up otherwise off it goes to the answerphone where a message is never left. This might not work for everyone and I'm not sure if it was just a coincidence but the number of calls has gone to zero now over the last six months or so.:j

When I was in an old git mood I would also answer, and keep interupting the caller and asking them over and over who they were from - which I understand they are legally bound to tell you. It just stops their flo [FONT=&quot][/FONT]w of their script. Another thing was to tell them we are being repossessed.

I also believe QVC Uk sell the True Call and cover it with their 30 day money back guarantee.

Dippy_Luck

I too am plagued by these people despite being registered with TPS. :mad:
I'm still looking for a solution, but in the meantime this is the funniest response to telemarketing I've ever heard of is the one Tom Mabe did pretending he was a policeman at a murder scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7OgWcwgB50

Azari

Dippy_Luck wrote: »

I too am plagued by these people despite being registered with TPS. :mad:
I'm still looking for a solution, but in the meantime this is the funniest response to telemarketing I've ever heard of is the one Tom Mabe did pretending he was a policeman at a murder scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7OgWcwgB50

Excellent!!!

goldwinger

Last cold caller I had was an American voice who started off with "Good evening sir, and how are you today" my response was something like, " I am so glad you called, I havn't spoken to anyone for days and I'm feeling suicidal, please, will you be my friend, cos I havn't got any and i will kill myself if I can't have a friend" he couldn't get off the line quick enough and surprise surprise, I havn't heard from him since.

Fridaycat

I am registered with TPS and am also ex-directory, but still get a couple of calls per week.

There is not much you can do to prevent the international ones, but those from British callers can almost always be stopped by telling them you are registered with TPS and to remove your details from their database. However, recently, a couple of goons have told me "do you realise you have to re-register with TPS every 6 months/year?" This is absolute rubbish! :mad: I have checked the TPS website and residential phone numbers do NOT have to re-register, only certain company ones. Best to have these facts to hand!

Last year, I was getting regular calls from a local double glazing firm. They didn't give up, depsite me telling them not to call and that I am registered with TPS. After a while, I got so sick of them that I actually made a formal complaint about them to TPS, it was very easy to do, just did everything on line. I have not received a call from this company since. :T