Great 'Best Cold Caller Rebukes' Hunt

Johan

Another quite effective one is blowing a football whistle down the phone!

Don't do that, you could be done for assault...honest!

diversrock

I once got a call asking to talk to my mum. She spoke to them and found out that someone had passed them on. She had a really big argument with them and spent over an hour telling them not to phone back! Needless to say they didn't call back... As it happens I don't think we had any cold callers for ages after that. We haven't had any since we signed up to the list thing.

asc99c

After being called a couple of times a week by BT asking me to move my calls package back to them, I gave up on being increasingly rude to the callers, and just got rid of them entirely. My line rental is now with Sky.

My favourite though is just putting down the phone (not hanging up) and walking off. At least that runs up a bill for the call centre. The only time I've felt guilty doing it was to a charity, but they had called me at 7pm (baby's bedtime) every night 4 nights in a row.

money?whatmoney?

Three possibilities - If they start with "I'm sorry to bother you..." reply "No problem, goodbye!" Or, "Oh, that's exactly the job/service my husband/wife is employed in" (always works for me) or "I would LOVE to talk to you about blah, blah, blah, but can you just wait until I get the cat out of the tumble dryer? He should be dry now." They usually hang up...

Sailorthecat

My husband tells them that the person they want is in prison. This also works for cold callers at the door as he tells them he is just looking after the house for a friend who is in prison. This one works quite well at the door as we live in a nice area and is obviously an unexpected answer to the "are you the owner" question.

My Grandad would answer the phone with "she's out" (she = grandma) and then put it down but that was for anybody that phoned cold or warm. Nobody would ring back.

mrshutchy

I kept getting calls from the same person on a daily basis, and I had no clue what they were trying to sell me.I had been telling my daughter about it and luck would have it my phone rang. My daughter answered the phone and when they asked for me, without a thought told them how I had sadly died just a few days earlier! A bit extreme I agree, but they never rang back

savemoney

I agree, I am very tempted to get one because companies ignore your wishes and ignore that your registered under TPS

There should be a fine for every complaint if proven, there should be a ban on silent calls and director of companies should face a prison sentence if they are persistent. Charles Dunston perhaps CPW who company has already been fined is once again allowing his company to abuse the telephone network for silent calls, these calls as I fond out when you pick up phone no one is there

Abuse like this must stop

MothballsWallet wrote: »

Why should we have to pay 50-60 quid for a box to deal with this menace??!! This is just another case of the makers of trueCall joining the queue of phone companies and HM Government raking it in from unwanted calls, and having regulators and preference services who are useless. The EU is in favour of opt-in marketing, and wants all member states to use this scheme, but UK Gov loves opt-out and refuses to change because of the money it brings in.


Yeah, but if they call you many times a day, it's okay to be rude at them or waste their time - the managers will never step in and take the flak from us mere mortals who they're ordering the callers to harass.

Headieboy

When we first bought our house the previous owner was on loads of these lists. We would get a call at least once a week from different companies. We tried to get the number taken off their database but they kept saying they needed the authority from the previous owner. On a couple of occasions I tried explaining that the previous owner had been admitted to long term care with Alzheimers and that she was unable to authorise the removal from the database. They would then ask for our details but I always refused to give them. I started to get really p***ed off with them and eventually told one company to f*ck off and if they called back I would report them to OFCOM.

Nowadays I try to be more polite and simply ask where they got the number from, explain that we are ex-directory, registered with the TPS and ask to be removed from their database. Every one of them has simply apologised for calling and said that they will get the number removed from the list.

A friend was contacted by a double glazing / conservatory company a few years back and they arranged for a salesman to come out and quote for a conservatory. When the saleman came out he quickly spotted that they were in a 3rd floor tenement flat (bright them salespeople!) and queried his paperwork saying "it's down here you're after a conservatory but you're 3 floors up" My friend replied "I know but the lady on the phone said you could sort something out for me" Needless to say they never contacted him again!

savemoney

TPS is no good if the companies are based abroad or they ignore it, or ignore the customers request

I have been plagued by them in last 4 months with cold calling all from businesses I use who I have also told them previously ages ago to stop

These are

1. British Gas
2. BT
3. Talk talk who used my details which they got from another company they owned Onetel

I dont give my details out willy nilly only when I have to and am ex directory. That's why I only get pestered by companies I only, they dont seem to understand that not al customers appreciate it

Eileen_66

Ring Ring!
Caller -Hello, is that Mrs C?
Me -Who are you?
Caller - We can help make you debt free.
Me - Oh good, I'm so pleased - can you?
Caller - Yes we can.
Me - That is very very kind of you
Caller - That is the service we provide
Me - So you really want to help me with my debts?
Caller - Yes we do.
Me - Are you going to charge me a lot of money to do it?
Caller - no, no we are here to help ....
Me - I didn't realise there were such kind people as you. I really do need help. First there is a neighbour down the road, she owes me for the 4 pts of milk I fetched during the bad snow. Mr P asked me to fetch him some cigarettes and never paid. And there is ...
Caller - Could I just explain ...
Me - Honestly there's no need to explain - If I just give you the names of the people who owe me money, then you can collect it all and I will be debt free. I know its not a large amount but every penny counts these days what with the price of gas and petrol and .......
Caller hung up.
Only had to do this twice and haven't had any more offers

And earlier today a double glazing salesman knocked at the door and asked if I was the home owner or a tenant. I put my finger to my lips and whispered 'Shush - I'm just squatting but no-one has found out yet'
I wonder why he just stepped back and hurridly left?