'Free unlimited calls? My !!!!!' Blog discussion

StumpyPumpy

I am registered with the TPS and fortunate enough to have a phone that I can configure to redirect any "unknown" or "withheld" numbers straight to my answerphone without ringing. I also have a custom message for these numbers that politely point out that unless the caller redials from a number the phone does recognise they will be ignored. This works brilliantly most of the time, illustrated to me when my father was taken into hospital and I had to disable it in case I needed to be contacted urgently by the medicos. So the telesales calls started coming through again. A friend's comment, when hearing me being abusive to one of these callers was "...they're only trying to make a living." My response: "So are pickpockets."
<edit>
@Rupert Bear: I wrote this before seeing your comment, and my response stands. In my mind, the fact that pickpocketing is illegal and these calls aren't is a failure of the law not a validation of their actions.

albo2002

anyone else thought of this when reading the blog:

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

Paul_Herring

Rupert_Bear wrote: »

Pleased you were not rude to the caller. They are only trying to earn a crust of bread like the rest of us.

On the other hand, anyone taking such a job should expect to be verbally abused by the people they're annoying.

jackjones86

Are you sure that someone you disagreed with didn't just.... sign you up for a call or two.

Remember once I !!!!ed off a "Hacker" and woke up to find my phone had missed 8 or 9 calls and my voicemail was full up with... sales calls from Orange. Their website had a feature where you could request a callback to a specific number. I was terrified, I had to spend literally 3 minutes deleting them.

hollydays

Any company i do business with gets given my mobile,if they ask for a number,with one digit changed.I work on the basis that if I have a problem with a transaction-I will ring them (I give the correct number to financial institutions only).I work on the basis that they will sell on my details,even if I ask them not to.

JimmyTheWig

StumpyPumpy wrote: »

A friend's comment, when hearing me being abusive to one of these callers was "...they're only trying to make a living." My response: "So are pickpockets."

Your wrath would be better aimed at Fagin than at the Artful Dodger.
Equally, then, I think you're abusing the wrong person when you get cross on the phone.

michaels

If their weren't mugs who over paid for products the savvy would have to pay more.

anewman

Rupert_Bear wrote: »

Pleased you were not rude to the caller. They are only trying to earn a crust of bread like the rest of us.

I went to the Police station recently and asked about the job. I eventually went through training and became an officer. I was rather disappointed though as the sign outside said "rapist wanted" and I couldn't find any mention of this in the job description.


Yes yes an amusing joke, but the point being just because it is a job does not make it morally or legally correct to do that job. Cold calling people is certainly among the list of jobs I would never do. Think also of high pressure door to door sales people who swindle old people out of thousands of pounds for something pathetic like a motorised bed which they do not need and will not help them in anyway, but the salesman will tell them it will stop them going into a home etc. Take for example the energy sales people who sign up customers unwittingly to their service.

Also as said above, you expect a certain amount of abuse with this job. You don't join the army to have a leisurely trip to foreign countries do you now?!

albo2002 wrote: »

anyone else thought of this when reading the blog:

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

Or how about this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj2oXMdZ4sk Over 18's only IMO, contains bad language.

michaels wrote: »

If their weren't mugs who over paid for products the savvy would have to pay more.

Untrue.... Unless you're talking about young people and car insurance but then they have no choice in the matter due to their age, other than to wait.

Rupert_Bear

anewman wrote: »

I went to the Police station recently and asked about the job. I eventually went through training and became an officer. I was rather disappointed though as the sign outside said "rapist wanted" and I couldn't find any mention of this in the job description.


Yes yes an amusing joke,

No No not amusing just sick

Porcupine

savetilibleed wrote: »

Connect? I wonder if that is correct, are they are anything to do with 18185? It's just that my DD for 18185 is listed as Connect Telecom UK.

I doubt it. 'Connect' is a fairly generic name for a phone company. Just google 'connect' and you get hundreds of companies, a good proportion being telecoms. I suspect the scammer has deliberately chosen a common name so that it's not easy to find them.