Nuisance calls from "Householder Surveys"

NonGeographicalMan

NFH wrote: »

I disagree. If that were true, you could apply the same argument to fraudsters and burglars.

I agree with your comments.

If we are talking normal Indian call centres for customer support for UK companies then we are merely about talking about whether they are as effective as UK based call centres in resolving a customer's problems. Sadly on the whole I find they aren't due to the yawning cultural gap and the fact that Indian English speakers are convinced that they speak a form of English that is comprehensible to most UK English speakers when in many cases their accent and methods of expressing concepts are so alien (along with a tendency to show no emotion or reaction to the caller's comments in some call centres) that they don't. An Indian English speaker who lives in the UK soon begins to adjust Indian English to something closer to a British English style of speaking although I still wonder from which Indian word "Innit" is derived!

I have had much better experiences with overseas call centres in Bulgaria and Holland (Be Unlimited and TomTom) because any non UK person who has learned English in those countries tends to be an educated and intelligent person. The problem in India is that because it is the nominal national business language numerous people speak it very badly (another language will be their main language) but the vast majority of them do not speak it in a manner that is even vaguely comprehensible to UK English speakers. I also find Caribbean call centres (Amazon and some US Airines have them) far more acceptable because although they speak English with a strong accent it is their first language and they also do express emotion and interact with customers unlike many of the Indians.

However the Microsoft phone technician scammers and the National Consumer Research Centre/Lifestyle Research Centre mob clearly have only one purpose - (a) to violate the PECR/TPS rules and then (b) to defraud the person called if they possibly can. The Microsoft phone scammers try to obtain remote access to your PC toinstall a virus on your PC and then blackmail you to remove it. The National Consumer Research Centre lie to you that they are doing research and then try to get you to confirm your interest in various products so they can vend your data to various hard sell foot in the door UK companies with little respect for the law such as SAS Fire & Security etc (who try to con elderly people to sign up for a "free burglar alarm" with a contract of five years of maintenance charges at £900 per year (which for some odd reason they don't mention when they set up the call.

All of the above is crime pure and simple and nobody has the right to commit these activities no matter how poor they may actually be.

NonGeographicalMan

Saver0811 wrote: »

With just a little text block in the centre of each page telling them to stop cold calling, again without giving my details.

And sender ID with-held.

Calls stopped soon after.

How did the calls stop if they didn't know who you were?

marleyboy

Yep, have them ringing my phone - they NEVER give up, its why I have resorted to just blowing a whistle down the phone to them and asking them if they want me to spell it.

joedenise

Had one of these calls a couple of days ago. As soon as I said I was retired the guy said he'd remove my number from their database.

Denise

Timewarper

I've just had one from what sounded like an Indian guy, on a withheld number that said it was a company called Householder Choice and it was a "simple survey". I said I wasn't interested and as soon as I mentioned being registered with TPS he hung up.

DPJ_2

I'm sick of receiving calls from americans or asians who can't pronounce my name and then tell me they just want a moment of my time. I began with a polite 'no thank you' and still got calls, sometimes 4 or 5 times a day. I then said ' you have the wrong number' but still continued to get calls. I've asked them to take me off their database and my son pretended to be the MOD when he was staying here and got sick of the calls! My latest response is to ask them their name and where they are calling from so that I can report them to Ofcom. I have no idea if I can report them but the calls are dwindling. I don't really want to change my number, but it really is so annoying when I'm busy and have to stop working just to answer what I deem to be a nuisance call.:(

brewerdave

I've stopped answering the phone during the day - my nearest and dearest know that they have to phone,let the phone ring a couple of times,ring off then dial again -I'll answer the 2nd call .
If there is no 2nd call then I dial 1471 (or listen to the message if they have left one on the answerphone)
This policy seems to be reducing the nuisance calls - touch wood, I haven't had any unknown calls at all this week. Long may it continue!!:beer:

Hazzanet

I've had a couple of calls from this bunch in the past, despite being on the TPS (which we all know doesn't apply to surveys).

When I've been in a good mood, I've answered the questions, but beware. One of the recent questions was whether I had a stocks and shares ISA. Answering yes, I then was called daily until I answered; the callers were specialists in the misselling of financial products who were aware that I had an S&S ISA. When questioned, they advised that their data comes from surveys etc where I'd answered that I had an S&S ISA.

It appears that these 'Householder' or 'Consumer Lifestyle' surveys are just a way to obtain permission through the backdoor to pass on your details to third party companies to telemarket you. It's also interesting my details weren't screened against the TPS as I've double checked and my number is still on the database.

Wingus

Stecz wrote: »

I have previously worked for this company and I think all of you need to seriously think about this. Yeah, it's annoying for you, but it's soul-destroying working there. Everyone who worked there when I was were some of the nicest people I've worked with. Everyone's friendly and human. It's precisely this reason we might next seem less than thrilled when you get the dreaded call. You spend your entire day getting abused by people over the phone, insulting you and what have you. You tend to get a little sick of it. We got our information from when you sign up for free things, more than likely. When you tick the 'I agree to the terms and conditions' box, there's probably a condition in there that says they can sell things to third-parties, such as ourselves, so if you don't want these calls, read terms and conditions.

In future, be nice to tele-canvassers. It's a rubbish job done by nice people.

I couldn't care less if your working for bill gates or the local shop down the road, if you don't follow simple requests to stop calling, then you deserve everything you get, nice or not nice.

I am sure as hell not giving you, or any other dodgy nutcase anything to do with my banks or other financial details, i sure as hell wont give you the correct details, especially if you can't even get mine right.

Just as soon as BT can fix the loophole in the telephone system that allows such ignorant, scammy and unintelligent nutters to use the BT network as they see fit, the sooner we can all get rid of you, once and for all.

Just remember, your calling me, it don't cost me anything, so i'll keep you talking all day if i have to. I couldn't care less if your poor and this is the only scummy job you got, but here is some advice, get a real job, because annoying people will never get you any favors.

Wingus

I have contacted BT about this, and thier advice is that even they can't stop them...at the moment. There seems to be a loophole that scammers and other dodgy nutcases use, to bypass the normal BT operations, allowing anyone to use the BT system, and bounce of any number they want, even non traceable ones.

However, BT gave some advice, on thier website, including:

1. Pick up the phone reciever
2. Don't put it imediately down, keep the line open, but don't speak to them
3. Do this for up to 3 to 5 min, untill you hear a clear an audible tone, it's the tone that tells you when a phone is off the hook.
4. Put the phone down on it's holder....close the line.

What this aparently does, it keeps the line open, on thier side, and they cannot call out during the time your phone is off the hook. Aparently this is very annoying, and also a trick used by some comapnies to trick people into thinking they are ringing another company, when it's the same one.

But overall, what i suggest is get a called display unit...and program it with your friends and family numbers only, and the ones you want to keep. Then, if any other numbers come up, that you don't know...or international...you can choose to answer them as you want

There is also some hardware telephone number blocking devices, from pretty much anywhere online, but i choose amazon or the manufacturers direct. These little devices are priceless, and block hundreds of numbers.

Always challenge unknown numbers, DO NOT, under any circumstances give them any details regarding banks or anything else personal, give them false details if you have to, but never give them anything, well, except a hard time:)