Cold calling

homerdog

Is there any truth in the rumour I've heard that when someone calls your landline telephone and there is a pause and clicking the other end before anyone talks to you that they are reversing the cost of the call. I was under the impression that you actually had to agree to a reverse charge phone call so am rather confused. Can anyone clear this up for me please?

WestonDave

No truth in it at all. What you are hearing is their system trying to connect you to an available operative. The calls are made at random by a computer, and its only when you answer that its connected at their end to a member of staff. If too many people answer, you get a "silent call" because there is no-one to talk to you. The clicking is their system.

homerdog

Thank you for that, I really couldn't understand how it could be true, just wanted to hear it for sure. I'd heard it before several months ago and dismissed it then, but when it resurfaced doubts crept in. I sometimes turn the radio up and put the phone in front of it for a minute and since my husband never reveals what the bills is I just had a bad thought about it.

GreyQueen

The other poster is right. Most cold calling outfits are using autodiallers; a computerised system is dialling several numbers simultaneously and if one of them is answered, the agent will take that one and the rest will be 'silent calls'. My parents' home has two separate landlines and if one is cold-called, the other one will be also, with a few seconds' lag. It's a PITA.

homerdog

It's got to the stage where we don't answer the phone now, we do 1471 and see if it's anyone we know and want to talk to, if not or if there's no message we don't bother, it's surprising how many of the automated calls leave a message tho.

GreyQueen

homerdog wrote: »

It's got to the stage where we don't answer the phone now, we do 1471 and see if it's anyone we know and want to talk to, if not or if there's no message we don't bother, it's surprising how many of the automated calls leave a message tho.

:mad: It ticks me off no end. My parents (pensioners, homeowners) get a minimum of one, sometimes up to 4 calls a day, they call at meal times, even on weekends; it just gets to the point where I call and my lovely Mum answers with a very testy Yes?! expecting it to be another cold caller.......... I answered the phone over there recently and tore the agent off a strip, demanding to know why they weren't respecting that the phone number had been registered by the Telephone Preference Service for over a decade? He got the message.

Yesterday, someone was trying to sell them solar panels FGS.

Mind you, no one tries to cold-call me. My postcode is notoriously deprived, I rent my home from the council, and I have an answermachine on during the day when I'm at work.

thriftwizard

The cold calls are distressing my mother no end just now. She's 89 for Heaven's sake, fairly deaf and newly widowed (also lost her sister-in-law last night) and her phone line's red hot just now with sympathy calls, lawyers, people arranging funeral details, etc. and the last thing she needs is to have to run to answer the phone, only for it to go dead or have some poor far-Eastern youngster trying to sell her cruises or life insurance. Half the time she can't work out what they are saying & whether it's important or not, between a malfunctioning hearing aid and their accents. If I were here more of the time, I'd have her calls diverted to this number to screen them out. And Heaven help the poor unfortunate who tries to tell her her computer's running slow... she hasn't switched it on for weeks, and it's slower than anyone under 50 could ever imagine anyway!

Edited to remove OT bits - wrong thread!

nuatha

I may be claiming a record, new phone line went live at 09:10 yesterday morning. First telesales cold call at 09:18.
Telephone company assure us its a virgin (not previously issued) number so it has to be random number diallers - by 5pm there had been another 4 cold calls.

GreyQueen

:eek: nuatha, that's incredible.

I can't think of anyone who welcomes these calls, they are a plague on modern life. We pay to have phones for our personal convenience, not be at the beck-and-call of anybody who wants to try marketing to us.

Besides, the Queen of Sheba is usually ensconced on a lap, and if a person has to get up and answer the phone, she gets dislodged. She gives a good evil eye, that cat; sometimes I'm glad she only weighs 11 lb and doesn't have opposable thumbs.:rotfl:

lonewhitewolf

when you answer dont say anything, wait and see who it is first. If its a cold caller then what we do is say " Hello , you have reached heaven and hells switch board. Press 1 to be directed to heaven where lovely angelic ladies are waiting to please you or 2 to be directed to hell, where you will be whipped and chained till you are fully punished"
This normally gets a quick hang up and our number removed from their list.
Once when a "computer man" called DH answered and had him talking for 1/2 an hour using the voice of an old man (very confused). Cant remember all of it but when he asked my DH to "click on my compute"r he replied "i cant cause i cant see your computer from here" I was ROFL with tears streaming down my cheeks.
Try it it makes the day a little brighter lol

savemoney

Get one of these phones comes with built in call blocker

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/phones-broadband-gps/home-phones/digital-cordless-phones/bt-8500-advanced-call-blocker-cordless-phone-with-answering-machine-10027613-pdt.html

I use truceall myself which is in that phone for over 5 years now and I never once get a cold caller come through despite them trying as I can see online who calls me. The phone has a cut down version of truecall so cant see online but it should work perfectly. I believe you can get numbers from friends, family to bypass truecall blocker

You will need caller ID though so will be a small cost on top if you dont have it

Here's the review of it with good ratings

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/mobile-phones/1401522/bt-bt8500-review-the-best-call-blocker-phone-yet

On my android phone I use MR. Number its free call blocker

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mrnumber.blocker&hl=en_GB