'Grrrr... Spam called by an Indian company with AOL’s data?'

Former_MSE_Lawrence

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's "Grrrr... Spam called by an Indian company with AOL’s data?" Blog.

Click reply to discuss below.

derekwilliams

I have suffered from about 5 calls in the last 2 weeks from the same 'Global Telecom' company. AOL was never mentioned, but i gave them little chance to say anything. After requesting not to be called again, and asking for my number to be removed from their database, i received yet another call the following day. :mad:

I also ended up swearing and hanging up. Since then i have not had any further calls [touches wood].

As for the AOL link, my first ISP was AOL albeit many years ago, but as my phone number hasn't changed they could be the source.

Paul_Herring

I’m interested to know if there is a genuine connection to AOL; whether this is the actual result of the AOL database being sold on, stolen or moved forward.

It would have been interesting to find out what his reaction would have been if you'd stated (lied) up front saying you had never used AOL?

I rather suspect they think that most of the UK population has at one time or another used AOL, and are using this as an excuse for calling people.

Dee_Castle

I've had hardly any calls in the last 5 months but this week I've been bombarded. Usually with the quiet 2 second gap before they begin speaking.

They usually mumble their name and some Global Telecom company name and I just speak over them telling them I'm not interested and put the phone down. No mention of AOL but I don't think they ever got that far.

Annoying, as if I were a stupid person it could give me a dislike of people with Indian accents. Also I did get a call from a similar accented caller two weeks ago who actually worked for my bank and asked me to confirm if I had used my card at a popular website. I nearly hung up thinking it was a sales call.

moggylover

I would have to state that this is the first time I have ever disagreed with Martin on any subject - but I STRONGLY disagree with the use of overseas call centres by ANY business at all - and do not feel that legitimate companies with any degree of integrity would use them.

I feel I have the right, in my own home, to not have to struggle to understand the person calling me or whom I am calling. Whilst their English may be as perfect as my own - the accents are often SO heavy that I find myself thinking that I would probably understand them better in their own language. Furthermore, they are SOOOOOO persistent, and will not take no for an answer. We further had a problem that when I upset one call centre by eventually telling them to go forth and multiply (which is unlike me - but nothing else had worked over several days) they then somehow set their nasty little machine to call my number at 3.00 AM - whilst I was trying to cope with a 6 month old baby - and we had weeks of picking up the phone in the middle of the night (always a worry since my mother was ill at the time as well) only to have it click off.

The one thing I want more than anything is for cold-calling of any kind to be outlawed, and further to this I want Companies to have to provide a land-line number in this Country to its customers, not a premium or "national" one - or to face massive fines for not doing so.

Whether they be businesses or manufacturers or even shops nowadays - they all expect us to pay a premium to call them - even for an item in warranty - and how this can be fair, legal or in any way legitimate I do not know.

The telephone is bad enough - but then there are the SPAM emails from every tom, !!!!!! and harry trying to sell their rubbish, and the piles and piles of unwanted junk mail that comes through the door, and which cannot be just binned as it has my name and address on it and has to be opened and checked and burnt or shredded where necessary. What a waste of my time! I cannot ever remember buying from any of this - can anyone else? But we all end up paying the costs of such advertising through the end price of the product.

Major moan over - lol ! I just think "selling" has become a major intrusion on the privacy of my home.:mad:

Sargasso

I don't know about AOL, but I certainly get enough of these 'nuisance calls' - I just hang up! (and have left the phone off the hook after one persistent nuisance). Moggylover, re. junk mail, I have resorted to returning said junk in their return envelopes, with some of it shredded into tiny pieces . It works wonders! Before this I used to return them with instructions in big, red, letters to remove my details from their database, which was all too often ignored.

dudleyboy

I've never been an AOL customer but I'm forever getting these types of calls. It's come to the point where I just don't answer the landline phone anymore: I just let it ring out and pick up the voicemails at the end of the week at my convenience.

I tell all family and friends to call my mobile if they want to speak to me directly and I just don't answer the call if I don't recognise the number. On the odd occasion I do pick up, usually when I'm passing by the phone as it rings, I say "Hello" immediately. If I don't get an immediate response I hang up because it's usually an auto-dialler at a call centre pausing while it connects the call. Whoever does take the call at that end doesn't get the opportunity to waste my time.

It's a shame it's come to this but life is far less frustrating. Like most people, I give out my phone numbers reluctantly, I NEVER agree to my details being shared with "carefully selected companies" and yet the phone calls still come. If I could ask to be taken off their database I would but there's rarely a human being on the other end.

Edinburghlass_2

I'm sure Martin will be signed up to TPS which doesn't stop all such nuisance calls as a lot of them use international numbers but it does help and if I get selling calls I calmly ask them to spell out the name and address of the company so I can report them. It usually works

DeeCastle, if I had received such a call from my bank I would have thanked them for the call and then said I would phone and comfirm anything required with the bank myself, that way you know exactly who you are speaking to.

*MF*

Just my 2p

Not saying I know this to be correct, but the reference to AOL may arise from a well recorded event in 2006.

Extract here:

AOL issued an apology yesterday for posting on a public Web site 20 million keyword searches conducted by hundreds of thousands of its subscribers from March to May. But the company's admission that it made a mistake did little to quell a barrage of criticism from bloggers and privacy advocates who questioned the company's security practices and said the data breach raised the risk of identity theft.

From here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/07/AR2006080701150.html

Later news (2007) on that event here:

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/03/aol_doesnt_sell.html

It is also perhaps important to distinguish that AOL - for me and anyone in the UK - was taken over and is run by Carphone Warehouse, albeit they still use the AOL name - often wondered why they don't change it, given it always has bad news attached to it.

For me (been with AOL - very happily, very cheaply, for well over 10 years - and now - as a direct result of staying with them - with all my standard UK phone calls for £0.00) I have never had a "scam" phone call - so altho' it is a total guess on my part - I do not think the use of the name AOL is other than a script name someone has chosen to use - but with no valid connection back to AOL - bar as I suggested a link back to the 2006 event.

I have no connection with AOL - other than as a satisfied customer.

marclandsman

A couple of months ago I got a call in the office from a mobile phone company (supposedly Orange, but ...) telling me they could save me money on my calls.
After about 5 minutes of my paranoia act (where did you get my call list from since you know you can save me money? Why are you calling from MI5? Have you been tapping my line? etc) the girl at the other end told me that if I couldn't be sensible she would hang up. And did!
Result.
The other useful one if their mobile number shows up (it sometimes does) is to congratulate them on being the 3rd caller to pester you that week. The prize is to have their phone number written on all the toilet cubicles on the M6 service stations. Would they prefer I write them in the Gents, or my girlfriend puts them up in the Ladies?
I do not condone willful vandalism, but the threat seemed to remove me from that list as well.
I know TPS is supposed to work, but this way I also get rid of some of my pent up aggression without annoying the others in the office!

The_MoneySavingKid

moggylover wrote: »

I would have to state that this is the first time I have ever disagreed with Martin on any subject - but I STRONGLY disagree with the use of overseas call centres by ANY business at all - and do not feel that legitimate companies with any degree of integrity would use them.

Companies don't generally have feelings/qualities of any sort....all they are designed to do is make money.Nothing else.And the reason they use Indian call centres is to save more money.Just like us MSE'rs.
And yes,I can understand how annoying it is but this is part of what the company does to make money and there is NO debate about,because that is part of what they do to make make money.
I had had one funny moment with call centres..
I was watching The Apprentice on BBC Iplayer on the TV and the phone rang...guess who it was!
As my Dad wasn't there I decided to have a bit of fun...
The caller was in the sector of mortgages,so I just pretended to be interested by answering all the questions with answers (completely made up)...this made him think that I was interested.
After that I stuck the phone on loudspeaker and turned up the volume on the TV and just listened and then the caller just babbled on with information..and then Sir Alan say's something!!!
Sir Alan: (in the boardroom) I need more time...
Caller: Ok sir...
the caller go's quiet...for a few minutes
Caller: Are you there sir?Sir,SIR?
and then one of the other guys says something (Alex I think)
Caller: Hello Sir,are you interested in a mortgage...
Sir Alan: NO SHUTUP (or something along the lines of that)
Caller: Ok sir,
Oh,that was hillarious.
I will do that again whenever I answer to another.:rotfl: