View Full Version : hard sell by phone
beware of answering your own phone. First I was nagged- stalked for about six weeks by Vodaphone calling me- demanding I changed tarriff. They weren't offering a new handset- but said they'd throw in a mobile broadband dongle. I assumed this would be pay and go- given that I have wifi in the house- but when the next bill arrived it turns out they'd signed me up to a £15 per month contract.
The current culprits are Homeserve trying to sell me drain insurance. I already have the forms- which I will complete and return- I don't want to hand out bank details willy nilly.
Short of telling the callers that you're the bailiffs- what's to be done?
Hang up on them or change your number.
Well bagpuss you should phone up bt u have to regester with them to prevent cold callers phoneing your house
And if they still phone u have uever tried makeing cats noises and dog noise and so on down the phone to them try it or every time they ask u a question blab out the first things that come into ure mind eg pair of nickers peg matchstick and keep doing that see what the say they will soon get bored with u if they think ure a we bit loopy
If you look at some of the pay as u go tarrifs on offer with vodafone if u use your mobile u are cheaper to get a monthly contract
tonkatojo
27-Nov-09, 15:16
I get pleasure out of going along listening (when I have time) to cold callers and at the punch line time say no thanks, and listen to their annoyance as they say OK. The gas electric company's are rampant at the moment after new customers, have a laugh and encourage all their twaddle and at the end say NO.:lol::lol:
First thing to do is to contact your Phone Cpmpany and get your Line set so that it does NOT accept calls from witheld Numbers.
This will stop most. Then when you do get a phone check who is calling on your caller display. If you do not know who is calling just do not answer.
Simples!!
Well bagpuss you should phone up bt u have to regester with them to prevent cold callers phoneing your house
And if they still phone u have uever tried makeing cats noises and dog noise and so on down the phone to them try it or every time they ask u a question blab out the first things that come into ure mind eg pair of nickers peg matchstick and keep doing that see what the say they will soon get bored with u if they think ure a we bit loopy
If you look at some of the pay as u go tarrifs on offer with vodafone if u use your mobile u are cheaper to get a monthly contract
It is the Telephone Preference Service you have to register with, not BT, although you can do it via BT 150.
OP - Why would you "assume" it was pay as you go? Why would you sign up for something without knowing the facts? Seems a bit strange to me.
Kodiak - that is a chargeable service with most companies and means you can miss calls from, for example, hospitals and many other people/places that have genuine means to contact you but want to withhold their number.
Most genuine companies will stop if you tell them you don't want to hear from them again and are a member of the TPS. Recent examples of this working for me are BT and Everest. If you are getting a lot of these calls it probably means you have been lax in making sure you tick/don't tick the correct boxes in the future contact sections of forms. Maybe it would be worth changing your number and making it ex-directory. These are both free. I guess it is up to you which is most hassle out of changing the number, going ex-directory, making sure you tick the correct boxes in forms and signing up for TPS compared to continuing to get the cold calls.
Another option is saying you are not the homeowner/person they are looking for or you are busy but of course that will only get rid of that particular call.
ETA: If they didn't make it clear on the Vodafone call that it was a contract then you have rights under Distance Selling Regulations to cancel the contract.
Kodiak - that is a chargeable service with most companies and means you can miss calls from, for example, hospitals and many other people/places that have genuine means to contact you but want to withhold their number.
Surpriseingly I did know that you get charged for this service but it is well worth it.
I have never missed a call from my Doctor or Hospital for if they are genuine all they have to do is to put 1470 in front of your number and that then shows you the number calling.
If a compnay wants to phone me and they insist of keeping their Number witheld then I am not interested in talking to them, no matter who they are.
I have not had a Cold Call from anyone trying to sell me anything ever since I have had a Block on witheld numbers. It was the best thing I have ever done.
Surpriseingly I did know that you get charged for this service but it is well worth it.
I have never missed a call from my Doctor or Hospital for if they are genuine all they have to do is to put 1470 in front of your number and thet then shows you the number calling.
If a compnay wants to phone me and they insist of keeping their Number witheld then I am not interested in talking to them, no matter who they are.
I have not had a Cold Call from anyone trying to sell me anything ever since I have had a Block on witheld numbers. It was the best thing I have ever done.
If it works for you then great. I was simply adding some further facts to the suggestion. I am interested in how you know that you haven't missed a call?
If it works for you then great. I was simply adding some further facts to the suggestion. I am interested in how you know that you haven't missed a call?
Read what I wrote.
I will state it again just for you.
"I have never missed a call from my Doctor or Hospital"
I never said I had never missed a call. I said that as they are the only people whom I would not want to miss a call from, but I know for certain I never have missed a call from them.
I also said :-
"If a company wants to phone me and they insist of keeping their Number witheld then I am not interested in talking to them, no matter who they are."
So if there is anyone who calls me and they have a witheld number and will not release it, then I am not interested in them. It is as simple as that.
Since Cold Callers always keep their Nimbers witheld then they never get through to me and that suits me fine. :D
Read what I wrote.
I will state it again just for you.
"I have never missed a call from my Doctor or Hospital"
I never said I had never missed a call. I said that as they are the only people whom I would not want to miss a call from, but I know for certain I never have missed a call from them.
I also said :-
"If a company wants to phone me and they insist of keeping their Number witheld then I am not interested in talking to them, no matter who they are."
So if there is anyone who calls me and they have a witheld number and will not release it, then I am not interested in them. It is as simple as that.
Since Cold Callers always keep their Nimbers witheld then they never get through to me and that suits me fine. :D
What I meant is how do you know you have never missed an important call from the doctors or hospital. You don't. Not all call back with 1470. But again if you are happy with it then good for you.
What I meant is how do you know you have never missed an important call from the doctors or hospital. You don't. Not all call back with 1470. But again if you are happy with it then good for you.
Simple I am still alive.
Also, all I had to do was to notify them and they have put in my file to put 1470 in front of my telephone number. So when they look up my file to get my telephone number they read this and they get through frist time.
Simples !! :D
I get pleasure out of going along listening (when I have time) to cold callers and at the punch line time say no thanks, and listen to their annoyance as they say OK. The gas electric company's are rampant at the moment after new customers, have a laugh and encourage all their twaddle and at the end say NO.:lol::lol:
Thats what I do if Ive got the time and Im in the mood.I even asked one of them once if they knew the answer to the crossword i was doing at the time, giving them the clue, the letters and the blanks and he even asked one of his co workers if they knew the answer. Usually though I either tell them to hang on a minute while I answer the door while I go and make a brew then have a bath. If Im in A particularly bad mood I just give them an Anglo saxon expletive, 2 words (4,3) then hang up and kick the cat.
Aaldtimer
28-Nov-09, 03:59
Hey Baz, what did the cat do to deserve that![disgust]
I usually dont let them start their speel and say im not interested thanks then hang up. But if it is one of them phone calls that when you answer and no-one is there for a good 10 secs the phone is hung up before they can get the option of starting:lol:
Thats what I do if Ive got the time and Im in the mood.I even asked one of them once if they knew the answer to the crossword i was doing at the time, giving them the clue, the letters and the blanks and he even asked one of his co workers if they knew the answer. Usually though I either tell them to hang on a minute while I answer the door while I go and make a brew then have a bath. If Im in A particularly bad mood I just give them an Anglo saxon expletive, 2 words (4,3) then hang up and kick the cat.
That`s what I do,give them a 2 word answer,7 letters 3 of them are F`s and it`s South London slang for No,Go Away or I don`t believe you.
tonkatojo
28-Nov-09, 13:27
Thats what I do if Ive got the time and Im in the mood.I even asked one of them once if they knew the answer to the crossword i was doing at the time, giving them the clue, the letters and the blanks and he even asked one of his co workers if they knew the answer. Usually though I either tell them to hang on a minute while I answer the door while I go and make a brew then have a bath. If Im in A particularly bad mood I just give them an Anglo saxon expletive, 2 words (4,3) then hang up and kick the cat.
Your even more WKD than me but leave the cat alone eh.
Hey Baz, what did the cat do to deserve that![disgust]
Steady now, I was only joking. (About the cat,anyway) :D
just hang up problem solved
just hang up problem solved
Its no fun that way.
It is the Telephone Preference Service you have to register with, not BT, although you can do it via BT 150.
Sorry Serenity :cool: but the TPS is a waste of time. I am registered with the TPS and ex-directory but still get these cold calls.....
I am told that they got my number from:
the Electoral register; not on the register for this address, have asked that my name is not sold to companies on the roll, the roll doesn't contain my phone number
from 192.com; my number is not on this service
that I have given my number on a website; unfortunately when I fill in a webform for (eg) a car insurance quote I always give the wrong digits and always ensure I tick the box that tells them not to sell my details
In actual fact they simply call random numbers. One of the last cold calls I got was from Home Save in Dundee...after a little bit of seraching found out who the parent company was and who the primary director was. Found his number and called him directly........this website is full of useful info:
http://whocallsme.com/
...but it doesn't work for withheld numbers.
I now ask the person at the other end of the phone to tell me as much as possible abut what they are offering and then leave the phone for 5 minutes.....my next phase will be to turn up the TV as loud as possible and hold the phone next to the speaker.....I am affraid that I dont buy this nonsense about people only doing their job.....the company that they work for should have more respect for the poor fools they are calling up
nightspirit
29-Nov-09, 11:47
Benji - if you are already registered with TPS and still getting these all you have to do is tell the caller that you are registered with TPS and they will usually hang up or appologise and say they will remove you from the database. i have had this several times and the same conmpany has never called me back. They usually seem rather worried when i tell them i am registered with TPS aswell for some reason ...?
My main annoyance was being called every single day for a month by both Vodaphone and Homeserve. The callers were from a foreign call centre in each case- and hadn't a clue about the products they were selling- but they took a lot of shaking off. I'd already bought the Homeserve product- I'd been mailed the details before and signed up to it. My mobile bill did drop- but I now have a broadband dongle that I don't need-for the next 18 months. The call centre told me it would be a pay and go (which i need when I do travel occasionally)- I didn't expect it to be a contract.
Benji - if you are already registered with TPS and still getting these all you have to do is tell the caller that you are registered with TPS and they will usually hang up or appologise and say they will remove you from the database. i have had this several times and the same conmpany has never called me back. They usually seem rather worried when i tell them i am registered with TPS aswell for some reason ...?
Hi Nightspirit thanks for the note but there have been at least three companies in the last year or so who have called more than once.....all have had UK sounding call centres. Dispite my mentioning TPS this doesn't seem to have made any difference
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