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What do you do when you get cold-callers?
As the site’s getting listed on Google now, I’d like to welcome any new visitors to the site; please use this site to post any numbers that you get called by that you believe to be cold-calling - by that, I mean
Some companies will ‘cold call’ for legitimate reasons - they will obey the Telephone Preference Service (TPS); they will not continually call people; they will respect a simple ‘no thanks’; they do not call at bad ours of the day; and they do not use tactics such as calling random numbers and hanging up, in the hope of a call-back.
The companies that follow the moral and legal guidelines we respect - otherwise add them to this list!
Now - what do you do when you get a bad cold-caller?
I tend to get called (as I run a business) for advertising - I’ve now got accustomed to telling them I’m moving house! If they’re another type of cold-caller, it’s always a polite but firm “No thanks” and hang up. I know other people are more adventurous though - tell us what you do!
Posted by Sparky on March 1st, 2007 filed in General |
- Trying to sell you a mobile phone who’s not your provider …
- Calling without any prompting from you
- Calling you and hanging up before you get a chance to answer
- Anything which you consider to be bad practise in phoning.
Some companies will ‘cold call’ for legitimate reasons - they will obey the Telephone Preference Service (TPS); they will not continually call people; they will respect a simple ‘no thanks’; they do not call at bad ours of the day; and they do not use tactics such as calling random numbers and hanging up, in the hope of a call-back.
The companies that follow the moral and legal guidelines we respect - otherwise add them to this list!
Now - what do you do when you get a bad cold-caller?
I tend to get called (as I run a business) for advertising - I’ve now got accustomed to telling them I’m moving house! If they’re another type of cold-caller, it’s always a polite but firm “No thanks” and hang up. I know other people are more adventurous though - tell us what you do!
March 2nd, 2007 at 1:49 pm
i got a cold call about selling me a phone..
my response - “sorry i dont use a telephone”
they went silent, then hung up as they realised my wit
March 7th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Tell them you will report them to OFCOM if they call again. Or do like my Mum does, answer the call as if you are a receptionist for a big business, pick any high street chain. This technique totally throws them, for her it works every time, and seldom gets repeat calls. It helps to have caller ID so you know when to use the technique though. Good luck
PS. If they ask to put through to a manager say “can you hold for a moment” then either keep em waiting at their expense or hang up. Sometimes 2 wrongs do make it right
March 20th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
Just had *another* call from uk finance of Regents Street, London ….. I kept the guy on the line for 22 minutes (his fault not mine, he refused to take ‘not interested’ for an answer) arguing about what was and wasn’t relevant to a ‘loan application to one of the top 51 banks’. I claimed to be a debt management counsellor with regular financial institution dealings, and also claimed to need to research the company before making any decision of financial import.
He refused to deviate from his supremely obvious script (which i also commented on), before saying that he would get a verification officer to call me back in 1-2 minutes, and a financial advisor in 7-10 mins ……. I’m still waiting for the calls now.
He refused to supply a company trading address beyond Regent St. London, and was also unable to supply a website URL for any advance research to be done. Regrettably the number they use is actually withheld so I cannot give any further details.
The guy (I would say Indian, however my knowledge of accents is minor, so anywhere within that general area) even had the cheek to accuse me of wasting his time.
March 27th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
i play along - ask for the terms and conditions. usually they say it will be in the post. in that case i say not interested. i want them to read it to me on the phone. just leave the phone while they rattle it off - hey let them waste time talking to you, time which they could spend on actually selling.
March 27th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Actually getting sick to death of this. I cancelled my last contract because of the volume of rubbish, thought i’d be careful and not sign up to anything or give any companies my number.
Already, after just two weeks i’m getting bombed with junk calls. I answer and there’s nobody there - if I say please remove me from your list i’m not interested they call back the next day.
Surely there’s laws against human rights or invasion of privacy or something? Their unwanted calls cannot be legal - come on Blair, sort it out.
March 28th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
A Humorous Story:
Once I received a cold call from a phone company for you know what, as the chap at the other end was being polite as possible. I couldn’t really be mean and hang up. I told him to hang for 2 minutes as I had to answer the other phone. Being a nice chap myself, I thought some light entertainment to the cold callers ears will be a hit, so I put the radio on and left the phone next to it and never went back. I suggest you guys should do the same. Give them a taste of our own medicine. Somtimes a small lie can do wonders.
April 4th, 2007 at 1:05 am
I’ve discovered a superb solution to get rid of people quickly - it doesn’t solve the problem long term (as a new company will, invariably, phone back - that’s hard to stop though!) but it is simple: tell them you are moving house / closing business / etc. I run a business and am moving house - and have found these ‘excuses’ to anything priceless.
“Hello Sir, are you the bill-payer?” … “erm, yes I am - who’s calling please?” … “I am calling from ***INSERT ANNOYING COMPANY HERE***” … “oh, sorry - I’m moving house soon so won’t be necessary. thanks anyway!” *click*
June 23rd, 2007 at 10:55 am
or another good one is to play along and when it comes to the yes no bit say “oh by the way do you know this is a council/rented house”. they soon hang up as you have wasted their time in trying to sell you something that you can’t buy (mean i know but hey they are wasting our time so lets waste their’s!)
December 1st, 2007 at 8:34 pm
When the ‘other countries’ cold callers ring repeat every thing these people say, i.e. hello can i speak to the homeowner, and you reply the exact same thing, keep it up because they really do get annoyed.
August 19th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I run a Business Telephone System reseller business. We have an auto attendant (you know, press 1 for sales, 2 for service etc). If I get persistent nuisance calls from Direct Marketing companies I redirect calls from their CLI (presented number) to another Auto Attendant which sends them back to the beginning of the announcement whichever option they choose. This leaves them in a loop and they eventually hang up.