Nuisance phone calls

[MortyParticipant @morty]

[MortyParticipant @morty]

Hi there!

This probably a subject that has been done to death, but I had to pass this one on, it actually made Me laugh!!!

I have received numerous call over the last few weeks concerning the expiration of My manufacturers guarantee on Our Hotpoint washing machine, which We bought roughly 10 years ago and replaced about 2 years ago.

I have asked the called every time to remove Us from their call system, to which they replied they would.

Anyway, they called this afternoon, I am getting peeved now, explained again the situation, told him if they carried on I would report them to the relevant ombudsmen.

Then I asked (once again!)to be removed from their call list, to which the reply was…….

"Yes, I can do that, there will be a charge of £99" !!!!!!??

Well , I was still laughing when I hung up!

Anybody else had this?

Take care, Cheers, Pete

[Adam MaraParticipant @adammara]

We had it earlier this week, 'our Meile service contract has ended and we neeed to renew it'. It 18years old! What worries me is they knew our name, phone number and that we had a Meile machine.

[SteveWParticipant @stevew54046]

I always ask which machine it’s for. They never know. If I ask if it’s for the Hotpoint they always say ‘yes’ but our machine is a Bosch and we’ve never had a service contract. Just a nuisance doubly so as I have a phone in the workshop and they work with the gremlins to hide the tools while my attention is elsewhere.

Steve

[Martin BryarsParticipant @martinbryars38535]

I had a secretary 20 odd years ago who was brilliant with cold calls. Where do you get your water was met by"From the stream outside the door". How do you finance your car fleet "We all have bicycles". I suggest telling them that you wash clothes in the local river. They don't have an answer to that.

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

Some years ago a colleague of mine came to work laughing about her 13 year old daughter who had answered the phone the night before.

Her daughter's end of the conversation went "Yes, we'd love double glazing….. forty-seven….. yes, forty seven…. of course I'm sure, I've counted them…. a palace…. a princess….. oh, he's hung up!"

George B.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

I like the ones from phone companies offering to beat my current deal. After a bit of to and fro about what I pay and who I'm with they say "That Company doesn't do a landline for that and throw in free mobie"

Punch line " They do for employees".

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

I never answer calls from an unknown number. The phone goes into answer machine mode and I can listen to the caller and pick up if they are a genuine caller. I have no trouble not answering as I take the view that if I was not in range I would not be answering it anyway and genuine callers will call again or leave a message. My wife on the other hand struggles to not answer the phone and keeps saying we should answer it to find out who it is. Not answering reduces the number of scam calls, I get very few now. Looking up a number on line often confirms numbers as known scam calls.

The pre-recorded hook messages start as soon as the answer phone starts but ignore the fact that the message to leave something after the tone has to play out. The result is I get a recording starting some way into the scam call. A dead giveaway that it is not for a specific person.

Martin C

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

Other half's just bought a S20 note. sometimes when it rings a message comes on the screen saying , Potential fraud & sometimes Spam.

Steve.

[jimmy bParticipant @jimmyb]

My Samsung phone does the same. Quite useful!

Jim

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

My wife tends to offer them a job involving sex and travel!

If it is a human, (rather than a recorded call from a provider that we don't use, about our internet to be suspended ), I ask if they are any good with County Court Judgements. That seems to cause the phone to drop from their hand!

A never repeated funny one was from an obviously oriental lady, offering to recover my bank charges from Barclays. On telling her that I did not bank with Barclays, the response was "Nat West?" She though that I was very rude to call her a scammer. What a thin skin!

Also, my telling them what appears on the Caller Display seems to worry them.

Some claim that the T P S does not apply to them. They may kid themselves, but not us

Howard

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I ask them how they sleep at night after a day scamming vulnerable people?

Neil

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

My wife tends to offer them a job involving sex and travel!

Naughty, the first one? Something off. 🙂

Second one – a long walk off a short pier? Or send them out (in a foreign accent) for a drink?🙂

Just guessing😆 .

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 18/10/2020 14:46:31:

I ask them how they sleep at night after a day scamming vulnerable people?

Neil

I had one when asked what his mother thought of him scamming people he replied that she was proud of him. It takes allsorts

[JAParticipant @ja]

If a human is there I try to get him/her to discuss their sex life.

I believe all the calls they make are monitored by their boss. I have had calls cut off when the person thought they were getting somewhere (hooking a mug).

JA

[MichaelRParticipant @michaelr]

I tell them "Just a moment" I'll get the house holder, and switch this little fellow on and let him sing his song

"Rawhide Ye Ha"

Edited By MichaelR on 18/10/2020 19:33:00

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

I love the expression on that mouse's face!

'

I don't have a caller-display phone. Well, I do, it's almost within reach as I type this, but it seems to want to be plugged into the mains and switched on al the time, and to work with a BT service extra to my broadband. So I put up with the scam calls.

Recorded ones are easy to spot – try interrupting them. A person would stop but a recording continues unperturbed.

'

Some years ago a gentleman rang my land-line phone (how had he gained the number?) to try to sell me a portable 'phone contract for "only £8 a month, Sir". I remarked that a poor replacement for my barely a fiver a month, often much less, on PAYG.

After a bit more of this rhubarb he excused himself and left, but I could hear other sellers in the background. Then a female voice, with similar Eastern accent came on the line.

"Oh aye", I thought, "The charm trick!"

I succeeded in changing the subject with the result that Angel as she said her name was, and I had a very pleasant conversation for about half an hour on anything except telephones and contracts.

One point she made was gratitude for my not being rude – tele-sales staff do suffer from needlessly rude and even obscene responses. If it's an obvious scam attempt though – "I'm ringing from the Windows Corporation" types – I don't swear at the caller but do call him a liar and criminal, and hang up before he can – most of them are male.

A week or so later Angel rang again, just to chat – I even warned her to be careful not to get caught doing that.

Two or three weeks later, there was a third conversation again about anything except selling me a contract. Again I warned her, saying I enjoyed our conversation but did not want her to risk her employment.

(Perhaps I ought say I am single – which also means free access to the domestic oven for shrink-fit assemblies and heat-resistance tests when not chatting to YLs in Indian telephone-sales offices.)

I did not hear from Angel again. I hope she had not been caught out and dismissed.

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

If you see a number you do not recognise, pick up but do not say anything. The scam calls cut off if no audio is detected. Hard crap if it's the mother in law on her new phone.

Steve.

[Author]

Posts