Sue the phone cold callers...

[oldstout]

Listening to Jeremy Vine on R2 today and he had a bloke on who was sick and tired of telephone cold callers despite being part of the Telephone Preference Service (which I am in but now find is almost totally ineffective).

The deciding factor was that this guy recorded his phone calls and the gist of the story was he told one of the companies who were trying to get him PPI compo, he would invoice THEM for taking up HIS time whilst on the phone. He got the company details and invoiced head office for £10 A MINUTE :thumb:

Of course they ignored him, but for £25 he took them to the small claims court where the judge ruled in HIS favour - he got nearly £200 back :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Now that beats my ploy of saying ' I've just got a pan on, give me a minute' then putting the phone next to the TV or Radio for a while and checking back only to say 'oh hang on one of the kids has jammed their fingers' then repeating the same :lol: :whistle:

The guys point was they were wasting his valuable time in his own home and uninvited - brilliant :mrgreen:

Worth considering :hmm:

 

[bobsbeer]

Good on him. :clap:

 

[31bb3]

Good on him I'm sick of them to the extent I don't answer the phone to numbers I don't recognise

 

[oldstout]

I thought it was brilliant, and the fact a judge agreed may possibly have implications in the future of cold calling by phone

:mrgreen:

 

[graysalchemy]

I play the satellite delay game.

You answer the phone with a distant bored hello, and just as they are about to speak again say hello again. They will then say hello back and go into there script asking for Mrs whoever. At this point slip in another hello, they usually respond with a hello. Just carry this on they soon get bored.

My other one is to put them 'on hold' by placing the phone next to the stereo and blasting Led Zepplin at them :lol: :lol:

Finally I pretend to be barking mad. Just pick up on a word or phrase they say to you and randomly shout it back to them. If they ask if you are all right just say less as if you are completely normal. Then a few moments later shout another word at them.

Great Fun :rofl: :rofl:

 

[Aleman]

I break into the script as soon as they start and ask them for a Purchase Order Number. I say that it is a works number and my time is billed at £150 an hour, and we will need a PO before we can proceed. . . . . It's very rare that I get a repeat caller :whistle:

 

[abeyptfc]

someone from these companies phoned my house asking to speak to my mum and my dad answered saying shes not in, they then asked are you her husband? my dad replied 'no, im just robbing the place' and they hung up, funny as feck! :lol:

 

[anthonyUK]

I thought it was brilliant, and the fact a judge agreed may possibly have implications in the future of cold calling by phone

:mrgreen:

Unfortunately it was settled out of court. From BBC article - And that seemed to do the trick and the case was settled before it went to court..

 

[Springer]

I break into the script as soon as they start and ask them for a Purchase Order Number. I say that it is a works number and my time is billed at £150 an hour, and we will need a PO before we can proceed. . . . . It's very rare that I get a repeat caller :whistle:

I really like this A, spot on, as usual.
Can't wait for one of these pests to ring me. :thumb:
S

 

[Wendy1971]

i must of changed my number 3 or 4 times but still they manage to to ring our home where do they get the number from?


Well done that guy its about time someone did something :clap: :clap:

 

[Frogfurlong]

How do they know?...How?...every time.... You just get in the bath and...

 

[TRXnMe]

How do they know?...How?...every time.... You just get in the bath and...

I reckon that calling as you get into the bath should be worth triple time, £30 a minute, plus drying off time :)

 

[oldstout]

I thought it was brilliant, and the fact a judge agreed may possibly have implications in the future of cold calling by phone

:mrgreen:

Unfortunately it was settled out of court. From BBC article - And that seemed to do the trick and the case was settled before it went to court..

Oh good spot Anthony - as I say I only got the gist of it

 

[eblis]

The best thing to do is this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWIMRKq2eZI

 

[Russ146]

Get yourself a gadget called "True call"

It gives you total control of YOUR phone line

It answers every call and the person is asked to say there name

Your phone thing rings and you hear the caller say their name, the caller just hears ring ring

You can then press 1 to speak to the caller if you want to

Or Hang up and they go to answer phone

Press hash and they are played a message never to call this number again

Family and friends can be starred so they come straight through everytime

And it also records every call which is very usefull and when a caller i want to speak to tells me all calls are recorded i take great delight in telling them that i am recording the call too.

Best thing i have ever bought, stops all cold calls as they dont get past the first part.

FREEDOM

 

[hairybiker]

I use a similar unit from www.cprcallblocker.com blocks all the calls you don't want, in my case international calls, witheld calls etc. Got it about a month ago not had any sales calls since then :thumb:

If you are next to the phone and a blocked caller calls, you hear a short chirp thats all. My dect extension sometimes rings once and my old style phone never rings at all.

£40 well spent on it, as I doubt you could get ANY money out of these overseas firms.

 

[Crastney]

my friend answers, and when they ask if it's Mr XYZ, he asks why they want to know, and how they got this number, and explains politely that they've come through to Walford Police Station.

 

[oldstout]

Thanks for the ideas chaps - some brilliant devices there :thumb:

:

 

[brizleciderarmy]

When i get calls from salesmen/women i say 'Hold on 2 seconds' then i leave the phone on the worktop. Come back 5 minutes later they are usually gone (record so far is 7 minutes). If they wanna waste my time IL waste theres. Simples.

I wreak havoc with them especially people at the door.

Edit: Just read graysalchemy's 2nd method.

 

[brizleciderarmy]

The best thing to do is this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWIMRKq2eZI

or this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPAb3JhkxXg