I used to have a whistle like they used in schools for sports day etc, have you ever blown one of those down the phone ? So much fun and I suspect their ears will ring for hours, they always used to hang up after 10 seconds or so of that treatment May I suggest an acme thunder whistle ?
Nuisance calls, I put the dog on, he hates the phone and goes nuts when it rings and barks like a...well, like a mad dog, few seconds and their gone, I'm happy and the dogs had some exercise
What bothers me about some of your approaches to dealing with said nuisance calls - the person on the end of the phone, who is likely going to get their ears battered by your "acme thunder whistle" or your "dog barking like a mad dog", as they are wearing either a single or double ear headset - is, these people are just doing their job. In Brighton, for the most part, if you don't have skills you work in a call centre, that's the economy here. These people, they are not choosing to call you, they are sat infront of their terminal, surrounded by muppets, doing whatever the dialler wants to do. No one wants this job, the person calling you doesn't want to be calling you as much as you don't want to be hearing from them. I'm not surprised that some of you get called frequently when that is the way you treat the person on the other end of the phone. No you're not supposed to do it, but if you get a real load of crap off the person who have called, then you stick them back into the pot. When I moved from one end of the country to the other end of the country, I had to get a job in a call centre just to tide me over as I had already sorted my house, and moved in, and I needed to pay rent. So it was a means to an end and I got a proper job after a couple of months. there are many many many many people doing it for the same or similar reasons, and there are plenty of decent folk doing it to be able to pay for their families. Don't take your anger of the situation out on the person on the other end of the phone, they are powerless in who they call, and they have to endure hundreds of phone calls a day with plenty of people. Brighten up their day, and you will probably see that you never get called again. Or at least treat them with the respect of actually being another human being, and treat them as you would like to be treated. I agree it's a problem, but giving someone a rubbish day/hearing problems, is a terribly selfish and immature way to deal with a problem, and one which doesn't solve it!
TPS does NOTHING, we get multiple calls EVERY day from companies trying to flog something. **** treating these people as human beings, I just put the phone down on them the moment the company name is mentioned. I am sick of them.
Just a quick question - why do people still use landlines at home? I would understand it if we didn't all get 1200 minutes and unlimited texts on our shiny smartphone tariffs, but in our household the landline is totally obsolete (other than for the aforementioned broadband signal).
I think it's also very selfish and immature to keep f***ing phoning me, do they really think I'm going to buy anything from them, and when it's the same damn company and people time after time again and you've told them your registered with the TPS but they say that are entitled to phone anyone they like because of some bull**** regulation they can hide behind or if it's an oversees call or a UK company that is breaking the rules of the TPS, which is illegal, then as far as I'm concerned they get what they deserve. I joined the TPS because everest double glazing were driving me crazy phoning nearly every day and they quite blatantly lied to me again and again by saying that the TPS didn't apply to them calling me because they had previously done business with the occupier of the property but when I asked them who that occupier was they couldn't give me a name but said it was about 2-3 years ago, how strange, I'd been living there for 15 years and as I rented the place it was unlikely I had ever bought d/glazing for it I contacted everyone at everest I could and was told many times how sorry they were and that it would stop, but it never did, so as I had a name for the company I referred the matter to the TPS who got it stopped. Why should I have to go through all that just to shut them up
The point I was making is - the person you are giving a hard time, is also powerless in the proceedings. Unless- you think it's better for them not to have any job at all? Plus, some calling companies are legitimate - and you have infact not unticked a box somewhere in the world, which is how they have your details and are calling you. I'm not condoning cold calling, it also does my head in. But, I simply don't answer the phone, or divert the calls.
Because of several reasons. 1) Required for many types of broadband 2) Poor mobile phone signal making landlines a lot clearer to use 3) Nice chunky handset. In terms of nuisance callers, I have one of these (and so do my parents). Works wonders.
I've no issue with a genuine company giving me a call asking me if I want their goods/services. What I take issue with is the fact that thse scam calls are set out to prey on the weak and the vulnerable. The people working in such call centres are really no better than the company they work for gaining money by dishonest means. I work in a call centre and I offer consumer legal advice, and the amount of calls we get about the PC Helpline is pretty high and the amount of people that fall for it is all pretty high too ! So if someone trying to scam me calls they will get treated to abuse/deafened - they were trying to harm me/my family etc.
1) Granted, I have one for that reason. But there's no need to plug a phone in as well. 2) An unavoidable issue for a minority, but EE, Orange and T-Mobile networks cover something like 99.8% of the UK's population for 2G, so it really is a minority! 3) These are only a tenner: In all seriousness though, I have managed just fine since deciding not to plug the landline in again 2 years ago, and I've had not one nuisance call since. I wonder how many on this forum would be able to do the same with no other impact on their lives?
Ah this is a different kettle of fish entirely! My grandad, has been got 3 times by someone ringing him up and telling him they are from microsoft and his computer is broken, and 3 times I've had to go and mend his computer afterwards. I found out, last weekend, when I was in my new flat putting up a shower curtain and pole and cleaning the grout off the tiles that I get entirely zero signal in my basement flat so I will have to be contacted by my new landline that is going in! which is convenient as I also haven't had a land line for 7 or 8 years.
If I have time to mess with them I setup a virtual machine and point them to that. If they're using teamviewer I have shortcuts which launch some racy websites or closes the window they have open. Just general stuff to mess around with them till they get fed up. Funnily enough they called yesterday morning.
Speaking Welsh very enthusiastically usually does the trick. And they have no idea I'm asking, for example, whether their dog cleans his backside on the carpet.
The mobile networks claim to cover 99.8% of the population. Doesn't mean you get a decent signal. I live in South London, in a 4G area. Inside my flat, I get 1-2 bars of 3G signal when near a window, same on the balcony. Move away from the window at it drops. It's barely enough to make calls, and I get frequent drops and periods of poor quality transmission. Simply put, the mobile cannot replace the landline.
My solution is to say hang on one moment please and leave the phone off the hook they soon learn as its costing them to call you
