'Cold-call' phone calls that pi$$ you off?

[Woz]

Well I have registered with the TPS which has helped alot but most of the time having an answering machine works well. And if you do answer a call, just put the phone down on them. It's really very theraputic.

[aclivity]

an ex colleague of mine suggested that, as soon as you work out it's 'one of them' you lower your voice to a whisper, and say

"I think there is someone in the house"

[pause]

"I can hear footsteps on the stairs"

[pause]

"I think I can see the shadow of a knife"

followed by a longer pause





Then a loud scream and hang up the phone.



I've avoided doing this on the off-chance that they decide to call the police on my behalf. That is probably very unlikely so I tend to favour either the French Speaker or the immediate hangup.

[Allan Carr]

I registered with TPS some time ago but I'm getting an increasing number of calls from the US, most of them telling me that I have won a holiday.

A friend of mine used to respond to these unwanted calls by 'Emergency, which service please?' Used to throw the caller completely - they couldn't get off th eline quick enough!

My next door neighbor always greets Jehovah's Witnesses with 'Shalom'. You don't even need to be Jewish.

[Ian@1904]

Other answers-
You guys just called me, your dialler is faulty
This call is being recorded for security purposes, please repeat you name clearly for the recording.
This is clearly harrassment please add me to your kill list
I work for the office of fair trading, do you still want to speak to me?

Not who do you represent-what company are you calling from.
Give me your number and I will call you back

For American calls
I am a patriot. I only purchase English products. I am sure you can understand that. Have a nice day.
Are you a communist? are you sure? how do you know I not a communist?
Is there a discount if I am a communist

[Clare Gledhill]

I keep getting calls at work asking to speak to the 'Member of staff responsible for purchasing telephone services'.

Response:

'You want to speak to Mr T Blair, 10 Downing Street, London SW1A 2AA - would you like me to put you through?'

Normally puts them off.

[MATTBIN]

What happens if you pick up the call but say nothing and leave the phone off the hook for 30mins?

Matt

[aclivity]

Originally Posted by MATTBIN

What happens if you pick up the call but say nothing and leave the phone off the hook for 30mins?

Matt

you need to be a little careful as there are some diallers that can convert the inbound call to an outbound expensive rate call. I thought that this needed a key press on the phone (anyone know?) which is why you sometimes get 'autodialler' robot voices calling you from the US saying 'you have won a prize. press 5 on your keypad' etc. I don't know if they are able to convert an incoming call to a premium call without you pressing the button but you could inadvertently press a number in the next 30 minutes?

Interestingly, I believe these diallers are illegal in the US and in the UK, but the companies running them over there are making use of a loophole that allows US companies to use autodiallers to dial overseas numbers.

[Dinner Lady]

Originally Posted by ray

If everybody in the country refused to pay their bills until this nuisance calls stopped something would be done, does any of you lot get these calls, and how do you feel!!!

On a similar note if everybody in the country returned all of the junk mail they received in the prepaid envelopes this too might discourage so much rubbish being sent to us. Even better, return the junk mail in different junk mail prepaid envelopes to really confuse them!

[dry suit diver]

Originally Posted by Dinner Lady

On a similar note if everybody in the country returned all of the junk mail they received in the prepaid envelopes this too might discourage so much rubbish being sent to us. Even better, return the junk mail in different junk mail prepaid envelopes to really confuse them!

i used to do that and put T Bliar(sic) ,10 Downing Street as the address but all it does is screw the p!$$ poor postal service even further.