Discussion
How do you handle cold calling? Listen to their rambling, and say 'no thanks', put the phone down as soon as you realise, or just not answer your phone?
I moved into my property nearly a year ago, and was told by Sky that I was given a new phone number. However I get 4 or 5 calls a week looking for the old owners, or from various companies trying to sell me things. I've had 3 calls alone this morning
It annoys me more, in that I do not give out my house number, except to family, and a few selected friends.
Any suggestions how I can stop these calls?
I moved into my property nearly a year ago, and was told by Sky that I was given a new phone number. However I get 4 or 5 calls a week looking for the old owners, or from various companies trying to sell me things. I've had 3 calls alone this morning
It annoys me more, in that I do not give out my house number, except to family, and a few selected friends.
Any suggestions how I can stop these calls?
Penny-lope said:
I moved into my property nearly a year ago, and was told by Sky that I was given a new phone number. However I get 4 or 5 calls a week looking for the old owners, or from various companies trying to sell me things.
Those old disconnected phoneline numbers do get allocated to the new customers over time. Probably not enough new ones to go round. At home I politely tell them I'm not interested in whatever it is they're offering, sometimes they keep trying to push it but the majority of times they leave it at that & I'm off the phone within about 10 seconds of answering.
I get absolutely loads of them in work & again am always polite about it but they're usually after the manager anyway. In the 6 years+ that I've been working there he has never taken 1 of the calls, you think they'd take the hint eventually.
I used to do a bit of cold calling at my last job & hated when people were rude, a lot of people seem unable to realise that the person on the other end of the phone is just doing a job & probably hate making the calls more than the person hates receiving them. That said, I do often wonder that if our "I'm sorry, he's not available at the moment, can I take a message?" approach leads to us getting more calls than if we told them all to f
k off before hanging up.
I get absolutely loads of them in work & again am always polite about it but they're usually after the manager anyway. In the 6 years+ that I've been working there he has never taken 1 of the calls, you think they'd take the hint eventually.
I used to do a bit of cold calling at my last job & hated when people were rude, a lot of people seem unable to realise that the person on the other end of the phone is just doing a job & probably hate making the calls more than the person hates receiving them. That said, I do often wonder that if our "I'm sorry, he's not available at the moment, can I take a message?" approach leads to us getting more calls than if we told them all to f
k off before hanging up.Tyre Smoke said:
Morningside said:
Stevenj214 said:
Penny-lope said:
How do you handle cold calling?
Register with TPS. Politely ask the caller to remove you/your number from the database.
I heard (possibly not true) but overseas are not included in the TPS opt out scheme.
Penny-lope said:
AMD87 said:
Penny-lope said:
But I would prefer to just not get the calls, esp the ones at 8am on a Saturday morning!
They aren't allowed to call that earlier,ofcom rules say it has to be after 9:30amAMD87 said:
Penny-lope said:
AMD87 said:
Penny-lope said:
But I would prefer to just not get the calls, esp the ones at 8am on a Saturday morning!
They aren't allowed to call that earlier,ofcom rules say it has to be after 9:30am
gilla said:
i've taken to pretending to be old and senile ;-) childish i know but can be a huge amount of fun forgetting their names constantly, asking them to repeat themselves, changing the conversation to discuss my irritable bowels etc
This! It's great fun to f*ck with them - and acting the old fart/lunatic/deaf person is highly amusing.I was heavily influenced by early Jerky Boys prank call recordings, from years past.
Someone called yesterday trying to get me to switch my cable service. She said it was "Dish Network calling" - so I jumped on the word, 'calling'.
Me: Colleen? Hey! How in the hell are ya? Agnes - it's your cousin Colleen on the phone!
Her: No, it's not Colle...
Me: Well I'll be damned! We ain't seen you since - whoa, it must be 1958, when Herb bought that De Soto..
Her: Sir, it's not Colleen, I'm from Dish Netw.....
Me: How is Herb anyway? He still having all that trouble with his ball-sack? Hey, you remember telling us how you used to have to do 'that thing' with his ol' clackers - oh I can't tell ya how much we all laughed at that, Hey Agnes - remember how Colleen used to fix Herbs undercarriage?
Ha ha ha ha hah! (maniacal laughter)
Her: Sir, this is not Col....
Me: Go on Colleen, tell it again, let's here it! Oh I haven't laughed....
Her: click.
I also like to act like I called them and try to sell them something (I think it was my lawn mower, last time).
So, in conclusion, I look forward to hearing from cold callers with great anticipation.
Matt Harper said:
gilla said:
i've taken to pretending to be old and senile ;-) childish i know but can be a huge amount of fun forgetting their names constantly, asking them to repeat themselves, changing the conversation to discuss my irritable bowels etc
This! It's great fun to f*ck with themSet the handset next to the speaker and fire up iTunes
Current record stands at nineteen minutes, and I think he only hung up because I played "Bannana Phone" by Raffi down the line to him...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5C6X9vOEkU
ETA: The best one was at work, we regularly get cold calls and I just happened to field one from someone who started out
"Hello, we're calling today to ask if you're happy with your telephone provider"
No idea where it came from but I replied "Oh, I'm sorry, we don't have a telephone"
Cue a few seconds of silence where I'd like to think they were scanning their script to see how to answer before they came back
"Oh, sorry to have bothered you"
and hung up
Edited by the_lone_wolf on Saturday 10th July 14:30
the_lone_wolf] said:
If you're busy, asking them to hold is quite fun
Set the handset next to the speaker and fire up iTunes
Current record stands at nineteen minutes, and I think he only hung up because I played "Bannana Phone" by Raffi down the line to him...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5C6X9vOEkU
For my sins, I worked in a call centre for a while and got a few "pranksters" like you. I loved it. One thing we were monitored on was Average Call Time. I sat doodling on my pad for at least 45 minutes once - the guy checked to see if I was still holding a couple of times and I politely went into my spiel. He eventually got fed up and decided to hang up after all.Set the handset next to the speaker and fire up iTunes
Current record stands at nineteen minutes, and I think he only hung up because I played "Bannana Phone" by Raffi down the line to him...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5C6X9vOEkU
Another call I remember was an old dear who had absolutely no inclination to buy Sky TV. A good hour and a half I chatted with her about her family and everything else.
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