Annoying cold calls after very minor bump

[lambosagogo]

Earlier in the year my GF had a minor bump in her runaround. All that happened was that someone backed into the car at a few mph and pushed the bumper in with their towbar. Your regular parking incident really and it was all sorted out quickly via insurance with a new bumper and lights.

Since then she's had maybe 5 cold calls a week from people saying that:

• The file on the MID is still open
• This file says that the personal injury payment awaiting her has not been taken. Why not?
• The file can't be closed until she takes the payment
• The payment was automatically awarded by the insurer as the claim was more than £500
• The calls will continue until the payment is taken

I am assuming this is largely, if not entirely, [male cow excrement]. But how does she make the calls stop? She's tried telling each one to remove her from their own systems and, apparently, calling them charlatans does not help either (I suspect they don't understand the term). They're all calling from Unknown numbers so they can't easily be blocked.

I have bulk ordered some frozen sausages and am prepared to rock up to each companies location with a hammer. However I fear some may not have lawns and so would like some alternative options.

[paintman]

'Thank you for your call. Goodbye.'

[x type]

We are calling about the accident you had

Yes

You can claim x amount for injury

Yes ,but I was not injured

You can still claim

Oh can I ?

But if I do it will be Insurance fraud as I was not injured

Do you want me to tell insurance company I am claiming fraudulently for injuries ?

When I told Mr x that on the phone in a similar situation ...

They hung up and haven't heard any more from the scumbags

[Porkbrain]

lambosagogo said:

They're all calling from Unknown numbers so they can't easily be blocked.
.

When I had similar calls a while ago I didn't answer mobile calls from anyone not in my address book. Any genuine caller will leave a voicemail, these gits will hang up straightaway, they will call a few more times then give up.

With the landline I let all calls go to the answerphone - with exactly the same results, don't speak to them and they'll give up to chase people that do answer.

[Pints]

x type said:

We are calling about the accident you had

Yes

You can claim x amount for injury

Yes ,but I was not injured

You can still claim

Oh can I ?

But if I do it will be Insurance fraud as I was not injured

Do you want me to tell insurance company I am claiming fraudulently for injuries ?

When I told Mr x that on the phone in a similar situation ...

They hung up and haven't heard any more from the scumbags

"fk off, you lying !" usually works for me and makes me feel somewhat better.

[SistersofPercy]

I have 3 ways of dealing with these depending on my mood when they call.

1. Put phone down block number.

2. Excitedly exclaim "Bloody hell that was quick! The tow truck isn't here yet!"

3. "Ohh that accident, yes, sadly I died in it." This is usually met with silence whilst they process what I said. Responses range from them immediately putting the phone down to offering to remove my details.

[drjhill]

SistersofPercy said:

3. "Ohh that accident, yes, sadly I died in it." This is usually met with silence whilst they process what I said. Responses range from them immediately putting the phone down to offering to remove my details.

Brilliant! I'm looking forward to using that one

[lambosagogo]

Oh, I think she's done most variations of that sort of thing. Except maybe the death thing.

What I'm really hoping for is something like - "that's nonsense. The only data on a MID record is X, Y and Z".

[douglasb]

I don't know that I can add any useful ideas to make the calls stop however I have also been plagued by these. I've used most of the above suggestions - including "It was a terrible accident. Everyone died".

My response to "I need to put a reason why you don't want to claim otherwise you will keep getting these calls" was "I think "because you're a fking oxygen thief and you're inciting me commit insurance fraud" is a good enough reason to take me off your list".

If I've had a bit more time and have wanted to wind them up I've gone along with them. The conversation goes like -

"Insurance companies put aside money to cover uninsured losses for personal injury and you could claim possibly more than £2000".
"This sounds like you want me to say that I had whiplash. I didn't".
"No it's not whiplash. In an accident there will be other injuries that cause discomfort. These are called soft tissue injuries. They're not as serious as whiplash but insurance companies will compensate you for these injuries".
"I see. So how do I go about claiming this?"

We then go through the next bit of their script and it ends with me telling them that I was 200 yards away from the car when it was hit.

"Why didn't you tell me that before?"
"Because I assumed that as you had my details you knew all about the accident and were telling me about money that I could legitimately claim".
"No! As you weren't injured you can't claim anything".

The oxygen thief remark then comes back into use and I don't hear from them again.

[chazwind]

Registering your number with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) isn't a solve-all, but in my experience it does reduce the number of calls.

[anonymous-user]

chazwind said:

Registering your number with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) isn't a solve-all, but in my experience it does reduce the number of calls.

That didn't help me. I bought a BT8500 in the end. Set up the call intro service after logging in all my known numbers and not had a single nuisance call since.

Not so easy if it's a mobile of course.

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 25th February 08:57

[SarGara]

lambosagogo said:

But how does she make the calls stop? She's tried telling each one to remove her from their own systems and, apparently, calling them charlatans does not help either (I suspect they don't understand the term). They're all calling from Unknown numbers so they can't easily be blocked.

You don't, welcome to my hell. Get ready for at least 3yrs of this, granted not at this initial volume but it will continue non the less. Get a new number is probably the easiest option.

The insurance industry bleats about whiplash culture yet they foster it by selling details on to vultures like this. They made their bed.

[bad company]

I registered my home and mobile numbers with the TPS but the calls kept coming so I got one of these:-

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/phones-broadband-and-...

The BT TruCall works very well and I have not received any nuicense calls since. If only there was an equivalent service available for my mobile.

[chazwind]

REALIST123 said:

That didn't help me. I bought a BT8500 in the end. Set up the call intro service after logging in all my known numbers and not had a single nuisance call since.

Not so easy if it's a mobile of course.

Edited by REALIST123 on Thursday 25th February 08:57

MrNumber for Android isn't too bad for filtering calls on mobile. Trouble is, as OP says, all unknown numbers are treated the same, which may include calls from work or your GP.

[anonymous-user]

chazwind said:

REALIST123 said:

That didn't help me. I bought a BT8500 in the end. Set up the call intro service after logging in all my known numbers and not had a single nuisance call since.

Not so easy if it's a mobile of course.

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 25th February 08:57

MrNumber for Android isn't too bad for filtering calls on mobile. Trouble is, as OP says, all unknown numbers are treated the same, which may include calls from work or your GP.

I guess most of the systems have weaknesses. We don't have that issue with the 8500 because legit callers are happy to announce themselves.

[Pickled Piper]

Had similar recently after wife had a minor bump in her car. I spoke to the insurance company and they advised they had not sold on our details. However, clearly there is a leak somewhere.

[Rick101]

Are these calls on landline?

I use my mobile for 99% of calls and the truecaller tech sorts out and unwanted stuff very easily.
I rarely get calls from unwanted numbers and if it is regarded as spam, it displays it in advance.

Amazed that people suffer so much from unwanted calls these days.

[bad company]

I was getting these calls after my car was damaged while parked in a supermarket car park. The driver who caused the damage was seen by the car park attendant so I claimed from her insurance.

The a'holes at the claims refused to understand that nobody was injured as nobody was in the car.

[creampuff]

bad company said:

The a'holes at the claims refused to understand that nobody was injured as nobody was in the car.

But when you returned to your car and found it was damaged, you fell over in shock and experienced a soft tissue injury, right?

[Ken Figenus]

Had the same for a car park 2mph bump. Never give anyone your number anymore. Seriously. Sadly. Game over for that.