General Chat

Shirley ..................


blocking calls only works when the calls come from the country in which you live.

These calls all come from overseas ............. and they do not have obey any laws regarding blocking. That's why you get them


In any case, I'm not convinced that blocking calls truly works ................ people here who have signed up for blocking of calls by cold callers etc have not noticed much reduction in the number of calls.

and again, that doesn't work for callers from overseas.

We used to receive two or three calls a day from 'Telstra' advising that we had malicious files on our computer and that they (Telstra) would have to disconnect us from the internet if we didn't help them 'fix' the problem.

We fixed it ourselves by buying a new phone with caller ID and also with a built in answering machine.

The answering machine is on permanently, and when we receive some calls now, the phone shows the call is from overseas but from an excluded number.

It works if the caller is withholding their number. They get a message saying this number doesn't not accept calls with the number witheld Please hang up and redial after taking off your block

Those darn overseas callers though are getting around it by directing their calls through a uk number .

got one today telling me my computer is faulty so I said which one is it
? the BBC, or the Sinclair Spectrum.........??

Shirley, as soon as our callers hear the answering machine, they hang up :-D

They're everywhere.

I answered the 'phone last week, a woman said she was "following up a car accident someone in your household had within the last three years".

I asked her what company she was with..... then told her I was on the "Do Not Call" list and I would rep........that's as far as I got ... she hung up!

btw... nobody in this household has had a car accident within the last three years, unless you count Himself backing the trailer into something (at the tip) and breaking a tail light.

I love them. Have even had a couple ring me back to complain because I had left them hanging while I went for my computer, for ages and ages.

Windows dear? Are you selling double glazing?

I haven't had one about car accidents since that one where I hot wired the car when I was drunk and killed several people on the way home, this was why I would be in court next week and looking at a life term. They are probably expecting me to lose my licence.

When Fred had had his cataract done I slammed the phone down on some foreign woman and quickly realized it was the nurse from the eye hospital. There was a bit of apologetic grovelling to be done there I can tell you but I was not her first experience of a slammed down receiver.

Phone rang at 7.40 am today.
Naturally at that time we wondered whether mother in law had had a fall, or another family member needed help.

No..... someone just wanted to conduct some market research on 'everyday products.'

By its very nature POTS is intrusive and that was one reason for its slow start in the UK. The obvious answer if you don't like unknown calls at all hours of the day and night is to just dump POTS as apparently 20% of UK households who have a landline have done already.

You may be more inclined to do that if OFCOMS recommendation that the fixedline charge ( £ 15-20 ) / month is debundled from broadband charges is implemented (likely).

If you are using a handset connected with a whirly cable the wireless version is a better option while feeding cats.

For domestic purposes we find a mix of Skype and mobile works fine inc keeping in touch with the Land of Oz and France/Spain/USA. Mobiles have a fairly good call blocking capability built in which also works on non-UK numbers. My phone is set to a handful of numbers only allowed 2400-0700.

In any case BT is planning to cease POTS within 10 years. Mass unemployment in Bangalore I guess. Special classes in mobiles and Skype at the library (if they can find one) for the generation or so still anchored to print press, cheques, POTS and CDs.

So it goes modern times overtake everybody in the end - I cannot bring myself to ask google by voice or walk down the street eating a sarnie. I even stop at red lights when cycling!


(POTS - plain old telephone service)

Hmm, so those colleagues at work receiving cold calls on their mobiles are answering a figment of their imagination .......

I'm ex directory, so it probably depends on who asks you for your telephone number, and who you give it to, and what phone number you write down on forms.
I never give firms my mobile number, neither do I write it on forms - they always get my landline number, which would explain why I NEVER get cold calls on my mobile, only on my landline.

As for keeping in touch, we find 'private' conversations on FB handy - we've been known to have 6 way conversations. Yes I know it's not really private, but if anyone wants to hack into our conversation about what's in my attic, they need to get a life! Otherwise, we tend to meet up to 'keep in touch' :-D

My dad got a call the other day which started is this "Mr James Brown?" To which he replied " Who is this?" Muffled reply to which my dad replied "Where did you get this number." "Mr James Mr James I get your name from phone book" his reply " No you didn't where did you get this number?"

Whilst he is not ex-directory you won't find him under J. James is as he calls it his Sunday name he has been known as Hamish since he was boy and it is by this name he is known in business and by friends and family. He can be found under H not J in the phone book.

All names have been changed.

I blame the electoral roll :-|
I presume he'd have to put his real name on that.
Really pees me of that they sell the names.
Even if you tick the box telling them not to pass on details, if you've lived at the same address for years - they still have your details from when they sold it off without telling us. :-P :-P

Calling firms do not have any need for access to the electoral roll, phone book etc. The blocks of valid numbers are easily available and cold callers often use that approach though obviously they have no idea of the attached name or if the number is actually in use. That is not a problem as the actual calling is done by computer and any connexion passed to the next available call handler. If no handler is available the victim gets an irritating silent call.

There is no link between the electoral roll and landline phone numbers. There are blocks of limited access numbers which can only be called with the addition of a security code. Without the code they return "number unavailable".

Do not make nasty noises down the line or insult the cold caller. Although irritating these people are in much the same situation as low paid workers for garment factories in SE Asia or prawn fishermen.

Those with mobile phones who have not yet sussed how how to block nuisance calls should RTFM or maybe ask a friend e.g. Google.

My rellies live in Tokyo, Christchurch NZ, Auckland, Brisbane, Cape Town, Denver, New York, Kenya, Dubai, Turkey, Spain, France, Canada, Jamaica so Skype is a huge + .
:-)

Rollo:

"Do not make nasty noises down the line or insult the cold caller. Although irritating these people are in much the same situation as low paid workers for garment factories in SE Asia or prawn fishermen."

Really? I should be nice to someone whose job it is to hack into my computer?
Be nice to someone who will happily remove money from my bank account if I used online banking?
Are you serious!!!

.....and no, I don't want some pious reply about how I SHOULD do this or that to stop this - you've undoubtedly done it and life is perfect.
The only people who could really stop it are the internet/phone companies or Governments - but they don't want to. I also don't want to spend my spare time as an unpaid admin/techno officer for these people.

As that is the case, I'll be as rude as I like, especially when I'm being perfectly civil, and they behave as they did in my first post.

It must be very difficult to be perfect - especially if one is not female :-S

:-D :-D :-D

We have the same guy calling us in Canada !

He got very annoyed when I said he must think I'm stupid if I was going to fall for what he was saying.....by this time he'd gone on for a few mins about why I should listen to him and he was promising me the world....except he thought I said he was stupid.......or the ones that phone from India for instance and they get actually say they wont talk to a woman put the man on the phone....needless to say they don't get our business either.

why on earth would anybody waste their time on cold callers?
it is much faster just to end the call

otoh beating up on hapless cold callers may brighten a dull day
these guys ( never seems to be a female ) seem to have taken the place previously occupied by inglorious basterds such as the errand boy, milkman, newspaper boy and the watchtower.

has anybody not noticed that as electronic advertising and canvassing has advanced junk mail and magazine inserts have diminished ?
a rellie who is a printer in the west country sure has, times are tough

mind the cat

Last week some bloke called me about a survey he was taking.

I let him ask the questions, but answered them with the reply 'No comment', or 'That's too personal' then they started to get really personal.
I asked when I was going to be asked my opinion for this 'survey' - he put the phone down.
Some of these questions were:
Whether I was in work, self employed or unemployed
What car I had
My income
my age
Married, Divorced or Single
Any illnesses

At no point was I rude, or perhaps it was rude of me not to actually answer the questions. Maybe I should have told him where I keep my spare key, and my card number. Poor man
:-(

Now they won't know what targeted rubbish to throw my way.

I had another one this morning (at 8:15). Woman on the other end this time, started off with the same spiel, then the first question.
I stopped her and pointed out I was called last week, and she may as well take my name off the list, if the firm didn't want an official complaint made, as this was now harrassment.

What the hell is the milkman doing that is so wrong?

My OH took part in one of these surveys, he answered all the questions and we know which deliveries come from that interview. They are addressed to him by his name, which is Tiny Martian!