Telephone 'surveys'

I used to get similar calls almost everyday from a with-held number, seemed to be from somewhere like Singapore, something to do with market research. I explained many times that calling me was a waste of time and they should stop it please. The calls continued.

Then, one day, not in one of my better moods, and not taking such pleasure in story telling as Hinch, I tried hissing down the phone like a snake, hisssssss, hisssssssss. That seemed to upset them and the calls stopped. Just one of those things that works. Maybe because telephones are good with high frequency hissing and whistling noises, and maybe human brains are 'hard wired' to get away from snake hissing noises.



Anyway, if you get really fed up with nuisance calls, (and some firms have been heavily fined for doing them recently), try the snake hissing reply.

I had one a few weeks ago who was asking me to complete a survey on the dryer I had recently bought, I then asked him to explain his idea of recently as it was 8 years I go I bought it.  After calmly explaining I would like him to get off the phone I ended the call.

I too am TPS registered and ex directory.

I keep gettting calls from a number '1111' from people pretending to be from Microsoft saying I need to install a security patch. 

Charly

I had a load of phone calls a couple of months ago. I just started putting the phone down on them every time I answered. Now I do not know if they got bored or not, but they seemed to have stopped calling me. Most of the phone calls were from an insurance firm I never heard of.

Charly wrote:I've had that call Chill, I baffled them by saying I dont have a computer...they havent rang back since

I just say Im on Apple.....

Confuses them even more.

I got fed up with hissing like a snake, you have to be in the mood. The latest idea is to say, "Oh there's someone at the door, can you hang on a minute please." And let them waste their time waiting.

I just cut them off and put the phone down (I chuckled at the hissing snake though) but would have needed my inhaler after the first hiss !  

So do I. 

I usually tap the handset with a pen or pencil and then say 'Have you traced the number yet, Operator?'. Trouble is there are just so many I get fed up of saying it.

had one today and thanked him for the cheque he said "what cheque" I said the one you have just sent me,He cut me off !!! 

Another of those calls this morning, a man with an asian accent and not very good English wanting me to 'turn on my computer' so he could 'check for malware'.

I have had that call in the past Cyfriia....nasty beggars want to access your personal information, it is a complete scam but, how many people will have fallen for it (particularly the elderly)? Very worrying.....

Oh, they want you to give them access to your computer so they can put 'keystroke recording' type software onto it, or something like that, for identity theft and to steal passwords.

Hadn't thought through exactly what he was aiming at, but could tell he was a nasty piece of work, with a persistent 'commanding' tone of voice. Just as well I told him to **** off.

A couple of years ago at Christmas I had a call from a firm saying they were doing a phone survey for the Health Service and wanted to ask questions on how I like working for them. I asked where did he get the information from. He said from the Health Service. I asked him did they have my permission to do this and who gave the information.

No answer to my questions and put the phone down. Did not hear from them again. Though my answer was not so polite to him.

Some of the millions of these phone calls made to homes in the UK by criminal organisations are from within the UK, but are mostly from countries in the middle east and asia. Identity theft seems to be the main activity.

The UK is seen as a soft touch, with a population that are easily duped. I used to be interested in people from different countries and cultures, but now expect phone calls with foreign voices to be from criminals.

My rule of thumb.  If you didn’t want whatever they are selling before you picked the phone up or answered the door to a cold caller, you don’t want it now.  If when you pick the receiver up there is silence then it is a cold call, either have a bit of fun by remaining silent yourself or just put the thing down straight away.  No ifs or buts, just hang up.  As for asking you to turn on your computer, tell them to sod off.

Mind you a very nice chap from Nigeria promised me a million pounds if I just sent him my bank details and 800 quid, funny I’ve not heard from him yet, do you think I should check my bank statement?  Answers on a postcard please.  

Add Hinch’s irony tag here, how are you me old loony mate?

cyfrifia wrote:Some of the millions of these phone calls made to homes in the UK by criminal organisations are from within the UK, but are mostly from countries in the middle east and asia. Identity theft seems to be the main activity.

The UK is seen as a soft touch, with a population that are easily duped. I used to be interested in people from different countries and cultures, but now expect phone calls with foreign voices to be from criminals.

Ooh you racist. I treat all unsolicited phone calls to potentially be from criminals. Trust no one.

Racist is a bit harsh, but becoming more xenophobic of recent years. The British have strange and contradictory attitudes to foreigners, and those attitudes have changed as the UK and the world has changed.

The image of the UK has probably changed a lot in the eyes of foreigners recently as well, but that's a complicated matter depending where they are from. Going by what is reported in the news, many of the countries we involve ourselves with by giving them foreign aid think we must be mad. It's always worth listening to other people's point of view.

P.S. Calling someone racist used to be the sharpest of attacks, but that seems to have lost it's edge and gone out of fashion a bit now.

Sharp or not, it may be true. It was just a bit tongue in cheek really. I do hope that identifying racist behaviour hasn't gone out of fashion though.

I'm quite happy with people of any race, color or culture, as long as they are not hostile to me and trying to steal something, so I don't think I qualify as a racist.

However it is a troubled world, and very divided on race, nationality, culture and religion. The UK is probably still one of the least racist societies on earth. Immigration policies of recent decades have damaged that tolerance, but that's all to do with the common market wars in Iraq and so on.

The people who are giving their countries and cultures a bad reputation are the international criminals making these 'phishing' phone calls. All the ones I get are asian accents, so, I am being trained over time to distrust asian accents.

cyfrifia wrote:
P.S. Calling someone racist used to be the sharpest of attacks, but that seems to have lost it's edge and gone out of fashion a bit now.    

Not with me and mine it hasn’t.  the problem is as always in name calling, instead of attributing a comment or view as problematic.

The cloak much loved by some of political correctness, I’m still waiting for a meaningful version of what it is, allows some with racist views to point out the excuse when they label a race, creed etc with the all embracing ‘all’ instead of the more accurate ‘some’, that “I’m not racist but PC has gone too far”.  In my view the vast majority of the people living around us are even minded and fair folk.  

I think Dalelad is correct in interpreting your ‘all foreign’ accents as indeed racist and not those of a xenophobe

Looks like the telephone has turned me into a racist. I don't think I will answer it any more.  

cyfrifia wrote:Looks like the telephone has turned me into a racist. I don't think I will answer it any more.  

The telephone has been around all my lifetime and it hasn't turned me into anything.