DON'T TELL HIM, PIKE!

[531colin]

I had a phone call this morning from a foreign-sounding gentleman who said he was from an official-sounding banking organisation.
He first checked my name and address, which I imagine anybody can find out if they want to, then asked me my date of birth.
Oh what a surprise, I'm owed thousands of pounds in over-paid bank charges (remember them? from before "free banking as long as you are in credit")
.....but of course he needs my bank details before he can pay me what I'm owed.......

[cycleruk]

I represent company blah-blah.
Are you aware of the latest government scheme for "free solar panels"?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We are not trying to sell you anything but we are in your area doing a survey.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We represent Microsoft Windows and it has come to our attention that you have a serious virus on your computer.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
And the latest one:-
We understand that you are getting a large number of unwanted calls. (yes and yours is one of them.!)
Which telephone company are you with?
Just for £2.50 a month we can stop "most" of these calls.

[Si]

I recently received correspondence, out of the blue, from someone purporting to be from an insurance company. They claimed that I was owed lots of money from policy over charging from years ago, or some such. And stone me if I didn't receive a weighty cheque shortly after!

[Redvee]

When I had my landline installed as part of my VM package, only three people knew my number, Virgin Media, myself and my father. Within 2 days I had a phonecall from an insurance company supposedly returnig my call. I asked them how they got my number and was told it was from the initial call I made 3 weeks ago, I told them I'd only had the landline 2 days but the person on the other end of the line was insistent that I had called them 3 weeks previous.

[Mick F]

We never answer the phone any more.
We have an answer phone, and if bona fide person want's to speak to us, they can leave a message and we would either pick up mid-message or we'l get back to them later.

As for our mobiles, unless the caller is in our phone-books, the phone doesn't get answered. We've turned off voicemail so they can't leave a message. Texting is ok, it doesn't require any effort from us other than deleting them.

[661-Pete]

*ring ring*
Hello?
(pause) Hello, may I speak to Mr .....(pause) xxxxxx?
Speaking.
Hello sir, how are you today?
(rudely) What's this about?
Nothing to worry sir, we're just conducting a short survey----
What's the survey about?
Now look sir, we're not trying to sell you anything, this will only take a few minutes of------
*click*

A scenario that gets played out time and time again in our household...

[fluffybunnyuk]

umm get yourself a 090 number charging at £1.50 a minute (£90/hour) and give the number out freely to companies when asked.

Because of this I'm always more than happy to anyone who calls me, preferably the longer the better. It also pays to talk slower.

It never ceases to amaze me how many companies want to hang on the line for 20 minutes...

You know I may just turn this into a full time job...it pays better than anything else I know.

Emma

[meic]

When I had my landline installed as part of my VM package, only three people knew my number, Virgin Media, myself and my father. Within 2 days I had a phonecall from an insurance company supposedly returnig my call. I asked them how they got my number and was told it was from the initial call I made 3 weeks ago, I told them I'd only had the landline 2 days but the person on the other end of the line was insistent that I had called them 3 weeks previous.

Phone numbers are re-issued, when we had a phone installed we had frequent rude and threatening phonecalls from Bailiffs chasing the previous holder of the number. They scared my wife but I enjoyed winding them up as they just were not willing to accept the number had moved on.

I dont know how long numbers are stored before re-issue, you would expect more than three weeks.

[wrangler_rover]

Ring ring
me: Hello.
Call centre young female starts talking.
me in a nice voice: Give me your phone number.
Call centre: keeps talking.
me: give me your phone number
Process is repeated about 10 times until finally:
Call centre girl: Why do you want my phone number?
me: So that I can call you at an inconvenient time.
Call centre girl: No time is inconvenient for me.
me: You wouldn't say that if I phoned you at 3 in the morning, I'm an insomniac.
Call centre hung up.

I now try to get call centres to hang up on me when the call. (I should get out more) Never abusive, just wear them down with stupidity, silly answers or if it is a foreign sounding voice, speaking to them in French or German.

[NUKe]

BY the way the offer of free Solar panels were genuine, to cut a long story short you get the electricity and the company made its money from the feed-in tariff. So its bit unfair to lump them in with You've got a virus or bank account scams.

[Tigerbiten]

If it's the silly survey questions, then I wind the teleoperator up by saying no to their sponsors contacting me.
They don't like that ...........

[cjchambers]

There are people who make a hobby* out of 'baiting' these scammers, playing along and stringing them along for as long as possible. The idea is that while the scammers are occupied with chasing these false leads, they are not scamming real victims! Also they post reports up on the 'net for the enlightenment amusement of others - some of the concessions they manage to extract from the scammers is quite unbelievable.

*I am in no position to judge people's hobbies!

[mrjemm]

BY the way the offer of free Solar panels were genuine, to cut a long story short you get the electricity and the company made its money from the feed-in tariff. So its bit unfair to lump them in with You've got a virus or bank account scams.

Likewise the PPI offers, double-glazing, and god knows what else. These may not be scams, but they are cold calling, and I for one don't want them calling my home number, and attempting to sell me something by invading my privacy. I also do not want insincere teenies chugging me in the street. I wish for a freedom to live in a world without invasive pressure to submit to propaganda. Advertising should be passive, otherwise I will deny it.

[cycleruk]

BY the way the offer of free Solar panels were genuine, to cut a long story short you get the electricity and the company made its money from the feed-in tariff. So its bit unfair to lump them in with You've got a virus or bank account scams.

Not a scam but be aware:-
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ia ... e-mistake/

[profpointy]

Quite like the story a friend of a friend had - after the n-th call got the conservatory salesman to come round and quote - on a first floor flat . Probably appocraphal, but you never know