Call centres and customers

Former Member

try from this here

Indrid Cold

I usually pretend to be interested until they start giving the long speech, then leave the phone off the hook and go away for a couple of minutes.

I'd read a text with many ways to reply. For example, if you're male and it's a woman, take a pervert's voice and say "What are you wearing?" and other stuff.

Former Member

MrG wrote:

plus i keep on getting cold dialled by them, ie, if i dont pick up quick enough, they put down on me, or sometimes if i answer and all of their assistants are busy, it just cuts down on me

The use of Automated Call Equipment (ACE) is not allowed in the UK. Contact Ofcom (or whoever they are this week)

I've registered with the telephone preference service, the fax preference service, and have Anonymous Call Rejection (ACR) on my line. Be aware that some moron in the DoH has decided that doctors and hospitals must withhold their numers when calling patients, in the interests of patient confidentiality, so they wont be able to call you.

When I do get a call, I am as evil as possible to them. They are accepting money to invade other people's privacy, if I can persuade them to seek other employtment I will.

Former Member

Cold callers are a funny thing. On the one hand they are so fucking annoying they just dont take no for an answer but on the other hand you can have a right laugh at their expense

I once received 3 phonecalls from some twats " representing a company related to 3 ", the first guy i imediatly said no and he proceeded to conitnue to badger me so i put the phone down, hell i was polite and he didnt listen. The second guy said the same spiel as the first and the phone was put down on him too. Number 2 rang not an hour and a half after number 1. The about 2 hours later another person called rang this time a woman, i knew what their game was so as she began to talk i talked over her and said " this is the 3rd call i've received in the space of a few hours can i speak to a supervisor please to get you people to stop calling us and get us removed from you list " she replied . . . " oh.. ok " and hung up on me.. I literally fell on the floor laughing for ages at that. It stil makes me laugh.

I look at it this way. If they cant pronounce my surname they dont deserve to talk to me, our surname isnt THAT hard to say! Secondly, when a customer says no you take that answer apologise and never call again. Thirdly if i'm feeling in a funny mood i'll toy with them

Do i care? no .. after all, if they think it's funny calling at DINNER TIME then fuck them.

On another note, related to something MrG said and Big_Gay has just replied about. We almost daily receive cold calls from automated machines with recordings with such shit as " We're calling on behalf of John Lewis, BHS blah blah blah ".. So Big_gay you are saying these machines are not allowed under Uk law ?

Either way i've just made my mind up, were going to register with the TPS

Former Member

My mate used to work in a call centre so he knows how to deal with them. He just says "mate, just tick the little box on your PC that says I'm an agressive customer". That way, they won't ring back for a few months or so

Former Member

EDN1 wrote:

Either way i've just made my mind up, were going to register with the TPS

Wont make the slightest bit of difference, place i worked at got their numbers from a phone book about 5 years old

Former Member

icey wrote:

Wont make the slightest bit of difference, place i worked at got their numbers from a phone book about 5 years old

never thought of that one!

Former Member

don't get as many of those calls as we used to...

if i get one, i say no thanks, or i'm not interested. then if they still babble i hang up.

Former Member

EDN1 wrote:

" We're calling on behalf of John Lewis, BHS blah blah blah ".. So Big_gay you are saying these machines are not allowed under Uk law ?

If they then hang up without you speaking to someone, yes.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/publications/consumer/2003/misusestat0803.htm wrote:

4.4.6 In its response to the consultation, Oftel explained that the provisions of sections 128 to 131 (which have the advantage of applying to end-users as well as communications providers) and the restrictions on the use of ACE in the 1999 Regulations and the Privacy Directive will provide adequate protection for consumers against the misuse of ACE. Oftel believes that the persistent use of ACE to transmit recorded messages or to make short duration calls (see paragraph 4.5) or fax-scanning calls (see paragraph 4.6) is persistent misuse within the meaning of section 128.

[...]

4.5 Misuse by making silent or short duration calls

4.5.1 A silent call is one where a caller makes a call but then remains silent. A short duration call (hereafter a 'short' call) is one where a call is established and then immediately terminated by its originator before the called party is able to answer. The effect of either type of call on a called party is almost certain to cause inconvenience and is very likely to cause annoyance. [...]

4.5.3 The most common form of short duration call is not intentional but arises from the use of power diallers or ACE within call centres (see paragraph 4.4 above). Calls are automatically generated but in the absence of an operator to speak to the called party, the call is abruptly terminated. This type of short duration call has no malicious intent. Nonetheless, properly run call centres will strive to ensure that they do not generate more calls than their operators can handle. A persistent failure to do so may lead to the issue of a notification under section 128.

of course, this was back in 2003, and the trend has been to allow people to get away with stuff, so it may not be applicable. However, they can't do anything without receiving complaints

Former Member

When they call they usually ask for my mum, and 90% of the time it's a call centre in India and they can't pronounce her name very well. So they ask: 'is this Mrs ******?' and I say 'No' and hang up. It's the truth anyway!

My dad has conditioned my brother to ask if people are selling something before letting them speak to my parents if they won't say their name. This works fine up to a point, but there was one time when the Mayor called to speak to my mum about the canoe club and my brother had him on the phone for ages to make sure he wasn't selling something!

Former Member

Knee High Stripy Socks wrote:

This works fine up to a point, but there was one time when the Mayor called to speak to my mum about the canoe club and my brother had him on the phone for ages to make sure he wasn't selling something!

Former Member

Fortunately the Mayor is a jolly sort of bloke who saw the funny side of it, but my mum was mortified!