Nuisance Phone Calls

[tezmand]

13 i had yesterday its getting on my nerves i suppose to be ex directory , i try to be polite as i know they got a job to do but how annoying it is , how do you deal with them ?

[mccfluff]

i assume its a landline? can you get caller id? on my mobile i just reject the calls & my work landline has called id so i send them to answerphone

[BlackadderV]

Get caller display, if you don't recognise the number then don't pick up. Works for me.

[-Talbot-]

I take mick, well they started it!

It does all depend, if they go into their prepared speech and don't listen to you telling them you're not interest I have a bit of fun at their expense. I have thought of recording them.

[Baldric]

Some I just tell to "Go away!" others, especially if I have some spare time
I adopt a much older and deafer persona than I actually have and waste their time explaining things to me, usually more than once until they give/hang up!

[BlackadderV]

The other trick is to record your outgoing message in another language. I often switch from English to Welsh, even though I am not Welsh, I just know the tongue. That baffles them.

[-Talbot-]

I do that too, B.adder........it really baffles them as I know nothing about the Welsh language whatsoever.

[tezmand]

i do have caller display but alot of them come up as withheld as does my mother in laws no from the carribean so i have to answer these in case its her, ive tried politeness ive tried rude ive tried answering the questions in hope they dont ring again and in desperation yesterday i said i had died they then said oh are you the daughter and tried to carry on with the speil to me as the daughter whose mother had died , loud whistle next me thinks ,

[Butterbun]

Hang up as soon as you realise it's a nuisance call. That's what I do. Trying to 'deal' with them doesn't work.

[zebo]

The TPS doesn't stop calls from abroad. Any call starting Hi! gets hung up immediately. I'm not sure why we have to be polite to those invading one's privacy by these calls, they may be "doing a job", that glib phrase could apply to a lot of roles, housebreaker for example.

[hellywelly4]

Could you ask your relation to always leave you a message, then you could leave these calls. I have found that the more you answer the more you get. If you ignore them they do gradually get fewer and fewer.

[ivor4781]

could change your number,cheaper than a call blocker... look at your caller display from then on if you dont recognize the number dont answer it, give your friends your mobile number

[ubasses]

A few months ago I started to just say 'This is a TPS registered number we do not accept any cold calls', if they do not hang up and carry on I just keep repeating myself. It is amazing how the number of cold calls has suddenly reduced.

[TWR]

Calls from abroad has a delay in speech, put the phone down, calls from the UK Saying how are you today & you do not know who it is, put the phone down, politeness does not work Tez.

[Baldric]

Tez, careful with the loud whistle someone in Germany (I think) has been heavily fined for doing that recently, I believe they called it assault.

http://www.thelocal.de/20120522/42685

[novalis]

Fortunately I get very few such calls being both ex-directory and registered with TPS. If I do not recognise a British number I do not answer and if caller ID shows "international" I either answer in German or say that they are through to the fraud squad. The latter invariably results in their phone being put down very quickly indeed.

[dunnitall]

novalis, unfortunately that didn't work for someone I knew, they actually work in a police station. Received a call selling double glazing and despite being told that they had contacted such and such police station they kept up the spiel. I think it was only after being told that the building had 100's of windows....that they cottoned on and asked why (and were told) that the call ended lol.

[DTCwordfan]

I've pulled,

"This is the police here; we're here investigating a murder. I presume that you know the victim in that you are calling in at this time. I look forward to interviewing you as to your knowledge of events and where you were at the time of the murder, and, just to let you know, we have your telephone number, including your extension."

[ichkeria]

Actually every time I have threatened a caller with police action (bluff of course) they have never, to my knowledge, rung back.
This may be coincidence, of course