Thread: just had a phone call

I don't have the tolerance for cold calls, either touting for business or scamming. I usually just say "Not interested" and hangup. If its a charity I might say "Sorry. can't help. Please don't ring back." but still hangup.

If I thought they are OZ based, I used to start talking about the Do Not Call Register. I'd start asking them for caller details, personal names, company names, phone numbers etc and remind them they are breaking Australian law if they don't tell me. Most hang up at "This number is on the Do Not Call Register". Surprisingly some persisted with the blurb, some would even argue the validity of DNC and of my registration. And on rare occasions, if I was polite but still forceful, they were sometimes dumb enough to give all and in two instances I've managed to get enough info and submit it to the DNC website, that it assisted in prosecutions against Dodo and a local financial advice company.

But now I just give them no time all. My time is more valuable than theirs and I haven't worked for over 6 years.

The last caller, do not know what they were ringing about, I just asked for their company name and street address. They said they were in India.
"Sorry, I do not service India" and hung up.

Usually I tell them that it will cost them $100 an hour or part there of, are they prepared to accept this fee?
My time is money, all they do is prove the phone works.

Those Microsoft scammers catch people all the time, that is why they do it.

I tell them I am busy at the moment, and will call them back whn I am free, and then ask for their number. Instant hang-up!

This can be fun - to make it more entertaining speak in a variable inflected Mr Bean voice and PAUSE for at least 5 seconds before responding.

To everything they ask/say, just say "YEAAAHESSSSS"

The game is, how many questions can you get out of them before they realize they are dealing with fruitcake and hang up.

The record I have heard of is 23 questions.

I usually tell them the person they wished to speak to passed away this morning and I am just there cleaning up the blood, I then get stunned silence and then a dial tone.

Originally Posted by tdrumnut

I usually tell them the person they wished to speak to passed away this morning and I am just there cleaning up the blood, I then get stunned silence and then a dial tone.

thats hilarious haha

I dont have a landline so i dont get calls from them.. but oh i wish i did sometimes just to toy with them.

The "giveaway*" for me was when I picked up the phone and I heard a very poorly recorded version of the old microsoft start-up tones.

*The real giveaway is tech-support phoning in the first place.........

Originally Posted by tdrumnut

I usually tell them the person they wished to speak to passed away this morning and I am just there cleaning up the blood, I then get stunned silence and then a dial tone.

Now good corporate citizens would have called emergency services - in Delhi

I've had this a couple of time here in France. I am very friendly and try to answer all of their questions and push all the buttons they tell me to. Well, that's what I tell them. They go through all of the Windoze whatever and I tell them that I have a diffferent screen to the one they describe and I do nothing and just wind them along.

Eventually, when they are totally confused snd start asking what windoze OS I have I just tell them OS X 10.6.8 and they have been really cleaver to find such a windoze problem on my Mac. It winds them up and wastes their time

Cold calling again, but different subject. A mate of mine had a call one eve from a conservatory company. He had nowt doing so he chatted to a very nice lady. After about 20 minutes they had sorted out what type of glass, how many power points, colours and all that sort of thing and she said that she would send one of their guys around the next day to do the measuring and things. When she asked for the address he told her, Flat 1b, such & such a road and she jumped in and siad "it is a ground floor flat isn't it?". He said no we are on the first floor. She yelled several obscenities at him and accused his mother of being a sport and slammed the phone down. Up until that point she had been really nice and my mate was both surprised and hurt

Well they got my ex He just happened to have installed windows simulator on his mac that morning to make sure something he is working on would work on it. I dunno how, but they talked him into giving his credit card details. Sometimes he is easy to bamboozle I guess. He ended up calling the cyber crime unit thingy. I think right on the day Julia announced more funding for it. (and put all the single mums on newstart.... but that's another story. Don't get me started. ) So I guess they DO get the odd person. They didn't get to clean out his bank account though.

They didn't get to clean out his bank account though.

Did you get in first? (only kidding)

Look at the case in the news at the moment. A woman scammed of $80,000 and then taken for another $400,000 by a fake lawyer promising to get the first lot back for her! So many people hear what they want to hear or just can't believe that there are crooks in the world. How many times have landmarks like the Eiffel tower and London Bridge been sold?
ps when London Bridge was actually sold, it was said that the buyers had been expecting Tower Bridge

A fool and his money are soon parted. What I would like to know is how do they get so much of it in the first place when they are so dumb?
Regards