Thursday 19 July 2012

NUISANCE CALLERS NEED SHOOTING.

What can we do about the 'cold calling' that plagues us ?

I signed up with the Telephone Preference Service years ago, and still I receive these unwanted nuisance calls. Some, perhaps many these days, are from abroad, often with strongly accented callers claiming to be Sarah, Charlie or some other western name, although they are almost certainly Gita, Gupta or Sanjeev in reality. These calls can't even be barred as they leave no number; we just have to endure them.

Calls from UK numbers can, of course, be barred though this doesn't seem to deter them. The companies involved in ignoring the TPS rules simply use other numbers to annoy us from. If my caller display shows a message such as 'International' or 'number wihheld' I tend to ignore the call; however, if a number is displayed, what to do ? It might be a genuine call which is ignored at my peril, so I usually answer - 'Can I speak to Mr/Mrs *****' comes the cheery voice. 'Why ?' or 'And who are you ?' says I.

The almost inevitable next line involves something which makes clear the caller is marketing something - insulation, PPI reclaims, or whatever. I hang up, or tell them, politely to go away and not bother me again. Do they take any notice ? Of course. So, in the end and in an attempt to make an impression on these most annoying of intruders into my private life, I tell them, loudly, to 'F*** off'. They feign indignation as I close the connection.

At least they know they've really p***ed me off and I bar the number as well, for all the good that seems to do. What I really want is something that can shoot them through the telephone wires - any clever inventors out there ?

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