Rant alert - B2B Sales Phone calls

[Hilary B]

We don't use the house line for calls, only FAX, so all our calls are to the mobiles (at least it costs them a bit extra).
I haven't had anyone ring off when I say 'not interested', but then I usually ring off first (if they are pushy, I will just ring off).
Mostly once I say "No Thanks" I get "sorry to have troubled you" before they ring off.

[OllieMartin]

The worst ones I used to get were recorded messages. You have to listen to the whole message before you can talk to someone to ask to be removed from their callers list.
That's just lazy marketing!

[Hilary B]

The worst ones I used to get were recorded messages. You have to listen to the whole message before you can talk to someone to ask to be removed from their callers list.
That's just lazy marketing!

Some of the recorded messages, often with a 'prize' involved, are looped, so if you go away leaving the answering machine on, the whole tape is filled with hundreds of repeats of this same silly message!
The only time our house phone isn't on FAX is when we go away (the FAX machine is OH's computer) so we plug in the answering machine. OH's comments on getting this looped message for the whole tape are unprintable! (fortunately it only happned the once, I think he found someone to complain to....)

[SueA]

We're registered with the Telephone Preference Service but still get calls, I don't think it covers calls from outside this country either, we get a lot of overseas callers & recorded messages from American sounding voices telling us we've won a holiday etc.I try to be polite but have had people put the phone down when I'm in the middle of politely telling them I'm not interested.We get a lot of calls where they pretend to already have you on file & to be checking out some facts when in fact you know they're just fishing for information, it's really dishonest & annoying! Even if you have registered with the TPS you may have inadvertantly given away your phone number if you've entered a competition or filled in a form which requests your phone number for contact & have forgotten to tick the 'don't sell my details to everyone you can' box!

[Hilary B]

One kind of 'fishing for information' call may (perhaps) be even more serious.
I was told some time ago that if someone calls, knows your name and says they are calling about your account with xyz bank, NEVER say "but I haven't got an account with xyz!" because there is some risk that they are looking for names in which to open accounts for money laundering......
No idea whether this is true.

[OllieMartin]

One kind of 'fishing for information' call may (perhaps) be even more serious.
I was told some time ago that if someone calls, knows your name and says they are calling about your account with xyz bank, NEVER say "but I haven't got an account with xyz!" because there is some risk that they are looking for names in which to open accounts for money laundering......
No idea whether this is true.

Sounds like the phishing scams you get on the net.

[PaulG]

We have been registered with the TPS for a few years now, the only people selling something to have called in that time was BT (India Dept I think lol) trying to sell me an upgraded broadband account.

I asked "surely the fact I am registered with the TPS service would suggest I do not wish to be called by anybody selling something"

He asked "So would you like to be upgraded"

I said "If I wish to change my package with BT i will phone and ask for it, in the meantime perhaps you should check the rules on phoning somebody registered with the TPS"

Phone went silent and we have never been called by them again.

To follow on from the point about TPS not covering calls from outside the UK, this is true upto a point. If the company calling you has offices registered in the UK they are still obliged to follow the rules and cannot have an out of country department call you instead.

Silent calls are covered by the following passage which I have copied from This Document

The Communications Act 2003 provides powers to the Office of Communications (Ofcom) to take action against those who persistently misuse networks or services in a way that causes unnecessary annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety. On 1 March 2006 Ofcom also announced that in response to their consultation, which closed on 9 January 2006, that in addition to amending its policy on persistent misuse to tackle silent calls, new rules for the use of automatic calling systems were being introduced designed to deliver additional protection to consumers from silent calls. The revised policy sets out a series of requirements that organisations that use automatic calling systems have to abide by for example,

1 Any abandoned calls must carry a pre-recorded message, which identifies the source of a call and offers the person called the opportunity to decline further calls from that source.

2 Calling Line Identification (CLI) must be presented on all outbound calls.

3 Telephone numbers dialled and then abandoned should not be called for at least 72 hours.

4 Abandoned call rates must be below 3 per cent of total calls for any 24 hour period of each campaign.

Ofcom applies these policies to all UK companies commissioning services from call centres whether located in the UK or overseas.

[Glutton4...]

My Sister works in tele-sales - I hang up on her now LOL!