bt scam

[miss_naughty]

ive had the computer virus one ....... i had a really weird one the other week and im still in shock over it had someone phone my house phone asking for me hung up as i know they are cold callers anyway he calls back and then starts ranting at me down the fone saying do not hangup on me i am the police and he has a cheque waiting for me in my name for my sons accident which happened about 3 yrs ago now anyway my oh knew i was getting stressed on the fone and he started ranting at him too and the guy on the fone started shouting tell him to shutup and i am the police when i asked him what police station he was calling from he hung up ..... grrr did a 1471 and number with held love to know where these ppl get off trying to scare ppl ...

[Classy_Katy]

I've had the virus one and told them what I thought of them.

I had someone phoning up about a car accident I didn't have...he was saying how it was a rear ender and not my fault. Didn't catch where he was calling from and I don't know what he was trying to achieve. He didn't give up easily although I kept saying I hadn't had an accident.

[scottswald]

I've done various things to wind them up over the years, used to just sing to them quite a bit. And the 1 call i will never forget he sang along with me then we both just said goodbye and hung up lol. My ate was in the room when i was singing and didnt have a clue what was going on lol.

I like to let them speak for about 20-30 secs and then tell them to wait on the line a minute. i then go away for a minute or two then when i come back talk for 20-30 seconds and repeat until they get bored and hang up.

other times i simply cant be arsed and tell them to fuck off.

[lafille]

I usually tell them my number is listed with the 'TPS -telephone preference service" and they hang up or apologise.

http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/index.html

[Miss Deviant]

I unfortunately, used to work in telesales/telemarketing (soul-destroying job - NEVER do it) and so I do feel a bit of sympathy with these genuine callers. They are, at the end of the day, trying to earn a living, and out of every 300 calls they make, probably get 5 positive responses. That is the nature of telesales.

They also probably have abuse shouted at them all day, from the disgruntled public, so I do try to keep in mind that they are just doing what they are paid to do - which by the way isn't a lot - minimum wage and commission for whatever positive results they achieve.

They also probably have their boss breathing down their necks about "targets" - they have to get so many positive results a day or they'll be fired.

It's not an easy job. I stuck it for 2 years before I decided I'd had enough. I would never go back to it.

So I try not to be unpleasant to them, but I do politely inform them that I'm on the TPS list and they shouldn't be calling.

Now if I get a telemarketer who still persists despite being told, then that's where the niceties end. I've had some saying "well the tps doesn't apply in the case" or trying to continue with their sales call. They are warned that they are breaking the law by continuing and then I hang up.

Having said that, I did have a marketing company call me 5 times a day, every day for 2 weeks. In the end, I asked to be put through to a manager, who was a seriously nasty piece of work. When I told him that the amount of times his company was calling, despite the fact that they'd been told not to, could be construed as harassment, he got nasty. So I reported him to the office of fair trading.

I later heard that I was not the only victim of this and they had a huge fine to pay as a result. I don't think they exist any more.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of unscrupulous companies out there, that will break the rules and call when they know they are not supposed to. That's why a few years ago, it was decided that if you were going to do telemarketing/telesales, you had to have a license to do it.

But, they are still trying to use the loopholes. While the TPS can take action for "live" calls, they can't take action against recorded calls - so if you're being bugged with automated recorded calls for PPI, or energy savings, there isn't much you can do at the moment - and they know this. But I do believe the law is about to change, and the government plan to crack down on this too.

As for the scammers - a blow of a whistle down the phone often works. That and pretending to be a switchboard, "connecting" them to 7 or 8 different places before they eventually hang up, works. I've done that before! lol

[x Connie x]

I've done various things to wind them up over the years, used to just sing to them quite a bit. And the 1 call i will never forget he sang along with me then we both just said goodbye and hung up lol. My ate was in the room when i was singing and didnt have a clue what was going on lol.

I like to let them speak for about 20-30 secs and then tell them to wait on the line a minute. i then go away for a minute or two then when i come back talk for 20-30 seconds and repeat until they get bored and hang up.

other times i simply cant be arsed and tell them to fuck off.

love this scott

yes, i do the, stay on the line while i get her, one but haven't tried singing yet.

i found it very surprising how long a woman stayed on the line with my partner after he told her he was masturbating - he's winning atm, will have to up my game - i'm definitely going to use your singing tip

[Scotty_Hottie]

Sounds like so much fun! Maybe I should start answering the house phone again? :p