middle aged moment and Microsoft

Bye

bye bye, I think the A team are on tonight.

No one tries to belittle you ethel but you see insults to yourself where none were directed at you, exactly as Elegran said.

But you are guilty of reacting quite rudely to non-existent 'attacks' as you see them. So yes, take yourself off before you expose your true self any more.

I have said all I intend to on this thread so make any remarks you like. I don't care I love my work and b.......s to anyone who tries to belittle me.

"Everyone is entitled to politeness"

Irony is not dead !!!

can I just amend what I said that 'on the rare occasions I am researching something really top secret I have to abide by the data protecton act', I should have said I always abide by the data protection act. On the rare occasions that I phone someone I use my home landline or my personal mobile and have never had any problems, I am confident that no one would abuse that. (number not withheld).

mary I don't phone anyone Im a face to face caller and I carry ID and the companys head office contacts, we don't work from Bangalore and I carry a letter from the local police to say I have been approved to work in the area. The police have my name, company details and car registration. On the rare occasions I am researching something really top secret I have to abide by the data protection act and keep all details very secure.
Some of my work is too confidential to put any hint of it on this thread so I cant go into it very much.

I am happy if anyone calls the police I know I am above board. All my point in this thread is that I dislike the silly remarks people make to callers, everyone is entitled to politeness and I feel for those who are doing call centre work who have to tolerate such nastiness. It must be easier to just put the phone down.

When I go back to being self employed I will be under the same rules, my house must have certain security levels to protect anyones ID.

There is no gang, ethel, you are defending yourself before you are attacked. No-one says that you are breaking the law, they are saying that there are bogus callers out there who are out to get financial details and swick unsuspecting people, and there are also callers who won't take no for an answer and keep calling and pestering. Telling the difference in the first twenty seconds is very difficult.

Also being polite and sweet-natured is difficult when you are called several times by various cold callers when trying to cook a meal or watch a favourite TV programme, telling you that you qualify for a Government subsidy on a new boiler (which you finally discover is only under certain conditions) or how you had a car accident that you don't remember and they can help you get compensation for your whiplash injury. If the sixth call is you, then you are likely to get the same short and dusty answer as numbers three, four and five.

What difference? I'm registered with TPS so any salesperson who calls me must be a crook. That includes "Windows Support", some of whom say they are in California but are usually working in Bangalore. It also includes "About your motor accident" and "We can help you reclaim your PPI payments".

I'm assuming Ethel isn't one of these, but Ethel - do you phone from "Number Withheld" like they do? In which case how would the mrs website help me? "Hello MRS, somebody on an unknown number says they are genuine ..."

You don't get the difference, do you Mary XYX

Don't get your knickes in a twist Anya and your gang. I don't care what anyone does just that when people castigate me I get hurt because I m one of the genuine ones. I hope you get lots of calls and they wake you up/disturb your tv watching etc. because you will never stop them. My work is highly regulated so I have no worries and if you lot cant be bothered to be polite to people then that's your problem, I can tell the sort of class a person is by their reaction at the door, I get many rough ill brought up people who are rude, the really middle class nice people are much kinder.

So let these nuisance callers - as the TPS calls them - get their ruddy information off the web and leave us all alone

as Ive said before anyone who so desires can get bank details, names addresses etc without resorting to calling. The web is a wonderful place for finding out information, However if anyone quotes an MRS number then check them out, the MRS has a big web site and will happily check anyone out anyone can also report someone who is pretending to do market research and is selling.

As Anya says, the TPS website says there is a legal requirement for companies not to cold call people who have registered. So any company that makes a cold sales to me is breaking the law. If they are happy breaking that law they are likely to be happy breaking other laws, like sending counterfeit goods or even taking my money and disappearing.

The "survey" call I get most often is the one that asks "Which of the following age bands are you in?" and later asks which bank I have my current account with. There is no way that information can be aggregated and be any use. If you want to know what proportion of people bank with any bank the statistics are available. It can be used to target me with a more accurate phishing email or phone call though.

As to having an MRS number, if I ask a caller if they are genuine won't all callers say they are?

I spent about 15 minutes one Sunday afternoon on the telephone answering market research questions about whether I would like an 'unknown' high street department store to open in a town a few miles away. I said I thought it would be a good idea, the woman was very pleasant and did not ask intrusive questions.

I am pleased to let you all know that about 15 years later the high street department store beginning with D finally opened last week and very welcome it is too.

Anyone can call the MRS and they will confirm that the call is from a genuine market research organisation, who would never sell anyones details or try to do anything illegal. If anyone calls or rings ask them if they have their MRS registration number and they will willingly show it, if they cant then be very wary of them. Genuine market researchers must show their ID cards with their numbers on at all times. Sackable offence if they don't.

All market research findings is passed on as statistics i.e. 20% of the population interviewed said they ate cereal for breakfast etc.

Many people ask me if I want their bank details and I assure them I do not and always tell them never to give such information out to anyone on the doorstep.

All retail outlets pass on names and addresses for mailing purposes, the post office sells such details to companies for mailing for a very low price, every time someone buys something large where you must give your address/phone number etc it is passed on. That's how so many people get telephone calls and mail.

BTW anyone going on the 'deep' web can get any sort of personal details about anyone they like, you just have to know where to look. I found this out by chance on the internet. Companies don't have to pay callers to find such stuff out when they can get it for free. Go on the 'deep web'.
If anyone doesn't know what the 'deep web' is then google it.

From the TPS website....the legality is mentioned so it must therefore be against the law to make calls deliberately

"Any reputable company that values its customers and its brand image takes the TPS very seriously. Sometimes mistakes happen, when they do if you make a complaint we can contact the company and ask them why they contacted you, warn them of their legal obligations and ask them to add you to their own Do Not Call list so that you do not receive any further calls."

When not criminal in intent cold callers are an intrusion, a pest. Yes, if bored we may amuse ourselves with clever answers but the bottom line is that most of us simply want to be left alone.

I don't think either of those are illegal Mary.
I stopped cooperating with telephone market researchers when one 'gentleman' started off asking me what paper I read and progressed to asking me what colour knickers I was wearing and how he'd like to put his hand up them

I assume this post will be deleted to, but while it is up:

Yes I am registered with TPS, and yes I do still get cold sales calls. If it is illegal to make these calls, then are the people making them criminals?

I also get frequent calls from people claiming to be doing market research and trying to get the sort of information that would allow them to steal my identity. If someone here knows from their own experience that this sort of call is legal then I'll accept that.

Good link Wilma

Wilma is correct Rosequartz and you are wrong, which invalidates your arguemnt. The point being made is that many firms ignore the TPS.

Criminal or not on the part of the firm? I think they can be fined so yes, they would be breaking the law. Most of them get away with it which is why these cold callers get the cold shoulder from many people.

Incidentally I've found that those who start off doing research either end up selling or asking for information which I find intrusive, and which doubtless would be sold on to other agencies were I stupid enough to divulge it.

rose my point about provocation was that if someone responds with name calling on an anonymous forum such as this, even if we disagree about the level of provocation, ....well I'm sure you get my drift.

rosequartz that's not right about needing to give the TPS the numbers you want blocked. I think you have misunderstood something. You can give the TPS the numbers of companies who keep calling you even after you have told them you have signed up to the TPS. Could that be what you mean?

This is a link from the TPS website about if you are still getting calls - TPS - still getting calls

ethel I think that poster was probably similar to the callers that posters on here would call 'scammers'.

There is a difference between 'scammers' phoning out of the blue and wanting to get into your computer, your bank account, boiler room share sellers, or someone who is 'only in your area for two months and could come and re-tarmac your drive' etc etc and the sort of work you do which sounds like responsible research on behalf of bona fide companies.

small provocation
Anya
I missed maryXYX's post but it looks from other posts that she inferred that ethel and her relatives are criminals?
That to me would be huge provocation!!
Obviously GN must have thought so too because they deleted it.

I looked at this thread because we are registered with the TP but apparently you have to give them all the numbers you want blocked, how can you know in advance which numbers they may be?
And we have had someone insisting they can help us reclaim PPI which we have not paid (another scam to get bank account details?).

You've missed the point ethel yet again.

Just forget it.