How to learn to love nuisance phone calls.

StansGran, the calls concerning PC's are fraudulent, they are trying to con you out of money, not just trying to earn a living. Do not confuse these calls with the insurance chasers etc, who are a nuisance but not trying to de-fraud you.

This morning at around 9am I had what I thought was another one of 'those' calls. I've been letting the phone ring and go onto answerphone for the last couple of weeks, but, thinking it might just be my elderly sister-in-law this morning, I did pick it up. No voice, just rustling and a bit of repetitive clanking (unlikely to be elderly sister-in-law as although she sometimes rustles, she doesn't often clank repetitively). After warning DH, I reached for my Girl Guide whistle (don't ask) and blew it very forcefully down the phone and hung up. I then dialled 1471. It gave a mobile number, which, on looking back through my phone was my male cousin's. His phone must have been in his pocket and as he was working, my number was 'nudged'. I'm going to plead ignorance the next time I speak to him. I know nothing....!

Marelli please be careful about the whistle, I did that until I heard on the radio that it is actually classed as assault when you do that.

These posts made me laugh so thanks for that, really like the.... I am inspector and this call has been traced stay where you are!! love that and will definitely be using that one.

What I also think is a good one is where you just let them ramble on and don't answer or speak to them.

ps be careful not to say that you live alone, these companies may have your address

Serkeen I live alone but I say that I have a husband who is a couch potato and a son who works at the local police station. That stops taxi drivers asking too many questions as to whether the house is vacant or not.

The OP is from 2014

I'm going to try to tell this story without giving out personal information!
A young relative works in a large hospital. On her team are a few students who make a bit of money by making these 'cold calls'. One day, in the canteen, she heard one telling a hilarious story:
Well, the old dear on the phone said she didn't get much chance to gossip, and anyway it was a bit cruel, in the small (named) village she lives in, but she wanted to tell me about one of her neighbours who........(cue scandalous story). My relative realised by both the location and story that it related to a relative of ours!

charleygirl that is quality !! I am so impressed.

I had a call from the whale and dolphin conservation society. When she had finished her intro, I said "Oh no, sorry I can't help you there. We haven't got room for one of those, we haven't even got a pond! Then she asked to speak to my husband, so I put the phone down. I felt a bit silly afterwards but I hadn't asked her to phone.

lol LOL whale! dolphin! pond lol.......

Oh I want some cold calls now...lol

Held a conservatory company on the phone for ages saying I was very interested then when they asked where I lived I said flat no... which they queried and I said I lived on the fifth floor and would that be a problem?!

Also told a windows company I wouldn't need any as I lived in a cave... the response was ...WOW how cool!

These posts are so funny Brilliant !

'Microsoft' rang saying about a computer problem. I played along for ages sounding worried and 'reading things from the computer'. I said I'm glad they told me as I'm a police officer - not true. You've never heard a 'phone call ended so fast!

I watched a YouTube video with a call from 'Microsoft'. The woman they'd phoned said "Oh I'm so grateful you're going to fix my computer, but first can I just ask some security questions?"
"Can you give me the first and third letter of your password please"?
When the person started to get irate, she said "Ok, we'll try another. What was your mothers' maiden name?"
It was great fun to watch!

I'm glad this post has been revived, ..... such funny responses. I usually pretend to be hard of hearing and interrupt their spiel with, 'Hello, hello. Is there anyone there?' repeatedly. They soon give up!

When people are trying to sell products or services over the phone I vety gushingly thank them for having faith in me, and giving me another chance, especially since I'm just out of jail or on probation for multiple fraud. I know people say they are only trying to make a living but their calls usually come at the most inconvenient of times. Besides which, if I really did want to buy x, y or z, I would approach companies of my own choosing.

That sounds great Miss. There's YouTube videos of Scambaiter, I have cried with laughter to these!

It's must be funny pretending to be hard of hearing or an ex convict and having fun! Some say "Yes" to everything!

Don't want to cast a gloomy pall over this, but my DD has worked for a call company which is contracted by charities to ring on their behalf; they only ever ring people who have given their number but presumably a lot of people forget and are extremely abusive, she gets very upset. Remember the person at the other end of the phone is (usually!) a human being too, and they're not always cold-calling.

I am never rude, nor do I play silly games. I just say 'I am not interested, thank you and goodbye' and put the receiver down. But being signed up to TPS does mean that reputable organisations using reputable call centres do not contact me. I also always tick the little boxes on online sites that say 'no further contact', so even if i need to give them my phone number, our contact ends with the order or donation.

Nearly all the cold calls we get are scam calls from foreign parts and they are fair game. Although once again, I will never be rude. For computer scams my reply is always 'Ah, yes, I know all about this problem, DS works for Microsoft.' They ring off quicker than I can get the receiver down. For others my reply is as para 1. They are wasting my time I have better things to do than waste more time playing games with them

If I'd had as many car crashes as I'm alleged to have had, the highways and byways would be littered with my body parts .

Rudeness and swearing is uncalled for.

I genuinely have quite serious hearing problems, so I tell them I am deaf and if that doesn't put them off at once that they witter on, I just keep saying "what? what? say that again, I didn't get it". Normal time to bring call to an end - about 45 seconds. Beats swearing at them (they are only doing their job, after all) and if you're not deaf, just pretend!

I am slightly deaf - I have problems with accents so when someone named "Dave" who has a very strong Asian accent rings I just say "I'm sorry I can't understand you" and hang up. The other day there was a call from a number I didn't recognise so I ignored it, then my mobile rang - it was the garage reminding me I had an appointment for my car to be serviced!

Lately I have been getting "Withheld" numbers around 7.45 pm - I don't answer, but the first time I almost did thinking there was a problem in the family until I remembered I have all their numbers programmed into my phone (I don't normally get phone calls in the evenings)

Our friend used to get really stressed out with all the nuisance phone calls he seemed to get.
He had an idea and turned the tables on them
He puts on this very old person voice and pretends he is hard of hearing and keeps asking the person to repeat what they are saying. Added to this he put on all sorts of different accents. The person soon gets fed up and puts the phone down.