Anyone else getting nuisance phone calls? "This is not a sales call"

Be warned folks, market researchers are ringing people asking about banks. :)

I got myself on their lists, so I regularly get them, and usually give suitably vague answers. :)
 
Is there anything at all you can do to try and kerb these kind of calls?

Reason I asked is that I recently had a BT phoneline put in for my Sky Package. I gave my new number to one family member and nobody else, yet even before I did, I was getting the odd cold call, where there was a good pause after answering until somebody spoke or a message started. Now a couple of months on, when I come home from work, I find like a good 3 cold calls a day.
 
On a related note, I had my credit card details "compromised" recently, natwest were great and sorted it all out and sent a new card out. It said to call up a number to verify I'd received it OK. The girl confirmed it all and then started talking about some card protection thing which was £35 a year or £100 for 3 years IIRC. I thought since she'd been nice I wouldn't be rude and let her finish, and tell her I wasn't interested. She didn't even ask if I wanted it and just said "so shall I put you down for the 1 year or the 3 year plan"

"Err no I'm not interested in either"

Job done I thought and then she started asking me things like "so what if you lost your cards and someone spent £500 on them, what would you do then? What if someone got your card details and used it online" etc. She really didn't want to accept that I wasn't interested. I just got out of bed and I only want to confirm my card arrived, not have an argument with some bint from york who can feel her commission slipping away.

The thing is someone did get my card details somehow and did spend several hundred online, and natwest did a fantastic job of sorting it out and reassured me it wouldn't cost me anything, so why would I pay £35 to cover myself when I get the same for free :confused:

Lesson learnt, be rude and interrupt them.
 
Noticed a huge boom in the amount of these calls since the crunch.

Gets very irritating. Iv also noticed that if you let it ring sixth times, it cuts off before the seventh. I also get loads of loan company text messages to my mobile, but they get deleted rather quickly.
 
I heard somewhere that by pressing the # key repeatably whilst receiving a recorded message cold call it does something to their phone system and thus removes any chance of future calls. Can anybody confirm this or is it just a 'made up' story?
 
malccy said:
I heard somewhere that by pressing the # key repeatably whilst receiving a recorded message cold call it does something to their phone system and thus removes any chance of future calls. Can anybody confirm this or is it just a 'made up' story?
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Sounds utter rubbish to me.

*clicky* :D
 
Funnily enough (not) I just registered my first complaint with ICO. Despite asking repeatedly to be taken off a market research comany's list, I got another call tonight :mad:
 
Nexus said:
Reason I asked is that I recently had a BT phoneline put in for my Sky Package. I gave my new number to one family member and nobody else, yet even before I did, I was getting the odd cold call, where there was a good pause after answering until somebody spoke or a message started.
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Autodialers - pick a block of 100 numbers and dial them all - hope someone answers.

Now a couple of months on, when I come home from work, I find like a good 3 cold calls a day.
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Best thing to do is register the number with TPS. It won't stop them all, but it'll stop most and give you something to beat the rest over the head with.

Jotun said:
The thing is someone did get my card details somehow and did spend several hundred online, and natwest did a fantastic job of sorting it out and reassured me it wouldn't cost me anything, so why would I pay £35 to cover myself when I get the same for free :confused:
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It depends on the cause. Most of them now are Card Not Present fraud (i.e. internet/telephone), which the banks usually cover. You can be liable for a small amount if the card itself is stolen and used (only up to the point you tell them, and unless you've been negligent).

However, this practice is called the 'Upsell', and it's a very common practice. It's in their interest to do it even if it is a complete waste of time.

malccy said:
I heard somewhere that by pressing the # key repeatably whilst receiving a recorded message cold call it does something to their phone system and thus removes any chance of future calls. Can anybody confirm this or is it just a 'made up' story?
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It's complete bunk. It might work on certain PABX switchboards, and something similar does work if you've got a TrueCall unit installed. In both cases however it does something to your system, not theirs.

Feek - I got there first - though I was thinking of your previous posts when I did so. :)
 
PhillyDee said:
Try being here.
For the past 6 years I have been getting calls from Sky asking if there is a mrs XXXX here. The call originates from debt collectors / chasers. No matter how many times (6 years remember!) I tell them where to go they still seem to phone once every 2-3 weeks. Different company everytime. I have tried polite, and that gets you nowhere, telling them exactly what they can do with their phone seems to yield the best results.

The phone number I have is NOT the same phone number for the house that this person lives in. I have tried writing letters to Sky (I am a sky subscriber!), I have tried phoning them (We will put a note on the account sir). Nothing has been done. Only thing I can do is to change my phone number. Its absolutely ridiculous.

The last phonecall was 4 weeks ago, so I am expecting another any time now. In it the 'person' on the other end actually tried reasoning with me. Well, all I can say is Red Mist . . . .
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Write to your MP and state it's causing you stress, and ask if he can help. I had a problem with the Student Loans Company, I wrote to mine and he replied about a week later saying he'd written to them and to contact him if I did not get a letter from SLC. SLC wrote a week later apologising and that was the last of that.
 
Berserker said:
It depends on the cause. Most of them now are Card Not Present fraud (i.e. internet/telephone), which the banks usually cover. You can be liable for a small amount if the card itself is stolen and used (only up to the point you tell them, and unless you've been negligent).

However, this practice is called the 'Upsell', and it's a very common practice. It's in their interest to do it even if it is a complete waste of time.
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I believe the policy in question is either a CPP or Sentinel policy.

They're actually pretty good policies to have. Read about them here - http://www.cpp.co.uk/cpwhy.html

They don't offer value for money as such, the chances of you needing to make a claim are very small. However it's a lot less hassle if you have them, and it gives you peace of mind. The policy costs very little.

The bank wants to flog you the policy because it makes comission by donig it. For once though this is actually useful insurance :)
 
I've got Sentinel, but it's part of my value-added account. I'm sure that counts as an upsell in itself. :D

As for the debt collectors, tell them that their calls are not welcome and that they are not to call again. Warn them that if they do call again, you'll be reporting it to the authorities as a nuisance call. Note the date and time you did this and the date and time of any future calls, and take it to Ofcom.
 
We barely get any here. For a while we kept getting an automated one offering a cruise in mexico or something but that stopped.
 
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