Cold callers to get the cold shoulder

I have a very simple and effective method to get rid of cold callers. As soon as I establish that the person phoning me is not someone I know or is not someone who I asked to phone me I just press the little red hangup key on my phone and don't feel bad about it at all. I never asked them to phone me and I know I am am not interested in their "amazing offer" so I feel nothing to just cut them off mid sentence! It actually makes you feel a little good afterwards.
 
I just put the phone in my desk drawer while the person still talks on the other end
 
"Please hold " really works. I once had a guy who held on for half an hour, then I told him there was some one at the door. He did not call again
 
Whenever they call and ask if i have a few minutes i ask what's it in connection with, then at least in a few seconds i know if i am interested in yet another credit card/cell phone/insurance quote :)
 
jimmycool said:
I have a very simple and effective method to get rid of cold callers. As soon as I establish that the person phoning me is not someone I know or is not someone who I asked to phone me I just press the little red hangup key on my phone and don't feel bad about it at all. I never asked them to phone me and I know I am am not interested in their "amazing offer" so I feel nothing to just cut them off mid sentence! It actually makes you feel a little good afterwards.
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Going to do this next time...politely telling them you're busy does not work...they just ask when's a good time for them to call.
 
jimmycool said:
I have a very simple and effective method to get rid of cold callers. As soon as I establish that the person phoning me is not someone I know or is not someone who I asked to phone me I just press the little red hangup key on my phone and don't feel bad about it at all. I never asked them to phone me and I know I am am not interested in their "amazing offer" so I feel nothing to just cut them off mid sentence! It actually makes you feel a little good afterwards.
Click to expand...

Going to do this next time...politely telling them you're busy does not work...they just ask when's a good time for them to call.
 
ryan411 said:
Whenever they call and ask if i have a few minutes i ask what's it in connection with, then at least in a few seconds i know if i am interested in yet another credit card/cell phone/insurance quote :)
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I have a better solution. Answer it, put it on mute and speakerphone and let them waste their money on the phone call
 
Zarthon said:
I see how long I can keep them on the phone...
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If & when I bother answering 'private number' calls, I get them off the phone ASAP.
Tell them I'm not interested in whatever they're selling, before they get a chance to start.

I've never Opted Out of any SMS - just delete them immediately & don't get that many, anyway.
 
Can't we stop this crap? The worst is when they ask you why are you not interested in buying their product! This is just then when I reach out to the red button!
Our politicians is so vulnerable for bribes as they live in mansions and feel nothing for ordinary people. They drink Johnny Walker Blue Label and you must be happy with White Horse! They have people answering their phones! There should be a law against this!

I have antivirus software on my cell to block a unwanted SMS!
 
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What I do when they start their patter is to say "hold on I just want to switch my recorder on so that I can record this convesation". Then I ask them their name,company,tel number and what they are selling. Then put the phone on the desk fro a few minutes, by which time they have lost interest as they don't have the script for that.
 
C'mon,
Last year when SARS erroneously sent me ±30000 'Golden' addresses (I kept them) instead of the letter it intended to send, no-one even batted an eyelid.
The address I use there was restricted to only a very few companies to avoid spam. Since then I have started getting spam to that address - although to be honest, not as much as comes to my public address (yet).
Money talks and if you have an internet address in this morally-bankrupt country, corruption will see that you get spam.
 
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:gah: I still get a call every second day to offer me credit/cellphone/holiday..... SMS's too..... Outlaw Cold calling I say!
 
Cold calling seems to continue because many people still sign up for services when they call, most effective measure would be to educate people not to buy stuff from cold calling. Pity the person facing most abuse from public is the the worker calling earning minimum wage or commission.
 
Telkom seem to do a lot of cold calling themselves.
 
Why should I have to givr them my ID number to stop them from calling me? This whole thing sounds like a scam to get even more personal info. They should just make it illegal for instutions (such as banks) to sell your info.
 
They always call from private numbers, so I installed CallFilter on my android phone. No more unwanted "private" calls.
 
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