torquemada

do you have kids? tell them it´s Santa and hand them the phone

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Joerg (natural born kraut)

adamh

best idea ever!

I have tried to keep them on the phone for as long as possible just spurting random crap at them until they hang up. The calls have been getting less and less which is good.

__________________
2003 XT auto LPG

Brian Lacey

Thread Starter

Cheers all, some good ideas in amongst all those replies, I shall have some fun and see what happens.

Thanks

Brian

__________________
1998 T/tb (indestructible !) & Ralliart Sportback.

forestergump

He's trapped in the land of the lost after the christons got blocked. Funny movie.

Fozzie Matt

The "Hold please" works but only because of the way their work performance is judged.

They have a target number of calls per hour. Numbers which cause them to fall below this target (because they tied them up for two or three times as long as they're supposed to take) make the business unprofitable and will be removed.

The "Helpful admin person" persona is quite fun. I had one such call while covering for someone's annual leave a while ago which asked for the manager by first name only (sorry pal, he's not "Dave" to you, he's Mr Bloggs - over-familiarity is a sure sign of a marketoid or scammer).

I offered to take their details and email them to the chap so he could respond...what a surprise to hear that they had no direct number (I didn't ask specifically for one!) Funnily enough they were very keen to get the boss' email address after I mentioned this, and evidently rather baffled when I wouldn't give it out to a random caller who wouldn't give me any details about themselves or their company...

bbottomley

Yes, people, let's remember that this thread was started by a member from the UK. Suggestions involving the law or the phone system in other countries really aren't relevant.

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2003 XS Premium MT >180k miles! ● 2005 Impreza 2.5 RS MT ● Robin-Subaru Powered Generator

mykp

Brian, I have a similar situation to you, although I have a seperate home phone most people call me on my business number for home calls. In february we started getting lots of calls from telemarketers, usually the ambulance chaser brigade "we can get you money for your accident" or indian companies trying to sell me their web design services and we were getting about 10 a day.

All the calls were from "we dont have the callers number" type numbers and because my wifes relatives phone from Japan which gives the same result, we had to pick the phone up in case its one of them.

We started off with the putting the phone down, but in the end whenever we heard an india voice or a call with lots of noise in the background we started doing the on hold thing. Conversation went a little like this:

"Can I speak to the house owner please"
"Yes hold on i'll go and get him"
<puts phone on hold>
Usually within 2 or 3 minutes line goes dead.

This worked for a while and then they started again, so I redirected all my calls to my mobile and this allowed me to filter calls better.

Normal numbers are displayed with caller ID. numbers with caller ID withheld come up as caller withheld (141 callers and foreign numbers so calls from Japan) and anyone dialing using VOIP or Skype come up as "Private number"

Any calls from private numbers were rejected, calls withheld were bounced off my answering machine and normal calls were answered. I am sure there are house phone which can do the same as this.

This has stopped the cold calls and now I only occasionally get them.

__________________
1997 s/tb auto [SOLD] Now Merc B200 CDI

NorthDownsScooby

Truecall

http://www.truecall.co.uk/acatalog/m...0Guide%203.pdf


Shield
By default, Shield is switched OFF, but if you are receiving a large
number of telemarketing calls, recorded message calls or silent calls
you may like to switch it ON.
If a call is Shielded, trueCall plays the Shield announcement after
the personal greeting, but before the Whisper announcement. This
says:-
“If you are family or a friend please press 5, if you are a cold
caller please hang up and don’t call us again”
This is the standard Shield announcement - you can record your
own if you prefer (see page 20).
Each trueCall unit randomly assigns itself a Breakthrough Key of 1 -
9 when it is first set up (in the example the Breakthrough Key was
5).
When they hear the Shield message, cold callers are legally obliged
to hang up and to put you on their do-not-call list so that nobody
from their company will call you again. If a cold caller ignores your
request not to be called again, you can report them to the Information
Commissioner for a breach of the Privacy & Electronic
Communications Regulations – see the trueCall web site for more
information.
In any case, they are very unlikely to press the breakthrough key as
they know that, having ignored your specific instructions, they are
unlikely to be able to sell you anything even if they do get through to
you.
You can choose how Shield operates (see page 21). You may
Shield all callers whose numbers are unrecognised, or just Shield
the calls most likely to be a nuisance call - calls from commercial
numbers (a number starting 08 or 09), or calls where the caller has
withheld their number.
Shield is particularly useful if you get a lot of recorded message
calls, silent calls or fax calls. The automated equipment that calls
you doesn’t know to press a button, so trueCall is able to quickly
and silently reject the call.


Listening to a message as it is being left by the caller
If you have sent a caller to Message Manger, you can listen to the
message as it is being left by pressing trueCall’s centre button (this
is called Call Screening). If you decide that you want to speak to the
caller, just pickup the phone, or if you no longer want to screen the
message, press the centre button again – this will stop the screening
but will allow the caller to continue leaving their message. Screening
through the speaker for all calls can be set as the standard option
(see page 20), or you can screen all unrecognised callers (see page
8).

NightShield
Many people receive silent phone calls during the night - these are
not only alarming, but if you can’t get back to sleep, they can ruin
your next day as well. These calls are most often made by faulty or
incorrectly programmed computer diallers or fax scanning machines.
trueCall’s NightShield prevents you being disturbed by silent calls at
night, but allows genuine callers to get through. If you switch ON
NightShield, trueCall will Shield every unStarred call it receives
between 11pm and 7am. It will answer the call for you, without your
phone ringing, and will ask the caller to press a button to get through
to you - only then will your phone ring. Your friends or family will be
happy to do this, but automatic diallers or fax machines won’t press
the button, so they won’t disturb you at night.
By default, NightShield is switched OFF. To switch it ON see page
22.

Not at Home
You can configure trueCall to indicate to anyone on you’re your Zap
list that you are not home by playing them a ring tone rather than the
Zap announcement. They won’t know that you are rejecting their
calls, they will just believe that you are not at home.
By default, Not at Home is switched OFF, but you can switch it ON at
your Internet Control Panel.

Anonymous Caller Reject
If you have Caller ID on your phone line, you can tell trueCall to
reject all anonymous callers - all callers who withhold their calling
number. It plays them the announcement :-
“You have withheld your calling number so I cannot connect you”
and doesn’t ring your phone. Anonymous Caller Reject only blocks
calls where the caller has withheld their number. If the caller’s
number is not available for any other reason - for example it is an
international call - then Anonymous Caller Reject will let it through.
WARNING: Anonymous Caller Reject is very effective at blocking
malicious calls, but be aware that it may also block calls that you
want to receive. Doctors, hospitals, the Police, government
organisations and many companies routinely withhold their
numbers.
Your phone company can also offer you Anonymous Caller Reject,
but they charge up to £4 per month.

Screen all unrecognised callers
Some people screen all their calls - they like to send all callers to
their answering machine, listen to the message being left, and then
only pick up if it is someone they want to talk to. trueCall goes one
better than this. If you switch ON the Screen All Unrecognised
Callers feature (see page 22) Zapped callers will be rejected, and
Starred callers will ring your phone as normal, but all other callers
will be immediately sent to Message Manager and screened through
the speaker, so you can decide whether you want to pickup.
Handling persistent malicious callers
If you are receiving malicious calls, you may like to get trueCall to
only allow specific callers to ring your phone. All other callers are
then sent either directly to Message Manager to leave a message,
or are played the ringing tone, making it sound as though you’re not
at home.
You can do this in two ways:-
Starred callers Only
Only callers whose number you have Starred are able to ring your
phone.
Code Access Only
Callers are asked to enter a secret Caller’s Code before they can
get through to you. You can choose a code (up to 8 digits long)
and only give it out to people who you trust and want to hear
from.
These features can be set up in your Internet Control Panel.

Allow all international calls straight through
International calls don't carry the caller’s number, so cannot normally
be Starred. This option is useful if you have friends and family who
often call you from overseas - it allows all calls from international
numbers to be treated as though they were Starred. BUT- if it is set,
trueCall won't intercept ANY international calls - calls from overseas
call centres will get straight through.
By default, Allow all international calls straight through is switched
OFF, but you can switch it ON at your Internet Control Panel.

__________________
Black 2006 Forester STI
360 bhp / 398 FtLbs

sleestak

My bad...I'm in the states.

Brian Lacey

Thread Starter

I am now trying the 'free' option of " Just a moment and I'll get him for you" and leaving them to stew.
Must admit that the Truecall seems a wonderful bit of kit so may well give that consideration.
Thanks again for all the comments and taking time to reply from t'other side a pond

Cheers
Brian

__________________
1998 T/tb (indestructible !) & Ralliart Sportback.

rowsi

Will be in India for a while early next year, I will call into Bangalore and sort them out

MikeD

We changed our phone line from BT to NTL (now Virgin) about 10 years ago. Joining the TPS stopped all the domestic unwanted calls and we don't get any foreign ones at all. Maybe Virgin numbers are less "visible "than BT?

One sure way to get nuisance calls is to buy shares in companies, because the shareholders' registers are a prime source of phone numbers for the cold callers.

__________________
Mike

2006 2.0 XE "The Black Pig"

Fozzie Matt

Also worth getting yourself off the edited register of electors. It won't affect your ability to vote or get credit, it's purely a case of removing your details from a list which is available for anyone to buy. Just tick the little boxes when you next get the voter registration paperwork.

Echo63

we used to get these all the time when i worked for a small business (by small business i mean the 3 techs (including me and the boss) and 2 secretaries)

the boss didnt want us wasting time at work, but after 4pm we were allowed to play.

from 9-4 they got hung up on, after 4pm the secretary would answer the phone
if it was a telemarketer they would say "ok hold please" and put them on hold.
after 2-3 mins someone else would pick up answer with a random business section "shipping, how can i help" then when they asked for the boss "hold please" and wait another couple of minutes - then another staff member would make up another random business section "Payroll - how can i help" and when asked for the boss "Hold please"

eventually they would get the boss, who would respond with "last thing i bought off a telemarketer was this f**king phone system" and hang up

our record was 45 minutes and 26 departments, we would have kept going but it was 5pm on a friday - a typical call was 10-15 minutes

__________________
Subaru - its all we'll drive

MikeD

This device is reasonably price and gets good reviews:

CPR Call Blocker - CPR Distribution Store

__________________
Mike

2006 2.0 XE "The Black Pig"