So I passed him over to 'Mr Bergh' who was then told that they'd rung to help him with the £3,000 he was owed over his car loan PPI. So I asked what his name was (apparently it was 'Richard' which struck me as odd as I didn't think that was a common name in Mumbai call centres!) and having discovered his name asked him how we'd met as I could quite place him as one of the people I counted as a friend.
Richard sidestepped this by telling me he was ringing to help me get back the £3,000 I was owed because of my car loan and so I asked him which car the loan was for and with which company. Oddly he didn't appear to be able to tell me about the car or the company concerned and went back to the 'recent changes in law means you are owed £3,000' tack. So I told him I'd be ecstatic to have that money returned to me and asked him which company had so naughtily taken this money - the response to this was that he needed me to tell him and so I agreed and said I would indeed tell him the name of the company if he could tell me the dates of the presumed loan (which he widened into 'some time in the past') or the make and model of the vehicle to which the loan related (which he couldn't). I asked him if he'd post the money to me as I didn't have a bank account at the moment but was expecting to be released from the secure unit I was currently held in shortly as the parole board was to meet in early September and I was certain that this time I'd be successful.
And then Richard hang up!
So if you're out there Richard, call me back, I need the money and you can never have too many friends (can you?).
Of course the other issue is that why, when we have taken the steps to make sure the cold call ambulance chasers and PPI refunders don't call us, do we still get these blinking nuisance calls? If you recognise the tale of woe above and wish to try and stop them then contact the Telephone Preference Service - we did and to be honest it's not been that much help in stopping the autodialler and cold call calls.
Still - you can try.
ps. If you make a complaint they want you to know the name of the company, which is harder to come by than a cluster of brain cells at a UKIP conference, so little joy there methinks :-)
Of course the other issue is that why, when we have taken the steps to make sure the cold call ambulance chasers and PPI refunders don't call us, do we still get these blinking nuisance calls? If you recognise the tale of woe above and wish to try and stop them then contact the Telephone Preference Service - we did and to be honest it's not been that much help in stopping the autodialler and cold call calls.
Still - you can try.
ps. If you make a complaint they want you to know the name of the company, which is harder to come by than a cluster of brain cells at a UKIP conference, so little joy there methinks :-)
4 comments:
35-40 Years ago Mad Magazine pictured a number of ways to handle these callers. You can make a game of it and tell them you have to check the roast in the oven and set the phone down and see how long the stay on the line. Another suggestion was to say that someone is at the door, pretend that you open it and say "Hey, what are you doing.." and then create a commotion as if someone is breaking in, then scream "No", fire a cap gun or make some other deadly sound and drop the phone on the ground. If the caller really is your friend the police should arrive at which time you can hand them the phone and blame the crank call on the person in Mumbai.
Sounds like a plan!
I often employ the 'holding a completely different conversation' approach which is swapped with the 'it wasn't my fault, I never saw them pulling out of the side road' approach for claims people and when it comes to double-glazing, I tell them I'm not the home owner and when they ask if they can talk with the home owner I say, "Of course, repeat after me - dear God ...' and when they ask what I'm doing I explain that it's a church!
Oh what fun we can have - off to buy blank firer in the morning ;-)
Pax
This is one of my favourite hobby horses and I have tried every tactic known to man/woman to stop the perishers calling.
If I am in a bad mood I yell "get lost" and hang up, if not, and I feel like some fun I play endless games until they get the message and hang up.
When offered a loan to buy a new car I asked (in all innocence), "Do you supply the driver too, I don't drive and have no licence"?.
Indeed ! Think most of us are programmed the same way when it comes to these calls.
Love the car response :-)
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