How Long Would This Have Gone On For If I Wasn't In The House?
By Janey1966
@Janey1966 (24170)
Carlisle, England
January 18, 2013 7:34am CST
I'm talking about a cold call on the telephone just now.
I always get them on Friday afternoons.
Anyway, today I was minding my own business (feeding the cat) when the landline telephone rang. I went over to look at the display and it said, INTERNATIONAL so I always ignore those.
Now, after 5 rings the ansaphone kicks in. Usually, the person on the other end realises after saying 'Hello' a few times, then they hang up.
Result.
Not this time.
No, this time it was a MACHINE doing all the talking!
When I realised it was a recording I lifted the handset up and plonked it back down again. That would - usually - end the call there and then.
It carried on, much to my dismay and I think it was due to the call being on my ansaphone rather than the handset, if you see what I mean.
I tried again.
Still, this irritating female voice.
It was like the handset had come alive or something (a bit like the 'Terminator') and I couldn't er..kill it.
Eventually I chose to listen to the darned woman for a few seconds and - thankfully - she said, 'If you want us to stop these calls please press 8 now!'
The number 8 on my keypad is now my favourite number.
However, now that I've had a bit of time to think about it, all I had to do was press DELETE on the base and the call would've been er..TERMINATED!
Anyway, today I was minding my own business (feeding the cat) when the landline telephone rang. I went over to look at the display and it said, INTERNATIONAL so I always ignore those.
Now, after 5 rings the ansaphone kicks in. Usually, the person on the other end realises after saying 'Hello' a few times, then they hang up.
Result.
Not this time.
No, this time it was a MACHINE doing all the talking!
When I realised it was a recording I lifted the handset up and plonked it back down again. That would - usually - end the call there and then.
It carried on, much to my dismay and I think it was due to the call being on my ansaphone rather than the handset, if you see what I mean.
I tried again.
Still, this irritating female voice.
It was like the handset had come alive or something (a bit like the 'Terminator') and I couldn't er..kill it.
Eventually I chose to listen to the darned woman for a few seconds and - thankfully - she said, 'If you want us to stop these calls please press 8 now!'
The number 8 on my keypad is now my favourite number.
However, now that I've had a bit of time to think about it, all I had to do was press DELETE on the base and the call would've been er..TERMINATED!3 people like this
8 responses
@ZoeJoy (1392)
• United States
18 Jan 13
Don't know what the law is in the UK but in the USA, if you verbally tell them on the phone (providing you are able to speak to a real person) that you want to be taken off the list, by law, they have to take your phone number off their list.
They get your phone number through many different ways, if you write your name and phone number on a raffle at a fairgrounds, a telemarketing company may buy those names and phone numbers. If you fill out your name and phone number on the internet for what ever reason, a 'list' company may buy that list which includes your name and number. So, be careful where you give away your name and phone number.
This is why I don't do surveys because many of them want my phone number and I try to avoid giving away my phone number on the internet.
In your case, it is best to press 8, to stop the calls, because if you only delete that ONE call, you haven't requested to stop those calls and they will keep on pestering you.
lol - If it wasn't so frustrating it would be funny, (make a great scene in a comedy movie) about how the cold calls keep on coming through on your phone.
Have a good Friday!
1 person likes this
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
18 Jan 13
I felt a bit thick afterwards, as - like I said, all I had to do was press DELETE and it would've gone.
Peter Sellers springs to mind when I was becoming stressed.
@wolfie34 (26771)
• United Kingdom
18 Jan 13
They are a damn nuisance and totally intrusive, even if you register to stop these kind of calls, it doesn't stop them all completely, and they still get through, seems that caller display can only help so much, and certainly not in this instance. We had a few like that telling us we'd have won a holiday to the states and it's a woman on the recording, same as yours. Mind you it does give my father a bit of exercise having to answer the phone when mum's out, so it's not all bad LOL.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
18 Jan 13
My Dad can't hear his and it has big buttons on it and everything!
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
19 Jan 13
I hope you don't mind me saying this but he reminds me of Jim in 'The Royle Family!'
@derek_a (10874)
•
18 Jan 13
I know exactly what you mean there Janey. I have an answer-machine built into my phones and I just let it pick it up if the number is withheld or especially international. I have not noticed if they stay connected or not though I must say. I have registered with TPS to stop cold-calling, but although it has reduced the amount of calls I get, it has got rid of them altogether. I saw a good machine once on QVC that was a call minder that vetted all incoming calls. You could program in family and friends to accept, but then the voice in the machine would ask for the name of the caller and record it, and then the phone would ring and you would pick it up, and listen to what was recorded. Then you could press one of the keys to either accept or deny the call. If denied the machine would then reply to the caller saying that their call wasn't welcome and "please don't call again". Sounded cool to me, but I think it was too expensive. Letting my answer-machine deal with it is easier and cheaper. 
_Derek
_Derek@derek_a (10874)
•
18 Jan 13
I can't fully remember the price on QVC Janey, but Amazon has one at 95 quid. http://www.amazon.co.uk/TrueCall-The-Nuisance-Call-Blocker/dp/B002GP7HQM (not referral link). I thought it was a bit too much at the time. I guess that is why I do the lottery - I would get all these sort of things then. _Derek
_Derek@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
18 Jan 13
£95?!! Oh my, I wasn't expecting it to be that dear!
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
18 Jan 13
How much was it? My, you don't watch QVC do you Derek? I used to be addicted to such programmes before I bought my computer!
1 person likes this
@bounce58 (17387)
• Canada
18 Jan 13
I've been getting a 1-800 number at exactly 6 pm everyday for the past week and a half. A voice left a message one time, and the next few calls he just hanged up. It gets really annoying.
Our phone automatically answers after a couple of rings, so it's always there. I wish I could just delete it too.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
18 Jan 13
Is it possible to contact your service provider to get Caller Screening, or whatever it's called? It can help in some instances.
@changjiangzhibin89 (16554)
• China
19 Jan 13
The Cold call is really a bother to me.I received a kind of phone-call more than once.You guess what I have heard,when I picked up the phone.It said "Today is the deadline of your summon received from the Intermediate People's court."It left me uncertain whether to laugh or to be angry,I hung up on it
@DaGonz (11)
•
19 Jan 13
well, you can actually look at it like this, you can actually just let it go on and you would have saved another person the agony of getting a similar call. You see, the longer that call stays with you the lesser time they have for somebody else. For me, whenever I get calls like this I would just let them go on and on until they finish, this is for cold calls since for live calls I have a recorder with a pre-recorded message that keeps on saying "uh-huh" and "go on" and "can I ask you a question?". I consider it a win for me that I waste their time and therefore them not making any sales or whatever.
The DNC list is such garbage and only applies to a few companies for a few months, after that, they can actually call you again. Those research companies rarely respect the DNC list.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
19 Jan 13
My Dad (when he could hear properly) would tell someone on the telephone, 'Hang on a minute, I'll get a pen to write all this down,' then leave them dangling when he has no intention of getting a pen lol.
@BarBaraPrz (45653)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
18 Jan 13
I don't know which I find more annoying: the robo-calls or the ones with no one there.
@WakeUpKitty (8694)
• Netherlands
18 Jan 13
I do not answer anomynous calls or number I do not know anymore. But still I do find it annoying if my phone keeps ringing. I have it for me. For times in need, not to listen to people who want to sell something, have questions about product X or Z or whatever. I also find it very annoying all those people ringing my bell. Although I have a paper at my frontdoor (window) that I won't buy anyting at the door, I am not interested in donating monehy to.. or in god's word. That does help partly (less beggars at the door) but still there are people who keep ringing your front door bell or even bang on my windows. It does gives me a kind of "creepy" feeling. You are not free to do what you like in your own house. Outsiders do force you to pick up your phone (so I close it down now for hours or days), to open your front door etc. There also seems to be no rules anymore when to call.. no matter if it's dinner time, Sunday or after 7pm, they ring (or the computer does) at every moment it pops up in their mind.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
18 Jan 13
I guess I'm lucky as, all I get through my front door are 'flyers' from the local takeaways in the area. I bet a note on the front wouldn't make any difference either so I just put them in the recycling box.
I would jump out of my skin if someone banged their fists on the window. We don't have a doorbell so if the postman has to deliver a parcel he has to bang hard on the door. I don't mind this, to be honest, as the doorbell would probably be too easy for a naughty person to use!
