Annoying!!!!!

[renormalised]

Something that really gets on my goat....when the phone rings, you pick it up to answer it and there's no one on the other end. You say "hello" a number of times and all you get is silence. It's usually someone like telemarketers and such, but you can never tell most of the time.

These days I just hang up on them...couldn't be bothered with people or organisations that act like that.

[multiweb]

I get these all the time as well. Mostly machines waiting for a hello to trigger dispatch to a telemarketer usually. I wish we were able to redial on any incoming phone call. I mean they know who we are, the least TELCO can do is give us a mean to know who they are. ... and I don't buy the privacy BS. I'm the one who got contacted in the first place. :P

[renormalised]

Exactly....as those that these nuisances contact all the time, we should be allowed to know who they are as well. Most have number blocking on their phones to prevent others from finding out who they are, but I reckon they shouldn't be allowed to have it.

[DavidU]

I tell them I'm busy at the moment but if I could have there mobile number I will call them back during their dinner.

[multiweb]

The traffic/spam they generate on the many lines they call is very good business for the TELCOs. Money talks in the end.


I've given up reasoning. I started just hanging but they call back. So I just now pick up, keep quiet and they hang up. Eventually the machines mark your line as a 'drop' and they don't bother you anymore coz you're off the list. It works.

[renormalised]

Yeah, that's true, Marc. It's all about money these days.

Good one Dave:)

[Ric]

I love my answering machine.

I just screen out the unwanted calls, they can ring to their hearts content but I'm not going to pick up.

[troypiggo]

I got sick of these calls, so went on the Do Not Call Register. Now I get even more calls from charities and political parties!

[mswhin63]

Happening a lot to me as well, they use a computer dialling system that automatically dials out when an operator is free. once it rings the operator is connected albeit a bit slowly. Save the marketing company time for the oprator to look at the number and dial it out manually. Also allows the company to keep the operators on their toes and not having breaks too.
Someone asked me to set-up a PABX to do the same thing. I didn't want to do it. Wonders of running a business where I can be ethical :)

[mswhin63]

Business cannot register. :(

[pgc hunter]

I just don't even bother answering the phone during telemarketer prime-time hours coz I'm just sick of it. All my important contacts are on my mobile so the home phone ringing usually means some parasitic infection on the other end. I don't want that.


What is arguably even more annoying is when the english illiterate on the other end starts by saying "sir I'm not calling to sell anything...". That's my queue to (a) hang up, (b) dust off the F word and other various forms of vulgar language, or (c) make some smartass comments like "can I grab your number so I can call to sell you a phone you already have just as you're sitting down to dinner with your family after a hard day of peeing people off".

[Alchemy]

Ditch the landline, go fully mobile..... No-one bothers you with marketing, switch the phone off wan you want privacy, divert calls if you are busy.
Too easy

[troypiggo]

I like the way you think. Am considering it. Rarely use the home phone these days anyway.

[Zaps]

When I take a call, the person on the other end has approximately one second to speak before I hang up. They should not be speaking to others. They should not be taking a swig of coffee. They should be waiting to speak, because they have called me.

Almost as bad are the people who pick up a 'phone and say "Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Are you there? Hello? Hello? Is anyone on the line? Hello? Hello?..."

HANG UP, ALREADY!

:mad2: :P

[lacad01]

I like that approach :)
Also get annoyed by the door to door sales-people from the telcos, pay-tv, energy compainies, etc that knock on the door right in the middle of dinner :mad2:

[multiweb]

Still need one for broadband service though.

[mswhin63]

It has become an epidemic now, I call customers that are referred by Audiologist and they assume I am a telemarketer. I have had to introduce myself very differently now in an attempt not to be hung up on.

Marc: Naked DSL does not require a home line number anymore.

[mswhin63]

My business call costs have skyrocketed as a result. I have to pass on the costs though. Fortunately in a lot of cases they are not answered due to drop-outs etc and I leave a message.

Although now-a-days I need a mobile and have 2 of them I very rarely use them because of their expense. I use them mostly for receiving calls and have the answering machine disabled.

[multiweb]

So when you buy an ADSL package it is possible not to pay line rental?

[shelltree]

My Dad always picks up the phone of an evening now and doesn't say anything, then when he hears the foreign voice he hangs up straight away. It has, however, backfired on a few occassions when his friends have called :P

[shane.mcneil]

I like arguing with them to see how well they handle my objections. One lady from Austar was excellent, she had a come back for every excuse I gave. I eventually just had to say no thanks. Then she asked if my wife would be interested!!!

[astroron]

Yes Ric, that's what I do, No talk I no pick up the phone:P

[Visionoz]

Yep, that's right Marc, Naked ADSL is just that - the ISP provides and pays for the landline to your premises and you just pay the ADSL fees; though you cannot use the landline to dial-out

Cheers
Bill

[AndrewJ]

I just hang up now if no one answers within the first hello
But
Can anyone beat this
I got rung by a machine, and as soon as i answered
it told me to "hold for an important connection"
then immediately put me on hold with elevator music:shrug:

That call didnt last long :D

Andrew

[Jen]

:lol::lol: great minds think alike Dave i say the same thing LOL LOL :lol:

[pgc hunter]

Had two of these creatures call me yesterday, between 7 and 8pm, right on dinner.

One wanted to sell me some phone.....I told him "can I get your phone number so I can call you at the exact moment your having dinner after a long day of burrowing your parasitic germs into innocent people to sell you a phone you already *&$^& have!" in a mock indian accent....

The next one was some pro-environment greenie type thing, this time I asked him a whole bunch of random lewd and offensive questions and finished by informing him of how greenies are the human equivalent of dung beetles.

Neither of them could speak english ofcourse.

[mswhin63]

I understand the frustrations but being rude is not really the answer. Most telemarketers have no caller ID. Just don't answer this calls and let tem go to an answering machine. They are poeple employed doing a job that is asked of them by a boss that doesn't care. It is the boss that should be dealt with.There are so many people out of work over the world they can't help but to get a job to feed the kids.

The Do Not Call register is really something that should consider instead of being offensive.

[avandonk]

I understand the pain. When I had a landline I got so many unwanted telemarketers I used to explain in words of one syllable where they could insert their product/charity/homeless millionaires etc.

There was then a spate of calls at very early hours.

So I ditched the landline and only answer calls that show their number on the mobile.

Now nobody rings at all, shear bliss!

Why does the word for syllable have more than one syllable? Another unanswered mystery.

Although now they come to the door at evening meal time! One even left the gate open as my vicious homicidal Jack Russel chased him off and up
the street!


Bert

[mswhin63]

:lol::lol:

[pgc hunter]

They should get a real job and furthermore it is not my burden to carry if someone is out of work and cant feed their kids, and if someone is offended by this, I honestly don't give 2 hoots.

I like the personal satisfaction that comes from telling off an annoying telemarketer.