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Come back spam! All is forgiven!

4 replies · 1,887 views · Started 13 March 2003

Oh! I am so annoyed!

I keep getting calls from various companies who want to sell me loans and health insurance. These people are special because my usual tricks of "Oh, I could do with a new card since my last card has been cut off" and "yes, I'm sure you can help now that Baines and Earnst have rejected me due to bad credit" don't work!

I tell this woman that I already have a loan and she says "Yes, we are glad that you already have a loan". I tell this woman that I already have health insurance and she says "yes, we are glad that you already have halth insurance".

Arghhhhhhhh!

I tell her if she sends me literature in the post, I'll get back to her (another trick that often works), and she asks some innocent questions....

Name..... Ok
Address..... Ok
DOB..... Ok (for a quiet life, get on with it)
Bank..... Not Ok
Acocunt Number..... NOT OK!!!!!!

So she tells me that it would make my life easier if I gave her my bank details because it would speed things up when I see how wonderful the policy is.

I explained to her that I was not going o give my bank details over the phone to someone I don't know from Eve. She then said that they were a reputable company with AAA status and all that, and I told her that as far as I know, she could be saying that she is representing the WTO and I wouldn't know any better.

Am I too polite and should I have hung up in the middle of the call? The poor woman is only doing her job after all (and judging by her accent, she's from a country where Western companies are paying her pittance).

I prefer e-mail spam to telephone spam any day! It's reached the point where I'm scared to answer the blimmin' phone. It's worse than hearing from my ex (now that is bad).

Any thoughts?

i'ts easier to get tricked on the phone and door salesmen :s
We are raised to be polite, I had a number of calls where I just should have hang up ... The questions start simple, but in the end you are giving away private info without realising it :s
Doesn't bother me anymore, I don't answer are normal phone, people who want me now my cellphone, so I'm sure that the person who's calling isn't calling for me 😃

Same with answering the door, they can ring as much as they wan't, if it are people I know they'll phone up ahead that they are coming.

Maybe I'm a bit anti-social 😛

But I don't need to have people I don't know on my phone or door, so this arrangement works out fine 😉

Or empty your pockets. Get a cheap Caller ID. If its from someone you know pick it up. If it isnt....well you know what to do.

I've tried to rehearse being rude. I bluntly ask what the call is about and in the half way of the reply - in the middle of the sentence if it seems to be a long one - I just say that I'm not interested. Then I hang up. I won't listen the suggestion they usually make about calling about it again later. I just hang up.
I felt really bad about it at first, felt kinda sorry for the fellow who was just doing his job on the other end. But since being nice results in endless discussions, there's no choice. Besides, I always felt bad anyway cause I wasn't buying / supporting / subscribing or whatever even after the long discussion. So now I get it over with quickly. And gradually I've become used to it so it doesn't hurt so much anymore. :-?

So try it. Rehearse. Repeat after me: 'Sorry, I'm not interested. Bye.' :fadein: