Just TC having a rant

[Taffycat]

Do any of you get telephone "hassle" from British Gas?

Like many, we have been BG customers for many years, but just recently - well probably over the past year or so actually - they have turned into nuisance-callers.

It doesn't matter how many times they are told that we DON'T want a new boiler, or to switch to them for our electricity supply, or whatever, they just keep calling.

We're not the only ones of course. I'm not so paranoid that I imagine we are being singled-out in any way, lol. But their "hard-sell" cold-calls are getting out of hand - have you ever "Googled" the phrase "British Gas complaints" or "British Gas nuisance calls" .... I have found many forum threads where contributors are practically tearing their hair with angst, because they have not been able to stop the calls. Some folk are reporting up to fifteen calls in a day! It hasn't grown that extreme for us - yet! But it must be a real pain for the worst affected people.

I am currently awaiting a reply to an e-mailed complaint (which is likely to take about three days, according to the website.) One is apparently "automatically opted-in" to receiving these calls, by default.... so I intend to get us opted-out again. (Note, having TPS registration doesn't have any affect on these callers, it apparently does not apply to them - according to the "homework" I've already carried-out.)

Just what is it with "energy company" reps anyway? Last week, a young fellow claiming to be from "Scottish Power" knocked at the door and rang the bell in that impatient "hurry-up" manner... then (oh wonderful) began to go through his "script" which went roughly like this:

"Hi there sir," (hubby had answered) "How are we today...? There's nothing to worry about," (worry? did hubby LOOK worried...? I think not!) "What it is, is I'm here to ...." and on with his selling speil, which was actually cut a bit short by a firm "No thank you, we're fine!"

Four or maybe five hours later (6:30 pm) there was another urgent knocking and ringing...... yup, same guy. Same speil, but apparently not a very good memory, because when we asked why he had returned twice in one day, he denied his previous visit. (And no, it wasn't a case of "mistaken identity on our part, the little twit had called before, several weeks back.) So was he one of twins? Or did he think he could persuade us over-50 "crumblies" that we were ga-ga? Anyway, another flea was released into his ear-hole and he left, muttering.

Gawd! How I hate, loathe, despise, and feel thoroughly hacked-off by cold callers, either in person or the ones who give us earache on the phone!

Deep, satisfied sigh.... aahhhh, that's better.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Feel better now? Good

I tell 'em when they phone to **** off. Seriously. They soon stop calling.

And I never answer the door to anybody when I don't know if somebody is calling. Ever. I have a video intercom for the communal front door and one of those spy hole thingies in my own front door so can usually see who it is. If I can't see who it is or don't recognise them, then I'm not in, simple.

I did answer the door to some policewomen recently though, they were both in their mid-twenties, plain clothes and were well tasty But somehow I could tell they were old Bill. And they were, they were interviewing everybody as there had been a murder on the ground floor

There are other tacks you can take to phone callers, I sometimes ask them if that's Linda's massage parlour and if the girl with the whip I ordered an hour ago is on her way yet. That usually throws 'em.

 

[Anon_F]

TC get the catnip out!

 

[Taffycat]

Yes, feeling better now, thank you Flopps and yes Feckit, the catnip has kicked-in now.

What you say is spot-on Flopps. We often manage to see who is walking up the driveway, and like yourself, don't bother to answer. They are always selling something, or else they are looking for work. I feel more sympathy for the latter, but of course, it doesn't always mean that they're "kosher." In fact, many are quite the opposite, and can become quite argumentative if they're refused.

We have quite a lot of trees - they were growing long before we came to live here, so the oaks are quite big and are visible from the road. I can't count the number of "tree surgeons" (usually just a bloke with a flat-bed truck, a short ladder and a big saw,) who have turned-up to issue dire warnings. They suck air through their teeth, shake their heads then look "knowingly" at the "offending" tree, before banging on about how it might "come down in a strong wind" etc. It's a wonder they don't also spin a yarn about the goblins who live in the trunk...!

There's a peep-hole thingy on our door too - but the door faces south, so on sunny days, it's a bit like getting your eyeball lasered It's also not unknown for whoever is standing there, to place their thumb over the lens.

We mostly let the answer machine pick up calls, but of course, there are always a few that catch us out, when we're expecting a legitimate call. But... "Linda's massage parlour" has conjoured one or two ideas.... I think I feel a foreign accent coming-on, and might turn into the new and very confused au-pair next time

 

[Urmas]

I tell 'em to **** off.

Works darn well with Jehova's Witnesses at your door. Add decibels to your liking. Gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling, too.

HTH

 

[crazylegs]

Taffycat there is an easy way around your call problem..

My brother is always getting the same messages from cold callers on his phone, know what he does! lets them just speil on talking to themselves and just puts the phone down on the table or sofa and lets them rabble away to there hearts content, remember its them paying for the call not you and they are wasting there own time not yours, just go and get on with whatever you were doing and come back to the phone when your ready, bet they'l be no one on the line and you can just replace the reciever knowing you have a nice warm feeling inside and they have just forked out for a call for no good reason..

Job done!

Works every time I tell ya..

 

[floppybootstomp]

Taffycat there is an easy way around your call problem..

My brother is always getting the same messages from cold callers on his phone, know what he does! lets them just speil on talking to themselves and just puts the phone down on the table or sofa and lets them rabble away to there hearts content, remember its them paying for the call not you and they are wasting there own time not yours, just go and get on with whatever you were doing and come back to the phone when your ready, bet they'l be no one on the line and you can just replace the reciever knowing you have a nice warm feeling inside and they have just forked out for a call for no good reason..

Job done!

Works every time I tell ya..

Aye, I believe Mucks employs a similar strategy. Good one

 

[floppybootstomp]

Works darn well with Jehova's Witnesses at your door. Add decibels to your liking. Gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling, too.

HTH

True dat.

I once made the mistake of telling a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses I was a Satanist. It was fuel to the fire, they decided on the spot they were going to be my salvation. But no qualms or politeness anymore.

Ever noticed how Jehovah's witnesses don't look like real people? They are too smartly dressed, look like they are suffering from an unidentified illness and have a sickly sweet insincere smile permanently in place something like a rictus.

And a clipboard/briefcase/folder full of flyers.

They make me shiver.

 

[TriplexDread]

Repeating the sentence

"I have asked you on several occasions I am not interested in what ever you are offering and have asked you also to stop calling. If it continues, I will take legal action against you within terms of unsolicited calling" usually makes them think twice and has always worked for me

 

[Taffycat]

Interestingly, the auto-diallers used by tele-marketers, will "recognise" an answering machine, (or so I have read) because of the long-ish message, (i.e., it says a bit more than just "hello.") This prompts the auto dialler to hang up, instead of queueing the call ready for the human operator. So, I guess it could be tricked, if one came out with... "Hello, this is Hyacinth Bucket, the lady of the house speaking....." at which point, there will either be a satisfying click as it cuts off, or a very worried relative/friend at the other end!!

Hee hee, the "keep 'em hanging" idea is good too... particularly when they insist upon speaking to Terry..."Oh right, hold on a mo, I'll get him...." but he will need to finish his cuppa first, of course and silly me, kettle hasn't boilet yet, tsk, tsk.

I don't think the Gas board operators would be too bothered about legal threats TXD, due to the "implied agreement to receive marketing calls" which is apparently "ticked" by default, whenever we sign up to anything via the phone. Again, it is something I've read about on a consumer forum. One guy complained very persistently and demanded compensation for his wasted time........ he was asking for a couple of hundred pounds, (if memory serves,) but the Gas board granted him £22, as a goodwill gesture! Lol.

 

[muckshifter]

Oh, I just love cold-callers ... you start by saying;

Hello, this call is being recorded to pass on to my legal representative, can I have your name, the name of your supervisor and could you please repeat the address of your head office ... if they persist, ask them to hold while you seek the person they need to talk to ... then put the phone somewhere nice & noisy


The best solution is ... Get BT to enable 'Anonymous call barring' and 'Caller ID' on your line, invest in a caller ID unit and don't answer the phone to anyone you don't know. my personal solution these days.

 

[Taffycat]

The best solution is ... Get BT to enable 'Anonymous call barring' and 'Caller ID' on your line, invest in a caller ID unit and don't answer the phone to anyone you don't know. my personal solution these days.

We've had caller ID for years but one of the numbers in question, looked like a mobile number so we got caught out.

Aaarrrgh, don't get me started on BT, they're just as annoying. A charge appeared on our bill last summer, for a non-existent engineer call-out. That was well in excess of £100! The last time an engineer visited us, was way back in 1978! We've had such a hassle trying to sort it out that we've pretty much given-up. There are just too many "departments" none of whom seem to be related in any way...... well that's how it seems, when you try to get any sense out of them.

Oops! I feel another rant building.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Ya know, all my life I've had gyp from British Telecom, or whatever they were called in their previous incarnations.

Which makes me wonder, what makes a company PR status so absolutely bad?

I hate BT, I really do, and this is not an emotion I genuinely express with any frequency.

I can only surmise: almost monopoly = arrogance.

Fools.

 

[Taffycat]

Yes! "Arrogance" is the appropriate term Flopps, I would agree; the company has introduced various "call plans" and what-not over the years. On the face of it, they can look good. Get all your calls "free" just pay for the "plan" .........we don't want a bloomin' plan!

We usually pay by DD, purely because it has always been more convenient. But recently, the DD was hiked up from £17.50 per month, to..... wait for it: £40 pm!

The actual cost of the calls we make is always around £12 for the whole quarter. The greater costs are for the line rental £40 and the ******* calling plan!!! Oh yes, and not forgetting the £106 charge for that ghostly, non-existent "engineer visit" which, as I've already mentioned, just did not happen.

The charge is BT's error. It was actually tacked on to our bill after they attempted to alter our bog-standard calling plan, to one of the others. We were phoned one Sunday, late afternoon, a woman gave Terry lots of speil about free calls and he, having just woken from an afternoon siesta, thought it sounded okay. So he agreed.

But the woman had conveniently "forgotten" to mention that not only would this cost more, but it would also automatically put us onto a 12 month contract! (New customers are automatically given a contract these days, but, as long-standing customers, we didn't have one, but changing a call plan gives them the dubious "right" to automatically alter one's contractual status.)

Within 24 hours, we contacted BT to ask them not to alter anything. They assured us that we were well within time to "change our minds" and told us that our old set-up would remain in place. They also apologised for the little oversight when they forgot to mention the contract! Heck, I even insisted on getting them to write to us, to confirm that nothing would change - and they did.

One email was received, with the confirmation that nothing would be changed; it was followed just over a week later, by a snail-mail letter, which welcomed us to our new calling plan! Aaarrrgh! More calls ensued; hours of them. but, despite all their assurances, a couple of months later, when the bill was received, there was the £106 "one-off" charge.

More calls established that it was for the aforementioned "engineer call-out." Which part of we have not seen an engineer, called an engineer, had an engineer to twiddle with our Telecom set-up in any way.... do they not understand?

So, that is why I feel so thoroughly hacked-off with BT - clearly an acronym for Brainless Twits!

Lol, My Daily Rant is not trying to compete with your Friday Blog Flopps

 

[itsme]

What I do> answer and say you will have to talk to the landlord I then give them a £1.50 PM number. hang up and that’s it.

 

[captain zed]

What I do> answer and say you will have to talk to the landlord I then give them a £1.50 PM number. hang up and that’s it.

Very funny mate.......i must collect a few sexline numbers and use that ruse. Also Mucks' idea is a good one......i might try sticking the phone beside the hairdryer......the sound of the hairdryer really gets up my nose lol.

 

[Taffycat]

Result!!

At the beginning of this thread, I mentioned that I'd emailed British Gas to ask them to stop their telemarketing calls.

For a while, it looked as if they were going to ignore it, but then, a couple of days ago, we received an email from them, apologising for not replying - they had apparently been very busy....

A couple more days passed, but this afternoon we received a telephone call from someone at British Gas, acknowledging the complaint and assuring us there would not be any more calls. There was also a confirmatory email from them. Yay! Result! .....Well okay, we'll see what happens after a month or two, but right now, we're feeling chuffed! Lol