Category: Time-Wasters

Any time-wasters not normally classed as scammers or spammers

April 1, 2016

Annoy the Cold Callers by Asking Personal Questions

These callers have a script to follow – it tells them the questions to ask and how to respond to your answers.

But they don’t have a script for when you ask other questions – personal questions.

So, you could for example, tell them you are busy at the moment but will call them back at home that evening and ask for their home phone number. You wont get it – unless they fancy you of course.

If they say they can’t give out a home number then that leads in to the comment “I presume you don’t want anyone bothering you at home, right? Now you know how I feel!”

Or how about this example:-

“while I’ve got you on the line, I’ll just ask you a couple of very brief questions?

Where are you based?

Who do you work for?

What computer systems do you use?

What is your name?

What is the name of your manager?

etc.

Its amazing how people who want to know so much about you are so unwilling to give you information about themselves.

So, annoy the cold callers by asking them personal questions they don’t want to answer.

March 26, 2016

Update on Time-Wasters

So, what rubbish emails and calls have there been to Brooklands Radio station in the last few days?

An email for a private company in Yorkshire looking for local customers. HELLO – we’re in Surrey, 200 odd miles from Yorkshire.

A company offering to write and publicise our recruitment adverts. We’re a volunteer organisation – no ads.

A scammer thanking us for transferring funds for him previously (not true of course) and now wants to transfer $1.5 million dollars through our account for a 10% fee. Yeah – Right !

A secret discount on anti-ageing creams from a Beverley Hills cosmetic surgeon tired of the high prices other surgeons charge and wants everyone to have this secret. Couldn’t possibly be a scam? Could it? Quite pathetic!

A stupid cash company offering a £25,000 pre-approved credit line. We’re a volunteer organisation – we don’t want credit.

These people just waste our time and clog up the Internet with rubbish.

March 19, 2016

Time Wasters

Time-Wasters. These are the people who send out sales emails or make cold sales calls that are inappropriate and a waste of time for you and them. If only they had put in a tiny bit of effort then they wouldn’t have chosen to bother you.

There is an overlap between time-wasters and spammers and cold callers but the difference is that the time-wasters are usually harmless and should have known better.

Some examples from a couple of days of emails and calls to Brooklands Radio station.

Phone calls asking you to answer survey questions. What A waste of time.
Automated PPI calls. Total waste of time.
A caller wanting to speak to the fleet manager. We’re a volunteer radio station – there is no fleet.
Emails about card processing equipment designed for restaurants. We are not a restaurant.
Email about expediting our customer debts. We’re a volunteer organisation – we don’t have customer debts.
Email about an IT support company opening a new office in North England looking for local clients. We’re in Surrey, not North England.
Email from an American logistics company wanting to help us to move our factory production lines. We’re a Radio station – no production lines and even if we did have, then what use is a company that operates only in America?

And so the list goes on. Dumb people who should have put in a little thought rather than phoning or emailing random people who could not possibly want their products or services.

March 11, 2016

How To Stop Cold Callers by Threatening Legal Action

Remember, they called you uninvited – there is no need to be polite. These people can be the bane of your life with repeated calls.

Refer them to non-existent legislation that they may be breaking. Anything that doesn’t follow their script is disconcerting to a cold caller and an authoritative voice warning them of law breaking should stop them immediately.

For example,

My number is registered with the telephone preference service. By calling me you are breaking section 117 of the Telecommunications Act 2012. You are personally liable to a fine of up to £5,000 for a first offence or imprisonment for further offences.

I suggest you get your bags packed.

Goodbye.

This is not true of course – it is just intended to stop the cold caller from pestering you.

March 4, 2016

Graham Annoys a Car Accident Claim Scammer

Graham says:

I had done some shopping and coming back to the car park a women was about to put a note on my car saying she had accidentally scrapped my car when parking next to me. We exchanged details and her insurance company was excellent ringing me the same day, admitting full liability and got my car fixed within a couple of days and loaning me a car. Great I thought.

But then I was plagued by calls from legal firms wanting to claim personal injury for me. They claimed the insurance company had set aside a sum of money for my personal injury. I just kept telling them I wasn’t interested.

Then I decided to waste their time as they were wasting mine.

So, next caller I answered her questions about the accident and waited till she got to the end of the process then said casually

“Does it make any difference whether I was in the car at the time of the accident?”

“You weren’t in the car?”

“NO”

“You’ve just wasted my time on this”

“NO! You phoned me. You wasted My Time!”

That’s good riddance to one annoyed cold caller.