Rip off phone calls

LizzyA

Registered User
Feb 21, 2013
72
0
Near Reading
I got so angry earlier when I found my mum confused and worried by yet another scam phone call that I sent this after googling the number and tracing it to a sales company........Mum has a business calls blocker but is obviously on some kind of gullible list and still receives some calls - all from Bournemouth based companies. I doubt that they will reply but I enjoyed writing it.

Dear Sir/Madam.

You appear to be trying to sell an unwanted package to my mother. She does not need ‘appliance cover’ she already has this, and thanks to companies like you, she could purchase several more policies of this kind on at least a weekly basis.

My mother (who has the phone number xxx) has advanced dementia. You must realise that there is an issue with her memory from the amount of confusion that she displays on the phone. What you don’t understand and don’t have to deal with is the level of stress and distress that your calls cause to my mum.

My brother and I hold power of attorney for our mother. Due to the amount of ‘Bournemouth focused’ phone calls that she receives, we have taken all current, active, payment cards away from mum. So you will never actually manage to sell her anything. Please take note of this and leave her alone. Any further calls will be treated as harassment and reported accordingly.

I hope that you sleep well at night – and that your sales policy is worth compromising every form of moral integrity.
 

dipnstrip

Registered User
Feb 10, 2016
2
0
phone calls

We used to receive a lot of these calls at work but one day I decided to play along with the cold callers for as long as possible without giving any info or agreeing to anything. We found it so much fun to wind these people up we were disappointed when they stopped calling. Yes we accidently stopped them. You are right about a soft touch list I am convinced of it. I have now diverted all home calls to my mobile and am happy to spend twenty minutes stringing them along and from experience they soon stop calling. I even you tube "dealing with cold callers" for pointers. All this is tongue in cheek really as I know the distress they can cause and as a carer time is pretty limited but if you can it is satisfying. Especially when you can get them to blow their stack.
 

Beate

Registered User
May 21, 2014
12,179
0
London
I've said it before and I'll say it again: check whether her phone has a do not disturb feature. On ours I programmed numbers of friends and family in, put them together in a call group and told the phone not to let any other calls through. The phone will still display an incoming call but will be on silent so unless you stand directly in front of it, you won't notice a thing. It has saved us masses of stress and if spam calls don't get answered, they eventually taper off. I have also reported the worst offenders to TPS and ICO.
 

Vera's den

Registered User
Feb 3, 2016
54
0
Lancashire
I got so angry earlier when I found my mum confused and worried by yet another scam phone call that I sent this after googling the number and tracing it to a sales company........Mum has a business calls blocker but is obviously on some kind of gullible list and still receives some calls - all from Bournemouth based companies. I doubt that they will reply but I enjoyed writing it.

Dear Sir/Madam.

You appear to be trying to sell an unwanted package to my mother. She does not need ‘appliance cover’ she already has this, and thanks to companies like you, she could purchase several more policies of this kind on at least a weekly basis.

My mother (who has the phone number xxx) has advanced dementia. You must realise that there is an issue with her memory from the amount of confusion that she displays on the phone. What you don’t understand and don’t have to deal with is the level of stress and distress that your calls cause to my mum.

My brother and I hold power of attorney for our mother. Due to the amount of ‘Bournemouth focused’ phone calls that she receives, we have taken all current, active, payment cards away from mum. So you will never actually manage to sell her anything. Please take note of this and leave her alone. Any further calls will be treated as harassment and reported accordingly.

I hope that you sleep well at night – and that your sales policy is worth compromising every form of moral integrity.

My fil received a call from America two years ago and ended up £6000 out of pocket, he had won a lottery and this was the prize transfer fee of course they told him in dollars so he had no idea what he was giving them. We found out months later when we also found hundreds of scam letters dating back two years which he had answered returning the requested payments he was very methodical and wrote on the envelope of each one how much he sent and when. We now have all Mail redirected. It has gone down from about 100 letters a week to about half a dozen. We also got a phone you can programs to accept certain numbers so he only receives calls from family all others get a message to call our number. Very few do.
 

CynthsDaugh

Registered User
May 5, 2015
139
0
Salford, Lancashire
Cold callers drive me mad! I recently started getting a spate of calls on my mobile for someone I don't know. Either she made up a phone number that happened to be mine or the number was recorded incorrectly. After about the 10th call of me ranting at the caller, the lady there said the calls were from different companies, but as the address on file was Worcester they used a Worcester number to call from (never knew that could be done!). Apparently a lot of sales companies buy the numbers etc. from the same company, which is why I got so many calls. She suggested I e-mailed this company directly to get my number taken off - http://www.versogroup.co.uk/contact-us.html. I also stated in the e-mail not to add my details to their records.

I haven't had any calls since, but it was only about 3 weeks ago so still keeping my fingers crossed.

Sally
 

bazouteast

Registered User
BT nuisance call screening

BT is planning a screening service to stop nuisance calls. Unfortunately it won’t stop them all but its a start. It sounds similar to the Talk Talk service. This site will not allow me to post a link but the full story is on the BBC News website. Search for "BT to divert nuisance calls for free".
 

carrieboo

Registered User
Feb 1, 2016
110
0
herts uk
I rocked up at my Mum's yesterday to find her accumulating a large pile of tea towels, dusters, pet blanket (she doesn't have a pet), oven gloves, oven cleaner.... from a 'lovely lad who's had a really hard time, bless him'. I tried to help him 'repack' his holdall but Mum got really upset and embarrassed so to avoid a scene we ended up with oven gloves, pet blanket and 3 dusters for £30. £30!! I could have wrung his neck.

Another example of trying to protect her without riding roughshod over her independence, but, goodness, it's a delicate balance. Dread to thing how much she would have spent if I hadn't turned up.....
 

jugglingmum

Registered User
Jan 5, 2014
7,085
0
Chester
Thanks for links. I'm going to follow those up for me. I'm registered on TPS (have been for 15 years) but still get lots of UK calls.

I am fed up of window scrappage scheme calls. OH seems to get kitchen scrappage scheme calls.

Mum had stopped using the phone, mainly due to deafness but she did comment that she hated these calls. She also stopped giving to charity as she hated the fact that once she gave (a very small amount I suspect) she kept getting inundated with mailshots.
 

LizzyA

Registered User
Feb 21, 2013
72
0
Near Reading
We subscribe to everything possible but it doesn't seem to be 100% - but is better than it was at the point when we decided to activate the POA and take mum's cards etc away. Never an easy decision. I genuinely hate these people.
 

CJinUSA

Registered User
Jan 20, 2014
1,122
0
eastern USA
I do understand that it is good to get our frustrations at such situations out. One year, at a time when my mother still lived alone and was undiagnosed, she gave away 6,000 to different organizations. Several of them write just as soon as they get money. To one organization she gave 400 in a matter of months.

Even so, I question the wisdom of providing unknown third parties with the information that my parent has dementia, especially if the parent lives alone. It's no one's business. I fear it might invite someone unscrupulous to come knocking on the door, given that they have the number and could trace the address . . . . I would urge caution in letting *any*one know this information. Even with my mother living with us, we don't mention her condition . . . .
 

Saffie

Registered User
Mar 26, 2011
22,513
0
Near Southampton
TalkTalk has free Call blocking and Call barring services.
One blocks the last number called and the other bars all unknown callers. They have worked brilliantly for me whereas the TPS hasn't.
I do feel it is the company which is to blame and not the people doing the calling as they are simply obeying orders and trying to do a job and probably only receive payment for productive calls. So, although frustrating, I really feel it is a little harsh to 'have fun' with them.
 
Last edited:

CrystalWand

Registered User
Nov 9, 2015
32
0
I have heard so many heartbreaking stories of people who have parted with £1,000's (£10,000's even) to these companies, mainly by these 'prize draw' letters but also by way of phone call scams (I worked in consumer advice before I retired).

Many elderly people succumb but it can happen to anyone. If I had £1 for everyone who said to me 'I can't believe I fell for it' I would be able to afford a very nice holiday indeed :(

People are often targeted after responding to adverts, entering competitions, anything really, and once they do they go on a 'Suckers list' (yes, that is what it's called) :( and become a target for more.

Many are frightened to admit to anyone, least of all their family as they are so ashamed :( and so their losses go undiscovered for a long time.

I too would be very wary of making it known there was anyone vulnerable at a particular address/number, be it by way of dementia or whatever as it gives them information to enable them to tailor their calls etc - 'I am calling about the memory problems you have... we have something we can help you with....' etc. I have heard of more than one person called by a company about an 'assumed' health problem - easy to get a few people with painful joints, mobility problems etc by chance and the caller implies they are calling from their GP surgery... :eek:

Taking away cards etc stops them spending but doesn't stop them agreeing to a visit from a salesman and the stress that causes. And ultimately even verbal agreement to something might involve court action to try and prove the person didn't have capacity.

I love your letter but please read this first - https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/c...opping-someone-vulnerable-from-being-scammed/

Please report the calls etc to Citizens Advice/Trading Standards/Action Fraud. There is criminal legislation which they can enforce with evidence.

Safeguarding also comes into it so maybe speak to Age UK or the SW. Your local CAB may have a scheme to help keep your family safe :)

If it was me I would write a letter to get it off my chest and then bin it rather than sending it and concentrate getting advice from one of the above for stopping calls/mail getting through if at all possible.

The phones which only allow programmed numbers to call you sound great.

TPS is great for UK calls but not for calls from abroad.

Be extremely wary of companies who offer to block calls for you - sometimes they will bombard people with sales calls and then follow up with a 'call blocking service' so please do check these out before agreeing to anything as they charge - and think - how they are going to block calls from an unknown number? They are likely not what they appear to be (obviously this doesn't include service providers like BT).

And some of the callers are SO aggressive :mad: I usually politely decline saying I know it's their job but I admit to retaliating to one call from a salesman trying to tell me he was from microsoft windows as he was so incredibly rude from the beginning of the call and I couldn't resist. I told him I was so grateful for his call as we really did need new double glazed windows.... :D and after about 15 minutes of trying to explain he wasn't selling windows he gave up and (finally) the calls stopped ;)
I wouldn't advise doing that normally though....

In the end we ditched our landline :D
 

Aisling

Registered User
Dec 5, 2015
1,804
0
Ireland
I got so angry earlier when I found my mum confused and worried by yet another scam phone call that I sent this after googling the number and tracing it to a sales company........Mum has a business calls blocker but is obviously on some kind of gullible list and still receives some calls - all from Bournemouth based companies. I doubt that they will reply but I enjoyed writing it.

Dear Sir/Madam.

You appear to be trying to sell an unwanted package to my mother. She does not need ‘appliance cover’ she already has this, and thanks to companies like you, she could purchase several more policies of this kind on at least a weekly basis.

My mother (who has the phone number xxx) has advanced dementia. You mIust realise that there is an issue with her memory from the amount of confusion that she displays on the phone. What you don’t understand and don’t have to deal with is the level of stress and distress that your calls cause to my mum.

My brother and I hold power of attorney for our mother. Due to the amount of ‘Bournemouth focused’ phone calls that she receives, we have taken all current, active, payment cards away from mum. So you will never actually manage to sell her anything. Please take note of this and leave her alone. Any further calls will be treated as harassment and reported accordingly.

I hope that you sleep well at night – and that your sales policy is worth compromising every form of moral integrity.

Fair dues. Brilliant.

Aisling
 

WORRIER123

Registered User
Oct 1, 2015
1,174
0
I got the BT phone blocker. It's great. It can block all unknown calls or ones you specify
Recommended no more unwanted calls
 

CJinUSA

Registered User
Jan 20, 2014
1,122
0
eastern USA
We use CPR CallBlocker. It hooks into the line and has 400 pre-programmed numbers that it blocks. The call comes in, we check the caller ID, and if it's no one we know, block goes the button. I love it.