"and for security purposes, please can you confirm..."

[Crazy_Fool]

had a phone call last week ... i wasn't in a very good mood .... conversation went something like this .....

caller: "hello, is that mr crazy fool?"
me: "maybe, maybe not."
caller: "hi, i'm from your gas company. for security purposes, please can you confirm your address?"
me: "yes i can, but for security purposes, i need you to prove that you are indeed from the gas company before i give you any information"
caller: "yes, can you confirm your address please?"
me: "yes i can, but for security purposes, i need you to confirm that you are from the gas company. please can you confirm my account number?"
caller: "sorry, but we can't give out confidential information until you confirm your address so that we know we're speaking to mr crazy fool"
me: "sorry, but for security purposes i need you to confirm that you are who you say you are before i give out any confidential information"

5 minutes later we still hadn't broken the stalemate and the conversation ended. the caller was pretty flustered at the end. i'd won. i was very pleased with myself.

today the b*st*rds cut off my gas.

[Woz]

>go through the "press 1" thing several times

We have that here as well, irks me a great deal. Even Telstra, (Aussie Telecom) have voice recognition for looking up phone numbers or account enquiries. I refuse to play their game. If I want to do things electronically I use a computer. If I use a phone I expect to speak to a real person. So I simply put the phone on speaker and continue quietly tapping away at the computer until their system realises I am not pressing buttons or speaking and says "We are having difficulty obtaining your information, please hold while we connect you to an operator." I then usually get things done much more quickerer talking to a real person.

The thing is though, in years to come, I may think I am talking to a real person ...

<sigh> progress ...

Onya
Woz

[cornwall]

Reading this thread, there must be a lot of bloody minded individuals logging on to WebmasterWorld ;)

[Woz]

Nah!, just four of us, but we move around a lot!

Onya
Woz

[OntheEdge]

caller: "hi, i'm from your gas company. for security purposes, please can you confirm your address?"

its amazing how when there's a scam involving big companies, particularily utilities, that their first word to the media is....
"we would never request personal information unless you call us" they always add "if someone calls and says they are from widget power, then ask you for personal information, you should report them to the authorities"
Crazy fool....don't feel bad they were gonna do it anyways, they just forgot which customer they drew out of the hat.

[Mikkel Svendsen]

DrCool, you got the best one so far! LOL

[HowlingWizard]

I use a few basic responses (abuses) for telemarketers.

1) "This call may be recorded for future legal action, now proceed" This gets many hang ups. One guy said that is neat I going to use it at home.

2) Ask for their credit card number. When they ask why I state my billable rate of $150/hr, 2 hr minimum. No one has given me a number yet.

3) When I like being rude: "Lady why don't you get a respectable job like streetwalking?"

After over a dozen calls in 2 weeks from one vendors I sent a simple letter to corporate with my rates ($200/call). The calls stopped.

I cancelled one long distance carrier with specific notice about their 'telemarketing bimbo repeatly pushing what I said no to' They did call couple more times before getting the point.

I did get one credit card company telemarker to admit that the only to get them to stop calling with 'special offers' was to cancel the card.

[Alphawolf]

Why would ya'll pick up a call from an 'unavailable' or 'private' number? Isn't there Caller ID in UK and Australia?

The worst have to be the taped messages that are left on answering machine and voicemail no matter what.

I need to dial a 1-866 number to access VM, then I'm told if there is a message if in an extension mailbox, if not- I enter the Mian mailbox.

Then I must enter my 6 digit code. Then i must Press 1 to keep my custom message. Then I must dial 11 to hear new messages. Then punch 7 to delete.

All that for an automated recording telling me I won a cruise or a 'special offer' on satellite TV.

Ugh...

AW

[Requnix]

The person who phoned you was a representative from that gas company, it is highly likely that the conversation was recorded, so you should have enough grounds to take the company to court on charges of miss-conduct.

[Ross]

Yeah Crazy_Fool, call them and tell 'em that you'd like a copy of the recording because you're going to sue for misconduct.....now where did I put that tape? ;)

[RussellC]

I went to Fry's the other day to pick up a motherboard I saw advertised on their online site (outpost). The price advertised on the site somehow was cheaper than the price in the store, so when I went to check out I told them that it was less on their web site and I wanted it for the cheaper price. They cashier said, let me get a manager. The manager came by and said "We do not price match with online stores." And I said, "Umm, but it is YOUR online store" And they said, that it didn't matter and they don't price match from online stores. Anyways, after causing a ruckus and talking to manager after manager, I promtly left thats store and havent been back since. That is the dumbest policy I have ever heard of.

[Gibble]

Lots of stores have web exclusive sales and won't match instore...granted it's stupid, but their is less overhead selling online so they can lower the price more than they can instore. Selling it instore for that price they may actually lose money on the sale.

[DaveN]

I had a call only last night :

Young Girl : Hello mr daven you have won a luxury holiday for two all you have to do is attend a meeting in one of our luxury hotels an pick up the tickets. (very happy tone in young ladies voice)

Me : Great! I Knew my luck was going to change.

Young Girl : Luck, why? (slightly quiter tone)

Me : my boss has been sleeping with my wife apparently, and they ran off with each other leaving the company I work for Bankrupt.

Young Girl : actually it was for you and your parnter..... if you a single now you would be able to go. ( sympathetic voice )

Me : It's OK you can come with me whats you mobile number I'll drive anywhere to meet you tonight and maybe we can book in to a hotel.

Young Girl : sorry mr daven i could not do that i have a boyfriend.

Me : does he know that you have just rang me, and offered to take me on holiday.. You are just like my wife, your just a tease, i bet you are going to hang up now and call some other poor guy, you you your really sick you . ( really upset voice)

Young Girl : I'm really really sorry ... goodbye.

after she hung up my wife gave me a right telling off and made me do the washing up :(

DaveN

[indigochild]

My little one (3) just loves to talk on the phone ....

On average telemarketers hang up after 3 minutes of him talking about blues clues....

works like a charm!

[cornwall]

When you start to get into this thing, it is incredible how many of these calls one gets in a day

Right now ts 7.15 in the evening in the UK, phone has just gone

"hello, is that Cornwall"

"Are you trying to sell me something?"

"No, you are on our records as requesting investment information"

"You are theying to sell me something...click"

Now that call was from someone in the USA. I thought I was careful to use a fake phone number everywhere (ref an earlier poster who uses 555 555, I find it more amusing to use 666 6666 everywhere - sign of the devil).

Why does someone in the USA call me in the UK to try to sell me investments - and its in the middle of a war.

[OntheEdge]

If they call you back, tell them only if they can sell you Oil& Gas penny stocks....

[vik_c]

Why not call them to your own home and tell them to take you off their list :) A little cruel but some of these companies can get really annoying. I did think there was a list of telephone numbers in the US telemarketeers weren't allowed to call and if they did they would have to pay good money in damages.

[HowlingWizard]

The US Do Not Call Registry [ftc.gov] starts up registrations in July and goes to active blocking in the Fall. Hopefully it will reduce the telemarketers.