Another unusal fone call

[Guest tomdbomb61]

my fone started ringing yesterday, and an unknown nuber was displayed. so i answered the fone, and there was a sales guy on the other end, sayin i believe u are nearing the end of ur 12 month line rental mr james, would you be interested in switching to such and such a company for your next line rental?? however i only got the fone and the line rental in december!

how and why wud someone (not from Orange) ring me up saying that??

many thanks tom

[Guest Hax]

It may be someone from the company you bought the phone from - or your last phone if like me you've kept it (on Orange Virgin OVP of course!) but set up every phone for "free" call forwarding to your new number!

Other than that, I have no idea - I don't think that Orange are in the habit of giving out people's personal details to other companies - but I could be wrong there!

Adam

[Guest exodus842]

I've had four of those phone calls! I only started my orange contract in November, and i had three different companies leave messages on my answer fone asking if id like to upgrade as i was nearing the end of my contract. Then a person rang up yest asking the same thing, so i told him id only had my fone a few months, so he said he'd change the database they had. Kinda strange tho

[Guest Rob.P]

^ Same here, never had anyone phone me up before about mobile phone offers, but I upgrade to the SPV (I've been with O for about 2-3yrs) and now I have had about 4. Wouldn't mind but they are a complete waste of time for me and the sales person on the other end.

"Why of course I'd like to downgrade my phone to a crappy Nokia 33 series, which costs considerably less than my current phone and does 99% less"

[Guest pibrahim]

I had exactly the same yesterday!

I'm nearing the end of my 12 month contract, would I like to 'upgrade' to a Nokia 3510?

Whats this all about guys? Surely this many errors is very dodgy?

[Guest pibrahim]

Bearing in mind - I bought my SPV from the Orange shop (not online, physical shop), and this number is brand new with my phone - I wasn't on a previous contract and didn't port the number or anything...

[Guest castlebrae]

Politely ask who they are, and where did they get your number from? Tell them you believe that their company may be in breach of the Data Protection Act and ask to speak to their supervisor.

You will probably find they will hang up and not bother you again. ;)

[Guest Kal-el]

If u bought it from an orange shop then ur details are secure. The only thing is the little tick box that says Orange may pass them on to their selected companies. Anywhere else i couldn't tell u the policy but it seems to be the "directory" of sales dates that tell them roughly. if u upgraded early then that will completely bamboozle them ;)

Sounds like a good offer - bin the SPV for a 3510 - yeah ok.

[Guest benzo]

When u sign up for "send free SMS messages" websites, they ask for your telephone number, operator and type of service - PAYG/ monthly contract.

if you are on a monthly contract, the site owners sell your details to mobile phone vendors who then cold call you.

Voila!

[Guest Kal-el]

that'd work too ;)

There's always a get out clause or box to uncheck but if ur honest u probably don't notice for sheer laziness!

[Guest fixit]

I've registered my three personal numbers with the telephone preference service http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tpsr/html/default.asp

In theory I think you can threaten cold callers with OFTEL if they call you after doing this - there is some vague guideline in the industry that stipulates that they have to check this register before they dial. I definitely noticed a huge reduction in the number I was getting, and if I get the odd one now and then I just ask for a company name and operative name and thent hreaten with OFTEL - takes about ten seconds and always gets rid of them.

Alternatively, just keep your number quiet! I've had my main one for about six years so it slipped onto a couple of marketing lists.

[Guest HelloDave]

I had a lot of problems a few months ago with telemarketers ringing my phone and asking me if i'd like to "take advantage of their special upgrade offer" and I got very annoyed becase i'd never given out my number, and I had call redirect on it, so I paid for any calls to me! I decided to leave the longest voicemail message I could to annoy anyone phoning me (unfortunately you only get 1 minute on Orange ;)) and becuase it was quite sarcastic I recieved a few "interesting" voicemails, including one along the lines of "well mate, our calls ain't monitored, so f**k you!". I should point out that although my "greeting" was sarcastic (and in a bizarre Michael Parkinson esque accent) it didn't contain any swearing or insults to telemarketers, and I got quite a few voicemails of just laughter, with "come and listen to this Bob" in the background, so I must have kept some people amused!

Anyway, getting back to the point... One day I got a marketing call that I actually answered as I had the phone with me, and had a bit of a go at the poor guy on the other end. To his credit he was actually quite sympathetic, gave me the number for the TPS and offered to try and delete my number from his database! I phoned up Orange and they told me the calls were nothing to do with them; supposedly companies generate phone numbers automatically and just phone them at random - they don't even know who they're calling! It seems to make sense, although I don't know if some of it was Orange giving me BS to get rid of me!

If I do get a marketing call though, I like to have some fun with them (i'm so mean!). A Papa Lazarou impression can normally get rid of anyone within a minute; they get freaked out by the time i get to "My wife would like to use your toilet" (ignore me if you've never seen League of Gentlemen) but Michael Parkinson is quite effective too. For the less adventurous you can always try these handy hints, courtest of The Times :)

- Pretend you are a bit deaf and get them to repeat everything several times, louder and louder

- Ask them to spell their name. Then how to spell their company name. Then ask them where their company is, how long its been in business, how they got into this job, if they have kids etc for as long as is necessary

- Insist the caller is a friend playing a joke; "Come on Phil, cut it out! Seriously, how are the kids?"

- Tell them you are busy at the moment but if they give you their number you will call them back. When they explain they can't give out their home number say "I guess you don't want anyone bothering you at home right? Neither do I!" :wink: