Finance company cold calling

[Wend]

Having recently advertised our MH for sale we received a telephone call asking if itwas still for sale in in good condition. Thinking that it was a boni fida caller I transfered the call to my husband. It transpired that it was a company called MotorWorld Finance and they wanted us to pay £79 up front because they had people queuing up to by our van, but who needed finance. My husband obviously declared that if they had so many people interested, they (the buyer) could contact us direct and than if it was what they wanted they could return to this company for finance. No,no,no,no, you have to pay the money first was the rude reply after my husband refused. With this the woman slammed the phone down. SO BE WARNED- someone might be innocently hooked into thinking they have buyers for their MH and send off £79. >:-)

[Guest Frank Wilkinson]

I really object to unsolicited phone calls and have recently derived some pleasure from my new method of dealing with them.

Whenever someone phones to tell me that I can have double glazing fitted at a special price, or that they have hundreds of people waiting to buy my car I always say: "Brilliant, yes, I'm really interested - oh God, I'm sorry, there goes the door bell, but don't go away, I really want to take you up on this".

I then lay down the phone and get on with what I'm doing. I once had a double glazing firm hang on for twenty minutes before taking the hint. The thing is that these people are so used to immediate rejections that when someone shows interest they get all excited! Occasionally, after I eventually hang up they will ring back in the hope that I'd simply forgotten them. If they do I say: "Oh, sorry about that, that must have been my father, he's the one with all the money in this house, hang on, I'll go and get him". I then do the same thing, lay down the phone and get on with my life until they eventually take the hint and hang up.

I'm a businessman but I would never intrude on my customers with unsolicited phone calls and anything that we can do to stop this nuisance must be welcomed. I also take pleasure from knowing that, while I'm tying them up for ages, they can't be ringing other people.

[Mel E]

The simple answer is to register with the Telephone Preference Society (www.tpsonline.org.uk). Once this has had a chance to be processed onto their lists, it is actually AGAINST THE LAW for any business to make unsolicited phone calls to you.

 

We still get one every three months or so, but that's a lot better than it used to be. And you can always ask for their details (say you're having problems with your line and you may get cut off). Once you have them, point out that you are registered with TPS and this call should not have been made and that you will therefore report them for breaking the law. They usually hang up very quickly!

[Keith T]

Hi Frank,

what a simply brilliant idea...never thought of that one. Admittedly they seem to have a habit of calling at teatime, when we never answer the phone. It goes on to the answerphone - but guess what, never any message; do a 1471, guess what- no number either!

By and large though we don't have a problem as we've 'extracted' ourselves from most lists, and all we get now is the occasional 'you've won a holiday.....'. Then my usual request to put the details in writing is met with the phone being put down by the caller!

[Clive]

I am always very polite.

After listening to their long explanation I respond with "I think you need to speak to my dad, I will go and get him". I then place the phone on the table and see how much of a phone bill I can run up for them before they catch on and hang up!

 

Saves all the arguement!

 

Happy New Year.

 

C.

 

[kelly58]

When I used to get cold callers before we set up caller preference service I used to let them make an appointment after a long conversation with them and say that I would be happy to see them at their convenience and make an appointment for them to make their visit, it was then that I would say as I am a very busy person my charge to them for taking up my time would be £25.00 an hour with a minimum charge of £50 then I would say I hope this is in order I will be looking forward to your visit. No one ever came and they never called back. :-> :->

[Dave Newell]

One of my favourites was a frineds mother who was continually being pestered by a national double glazing company. After a few weeks or so of annoying calls and repeatedly telling them she did not need double glazing as her house already had it she gave in and made an apointment for a rep to call.

 

He turned up on the due day and when she answered the door he said "I'm not quite sure why I'm here, you already seem to have double glazing!", she said "how clever of you to notice, now please go back to your office and tell the berks in your telesales that 'cos they don't listen to me!".

 

Personally speaking, at home we have subscribed to the telephone preference service that Mel mentioned above and it has worked. At work I haven't bothered yet, I just politely say one of two things; "I'm sorry but I'm not interested" or " I'm sorry but I'm a bit bust just now, if you give me your number I'll phone you back, probably about 8PM when I'll be free to talk and we can discuss your marvelous offer". So far nobody has given me their number.

 

D.

D.

[breakaleg]

my friend strings them along, by saying; yes actually i'm very interested in having new windows and doors, (how many windows do you require sir) well let me see, three stories high, three windows per story, four on the ground floor, french windows. (very excited sales person, can we give you a quote sir) yes, but let me check with the housing assosiation first.

they always hang up after that.

pete (lol) (lol) (lol)

[Cattwg]

Yes Wend,

We had exactly the same calls, from three different companies, including Motorworld Finance, when we advertised our 'van early last year. MMM often warns its private advertisers against these people.

My reaction was similar to yours and of course we did not accept their offer.

Just as a point of interest, we received most enquiries and our eventual sale from an advert in our local evening paper.

Hope your sale is successful.

Regards Cattwg :-D

[Wend]

Thanks cattwg,

Appreciate that you actually experienced a phone contact from the same company, doubleglazing is a familiar one- my son-in-;law actually says 'we only rent the house' and that cuts them off. I wasn't inputing for them just for MH users! Thanks for the advice. Regards Wend

[michele]

Yep ,

have to agree so annoying I usually say yes yes ok when can you come.

and then right at the end I say do you think the council will pay for them then . That usually does the trick. I registered with the phone thing but it hasn't worked for us . (^)

[Pat]

I've just had the same this company had people queuing up too by mr RV, I was getting quite excited it all sounded so good then the request for money came!!! Also as extra bait there was a special deal 'this month only' the one off fee had been halved, needless to say I not too politely declined.

 

This did remind me of years ago I kept getting cold sale calls at my yard particularly for fax machines, after a spell of repeatedly running across to answer these I was fed up with the waste of time and energy, so on a couple of occasions I said it would be great to have one of these new fangled machines (it was a long time ago) so the salesperson excitedly made an appointment for the rep to call. When he came I asked how this great thing worked? He would take the fax out put it on the desk and plug into the phone line then ask where the electric socket was they were always annoyed when I told them we were in an isolated yard and lucky to even have a phone let alone electricity! Several berated that I should have told the saleperson we didn't have electricity I said innocently no one asked and I didn't know that I needed it!!!

 

It was hard to keep a straight face.

 

Regards Pat

[Mel E]

I'm fascinated by all the ways you lot have devised to waste these companies' time. Unfortunately it's not usually the campanies' time you're wasting.

 

You should be aware that most of these telesales people are not very well off and are trying to make an extra buck or two. They are mostly paid only by results, so if you keep them hanging on for ever with an untrue promise of success, they earn no money and you waste their time.

 

Much better to do as Dave says and politely say: 'Not interested!'. And then register for the TPS so you no longer get these calls.

[Clive]

We registered with both TPS and also with Royal Mail to stop junk mail.

neither are that successfull. We still get both. Plus email spam as well. Perhaps the poor sods who do this on the phone should change to a job that adds value to our lives and not a nuisance. Sorry but I don,t feel sorry for them at all! Is tele sales the phone variant of the Big Issue?

 

C.

 

 

[oldlowie]

We registered for TPS and the volume of cold calls reduced to just a trickle. We actually enjoy the odd cold call now, because we were given this script to turn the tables on the caller by asking the following:

 

To whom am I speaking?

Could you spell your name for me?

How did you get this number?

Is this your full time job?

What else do you do?

How long have you been in tele-sales?

Do you like your job?

How much do you earn?

Do you get time off to go to the dentist?

Is it important to have good teeth for your job?

Which toothpaste do you recommend?

Do you have a problem with answering questions from a stranger?

 

That last one you can ask as soon as you are rumbled as a time-waster, so far I have only ever got to question 4. Try it for a giggle. And don't waste your time feeling sorry for these people; they could always get a proper job...