"I'll take annoying phone calls for 200"

Once upon a time I could let all non-local calls go to voicemail, but those days are only a memory. With the ability for folks to move across the country and keep their phone number, I now have a significant percentage of my customers who have phones with non-local area codes. So now I answer just about everything. As for the scammers and time wasters, I've tried everything from hanging up to discussing their lineage to blocking their numbers. Adding their numbers to the call block list on my cell worked great until I maxed out the capacity of the list. These days I alternate between playing along to waste their time if I'm not busy or being rude and abrasive if I don't have time to play.

If I happen to be short-tempered that day, then I'll immediately start mashing buttons. If there's anyone living on the other end, they tend to hang up quickly.

Otherwise, I occasionally find it entertaining to string them on as long as I can without actually relaying any information whatsoever. I figure the more of their time I can waste, the better.

On a side note, anyone else getting constant calls from health insurance salespeople? They make me think of ambulance-chasing lawyers, they just canvass call small businesses nonstop.

I have fun with unsolicited calls from people that sound like they're from New Delhi or Mumbai. I start happily asking them to say words like "Albuquerque" and "disestablimentarianism"...or I pull out Yosemite Sam and start acting like I "can't understand a goll-derned thing you're a-sayin'...talk NORMAL dagnabit!"

I usually am not the one that hangs up first.

If the voice is female I like to quietly ask them what they're wearing...;)

paden cash, post: 434256, member: 20 wrote: If the voice is female I like to quietly ask them what they're wearing...;)

I stayed in a Marriott hotel for the Utah GIS Convention a few months ago and in Zanesville OH a week before that. About a week later I started getting 3 to 10 calls per day trying to sell me Marriott timeshares in Park City: "Hello: Your recent stay at a Marriott property has made you eligible for a week stay....blah-blah-blah"

I called the hotel manager in Park City and let them know that I would never stay in another Marriott property as long as I lived. (I was pretty aggressive in my tone.) Since I can spend 120 nights per year in hotels, it might be difficult to avoid them. But I will.

Then just the other day I read about the FCC's largest fine ever:

[ FCC Fines... ]

Looks like the calls had nothing to do with Marriott or my stay. And the thing where the call comes from a number which is only a few hundred off from my phone number is irksome.

Anyway, back on subject: I installed an app called 'Mr. Number' on my phone and I think that it actually works. I have not gotten another sales call.

I am probably missing 20 calls from legitimate customers per day too, but the peace and quiet is nice.

"oh, cool, thanks for calling. Can I have your social security number? I'm so sorry, I cannot process your call without your social... I'm so sorry, that is not a valid number... Perhaps you should try back when you are feeling more cooperative. Have a nice day!"

Nate The Surveyor, post: 434249, member: 291 wrote: We are getting enough of these, that it interferes with our normal business.
Recently, they have come up with a way to fake it, and make it look like a local call. From the area we live, and work.
Has anybody a creative way to give these scammers, and time wasters a dose of their own medicine?

Thanks

N

If they don't leave a message I don't return their call...

If I'm on a call, and somebody beeps in, (I have call waiting) then, and it's a local number, I don't know if it's legit any more.
N

I have a two pronged attack:

The first line of defense is for me to put you in my contacts if I have or ever will do business with you. The second is to not answer unless an actual name pops up because you're already in my contacts. This means I trust the customer/potential customer will leave a message.

This has drastically reduced the number of these calls that I get. I think the robo-dialer records the actual answered numbers and they come to the top of the list more often. Remember, although you get to talk to a real person sometimes, that person is not actually dialing your number. The robo-dialer software is dialing 5 to 10 numbers at any one time to get a hit to keep one or two of the real people trying to scam you on the phone. Very efficient. Only a thief would think the whole process through that well.

Obviously this would be much more of a battle if I was hoping the hottie I met at the bar last night was trying to get a hold of me, or I didn't have any work. Neither of which is currently a problem, so it's pretty easy to ignore the phone until the time of my choosing.

Steve

I don't answer out of state calls unless they're from an area that I know we have people working. I answer most local calls but as soon as I can tell it's a solicitation I just hang up. No need to be rude beyond that.

I'm just trying to figure out how to be rude to a computer. If any of you guys have figured out how I'd appreciate you sharing.

Nate, I use this.
https://www.amazon.com/CPR-V5000-Call-Blocker-Robocalls/dp/B0191XMBV2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1498594069&sr=8-3&keywords=call+blocker
😎

We were getting between 2 and 8 cals a day here. Wife signed up for a free landline feature called NoMoRobo. Only had one call slip through in the last 2 months.

I didn't do the research, but apparently this has some of the highest reviews: www.nomorobo.com/

Nate The Surveyor, post: 434286, member: 291 wrote: I'm just trying to figure out how to be rude to a computer. If any of you guys have figured out how I'd appreciate you sharing.

For the computers that impersonate a human (If you've had one of these you'll know what I mean), I either give nonsense answers to frustrate it's ability to intelligently respond or I play along to keep their machine tied up. Computers also like it when you randomly press and hold buttons for several seconds at a time, most will hang up. Sort of the reverse of pressing 1 or 0 repeatedly to get to a human on an automated answering system.

I bet Tom Mabe has an idea or two of how to handle them.

Let's remember that these robo calls are generally people trying to steal money from elderly people.
They have no legitimate product or service they are selling.
There is nothing wrong with being rude to them.

Nate The Surveyor, post: 434286, member: 291 wrote: I'm just trying to figure out how to be rude to a computer. If any of you guys have figured out how I'd appreciate you sharing.

I have flipped off an automated toll booth in Chicago before. I am probably on someone's greatest hits youtube montage somewhere.

My primary phone number is through Google Voice. Only the occasional spammer seeps through. There was a time I was getting multiple spam calls a day.

It is also very easy to block unwanted calls that seep through with a couple mouse clicks. No limit that I know of.

For an all too brief period of time, having phone service through Google Voice was free. Something changed (my guess is the feds intervened) and I now have to go through a voip carrier. I can't complain too hard though as it only costs me $60 a year (yes, a year) for a home phone. That used to be about my monthly bill through Verizon. And Google Voice offers a number of the amenities for free that "regular" phone companies overcharge for.

I get way too many calls from out of state numbers that never reply when I answer, so I've set some guidelines and a screen most calls.
I tell clients and friends that if they can not reach me by phone to send me a text message and I will respond and call them when I am not so busy.
I will usually answer the phone when the caller has allowed their identity to show with their number.
Some will block their name and show their number, when I can recognize the number I will answer.
I never answer if the name and number are blocked for view.