Annoying Phone Solicitors

I had a guy call with a foreign accent and I asked what is the name of the company, why are you calling me, how did you get my number, etc. He got angry and said lady, I ask the questions, not you...you ask too many questions! And then he hung up on ME! Really bothered me because I wanted to hang up on him :)

I repeatedly get the call telling me they have detected a serious virus on my computer and they want to me to give them access to my computer so they can remove the virus (and steal my financial info). Now every time they call I thank them for calling me and ask them to hold while I get my husband. Every minute or so I tell them to hold another minute that my husband is coming. These people actually get irritated waiting and will ask in a very rude manner where my husband is. I tell them he was cutting the grass but he is coming...when I can tell they are about to hang up on me I will tell them to not ever call me again. They still call but not as frequent.

Thanks for posting this. I have enjoyed the responses and have some great ideas for the next phone call I receive. 😊

We get scam calls sometimes.
My favorite is some person claiming to be Microsoft calling me to inform me that my computer is giving their server some problems.
Now you have to realize it's a hobby of mine to play with these people.

One time, they called me with their usual spiel and I respond with:
"Welcome to Microsoft Service Center. How may I help you?".
The guy on the line is like "Are you KIDDING ME!? Where are you located?".
I tell him "We have multiple service centers sir and I'm not able to disclose my location. Please state the nature of your issue so I may direct your call.".
I must have tied him up for almost 15 minutes.

Another time I wasn't as in a playful mood and I told them I WANTED my computer to give their server problems and I LIKED it that way!

Other times I just tell them they've got to be complete idiots because they are NEVER getting what they want from me and they KEEP CALLING ME BACK ANYWAY.

I actually got one of them to swear at me once.
Sounds funny with that Indian accent!

They haven't called me in awhile - but they'll be back someday!

I'm not nice. Whenever I get a scam call from "Windows", I basically shame them until they hang up. "How does your mother feel that you scam people and extort their money? Is she proud of you?"

Yeah, sometimes I'm not very nice. But neither are scammers.

I hear you. I'm on the do not call list too, but that doesn't cover charities and political campaigns, let alone all the people who skirt the rules. I've had multiple IRS scam calls ("We're sending the cops to pick you up if you don't reply and settle your debt"). They definitely prey on older people who aren't so savvy. My mother got sucked in by the line "We've detected problems on your computer" and nearly gave away her account access - sigh.

If you Google "how to get rid of telemarketers" you may come up with some of the comedy routines - including asking for their home phone number so you can call them during dinner, or suggesting there is something unseemly going on in your house (like the police are here and hauling so-and-so out, but they'll be gone in a second, can you hang on?) - that sort of thing. That might give you some entertainment value anyway! When they call and say "I'm not trying to sell you anything," I usually reply, "Of course you are" or "Then there's no reason for us to chat."

My husband's office number forwards to his cell phone after 4 rings, so I usually pick that up and pretend I'm his secretary. If it's a legit call, I handle it. If it's a telemarketer or scammer, and the type who only want to talk to the business owner, I usually have fun with them. The best are the ones who are calling to renew our Google listing and they'll get the business name wrong and call it "S. John Creative Services" (my husband uses his real name followed by Creative Services, but the automatic alphabetizing does it backwards, which is very confusing, apparently, to the foreign call centers). So when they insist that this is S. John Creative Services, I usually say, "Now, does that make any sense at all? Why would we call our company that?" They fumble for awhile while I pour a glass of wine... And when I get callers who insist on speaking to the owner (whose name they don't know), I tell them sweetly that we get all kinds of calls like that and of course the owner doesn't take them all, so I have to direct them to the right department - then they have to either tell me they are selling copier toner or business loans or whatever. Sometimes they won't even disclose the company - and they tell me that they can't do that or they will lose their jobs. They ask if there's a reason I won't put them through, and I say, "Yes, because I would lose MY job. So if one of us is going to be unemployed, I guess it's going to have to be you."

I don't know who buys from random callers like this. I can't believe it's a rewarding job so I figure those who do it must be really hurting for money or really miserable human beings much of the time.

ETA: Just read B's response - I love the "service center" reply you gave!!!! Kudos!

Never bought anything or even allowed them to proceed with their nonsense, but I have two stories!

1. We had Xfinity cable/internet at a previous residence. I got a call from a man who informed me very politely that he was calling on behalf of "X-infinity" and that there was a problem with my service, and he was there to help me troubleshoot my system. The "X-infinity" (it's pronounced ex-finity) thing cracked me up. I told him that my X-infinity x-system was x-working just x-fine (ok, I was mocking him), and he asked in a very puzzled voice what I was talking about, I told him to figure out the name of the company he was pretending to work for. Then I hung up.

2. Another scammer called me several times but I didn't answer. Finally I got exasperated and decided to answer and tell them not to call again. I said hello, and he said "good afternoon! How are you?" Well, I had one of those "a-HA!" moments, and I figured out a way to perhaps drive him a little crazy.

When he asked how I was, I proceeded to tell him. I took a deep breath and then just started babbling. I said something like "well, thanks for asking. At the moment I'm a little upset. The price of eggs has gone up like a whole dollar, and I'm just so frustrated and I'm trying to make some scrambled eggs for my daughter who is sick and speaking of sickness, I'm really quite concerned about the current problem of clean drinking water in third world countries, but I want to go to Africa because I'm really thinking about planning a safari trip but I don't know if I would rather see elephants or giraffes and did I mention that my aunt is coming to visit and she's a really picky person so do you happen to know the best way to clean window blinds because I just know she's going to say they're dusty, and oh my goodness I just remembered that my favorite show is on tonight and OH NO I can't remember if I remembered to set the tv to record it and WHAT IF I FORGOT I'LL JUST DIE and oh, these scrambled eggs are looking really good but my favorite breakfast is bacon and eggs and hashbrowns, but I know that's not a very healthy breakfast so that's got me bothered as well, but the good news is that my neighbors just had a baby so isn't that great but they named him a really weird name, and I don't know why people do that..." I just went on and on about anything I could think of, without taking a breath, and he finally hung up, and I never heard from that number again!

Have never bought anything from these crazy callers.

We are also on the DNC list, but that doesn't seem to deter some folks from calling our home phone. We still keep a land line. We're usually not home and rarely ever answer because people who really need to reach us call us on our cell phones.

But this one day...

About a month ago, I happened to be home and decided to pick up the phone. It was a call from someone pretending to be from microsoft saying we had a problem with our computer. Um, we have mostly macs, except for my husband's laptop, which only he uses for work, so I decided to have a little fun and tie up this guy's time. I figured the longer I messed with him, at least he wasn't getting into someone's grandma's private information and stealing her blind.

So, he asked me to get on my computer, and I just started messing with him and kept saying, "Really, really?" I think he thought he was convincing me at first, so then I changed to an obvious, sarcastic tone and kept repeating, "Really?" over and over. He started to get frustrated and mad and his voice grew more urgent to warn me of the dangers of not following his directions. Finally, I had to get back to my day and said, "Do you really think people are that stupid?" Then, I hung up.

When he called right back, I picked up the phone, and in the highest, eardrum-piercing octave, I screeched for a full breath and then hung up.

I thought about all of the harm people like this do and did not feel bad for one second about reacting this way.

There was a segment on Seinfield years ago, where Jerry got a call. He told the guy he was 'busy and to give me your home number and I will call you back'. The man indicated he couldn't call him at home. Jerry's response was, "Now you know how I feel". You can google 'youtube jerry seinfield and the telephone solicitor' and see a short video. It's hysterical. I absolutely love it.

I knew a lady several years ago who was single. Anytime she got a call and they asked to talk to Mr. So-and-So, she would respond with, "I'm sorry, he died before I met him."

I have point blank asked callers if this is a scam call. I also recently had about 10 calls in two days from the same number. I finally answered it and immediately said, "I've had 10 calls from you in two days. One before 8:00 am and one after 9:00 pm. Remove me immediately from your call list. If I get one more call from you, I will be contacting the Better Business Bureau." Then hung up the phone. Don't know if the BBB would have done anything, but we have never gotten another call from them!

Well, in March we started getting a huge increase in phone calls from numbers that were local that I didn't recognize. Being an election season and close to our primaries, I assumed they were political calls and didn't answer. But after the primaries, the calls kept coming, plus the times were getting later and later in the evening. Finally, one night while watching a movie with my husband after the kids went to bed (around 10:30), the phone started ringing, and I voiced my irritation at the call coming so late when we're on the do not call list. My husband said, "Why don't you answer and find out what they want?"

So I did. Only to have a guy ask me if I was available, no hello or politeness or anything. After a sharp, "Excuse me??" he realized he had the wrong number. Long story short, a new escort had moved into the area whose phone number was one digit difference from ours. She must have been making one heck of an impression because we had desperate men who had met her at bars calling every hour of the day and night for two solid weeks (averaging ten or more unique numbers, some calling multiple times a day). We ended up blocking calls from all numbers but 30 we could choose to allow, and now the phone is blessedly silent unless it's a friend or family member.

Before then, though, it was eye opening. For one thing, you would not believe how many married men call escorts without concealing their identities. And they span the employment spectrum: insurance agents, lock smiths, farmers, elementary school teachers, and lawyers to name a few. The most amusing one was when my 3 year old answered one of the calls and rattled on at length (that was before we knew it was calls for escorts; the man was one of the farmers who called and was very nice about it.) Made for an interesting couple of weeks, to say the least.

i tell them i am on a do not call registry and remind them of the fines associated with calling those numbers... usually gets them hanging up before any info comes out. the more info they give you the easier it is to get them fined for the call to a do not call number

My daughter, who was 17 at the time, worked at a call center for a local business. I don't remember much about it. Since then I'm a bit more careful what I say. At first I'd stay on the line long enough to know if they were legitimate. Now, if I answer the phone, I just say, I'm not interested. I'm hanging up now and hang up. One of those calls came from the Oregon Symphony. She called back to tell me she was calling for my cousin who had died. He'd been a member for years. So now I wait until they identify themselves or hear enough to know it's not a personal call.

My cousin, in her 50's was hired by a window company, as an outside sales rep. The company gave her numbers to call. These phone numbers belonged to people who had expressed an interest in windows. Some did not remember asking for information. I suspect that they responded to an ad, a door to door salesman, a store raffle or some such thing. I stopped giving my phone number and email address to enter drawings. When the world was less populated.and more personal, this had not been a problem.

I still get calls on my house phone from companies who apparently have purchased phone lists. For several years, I only use my house phone when I need to give a number but yet don't know the company. So, I answer, listen for a few seconds and give my I'm not interested and hang up.

I suggest these callers, especially those in a different company, are real people who need this job. Yes. Some of them are scammers. I've received the fake IRS call, the computer problem call, and the your brother is in Timbuckto and needs money. I don't care who is calling if they call on my house phone, I answer, make my statement and hang up. I do this because I want to stop the ringing and.to not deal with voice mail.

The calls irritated me for years. So do door to door salesman and those taking polls. I answer the door and go thru the same routine. I have a mostly blase' attitude. I'm in control.of my response. I don't get their attitude, any part of their spiel, and don't feel my day was interrupted. My feeling is I don't want to spend my time on strangers combined with the knowledge most of the callers are people less fortunate than me. A respectful comment and hanging up is respectful and not likely to cause pain.

I suspect.that the majority of these calls are caused by political campaigns.and will stop once we vote for political leaders.

I like Isn'tthisfun? Information. I'll use it if the calls increase.

I get calls telling me that I have won a free trip to Disney World. I tell them that I'm only interested if it comes with a free stay at a hotel with free call girls.

I get calls telling me that they are in my area installing free alarm systems. (My phone number is from a different state from my residence). I tell them that I have an old school alarm system - a pit bull and a shotgun.

I get calls offering to reduce my credit card payments. I tell them I don't use credit cards, as I prefer to barter sexual favors for all my big ticket purchases.

I get calls from people claiming that I recently did an online survey in which I indicated an interest in furthering my education. (I don't do surveys except for the ones at the bottom of my grocery store receipt to win a gift card for more groceries). I tell them that I want to study to become an absinthe quality control monitor.

My son lives for these type of calls. He "Rick rolls" them, which means he plays Rick Astley's "Never gonna let you down" into the phone until they hang up.

I have never bought anything but my phone used to rings constantly for about 1-2 weeks every month with these calls. I have even had them up to 10:30 pm. I have tried everything to get them to stop calling me. I have found out thought from someone that works for the phone company that these people that call us pay by the minute for each phone call you make. So if you don't answer it doesn't cost them anything. I have since made it my mission to keep them on the phone for as long as possible. I have given the phone to my kids and told them it was Santa and to tell him what they want. I ha gone along with them like I was going to make a purchase and at the last minute have said no I change my mind. When they have called me about my windows computer I have kept them on the phone asking them how I open the window don my computer to look outside. I tell them I never knew that my computer has a window. I have pretended not to understand English and have had them transfer me to someone who speaks Spanish to then only speak English to them and have them transfer me back. I have learned to have a lot of fun with this and let me tell you it has helped get me off the call lists. When they find out that I am costing them too much money and they are losing time to call someone else that they might actual score on they remove my number. Now I go through maybe 2-3 days a month that I get a bunch of call but the rest of the time my phone is blissfully silent unless it is some I know.

I don't know anyone who has bought anything, but I have to assume that probably elderly people might. Somebody must or they wouldn't be able to keep it up.

The way I deal with it is block them. We use Ooma VoIP at home, and Ooma automatically filters out a lot of that stuff. They have a *master list*, and those reported by other users get blocked from calling me. I can go online to my account and click the call that came through, click what sort of marketing call it was, and then click block. I can choose to have the phone ring endlessly when they call (only on their end, on my end, the phone doesn't even ring), to go straight to VM, to go straight to a recording saying I'm not available, or all manner of options.

They have started calling on my cell phone, too, of late. And for those, unless I am expecting a call from someone that I don't know their number, I ignore the call. Then call it back, and when I get the typical robo-call response to trying to call back one of those numbers, I block it on my phone. If I happen to answer to be sure, and there's no one there... same thing. Just scroll down and block it.

Never. I would never give out information like that on the phone. And that's what I've said to them if by accident I actually picked up (I usually screen calls on the home phone).

We get the computer virus one. One time I did the "shame on you .." spiel because it had been on news how many seniors they were getting with their scam. Well, the phone rang every ten minutes. I could just imagine some kid on the other side of the world dialing my number for pay back.

So I haven't done that again.

I worked as a summer job as a teenager for a window washing company. My job was to call up people using the phone book to see if they'd be interested in having someone come by to give them an estimate. I only lasted a couple of weeks - I just felt lousy doing it. The reason is - they asked us only to call the Mrs. George Browns' - the Mrs. followed by husband names. Widows. And while I get that they can't always wash their own windows if they were also elderly, I just felt like a smuck. A lot of them had a hard time turning a young pleasant girl down. It just wasn't the job for me.

So I do get Marda's point. Sometimes it is just a kid on the other end doing a job. So if that's the case, I'm pleasant but just tell them right off I'm not interested.

Nope. Block and move on....

the one time I did get a live person on the phone - I started interrogating them and asking about their product, etc. finally when done? I said "not interested, thanks!" - I didn't stick on to hear what they were saying...oops.

Funny answers! My story is about a friend who would always answer the phone in a foreign language. Her friends knew the gig, but phony callers were totally flummoxed.

I do not answer my phone, unless I know the caller. Anyone else can choose to leave a message and I promptly return the call to friends and family (or pick up if they are speaking long enough for me to get to the phone).

Once I made this decision, I was amazed at the freedom I felt.

I don't have a landline, so I really don't get many solicitors. If I don't know the number, I almost always let it go to voice mail. If it's a number in my area code, I usually answer it. I figure it's usually someone from our church or a parent from school or someone from one of the many summer camps we attend or a doctor's office.

I suppose if I had a landline I'd be able to relate. This is just not something I deal with.

I'm glad you posted this because the response below about the guy who "Rick-rolls" callers is priceless. Made my day. I may have to start answering those calls just to do this to them....

It's pretty heartening to know that the people posting here haven't bought anything from these callers.

We get these calls on both the land line and the cell phones (fewer on the latter, though). The ones that most infuriate me are the ones claiming to be from, invariably, "Mr. so and so with the Treasury Department" telling me how "there is a warrant out for problems with your taxes" etc. and how I must call back or I will have to "appear before a magistrate." These are never calls that I pick up -- they always leave a message, which is their MO, to get you to call back. I worry that unsuspecting older people, who are a big target of scams, will buy the faux-legal language and think this is legit.

I found that if you go to the real Treasury Department web site, there is a link to report scam calls. You fill in a very brief online form. I have done it twice now. I know that the government has a nearly impossible task in shutting down this stuff (because these calls often originate outside the U.S. or are routed via overseas locations), but the department wants to track it when people are impersonating government officials. It does give me some sense that I've done something useful if I report these calls. So, if anyone hears from a bogus Treasury or IRS "agent," remember, the government still uses snail mail instead of calling you, and please report any such contact. Write down the callback numbers they leave for you so you can give those to the Treasury/IRS. Someday maybe it'll help....

And warn friends and especially elderly friends that the feds will never phone them like this, Microsoft does not phone to say that there's a problem with Windows, and the guy who turns up on the doorstep saying "That tree in your front yard is really sick and I can cut it down for you right now" is definitely not an arborist! (That last one happens to us like clockwork at least once a year with our weird-looking and perfectly healthy, thriving tree!)

On my cell, I don't answer numbers if I don't know recognize the name/number on the caller id. And unless they leave a message, confirming that it is someone I know, I immediately block the number.

To cut down on junk calls to my cell phone (trying to keep that number off of lists that get sold), I always ALWAYS use my landline number on any kind of survey, website, online purchase, store reward card application, etc. And I just don't answer the landline at all. I check the messages there about once a week, just in case someone real actually leaves a message (which is almost never). I keep it only because it comes in my internet/TV bundle, but since I have it, it's a good number to use on all that generic stuff.

Most of these calls orginate in another country. So the do not call list does not apply to them. I have tried everything from blowing a whistle in their ear to not answering. It does no good. Most calls are robo dialed and the CSR picks up the phone on their end when a person is on the line.
Telling them you know they are a scam or you are on the do not call list or take my name off your list does no good. The best advice is to not answer any call you do not know the number.

I get a call every so often asking if I'm satisfied with my timeshare, and if not, would I be interested in selling it. I don't own a timeshare and never have.

The more annoying calls are from scammers - sometimes a robo-call, sometimes a live person - telling me that my computer is generating errors or some such. Older people and those confused by technology are prone to fall for stuff like that, so it irritates me. Sometimes when it is a live person, I tell them to take some to to consider the life choices they are making.

I never have bought anything from them because if I need to buy something, I will make the call, not the other way around and just for going out of their way to upset me, I have more of a reason to not buy whatever they are selling. As to how I have dealt with them, it depends on my mood. I have told them in a somber voice never to call me again or they will regret it, but sometimes, I have just screamed at the top of my lungs until they hung up. I roll around in laughter trying to imagine how that phone must have flown from their hands when they were startled by my screaming, and the earache I must have caused them as a result. A guy I know will simulate sex on the phone (think Meg Ryan in "When Harry Met Sally") and he says they quickly will hang up. When my daughter was younger, I'd have her sing to the telemarketers, but now she is too embarrassed to do that. These days, I usually just hang up and block them since they call during work hours. Thank goodness for my TrueCaller app, it has a caller ID feature, tells me if that number has been reported as spam, and of course, allows me to block the number.

I realize that they cater must really need a job so I try to be kind.

One of my friends answers unknown callers or numbers she doesn't recognize with "Hello! You are on live with Betty Jo and William, what is your rant for the day" or something like that. They almost always hang up. (Don't use your name or anything like it, this way they think they have the wrong number).

Another friend would get on the phone with them and when they started their speel she'd start talking about sex or something that could be really embarrassing for the caller. She'd wait for them to take a breath then she'd ask them what position they liked best and why or she'd ask if they thought oral was okay or dirty....she would get obscene callers flustered and they'd hang up on her. She was quite the character.

So anyway, if you waste their time they eventually stop calling. They spend thousands per day on phone service. I can't imagine those hang up calls cost them much so take up their time and don't buy or pay or vote for who they suggest, do what you want, buy what you want, and just chat away with them until they hang up on you.

they don't like to be surprised themselves...I have picked up the phone and just breathed into it, shrieked or pulled out a whistle. Seldom get a call back.