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Why is it?

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Stan Thomas
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Why is it?

Post by Stan Thomas »

Why is it no-one is qualified in this country?

Who ever I telephone - the police, my insurance company, the dentist, the doctor, the local council, old uncle Tom Cobbley- - they all say the call will be recorded for "training" purposes.

Am I the only one with qualifications in Engand - even though there is little call for Zeppelin mechanics?

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migray
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Re: Why is it?

Post by migray »

Found one advert needing a zeppelin mechanic http://www.airships.com/employment.php
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John-B
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Re: Why is it?

Post by John-B »

Well found, migray. :D That should shut him up. :o Off you go, Stan, to USA. Get your passport. :lol:

I was going to post that he has perfect qualifications to be the forum's chief complainer, with a suitable rank icon, but I haven't found a suitable icon yet..

Seriously, though, I agree that a lot of conversations with public companies are tedious. I wonder what happens if you say you don't want the conversation recorded? Do you hear a switch click? I expect calls are automatically recorded so the operator has no way to stop them, so would she or he end the call? Unlikely.

I get a lot of sales calls and most of the callers have never done any research about me and the calls don't apply to me in any way. Then I get the same calls again and again. My method of dealing with them is to leave the phone ringing for five times, (just before my answerphone kicks in) and I usually find that the call has just cut off, presumably because several numbers are being called at the same time and someone else has been reached or I leave the answerphone to kick in and later discover that the caller cut off. I haven't bothered to get junk calls stopped, but my patience may run out soon.

Brian-H
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Re: Why is it?

Post by Brian-H »

Regarding the "training purposes" when you make the call, well as we all know, that's just a polite way of saying "we're recording this so that if we give you an appointment at the GP/Dentist or if we say something to you which you later dispute, we will use this recording as evidence, which we can do, because we told you we were recording the conversation before it started". If you say that you don't want the call recorded then they'll tell you in a very polite way to take your business somewhere else. This would even apply to a GP or a Dentist as they don't have to have you as a "customer".


The reason why the calls cut off on incoming calls is one of

1. It's an automated computer system that rings the number ahead of the people at the call centre. The system anticipates one of the people at the call centre being free just as you answer, but often, there isn't anyone available, so it cuts off when you answer. Imagine being one of those poor sods in a call centre, as soon as they finish one call, they're straight into another call. The other part of it is that your number has been bought from a bulk supplier with some details, which can even be your full name, the area where you live (even the address) and your age range (even your month and year of birth). If you have ever been a company director (of your own private limited company) or a company secretary, the info probably came from a "bot" that got it from companies house. Note also that, if there is a person at the other end when you answer, whatever info they have is there on the computer screen.

2. It's an automated computer system that rings random numbers, when you answer, it registers that number as belonging to someone. Later on, reason 1 may start another attempt. If they have no info associated with the number, they'll try to glean something from you, enter it into the computer while talking to you, which will then search to see if there is info on you.

If I get a call from someone with no number displayed, when I answer, I say nothing and wait. Sometimes it's the GP surgery and they say "hello hello" and I say "hello who's calling" and then they say who it is. If they reply by asking "is that Mr XYZ" I still reply and say "who's calling". If it's some quickly spoke babble I say "what are you selling" and then it gets funny as I usually say that this is a new SIM card that must have belonged to whoever, and I live in a squat, and the bailiffs are outside. Or something else, such as "I've just murdered someone, can you act as alibi and say we've been talking for the last 20 minutes". Or anything else that comes to my mind at the time. On one call, IIRC they were selling some financial services, so I said that I lived on one of those old off-shore forts, just outside UK territorial limits, and it got quite funny as I then said I had my own helicopter to visit the mainland to get supplies, and the fort had machine-gun posts on all the corners, and some torpedo tubes to fire at any foreign power that comes too close. Eventually the line went dead. The thing is, if you're on a mobile phone, they know you're using a UK mobile phone service, but they don't know where you are. As for the landline in my house, it's unplugged, I never use it.

EDIT - the thing to bear in mind with cold callers is that they have to type up a quick summary of the call. If you tell them that you're fed up with them calling, it won't stop them. But if you indulge them by talking to them yet come out with a crazy story about yourself, well they'll summarize you as a waste of time, and slowly, you'll get less and less cold calls. Even when PPI was at its peak, I used to tell them that I owned a large boat in Monaco and I was just back in the UK checking up on the cleaners and the gardener out on the lawns, as I was getting the mansion ready for a visit from a friend who's a Sheik. PPI calls stopped long before PPI ended. Other cold calls such as financial services, once a month right now.

Stan Thomas
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Re: Why is it?

Post by Stan Thomas »

Remember that if you want to be really pedantic - if a Government or public body such as the local council etc. say they are recording your call, you are entitled to a copy or transcript by law under the Freedom of Information Act.

Sydsmith
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Re: Why is it?

Post by Sydsmith »

Sadly Stan, the whole world has gone mad, it takes twice as long to do a simple thing on the phone today, it's mad that in order to save themselves money, organisations put their clients to so much extra effort.

If you think it is bad in England, try calling the Dr in Wales. You get a long drawn our CV19 warning, first in Welsh and then in English followed by the training recording warning, followed by the press button trail, all in both languages, it takes a full two/three minutes before you even get to press the "I would like to speak to a human being please response. (Please don't get me wrong I am not cribbing about the Welsh).

Talking about cold callers, I have great fun with them, I love the ones about "The car accident you recently had" I always say "which one, I am a hopeless driver and have had six recently" some sad souls take it further but most drop the call. The best one is the "you have a problem with your computer" I pretend to be doddery and when they ask me to turn it on, I put the phone down with a bang and "stomp off" to switch it on and stomp back, they then say what do you see, I repeat the saga until they give up, have managed to keep one on for 20 minutes before now, but they don't call back. Syd

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