We still
have a landline and every so often the phone rings, you pick it up and there is
nobody there. Nobody that is except for some odd clicks. Or perhaps the sound
of people in the background as if their phone has been left off the hook. This
is the world of cold calling which the government, perhaps mindful of the
impending election, is promising to do something about. Whether they can do
anything is another matter; some people who have gone ex-directory claim they
still receive these calls even though in theory their number is known only to
people they know.
It’s easy to see that some older people or those who live alone might feel they
are being stalked by a mysterious figure intent with some ill - intentioned
motive. In a way they are because at the end of the day many of these
unsolicited calls are to sell you something you probably don’t want. I could
have insulated our loft about ten times over in the past year had I responded
positively to such enquiries. Equally I could have filed dozens of PPI
complaints, insulated the walls, replaced the windows and even switched gas
provider. Which is odd because we don’t have any gas.
Usually these calls have some barely understandable operator clearly phoning
from halfway round the world and thus their voice is feint and crackly. Or else
It’s an automatic message; the one I’m most familiar with lately has a woman
sharply declaring; “HSBS, Barclays, Nat West…” I usually put the receiver down
at that point. Maybe she just likes to list banks. Perhaps next month she’ll
says “Orange juice, lemonade, Coca Cola..” Other cold callers want you to take
a survey because they get in right away and say “I’m not trying to sell you
anything” but then claim “it’ll only take a few minutes”. Don’t ever fall for
that because this is a new definition of “a few” which translates as “about
fifteen minutes.”
People have
tried various methods to get their own back including trying to keep the caller
on the line for as long as possible, pretending to be someone else or even
blowing a loud whistle down the phone. But for some people they are, at best, a
nuisance and at worst a worry.
The prevalence of cold calling suggests there is too much information about
each of us floating about especially as these unwanted calls have found their
way to smartphones as well. Can we do anything about it? Well short of refusing
to sign up to anything which in the online world is difficult, all we can
really do is carry on complaining. You have to feel some sympathy with the
people who have to do these jobs; imagine spending your day phoning people who
don’t want to speak to you and may insult you as well.
If responsible firms and places like banks and even the government can call a halt to the behaviour then it
would certainly be a step forward because then we’ll know that we can swiftly
decline any cold calls we get. There are plenty of other advertising and
promotional avenues around today- more than ever in fact- for cold calling to
be dropped. Being able to see the number of calls, even if it is not given by
the caller, could be a help as well. If all else fails and cold calls continue
to come then you can always resort of playing a recording of a baying moose
down the phone and that would probably ensure you are left alone.
