(couldnt find a proper thread about this but feel free to move it)
I'm going crazy about these calls. We checked in the phone book that our number cant be used for marketing, still all kinds of advertisers call. Some guy offering a year-long subscription for socks e.g.
and the worst is now tele2, calling about 3 times a day firmly asking for the man at home and not even listening what i say because i am a women hence i only know kitchen stuff and I have no position to argue. Most of these calls are like this, if its a phone, tv or other electronic thing, they dont even tell what it is, just pretend its important and ask for the husband. And how on earth they have the cheek for calling after 8pm??? isnt there a law for saving the peace of family life in this country?!
screen your calls with an answering machine or get a phone with caller ID?
or just hang up?
Unfortunately, this seems to be quite useless, because at least some companies simply ignore it.
It may be too late in your case, but otherwise I suggest to get an unlisted number ( liste noire) . Works very well.
Hi there, if you are with Swisscom, just dial *99 then the hash key, ( that's the symbol that looks like a grid, my computer won't let me do it!?) then ring this number. you will receive a short message from Swisscom to let you know (in German I think) telling you,that any callers using a suppressed number will receive a message telling them that you as customer don't wish to receive calls from suppressed numbers and they won't get through.
I did this ages ago now and have no more bother with them.
Good luck...
Ros
Hi Ros,
That's a good tip - except that anyone who rings you from a bank (like your expat friends) won't be able to get through either.
I do know that there are now anti-spam laws in Switzerland (didn't we do a thread on that), but I'm not sure to what extent it covers these telemarketing calls. Here's how I deal with them:
Before you even get into a conversation, ask the name of the caller, which company they work for, and which company they are representing. Then ask them where they got your number. They'll usually stupidly reply that it was from twixtel or from the phone book, or from a directory. At that point you can inform them you are listed as "do not call" and ask them why they have called you despite that. Usually at this point they will start to back peddle. I often ask for further information that leads them to believe I'm asking for the purposes of making an official complaint and they often get scared and hang up on me.
Spare a thought for the person on the end of the phone though - they are being paid peanuts (remember Switzerland has no minimum wage) and are just given a list of numbers. It's not their fault, its the person who prepares the data for them. Often you can tell that they are calling from countries with lower wage costs like France.
I'm pretty sure that under the new laws its the company who engages the telemarketing company, rather than the telemarketing company themselves that gets in trouble for this. If you really want to do something about it then string them along long enough to get to the company behind it all.
Oh and about the socks - that company has been exposed in k-tipp - they often don't even deliver the promised socks.
[quote=mark;79017]Hi Ros,
Hi Mark,
well that explains why my bank called me just today, on my cellphone, even though I was home. I did wonder about that.
Do you happen to know if there is any way to allow them through, without disabling the blocking number?
[quote=Delphinium Blue;79027] If you are blocking numbers without identification - no. I don't make this block because I get plenty of calls that I want to receive from numbers which might not be identified. Of course - I might THINK that I don't want to get them, but it often works out convenient that someone has managed to get hold of me. Downside is I have to take some calls from telemarketers from time to time.
thought it probably was like that,,, not such a big problem though,
as they had my cellphone number and anyone else that it would be important that they can reach me will have it too, so I am quite happy to leave it as it is.
Ros
too bad that number-blocking doesnt work, I started to be happy... :/
I feel no sympathy for these callers at all, they are almost always arrogant and insulting, and I dont even care if they have two starving cats at home, there are just jobs that should not be taken by humans.
Well if you were unemployed and need to put food on the table you might one day have to take a job that isn't desirable...
But in any case - don't wish that humans don't do this job. How long will it be before we have a situation like in the US where automated telemarketing computers ring you and bother you? You can't even tell them to naff off the way you could to a human!
Teodora,,,, it does work,, the point Mark made and I only just now realized, is that it blocks ALL "masked" numbers...
That means you have to be aware that some calls that may be beneficial/desired, get blocked as well.
If you use this blocking system, you should inform any friends/relations or other relevant callers, that you are doing this.
Let them know they should not mask their number when calling you, otherwise, they won't get through....
Hope you can start to be happy again...
Ros
This got me to thinking (got a headache now!!)
If I save the number from say,,, my bank (or any other business numbers relevant to me) which I now know masks it's number, in my telephones, 'telephone book', will those that mask their number be able to get through to me?
I'd be very interested to know if it would work.
I have been looking today and haven't found anything specific.
I have saved my banks number in my telephone and think I will just have to be a dumbhead (as usual) and call them, explain what I have done and why, then ask them to call me, to see if it works.
Still, if anyone knows if it is possible, or not, I would be glad to know it.
It'd save me having to be a wierdo to my bank once again.
Ros
For the purpose of this response "you" is used in a general sense.
Correct. It might seem convenient, but actually it's not. You might be inconveniencing people who you don't actually want to inconvenience. Sure you may THINK everyone has your mobile number, but maybe they don't. Maybe you might want people to look you up in the phone book. I occasionally hear from people I want to hear from because they looked me up in the phone book.
Let's not forget what happens when a call comes in from a country where the phone system doesn't pass the callerID - do you want to be blocking someone from abroad calling you? Ok, maybe nobody will ever call you from abroad, but how do you know that?
If people are going to go down this route they should really evaluate if they are going to have a land line number at all. I keep my landline because the quality is higher and the costs are lower for calling other landlines. Another reason is a courtesy to my friends - why should I force them to pay 0.50 per minute if the want to call me when I am at home? Many of my friends do work in banks, so they call me without callerid, which leads us back to the original point about callerid
When your bank calls you the number that places the call might not be the same number that you ring them on. It depends how things are set up. The other point is that if they have suppressed their number how will it help you if you store it in your telephone? The number isn't sent to your phone, so how could it decide to let it through.
Your telephone provider would be the best place to find that information however.
Will the stress of wondering who can't call you outweigh the hassle of telling telemarketers where to go?
thats what I call "not working" it should not block masked numbers, that is lame... and unacceptable.
It's true,,, it was inconvenient for the bank, quite eerie how this theme came up on the same day really,, but in my very simple life, I know who is going to need to get in touch with me and they would in general call on my landline number first, or if that fails, then my cellphone.
I'm not a telephone person really.
As well, I have caller ID... That lets me know if it is just an unknown number, then I have the option to pick up, or not.
So for myself,,, I don't stress...
For Teodora, ah well,,, Lobs' and others ideas, are probably the better option.
Say 'Hang on a minute please' put the phone on the table and walk off. Come back in 30 minutes and turn the phone off.
Although I find 'Ich habe nicht verstanden' (in an atrocious accent) repeated five or six times gets them to hang up...
Another great tip I heard (but it depends on your language skills) is to ask the caller for their home telephone number and say you'd be very interested to talk about a year's supply of socks / life insurance / cheap books but you'd like to call them back when they are having their dinner / bathing the kids / trying to watch a DVD.
For some reason, these telemarketing calls stopped all the sudden. Is anybody else still confronted with some on a regular basis?
I got one a week ago.
Thanks for the resurrection: just off to try the *99# trick..
Thanks, it works! I guess to disable the block it would be *99*