not another bl**dy cold call!!!!

If you didn't know it already, the sudden proliferation of infuriating cold calls has gone through the roof. It really is quite staggering how many "partenaires" there are working with EDF, striving to help us with problems we never realised we had; be that double glazing, insulation, new boilers, home insurance, acne and irritable bowel syndrome.

The one call I'm really waiting for is the one from a Pest Control Agency. I wouldn't hesitate to sign up on the spot, credit card akimbo, to rid the world of the most annoying little pests that I've come across - the companies that insist on using cold calling to sell their (probably) overpriced and (almost definitely) ineffectual products.

One of Life's greatest ............
[Excuse me for one second: "Bonjour, c'est Tocyvi........No, I don't want one of your stupid little men coming round to give me a quote]
....conundrums is who on earth is stupid or gullible enough to be taken in by one of these cowboys. And it is this that.......
["Hello, what! You're in my area and I can take advantage of this week's unrepeatable offer..NO!"]
made me wonder whether that is the real problem. It is likely that it will be only the most gullible people who are taken in by these companies. After all, no-one in their right mind would buy something unseen, from a "bloke on the blower". I mean, you'd be better off buying......
["Excuse me again....Will you please p*ss off with your special offers that your manager has.....oh! sorry mum, I thought you were..."]
a second-hand car from that reliable Flash Jacques down the town.

Anyway, I've decided to do something about it. I'm setting up my own Pest Control Company; we'll be working in your area and there's no need to call me. My excellent staff team will contact you by phone within the hour. Please don't tell them to "P*ss off"; after all, we are partners of EDF and we are only here to .........

A good rant.................I love it. But whilst you are here, can I just interest you in..............

Le-Dolly wrote: can I just interest you in..............

You're not a partner of EDF by any chance are you? If so, I'd just like to say "................"

["................" This message has been deleted by the Moderator

If you're with Orange, you can put a stop to cold calls free of charge, I have. Can't remember when I last received one.
http://assistance.orange.fr/internet-haut-debit-adsl/telephone-messagerie-et-services-tel_services.php
...But maybe you're not with Orange?

Hi Inkflo
I'm with Telecom UK for calls & France Telecom for line rental, neither of which are interested in doing anything about it. I registered with Pacitel, which is supposed to stop the majority of cold calls and Boy! did I notice a difference? Well, no, actually!

I think I've already had 5 today (and that's without the one from Tocyvi's Pest Control Centre)

Well I'm spending the winter in Portugal and so far haven't had a single cold call. Possibly 'cos I don't have a landline here

We did actually notice a reduction of cold calls after our Pacitel registration kicked in, but the 'EDF partners' are a right bunch; I'm guessing that because they sound as though they are usually phoning from abroad they don't come under the Pacitel umbrella.

I am already subcsribed to Pacitel, but recently the number of cold calls have increased dramatically. I have caller ID and have now given up answering the phone to any withheld numbers or those from out of area I don't recognise so I don't know if they are from EDF partners or not. Still a real nuisance as I still have to go to the phone anyway

Richard T wrote:Well I'm spending the winter in Portugal and so far haven't had a single cold call.

It's far too warm in Portugal for cold calls. Personally, I'm off for a week's walking in the Pyrenees shortly and the snow seems to have arrived just in time

Amber wrote:We did actually notice a reduction of cold calls after our Pacitel registration kicked in, but the 'EDF partners' are a right bunch; I'm guessing that because they sound as though they are usually phoning from abroad they don't come under the Pacitel umbrella.

Shouldn't you be in Auld Reekie by now, Amber?

I've been and come back (yesterday)Tocyvi Had a very enjoyable four days with my eldest son,his partner and my adorable first grandchild, the most beautiful little girl ever born (of course!). Went to Callender on Saturday - the hills were snow covered and looked beautiful in the sunshine.

Amber wrote:I've been and come back (yesterday)Tocyvi  Had a very enjoyable four days with my eldest son,his  partner and my adorable first grandchild, the most beautiful little girl ever born (of course!).

The trouble is, Amber, you’ll be wanting to go back again now!

Amber wrote: the hills were snow covered and looked beautiful in the sunshine.

The Scottish hills and mountains always look beautiful. When I lived in the UK, my wife and I used to go Munro-bagging as often as we could (but always in the winter). Now, I have to make do with the Pyrenees for my walking which are lovely but there’s just something special about the Scottish mountains.

Getting back to the original subject we have a solution against unwanted cold calls. We bought a telephone which gives a different ring for up to 5 groups of calling people but we only use one group to identify all our friends or known contacts. Then if it is not our known contacts it gives a different ring which we do not bother to answer - so goes to answer machine - cold callers never leave a message but just in case it is something important messages can still be left for us.
The telephone is well known name, not expensive (almost cheap) and has excellent sound quality - it also allows exchange of caller details between handsets.

No more cold call disturbances for us
Paul & Cathie

We have a not dissimilar set-up with our 'phones, although numbers that are unknown to us, withheld numbers and  the new phenomenon of spoofed numbers do not even sound the ringer, they go straight to answer phone. The 'phones also have a timer that prevents unwanted calls between chosen times, currently set between 20:00hrs (dinnertime) and 08:00.

A mention about Pacitel subscription, companies that you do business with, EDF, GDF and SAUR for instance are still allowed to call.  Their 'partners' however........that is another matter and the answer is pretty vague, some are true partners, but most are just chancers and ar5es. I have found that when filling in a form, be it on paper or on the web, unless I can see good reason to give my 'phone number, I suddenly develop a case of amnesia and get some of the numbers the wrong way round. If the form calls for a mobile number to be included I just don't bother, but if it is 'obligatoire', then I put any old number........it could be yours.

I am starting to feel lucky and don't want to tempt fate, but, I have had 1 cold call in 19 months. We have an Orange land line but we are list rouge......equivalent to Xdirectory I believe - we also have an ansaphone as above with the 10 different melody options which we have used for our friends. The cold call bloke was trying to get us to change phone company but I cut him short by simply asking him (in French) what it was he was trying to sell, but, then I reverted from French to English and he rang off! Not sure what that says about my language skills, but, he hasn't rang back.

The majority of calls we are getting lately are of the silent type. Very infuriating. When there's someone there we pretend to not understand French. When we were in the UK we'd speak French and pretend not to understand English!

We have also had a number of calls from Indians representing Microsoft, wanting to 'help' us with our computer problems. They of course only speak English, so why on earth do they call a French number?

baldlygo wrote:Getting back to the original subject we have a solution against unwanted cold calls. We bought a telephone which gives a different ring for up to 5 groups of calling people but we only use one group to identify all our friends or known contacts. Then if it is not our known contacts it gives a different ring which we do not bother to answer - so goes to answer machine - cold callers never leave a message but just in case it is something important messages can still be left for us.
The telephone is well known name, not expensive (almost cheap) and has excellent sound quality - it also allows exchange of caller details between handsets.

No more cold call disturbances for us
Paul & Cathie

Good Idea!

If the form calls for a mobile number to be included I just don't bother, but if it is 'obligatoire', then I put any old number........it could be yours.[/quote]
That would explain why the only cold calls I used to get were for a Mme Mezzier then! She obviously puts my number all the time, and it really was a pain.