foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
Is anyone experiencing foreign sales people (maybe Indian accents) calling numerous times daily mentioning home improvements, home insurance, Microsoft to fix the computer, car insurance etc. This is so annoying 5-6 times a day all with the same accent. When you dial their number back it never goes through. I`ve tried saying no politely, blown a loud whistle in the phone and cussed them out but they still keep calling. It`s been going on for 3 months now and the caller id indicates numbers from all over the U.S. Any suggestions?
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
The magic words are something like "remove this number from your calling list". Obviously, this would only apply to US companies, but your foreign callers may be working for US companies.
Some phones will let you block numbers.
Not answering the phone unless you know the caller is an option.
It is very annoying. Nag your congresspersons.
Some phones will let you block numbers.
Not answering the phone unless you know the caller is an option.
It is very annoying. Nag your congresspersons.
Link to Asking Portfolio Questions
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
Have you tried asking them how to get your number off their lists? You'd hate to have to report it to the FCC.
Usually they say to me, you just have to ask, so I respond, "could you take me off your list?"
The weirdest response I ever got was: "Sure I can do that. It costs only $19.99. What credit card do you want to put that on?" I hung up on them.
Now we just let the recorder pick up the call. If it is a junk sales call, they never leave a message. If it is someone we know and we are home, we just pick it up after they identify themselves. That's why it is nice to have a message recorder.
Usually they say to me, you just have to ask, so I respond, "could you take me off your list?"
The weirdest response I ever got was: "Sure I can do that. It costs only $19.99. What credit card do you want to put that on?" I hung up on them.
Now we just let the recorder pick up the call. If it is a junk sales call, they never leave a message. If it is someone we know and we are home, we just pick it up after they identify themselves. That's why it is nice to have a message recorder.
A dollar in Roth is worth more than a dollar in a taxable account. A dollar in taxable is worth more than a dollar in a tax-deferred account.
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
The answer is simple:
1. Never answer a call when you don't recognize the number.
2. Once you do identify a bogus incoming number - block it.
Modern phone technology is great.
1. Never answer a call when you don't recognize the number.
2. Once you do identify a bogus incoming number - block it.
Modern phone technology is great.
-
- Posts: 436
- Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2012 3:38 am
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
If you are using iOS 7 or an iPhone, you can block any number, permanently. Phone won't ring, they get routed to a black hole.
If you are using an Android phone, it also has call blocking.
If this is a home phone and you have Caller ID, there are packages you can use to permanently block numbers.
If you are using an Android phone, it also has call blocking.
If this is a home phone and you have Caller ID, there are packages you can use to permanently block numbers.
- TomatoTomahto
- Posts: 17100
- Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:48 pm
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
For land lines with most providers, try nomorobo.com. If the phone only rings once, it was a robo caller. It's free and has cut down our robo calls by what feels like 90%.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
- frugaltype
- Posts: 1952
- Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2013 9:07 am
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
They call me 1-3 times a day. It does not work to ask to be taken off the list. That just gets you hung up on or cursed at. The FTC and FCC are helpless. I actually called the FTC today because this is starting to really get to me. They did explain one thing that puzzled me - why when they keep finding the card services people and tossing them in jail, do the calls still keep coming. They said the recorded message is downloadable from various websites, so different crooks use it.selftalk wrote:Is anyone experiencing foreign sales people (maybe Indian accents) calling numerous times daily mentioning home improvements, home insurance, Microsoft to fix the computer, car insurance etc. This is so annoying 5-6 times a day all with the same accent. When you dial their number back it never goes through. I've tried saying no politely, blown a loud whistle in the phone and cussed them out but they still keep calling. It`s been going on for 3 months now and the caller id indicates numbers from all over the U.S. Any suggestions?
I will look at the suggestions in this thread. My phone company has call block, but they don't allow any more customers to use it, and it only works for local numbers.
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
.TomatoTomahto wrote:For land lines with most providers, try nomorobo.com. If the phone only rings once, it was a robo caller. It's free and has cut down our robo calls by what feels like 90%.
Same here. Spam calls to my landline down 90% and no more "empty" messages on answer machine (just a dial tone)
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
But now there are robots with empty feelings.dickenjb wrote:.TomatoTomahto wrote:For land lines with most providers, try nomorobo.com. If the phone only rings once, it was a robo caller. It's free and has cut down our robo calls by what feels like 90%.
Same here. Spam calls to my landline down 90% and no more "empty" messages on answer machine (just a dial tone)
- cheese_breath
- Posts: 11764
- Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:08 pm
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
I let any number I don't recognize on caller ID go to the answering machine. If it's a sales person he'll normally hang up as soon as he hears the recorded message. Anything else I decide whether to answer or not when I hear the message. But I'm still an old fashioned landline luddite.
The surest way to know the future is when it becomes the past.
-
- Posts: 13356
- Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:45 pm
- Location: Reading, MA
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
Have you tried talking back to these foreign sales people in GERBERISH?
If not then practice your Gerberish ahead of time so that it's repeatable...
If not then practice your Gerberish ahead of time so that it's repeatable...
Attempted new signature...
- in_reality
- Posts: 4529
- Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2013 6:13 am
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
You don't happen to have a disgruntled ex do you?
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
What about: "Hello, this is Tom from the Federal Trade Commission. What can I do for you?" (Or would this count as impersonating a government agent?)
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
If it's a cell phone, I'd recommend blocking the number(s) they are calling from. It's easy, only takes a minute to do, and most companies will block up to 5 numbers for free (nominal charge per blocked number after that)
"Discipline equals Freedom" - Jocko Willink
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
We switched over to Ooma and transferred our local number. After the upfront costs it is only about $4 a month (taxes).
It includes a blacklist feature to block known scammers. It also includes the ability to manually add blocked calls or send to voicemail. It's been great for us.
It includes a blacklist feature to block known scammers. It also includes the ability to manually add blocked calls or send to voicemail. It's been great for us.
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
It hurts me to think that a depressed robot was calling Tomahto and Dickenjb in a desperate call for help and they turned her down.seamonkey wrote:But now there are robots with empty feelings.dickenjb wrote:.TomatoTomahto wrote:For land lines with most providers, try nomorobo.com. If the phone only rings once, it was a robo caller. It's free and has cut down our robo calls by what feels like 90%.
Same here. Spam calls to my landline down 90% and no more "empty" messages on answer machine (just a dial tone)
Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake |
Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. |
Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
We stopped using a land line, and the problem went away. The cell phone gets very few junk calls, and I can switch it off entirely, so it doesn't ring.
"My bond allocation is the amount of money that I cannot afford to lose." -- Taylor Larimore
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
That Nomorobo site has the seeds of a great Onion ad. It asks me for an email address before giving even the slightest clue of how it works or what they're going to do for me. Or, for that matter, with my email address. Well, not quite that last-- from their privacy policy, basically the only additional information available until giving up my email:
Fail.
Yes, your email is "non-personally identifiable visitor information".However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.
Fail.
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
I recently got a new landline phone with portable handsets that had call blocking. You don't need to get it from the phone company. The phone itself allows you to block up to 50 calls plus anyone who has blocked there number from appearing. The phone rings once and shows up in the call log as a blocked call. It has helped a lot.frugaltype wrote:They call me 1-3 times a day. It does not work to ask to be taken off the list. That just gets you hung up on or cursed at. The FTC and FCC are helpless. I actually called the FTC today because this is starting to really get to me. They did explain one thing that puzzled me - why when they keep finding the card services people and tossing them in jail, do the calls still keep coming. They said the recorded message is downloadable from various websites, so different crooks use it.selftalk wrote:Is anyone experiencing foreign sales people (maybe Indian accents) calling numerous times daily mentioning home improvements, home insurance, Microsoft to fix the computer, car insurance etc. This is so annoying 5-6 times a day all with the same accent. When you dial their number back it never goes through. I've tried saying no politely, blown a loud whistle in the phone and cussed them out but they still keep calling. It`s been going on for 3 months now and the caller id indicates numbers from all over the U.S. Any suggestions?
I will look at the suggestions in this thread. My phone company has call block, but they don't allow any more customers to use it, and it only works for local numbers.
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
I get calls from domestic sales people calling 5 times daily. I know they are domestic as they speak in a domestic accent. They are probably calling from a Federal prison. The inmates work for Unicor, aka Federal Prison Industries (FPI).
P.S. This is another in my series of lies I tell on bogleheads. The quote is real, the interpretation is exaggerated.When you outsource to UNICOR / Federal Prison Industries, the benefits are very clear. We offer:
Let us address your simple, high volume, first-tier customer support functions, while your employees focus on the more complex, high-value operations.
- Skilled agents
Low labor rates
Native English and Spanish language skills
High security
Nationwide coverage
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
This happened to my mother recently, except they had her cellphone number rather than her landline number. She would get dozens of calls a day, all from callers with South Asian accents. Blocking the calls didn't help because every single call came from a different number. Ignoring the calls wasn't a real solution either because she got too many of them. Her phone was ringing all day long. She ultimately had to change her cellphone number. There was no other solution.Meaty wrote:If it's a cell phone, I'd recommend blocking the number(s) they are calling from. It's easy, only takes a minute to do, and most companies will block up to 5 numbers for free (nominal charge per blocked number after that)
- TomatoTomahto
- Posts: 17100
- Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:48 pm
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
As soon as she gives me her home phone number, I'll be sure to call her (at meal time).VictoriaF wrote:It hurts me to think that a depressed robot was calling Tomahto and Dickenjb in a desperate call for help and they turned her down.seamonkey wrote:But now there are robots with empty feelings.dickenjb wrote:.TomatoTomahto wrote:For land lines with most providers, try nomorobo.com. If the phone only rings once, it was a robo caller. It's free and has cut down our robo calls by what feels like 90%.
Same here. Spam calls to my landline down 90% and no more "empty" messages on answer machine (just a dial tone)
Victoria
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
Robots' meals are information. In large bytes.TomatoTomahto wrote:As soon as she gives me her home phone number, I'll be sure to call her (at meal time).VictoriaF wrote:It hurts me to think that a depressed robot was calling Tomahto and Dickenjb in a desperate call for help and they turned her down.seamonkey wrote:But now there are robots with empty feelings.dickenjb wrote:.TomatoTomahto wrote:For land lines with most providers, try nomorobo.com. If the phone only rings once, it was a robo caller. It's free and has cut down our robo calls by what feels like 90%.
Same here. Spam calls to my landline down 90% and no more "empty" messages on answer machine (just a dial tone)
Victoria
Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake |
Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. |
Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
- TomatoTomahto
- Posts: 17100
- Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:48 pm
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
Different strokes. Worked a charm for me. I didn't provide any information that can't be had in any of a million other places.gd wrote:That Nomorobo site has the seeds of a great Onion ad. It asks me for an email address before giving even the slightest clue of how it works or what they're going to do for me. Or, for that matter, with my email address. Well, not quite that last-- from their privacy policy, basically the only additional information available until giving up my email:Yes, your email is "non-personally identifiable visitor information".However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.
Fail.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
Telling them to not call you or put you on the do not call list is fruitless.
Most are scams (right, my computer is having problems and your from Microsoft because you are getting messages from my computer).
Credit card services has been fined multiple times - they pop up as a new entity.
Don't answer - then lookup to find out who called -- Usually you will find 10-100 people who got the same call.
http://800notes.com/
Finally if you really want to cut down -
join (free for now - but probably will cost in the future)
www.nomorobo.com
While it hasn't totally stopped it; the number has dropped from 5-10 a day to less than 3 a day.
Most are scams (right, my computer is having problems and your from Microsoft because you are getting messages from my computer).
Credit card services has been fined multiple times - they pop up as a new entity.
Don't answer - then lookup to find out who called -- Usually you will find 10-100 people who got the same call.
http://800notes.com/
Finally if you really want to cut down -
join (free for now - but probably will cost in the future)
www.nomorobo.com
While it hasn't totally stopped it; the number has dropped from 5-10 a day to less than 3 a day.
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
Just pulled the plug on the landline Monday due to all of the robo calls and in advance of the coming fall political calls.. will save about $600 a year but going with cellphones only.
- frugaltype
- Posts: 1952
- Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2013 9:07 am
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
Which one do you have? Have you had it long enough to know if it causes problems?cherijoh wrote: I recently got a new landline phone with portable handsets that had call blocking. You don't need to get it from the phone company. The phone itself allows you to block up to 50 calls plus anyone who has blocked there number from appearing. The phone rings once and shows up in the call log as a blocked call. It has helped a lot.
I would not like to block calls with no id; my doctor returns calls that way. So hopefully that isn't automatic. How do these interact with other phones at the same number?
Thanks.
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
She needs to call Marvin. I may have his number somewhere in a book I read about hitchhikers.VictoriaF wrote:It hurts me to think that a depressed robot was calling Tomahto and Dickenjb in a desperate call for help and they turned her down.seamonkey wrote:But now there are robots with empty feelings.dickenjb wrote:.TomatoTomahto wrote:For land lines with most providers, try nomorobo.com. If the phone only rings once, it was a robo caller. It's free and has cut down our robo calls by what feels like 90%.
Same here. Spam calls to my landline down 90% and no more "empty" messages on answer machine (just a dial tone)
Victoria
"Yes, investing is simple. But it is not easy, for it requires discipline, patience, steadfastness, and that most uncommon of all gifts, common sense." ~Jack Bogle
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
Get one of those pro phone call blocker v 2.2. Cheaply made and cost $50+ on ebay but it does work. They will get you once, and when they change their # but it helps.
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
Are you sure it was a book... I think it may have been the wiki.Fallible wrote:She needs to call Marvin. I may have his number somewhere in a book I read about hitchhikers.VictoriaF wrote:It hurts me to think that a depressed robot was calling Tomahto and Dickenjb in a desperate call for help and they turned her down.seamonkey wrote:But now there are robots with empty feelings.dickenjb wrote:.TomatoTomahto wrote:For land lines with most providers, try nomorobo.com. If the phone only rings once, it was a robo caller. It's free and has cut down our robo calls by what feels like 90%.
Same here. Spam calls to my landline down 90% and no more "empty" messages on answer machine (just a dial tone)
Victoria
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
Sometimes you gotta have some fun with these calls....so...my responses...
You have reached the Regional Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Agent Peppers speaking, what can I do for you?
or
MonaLisa pizzeria, what would you like to order?
or
Sorry, I am so broke, I can't even afford to change my mind...click.
You have reached the Regional Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Agent Peppers speaking, what can I do for you?
or
MonaLisa pizzeria, what would you like to order?
or
Sorry, I am so broke, I can't even afford to change my mind...click.
"..the cavalry ain't comin' kid, you're on your own..."
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
My favorite thing to do is out them on hold. The way I see it is that it's helping a few people further down the list from being bothered. I check back a little later to find out they've hung up, but once I kept a guy on hold for nearly an hour! It tied up my phone line, but he couldn't bother others for a while. Funny thing is I checked back a long time later, and he was still there! So I put him on hold again..."who are you looking for? Hold on, let me see if he's home...................oh, you're still waiting? Let me try him again...........wait a sec....................."
BTW, took a look at Robonomo and it seems to only work with VOIP or other services that support multiring, so one of the numbers is their system that tracks these sales calls, answers them and disconnects, so your lines stop ringing after the first ring. Might work well for these static numbers, but the ones that keep changing or spoofing their numbers might be a challenge.
BTW, took a look at Robonomo and it seems to only work with VOIP or other services that support multiring, so one of the numbers is their system that tracks these sales calls, answers them and disconnects, so your lines stop ringing after the first ring. Might work well for these static numbers, but the ones that keep changing or spoofing their numbers might be a challenge.
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
Yes, agree. I was totally ready to sign up for this but wondered "what is in it for them?" since it is free, and suspect the email harvesting is a slick way to link your home phone to your email and sell it. I would totally be up for something like this that had an appropriate privacy policy.gd wrote:That Nomorobo site has the seeds of a great Onion ad. It asks me for an email address before giving even the slightest clue of how it works or what they're going to do for me. Or, for that matter, with my email address. Well, not quite that last-- from their privacy policy, basically the only additional information available until giving up my email:Yes, your email is "non-personally identifiable visitor information".However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.
Fail.
-
- Posts: 3181
- Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 4:33 pm
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
Simply buy a phone with caller ID and answering machine, and do not pick up any calls from numbers/people you do not know!! Those callers finally will get the message without wasting your time.
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
A couple of extra strategies. With the cheap cost of landlines (VOIP, Ooma, Obi, Vonage, MagicJack, etc.), I keep a 2nd line that I use just for outgoing calls, so it keeps folks from harvesting my main number. Also, I keep a virtual phone number that goes straight to voicemail for those occasions someone requests a phone number (supermarket discount programs, mailing lists, etc.). It's the equivalent of spam email, so it's spam voicemail number, and I patch it through into google voice transcribe, which is 50/50 in terms of being a useful transcription, so I only have to listen to half the sales pitches, but the vast majority are just hangups, which get deleted just like spam. These may not help the current crop of people calling, but it's preventative, reducing the sources where they can get your number.likegarden wrote:Simply buy a phone with caller ID and answering machine, and do not pick up any calls from numbers/people you do not know!! Those callers finally will get the message without wasting your time.
-
- Posts: 7189
- Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2007 11:25 am
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
For years, we have followed the practice of not picking up for caller ID numbers/people we do not know. The robo callers have never got the message.likegarden wrote:Simply buy a phone with caller ID and answering machine, and do not pick up any calls from numbers/people you do not know!! Those callers finally will get the message without wasting your time.
JW
Retired at Last
-
- Posts: 780
- Joined: Sat Jun 15, 2013 11:17 pm
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
Ooma is great. I pay for the premium service (~$14/month all in) and get ZERO telemarking calls.yatesd wrote:We switched over to Ooma and transferred our local number. After the upfront costs it is only about $4 a month (taxes).
It includes a blacklist feature to block known scammers. It also includes the ability to manually add blocked calls or send to voicemail. It's been great for us.
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
nomorobo rocks !TomatoTomahto wrote:For land lines with most providers, try nomorobo.com. If the phone only rings once, it was a robo caller. It's free and has cut down our robo calls by what feels like 90%.
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
We actually do the same... about $14 a month for the second line and integration with Google voice. I love getting my phone calls sent to all my phones simultaneously, the audio emails, and transcribed messages on my phone.Louis Winthorpe III wrote:Ooma is great. I pay for the premium service (~$14/month all in) and get ZERO telemarking calls.yatesd wrote:We switched over to Ooma and transferred our local number. After the upfront costs it is only about $4 a month (taxes).
It includes a blacklist feature to block known scammers. It also includes the ability to manually add blocked calls or send to voicemail. It's been great for us.
-
- Posts: 3181
- Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 4:33 pm
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
We have Time Warner Road Runner internet and use Basic Talk as telephone service as the land line. nomorobo.com does not support that.
- dratkinson
- Posts: 6108
- Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:23 pm
- Location: Centennial CO
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
I'd gotten a few Indian tech support call that I was too busy to take before getting one I was ready to play with. I kept him on the line for ~30 minutes while he tried to help me. Without volunteering any information, I helpfully fumbled around while he tried, without success, to get access to my old, slow, Win98SE, dialup PC. Once he broke the code, he hung up and hasn't called back.
Above may be the equivalent of speaking gibberish.
If I'd known my self-sacrifice could have protected others from him for an hour, I'd have eaten lunch while my PC booted and ran its daily backups.
Above may be the equivalent of speaking gibberish.
If I'd known my self-sacrifice could have protected others from him for an hour, I'd have eaten lunch while my PC booted and ran its daily backups.
d.r.a., not dr.a. | I'm a novice investor; you are forewarned.
Re: foreign sales people calling 5 times daily
Nomorobo works! Also I blocked other calls through comcast, our phone provider. Cut calls by 90 percent.