Nuisance calls

[KKOB]

Scunner, give me your number and I'll call you so you can block me in future.

[SteveJ]

Sometimes, if I'm in the mood, I'll let the cold caller rabbit on with their sales pitch for as long as it I can stand it, usually holding the earpiece at arm's length but making encouraging "oooh, that sounds good" noises every now and then and the right towards the end when they are about to ask for my bank details I'll say "Does it make any difference if I'm a declared bankrupt?". The next noise I usually hear is a click. OK, it wastes 30 minutes of my day but it gives me an internal hug. 

[Jacqui Harvey]

Just a warning if you buy from the T.V. Shopping Channel "Ideal World".
I got a call last week from a guy who said he was from Ideal World.  He thanked me for buying from Ideal World and as a thank you they were sending me six free gifts that I would love.  They were also sending me a free trial of their special discount club which gives discount from many shops such as Morrison's there would be no charge for this free trial.   All I had to pay was £2.09 for the postage of the pack.  I immediately smelled a rat and told the guy I was not interested.  He was persistent and said I would miss the free gifts, I told him no and put down the phone.
I then contacted Ideal World via their Facebook page, as ringing them costs 10p per minute.  I received an apology and was told the Ideal World had checked and I had put down I did not want Marketing calls. They said they were very sorry.  They also told me their discount club was excellent and only cost £49.99 per year.
I then investigated this a bit further and found a lot of complaints on the net, including one from a man who was on the Martin Lewis Moneysaving Expert website.  This man was warning people, that his elderly Mother had received a similar call to mine, she accepted the offer and was sent the pack, of course she had to give her credit card details to pay for the postage.   Included in the pack was a letter saying that she had 1 month's free trial of their discount club and then after this £49.99 would be draw from the credit card she had given them.  The lady had a death in the family and forgot about the message.  The money was taken from her account. Her son rang Ideal World and was told this deal was done though an associate company called Rocket.  Ideal World refused to give back the money.  They also said if people do not want the offer they have to send back all the free gifts in pack they had received, at their own expense.
I think this is very sharp practice and will not be buying from this company again.
So, even if you say you don't want marketing calls, you may get them, so be aware.

[bewva]

The anoying thing is they are all just out for the sale and don't give a toss about who they are ripping off. How they sleep at night is beyond me.

[loz]

I only ever now give our home phone to friends and family, and if completing forms give the mobile number, if I have to make a coll on the home phone I try to always remember to add 141 before dialling, this makes sure that my number does not appear on any caller id or last number redial. 
Cold callers on mobile now get passed to Gordon, that will teach them 

[Scunner]

When we returned from Turkey I was very surprised by the number of friends who had just given up on having a home phone line. It seemed wrong. But we get more nuisance calls than genuine ones and we're paying £13 a month for the privilege? I have a mobile contract where I pay £15 a month for 2000 minutes - and use around 100. So I could just ask people to ring me and hang up and we can ring them back.

Could the home line be on the way out?

[bewva]

If it wasn't for the broadband I would not have a land line.
I recon we make about 4-5 calls maximum per week on our landline and receive about 15 all of which are nuisance calls.

[kevin3]

Ditto.   I'm thinking of dumping mine for the same reasons.
            We've three mobiles so plenty of back up.

             I've also been thinking about getting rid of the Virgin
             TV package, It's not much better than free view now.

[Jacqui Harvey]

I think it's a good idea just to have a mobile and forget the landline as most landline incoming calls  are from people trying to sell something  However, having a landline is important for people who have a business as it gives customers confidence.
There are a lot of dodgy people offering services in local newspapers and on the net all have mobile numbers only.  Most Trading Standards and Consumer Organisations advice the public to make sure the businesses they want to use have landlines.
In the area we live in there area lot of gypsies advertising in the papers, all use mobile numbers.   I have alway maintained I would never use a business that only had a mobile number.