Cold Calling Scammers Must Die!
Nomen Publicus
advantages of socialised medicine) while I recover. By the end of the
second day I'm totally knackered - the doctor tells me this is expected and
things will improve with time. I drag myself home and have a long hot bath.
I'm now clean, calm and relaxed.
<ring ring> goes the phone as I pass it.
"Hello" (I never self identify to cold callers.)
"Is this Mr Nomen Publicus?[0]" asks someone with an Indian accent. The
connection is very poor. He used my real name.
"Yes"
"We want to report a problem with your computer." (Huh? That's a surprise)
"Really? Which one? I have more than one." I ask (It's just possible
something has been hacked - it's been almost 24 hours since I last patched
them.)
"The oldest" He says with confidence. (Huh?! Till now I was assuming
stupidity. Now I suspect fraud.)
"Can you identify which computer has the problem. I have more than one.
Which operating system?" I ask.
"Windows and Linux" He says (As it happens I've had Solaris, Windows7 and
Ubuntu <something> active for the past few weeks.)
"So which one? Can you tell me which has the problem?" (Hoping for an IP
number or a DNS name.)
"The oldest is reporting problems." He persists. (Right you've had two
chances to answer a simple, obvious question to which you should have an
answer. You are some kind of scam merchant.)
"How can you possibly know this without being able to identify the computer.
Goodbye!" (I slam the phone down.)
I'm now angry and tense (but still clean.)
This bastard has just ruined my evening. I want to reach down the phone line
and strangle the git. If I hadn't been passing the phone when it rang I
would have let to go straight to the answering machine as usual. I must show
better self control in the future.
Vincent Zweije
<nomen.p...@buffy.sighup.org.uk> wrote:
[snip]
|| "So which one? Can you tell me which has the problem?" (Hoping for an IP
|| number or a DNS name.)
||
|| "The oldest is reporting problems." He persists. (Right you've had two
|| chances to answer a simple, obvious question to which you should have an
|| answer. You are some kind of scam merchant.)
||
|| "How can you possibly know this without being able to identify the
|| computer. Goodbye!" (I slam the phone down.)
^UCould you please hang on? It's in ${hard to reach but plausible place}
but I'll check it for you right away...
[puts down phone and exits stage right, not to return for a few hours]
--
Vincent Zweije <zwe...@xs4all.nl> | "If you're flamed in a group you
<http://www.xs4all.nl/~zweije/> | don't read, does anybody get burnt?"
[Xhost should be taken out and shot] | -- Paul Tomblin on a.s.r.
SteveD
<zza...@buffy.sighup.org.uk> wrote:
>"We want to report a problem with your computer." (Huh? That's a surprise)
I've had this one.
"This is an unlisted number. Please hold while we trace your call."
-SteveD
Shmuel Metz
at 07:11 PM, Nomen Publicus <zza...@buffy.sighup.org.uk> said:
>"Really? Which one? I have more than one." I ask (It's just possible
>something has been hacked - it's been almost 24 hours since I last
>patched them.)
I have the same problem with the sleazeball offering to lower the interest
rate on my credit card. Which one? Visa or Mastercard. May I speak to your
supervisor? After I register you.
--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz <http://patriot.net/~shmuel> ISO position
Reply to domain Patriot dot net user shmuel+bspfh to contact me.
We don't care. We don't have to care, we're Congress.
(S877: The Shut up and Eat Your spam act of 2003)
TimC
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> "We want to report a problem with your computer." (Huh? That's a surprise)
>
> "Really? Which one? I have more than one." I ask
"All kinds of them! Your Windows 2003 and XP!"
--
TimC
A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems. -- Alfr�d R�nyi
Kevin Goebel
<zza...@buffy.sighup.org.uk> wrote:
>"Yes"
I haven't had a computer scammer call, but if I'm in the right mood I like
to play with the caller. I'll have to mentally come up with a script,
stringing them on to ask how they know the computer has the problem, what it
is, how I can fix it, etc, and if they try to sell a product or service I
will offer to purchase it if it works with MS-DOS.
Or I might just rip off Tom Mabe's prank:
uggc://jjj.lbhghor.pbz/jngpu?i=ha_CwEKI5y8
Kevin Goebel
Jim
> On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:15:12 +0200 (CEST), Vincent Zweije wrote:
>> ^UCould you please hang on? It's in ${hard to reach but plausible place}
>> but I'll check it for you right away...
>>
>> [puts down phone and exits stage right,
>
> of bullshit to string him along a bit more, see how long it takes
> him to catch clue.
"What colour should the Turbo light be?"
Jim
--
http://www.ursaMinorBeta.co.uk http://twitter.com/GreyAreaUK
My Oasis of Calm has dried up. However, my Garden of Angry is
flourishing quite nicely.
Lionel
>
>> "Is this Mr Nomen Publicus?[0]" asks someone with an Indian accent. The
>> connection is very poor. He used my real name.
>
> Your domain name's whois details give me a pretty good idea who.
>
> I'll bet you're registered with the TPS, too. There's one thing that
> always gives a major clue to an intercontinental VoIP link: latency.
Yep, that & the noise level are the clues I use to decide to hangup on
the fuckwits.
--
W
. | ,. w , "Some people are alive only because
\|/ \|/ it is illegal to kill them." Perna condita delenda est
---^----^---------------------------------------------------------------
Bob
[...]
> I haven't had a computer scammer call, but if I'm in the right mood I like
> to play with the caller. I'll have to mentally come up with a script,
> stringing them on to ask how they know the computer has the problem, what it
> is, how I can fix it, etc, and if they try to sell a product or service I
> will offer to purchase it if it works with MS-DOS.
What about credit card companies?
We had a dispute with Advanta some time ago, but this was settled months
ago. They are currently calling a dozen or more times a day. They've
called 6 times so far today, and it's only noon. (Well, 12 times, if you
count the fact that they call two different phone lines.)
They don't seem to understand "we don't owe you any money", "stop calling
us", "you have a certified letter (return receipt) stating that you are not
to call us any more", or "all future contact must be in writing".
They have told us flat-out that the letter telling them not to call us any
more is irrelevant, as the law which says they have to stop calling us if we
tell them to "does not apply to us" (a direct quote).
And, of course, if I just let the calls go to voicemail, they do not leave
any message
Kenneth Brody
> In article <ha2mrn$a2$5...@xen1.xcski.com>,
> Lionel wrote:
>> Paul Martin wrote:
>>> In article <i3ncp6-...@buffy.sighup.org.uk>,
>>> Nomen Publicus wrote:
>>>
>>>> "Is this Mr Nomen Publicus?[0]" asks someone with an Indian accent. The
>>>> connection is very poor. He used my real name.
>
>>> always gives a major clue to an intercontinental VoIP link: latency.
>
>> Yep, that & the noise level are the clues I use to decide to hangup on
>> the fuckwits.
>
> office ambience for about 10 seconds before the line was cleared.
BTDT. Our voicemail system will disconnect after several seconds of dead
air, and if nothing but dead air was detected, it marks it as a "hang up".
However, we've gotten several calls lately with "message" of 10 seconds or
so, consisting of "office ambiance", as you call it, and nothing else.
We've also gotten "messages" along the lines of "can I speak to ${NAME}?"
Obviously, it was a robocall, which was transfered to a human after their
computer failed to detect an answering machine, and the human has no idea
that they're talking to a machine which is recording their "message".
--
Kenneth Brody
Garrett Wollman
Bob <nob...@example.com> wrote:
>They don't seem to understand "we don't owe you any money", "stop calling
>us", "you have a certified letter (return receipt) stating that you are not
>to call us any more", or "all future contact must be in writing".
>
>They have told us flat-out that the letter telling them not to call us any
>more is irrelevant, as the law which says they have to stop calling us if we
>tell them to "does not apply to us" (a direct quote).
That's called "harrassment", and I'm sure you could find a landshark
to put the fear of Odin into them.
-GAWollman
--
Garrett A. Wollman | What intellectual phenomenon can be older, or more oft
wol...@bimajority.org| repeated, than the story of a large research program
Opinions not shared by| that impaled itself upon a false central assumption
my employers. | accepted by all practitioners? - S.J. Gould, 1993
Niklas Karlsson
>
> That's called "harrassment", and I'm sure you could find a landshark
> to put the fear of Odin into them.
Or at least make them a bit thor.
Niklas
--
Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft
building progress by weight.
-- attributed to Bill Gates
Joe Zeff
> They have told us flat-out that the letter telling them not to call us
> any more is irrelevant, as the law which says they have to stop calling
> us if we tell them to "does not apply to us" (a direct quote).
Start making a log of all calls from them. Once you have enough data
(How many depends on jurisdiction.) you can report them to the
appropriate authorities and have them prosecuted for harassment.
--
Joe Zeff -- The Guy With The Sideburns:
http://www.zeff.us http://www.lasfs.info
I just have a very broad definition of "normal."
Steve VanDevender
> On 2009-10-01, Garrett Wollman <wol...@bimajority.org> wrote:
>>
>> That's called "harrassment", and I'm sure you could find a landshark
>> to put the fear of Odin into them.
>
> Or at least make them a bit thor.
If they at least were made loki enough to lack motivation to call again,
that would probably suffice.
--
Steve VanDevender "I ride the big iron" http://hexadecimal.uoregon.edu/
ste...@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu PGP keyprint 4AD7AF61F0B9DE87 522902969C0A7EE8
"bash awk grep perl sed df du, du-du du-du,
vi troff su fsck rm * halt LART LART LART!" -- the Swedish BOFH
Shmuel Metz
at 01:13 PM, Bob <nob...@example.com> said:
>What about credit card companies?
Is small claims court an option? Regulatory agencies?
Kevin Goebel
wrote:
>On Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:27:49 -0500, Kevin Goebel
><kevi...@kevingoebel.com> wrote:
>
>>I haven't had a computer scammer call, but if I'm in the right mood I like
>>to play with the caller. I'll have to mentally come up with a script,
>>stringing them on to ask how they know the computer has the problem, what it
>>is, how I can fix it, etc, and if they try to sell a product or service I
>>will offer to purchase it if it works with MS-DOS.
>Irefvba 3.2 bs pbhefr?
Nope, 6.2, I'm still running a BBS on it - which the scammer should well
know.
Kevin Goebel
Kevin Goebel
>Kevin Goebel wrote:
>[...]
>> I haven't had a computer scammer call, but if I'm in the right mood I like
>> to play with the caller. I'll have to mentally come up with a script,
>> stringing them on to ask how they know the computer has the problem, what it
>> is, how I can fix it, etc, and if they try to sell a product or service I
>> will offer to purchase it if it works with MS-DOS.
>[...]
>What about credit card companies?
>We had a dispute with Advanta some time ago, but this was settled months
>ago. They are currently calling a dozen or more times a day. They've
>called 6 times so far today, and it's only noon. (Well, 12 times, if you
>count the fact that they call two different phone lines.)
>They don't seem to understand "we don't owe you any money", "stop calling
>us", "you have a certified letter (return receipt) stating that you are not
>to call us any more", or "all future contact must be in writing".
Start taking names, until you have a modest database, then start expressing
your disappointment.
"Oh... I was hoping Derek would call today. I enjoy his telling me his
stories about putting his <deleted> in Marsha's <deleted> until she
<deleted> all over the web-conference screen in your meeting room during
lunch break..."
"Oh... I was hoping Cindy would call today. I enjoy her teasing me about how
she'd like me to join her and Jane in <deleted> on a <deleted> with a
Shetland <deleted>..."
"John, John, John... I've been praying for your immortal soul ever since
your last call. Are you willing to accept <diety> into your life yet? As it
says in <banned in Boston>, chapter <deleted>, verse <deleted>, "Blasphemed
are they who <deleted> in the ..."
Or save a few credit card offers from other companies, if you receive them
in the mail like I do occasionally, for the names and jargon and when they
call, start a sales pitch with them.
"Hi, are you tired of paying through the nose in excessive interest and
charges with your Advanta card? Well, switch to a Wells Fargo CitiGroup Bank
card and pay no interest for 90 days. Pay off your balance to Advanta with
our First Federal BancOne card and we will bill a full 5% less than what
Advanta was on your outstanding balance - guaranteed!"
Depending upon your environment when called, a blast from an air horn
uggc://jjj.ngnsn.pbz/fcbegf/cebqhpgf/FrnFrafr_NVE_UBEA_ZVAV_bm-243445.ugzy
into the phone while they are speaking might get the message across.
If all else fails, offer to pay them what they think you owe:
"Hello Dearest,
I will be going in for an operation, and I pray that I survive the
operation. I have decided to pay the sum of (Whateveryouowe - USD/GBP) to
you as compensation for all your caring phone calls. At the moment I cannot
release the funds myself, due to the fact that my relatives are around me
and I have been restricted by my doctor from leaving the house because I
deserve all the rest I can get. Presently, I have informed my lawyer about
my decision in PAYING this fund to you. I wish you all the best and may the
good Lord bless you abundantly, and please credit the funds correctly as
your company seems to have problems with this aspect of business.
Kindly Contact my lawyer through this email address
(deweycheat...@noextradition.aq) if you are interested in concluding
out this task,so that he can arrange the release of the funds
(Whateveryouowe - USD/GBP) to you. My lawyer's name is Frank Luis. I know I
have never met you but my mind tells me to do this,and i hope you act
sincerely.
Thank you and God bless you."
Kevin Goebel
Nomen Publicus
> sure whether to attribute things to stupidity or malice - they tend
> to have both aplenty.
I have this theory that most of the stupidity is caused by Bank A
outsourcing their customer communication to Call Centre B but then not
listening to feedback from Call Centre B indicating that Bank A has to take
some action.
The poor customer then ends up with an issue that neither Bank A nor Call
Centre B fully understands and neither can take any direct action to resolve
the problem.
The kick in the teeth is Bank A will no longer have a public complaints
procedure (having outsourced it to Call Centre B) and one has to complain
until blue in the mouth before Bank A will take any notice.
BTW, Bank A may or may not closely resemble Barclaycard and their crappy,
broken web registration page.
>
> N years ago, wife(-1) and I had cards from Macy's. After they sent
> a bill indicating that our interest rate was going to 72% (they meant
> 28%, I'm sure, but someone did a "100 minus percentage" screw-up) I
> closed the account.
>
> A few years later, Macy's introduced a new! improved! rewards! card,
> and "gave" us - without asking us, and without us asking them - a
> new account, and a new pair of cards. wife(-1) had moved out by
> then, and I just let the cards sit around and never activated them.
>
> So both starts-with-E credit reporting companies said that oh yeah,
> we had an open account, always paid on time, no balance. The one
> that starts with T didn't mention it, though. So I called up
> Macy's, explained what they'd done, and the guy couldn't find the
> account by number, by phone number, by SSN, by anything. We deduced
> they must've closed it for lack of use. That meant I got to ping
> the 2 CRAs instead and tell them they were still reporting an account
> that was sufficiently closed to not even exist.
>
> Bad case of the stupids.
>
--
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. -- Aldous Huxley
mikea
> On Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:13:33 -0400, Bob wrote:
>
>> They have told us flat-out that the letter telling them not to call us
>> any more is irrelevant, as the law which says they have to stop calling
>> us if we tell them to "does not apply to us" (a direct quote).
>
> Start making a log of all calls from them. Once you have enough data
> (How many depends on jurisdiction.) you can report them to the
> appropriate authorities and have them prosecuted for harassment.
If you are in a state that requires only the consent of one person to
legally record a phone conversation, then you might want to record each
conversation with them -- in addition to making the log. The content
will be of considerable use in any court proceedings. Tell them that the
call is being recorded if and only if law in your state requires it.
--
"When encryption is outlawed, subway announcers will have to find new
jobs."
-- Jamie, in the Monastery
Shmuel Metz
at 08:15 AM, Nomen Publicus <zza...@buffy.sighup.org.uk> said:
>The kick in the teeth is Bank A will no longer have a public complaints
>procedure (having outsourced it to Call Centre B) and one has to complain
>until blue in the mouth before Bank A will take any notice.
It used to be that the public complaints procedure for US banks was a
fraud complaint to the FRB. It also used to be that the error was[1] a one
time unintentional glitch that would never happen again.
[1] Did I believe them? No, of course not[2], but they did correct my
account, even if they continued making the same "inadvertent"
error on other customers' accounts.
[2] No, I don't believe that the Razor applies. I believe that it's a
deliberate policy against spending extra money to DTRT.
Peter H. Coffin
> Dan Birchall <feeping....@cow-tapult.example.com> wrote:
>
>> Any company involved in credit cards confuses me, because I'm never
>> sure whether to attribute things to stupidity or malice - they tend
>> to have both aplenty.
>
> I have this theory that most of the stupidity is caused by Bank A
> outsourcing their customer communication to Call Centre B but then not
> listening to feedback from Call Centre B indicating that Bank A has to
> take some action.
>
> The poor customer then ends up with an issue that neither Bank A nor
> Call Centre B fully understands and neither can take any direct action
> to resolve the problem.
Why on Earth would the Call Centre B want to communicate back? They get
paid by the call. So it's in their interest not to have things actually
resolved....
--
It seems that we were audited recently, and the auditors found a certain
'f' word in the comments of a configuration file, and deemed that this
is a 'security risk'.
-- Paul Fenwick
Peter H. Coffin
> We've also gotten "messages" along the lines of "can I speak to ${NAME}?"
> Obviously, it was a robocall, which was transfered to a human after their
> computer failed to detect an answering machine, and the human has no idea
> that they're talking to a machine which is recording their "message".
Simlarly, an exchange like
*ring*
"This is Peter..."
"Hello, may I speak with Peter, please?"
is a drop-dead clue that I have no interest in listening to whatever the
person on the other end has to say.
--
A way of life that is odd or even erratic but interferes with no rights or
interests of others is not to be condemned because it is different.
-- Chief Justice Warren E. Burger
Peter H. Coffin
> ago. They are currently calling a dozen or more times a day. They've
> called 6 times so far today, and it's only noon. (Well, 12 times, if you
> count the fact that they call two different phone lines.)
>
> They don't seem to understand "we don't owe you any money", "stop calling
> us", "you have a certified letter (return receipt) stating that you are not
> to call us any more", or "all future contact must be in writing".
>
> They have told us flat-out that the letter telling them not to call us any
> more is irrelevant, as the law which says they have to stop calling us if we
> tell them to "does not apply to us" (a direct quote).
>
> And, of course, if I just let the calls go to voicemail, they do not leave
> any message
Bill them. Send another certified letter saying that since the matter is
resolved, any further calls on the matter will be billed at some
reasonable rate, starting immediately after you recieve the receipt
confirming delivery. Then, pass the debt off to a collection agency as
soon as possible.
Peter H. Coffin
> broken web registration page.
I'm sure today's level of brokenness surpasses even your expectations
from Friday...
--
I still want a phone with caller-IQ.
-- Tanuki in the monastery
Nomen Publicus
> On Fri, 2 Oct 2009 08:15:17 -0000, Nomen Publicus wrote:
>> BTW, Bank A may or may not closely resemble Barclaycard and their crappy,
>> broken web registration page.
>
> I'm sure today's level of brokenness surpasses even your expectations
> from Friday...
>
Yes, they seem to have exceeded crappy, bypassed useless and moved directly
to fscking broken. Can't say that I'm surprised, getting "System Error" in
response to a simple attempt to login is a sure sign that the backend is at
the very least on fire..."
--
We all remember how many religious wars were fought for a
religion of love and gentleness; how many bodies were burned alive
with the genuinely kind intention of saving souls from the eternal
fire of hell. -- Karl Popper
Brian Kantor
>> I can tell cold-callers. They use the previous occupants' name.
>They're the ones that hang up after exactly four rings.
Last week I received several dead-air phone calls in the space of
about an hour. When the fourth rang, I stuck the off-hook phone
under a pillow and left it all night. In my mail this week was
a letter from Congressman Bilbray thanking me for participating
in his telephone town hall meeting and for contributing my opinion
during the discussion.
I have long felt this particular elected individual was stupid
beyond description and clueless in the extreme, but I never expected
personally-addressed written confirmation!
Wow.
- Brian
NB: California law prohibits recorded robotic calls unless a
live human asks your permission to play the recorded info first.
Nice to see our elected officials observing...
Kenneth Brody
> On Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:34:34 -0400, Kenneth Brody wrote:
>> We've also gotten "messages" along the lines of "can I speak to ${NAME}?"
>> Obviously, it was a robocall, which was transfered to a human after their
>> computer failed to detect an answering machine, and the human has no idea
>> that they're talking to a machine which is recording their "message".
>
> Simlarly, an exchange like
>
> *ring*
> "This is Peter..."
> "Hello, may I speak with Peter, please?"
>
> is a drop-dead clue that I have no interest in listening to whatever the
> person on the other end has to say.
Most of the time, it's because a robocaller called you, and only got a human
involved after it decided that (1) the phone was answered, and (2) it wasn't
an answering machine. Your "this is Peter" was never heard by the person
who then spoke to you.
--
Kenneth Brody
Kenneth Brody
[...]
> NB: California law prohibits recorded robotic calls unless a
> live human asks your permission to play the recorded info first.
> Nice to see our elected officials observing...
I know that the federal "do not call" list exempted politicians, along with
a few other select groups. Perhaps California's law exempts them as well?
--
Kenneth Brody
mikea
I typically answer no-CID long-distance calls (three rings in our setup)
with "Hello", wait a bit, hear someone on the other end ask something like
"Who is this", and tell them that I've already said "Hello" and now they
get to identify themselves to my satisfaction. I had a lot of fun with
this about a month back when someone called, claiming to be from one of
our credit-card companies, but with BLOCKED where the CID data should have
been. I dodn't give away a single datum, other than that someone at our
end did answer the phone. She wouldn't give me a number to call back at,
claimed that I should be able to see who she worked for on the CID, and
generally was resistant to Clue. I toyed with her for about 5 minutes and
then got bored.
--
"Died. Woke up in Hell. Punched in PIN, logged on. Just another day."
-- David Gerard
Peter H. Coffin
Exactly. I've yet to be pleased by any call so dialed. Especially
annoying is the calls to my work number purporting to be from $City
Professional Firefighters Association that start off thanking me for my
support (I foolishly gave them $20 a decade ago), and them refusing to
take me off their calling list. The next step is to wander down to City
Hall, with a letter to the Fire Department Chief stating that I will be
billing them for any further time spent dealing with calls from their
labor union masquerading as a charitable organization. Because asking to
be removed from the list, demanding to be removed from their list,
notifying them I'm on the national Do Not Call Registry, all have
accomplished precisely zero change in behavior.
--
"This place is evil! We need weapons! Crossbows! Rocket Launchers!
Rent-a-zilla!"
-- L33t Master Largo www.megatokyo.com
Nomen Publicus
> On Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:55:02 GMT, Peter H. Coffin wrote:
>> take me off their calling list. The next step is to wander down to City
>> Hall, with a letter to the Fire Department Chief stating that I will be
>> billing them for any further time spent dealing with calls from their
>> labor union masquerading as a charitable organization. Because asking to
>> be removed from the list, demanding to be removed from their list,
>> notifying them I'm on the national Do Not Call Registry, all have
>> accomplished precisely zero change in behavior.
>
> them to be scumbags.
>
> They call my cellphone.
A particular bunch of the spawn of cthulhu are 3-mobile who are currently
cell phone spamming users of T-Mobile in the UK. Somehow they can control
both the ring tone and the volume so their initial call is usually not
noticed and appears on the missed call list - the intent appears to get the
spammed to pay for the return call to discover what the hell is going on (in
the UK only the caller pays.)
>
> Then there's "Rx Pharmacy" who sometimes call SWMBO's cell phone, snicker, ask
> about our prescriptions, and hang up.
>
--
Atheism: Godless, not believing in the existence of gods.
Lawns 'R' Us
> A particular bunch of the spawn of cthulhu are 3-mobile who are currently
> cell phone spamming users of T-Mobile in the UK. Somehow they can control
> both the ring tone and the volume so their initial call is usually not
> noticed and appears on the missed call list - the intent appears to get the
> spammed to pay for the return call to discover what the hell is going on (in
> the UK only the caller pays.)
We had a scam do the rounds in .au recently. They'd call your mobile,
stay on the line *just* long enough for the call to be registered by
said mobile, and then hang up. If you called back the number that was
listed on the "missed calls" list, you'd be bombarded with offers of
$BIGNUM dollars of value.
They stopped doing it after a month or two. Whether this was due to
the outrage, or threats of legal action from the ACCC, I'm not sure.
Chloe
<kenb...@spamcop.net> wrote:
> Peter H. Coffin wrote:
>>
>>
>> *ring*
>> "This is Peter..."
>> "Hello, may I speak with Peter, please?"
>>
>> is a drop-dead clue that I have no interest in listening to whatever the
>> person on the other end has to say.
>
> Most of the time, it's because a robocaller called you, and only got a human
> involved after it decided that (1) the phone was answered, and (2) it wasn't
> an answering machine. Your "this is Peter" was never heard by the person
> who then spoke to you.
>
Who needs a robocaller..
*ring*
"Hello?"
"Can I speak with Miss Cresswell please?"
"Speaking"
(dead air for 10-30 seconds)
"Well, I guess if you are not going to say anything I will hang up"
"Oh sorry, can I speak with Miss Cresswell please?"
"Speaking"
(more dead air)
and it goes on.. I love people's preconceptions of how I should sound on the
phone...
Chloe
Nomen Publicus
> In article <921rp6-...@buffy.sighup.org.uk>,
> Nomen Publicus wrote:
>
>> A particular bunch of the spawn of cthulhu are 3-mobile who are currently
>> cell phone spamming users of T-Mobile in the UK. Somehow they can control
>> both the ring tone and the volume so their initial call is usually not
>> noticed and appears on the missed call list - the intent appears to get the
>> spammed to pay for the return call to discover what the hell is going on (in
>> the UK only the caller pays.)
>
> through the T-Mobile allocation of phone numbers? (I wouldn't go back
> to T-Mobile. Poor coverage and dodgy practices when you cancel. I'm not
> with Three, either.)
Google is your friend - put in the orginating number and there are a number
of sites which discuss the various spammers. The current theory is that 3
is just working their way through the block of numbers they _know_ are
allocated to T-mobile phones, hence the desire not to complete the initial
call.
There are various cell phone number firewall apps available whch I will
check out when I get time.
>
> At the ISDN level, all you'd need to do to achieve the effect you're
> describing is to drop the call once you got the "ringing" notification
> over the D channel[0]. The phone might only quietly go "bip" because on
> many phones the volume gradually ramps up over the first ring or two.
>
> [0] "Open channel D"
:-)
--
The sailor does not pray for wind, he learns to sail. -- Gustaf Lindborg
Kenneth Brody
> Peter H. Coffin wrote:
>> Simlarly, an exchange like
>>
>> *ring*
>> "This is Peter..."
>> "Hello, may I speak with Peter, please?"
>>
>> is a drop-dead clue that I have no interest in listening to whatever the
>> person on the other end has to say.
>
> Most of the time, it's because a robocaller called you, and only got a
> human involved after it decided that (1) the phone was answered, and (2)
> it wasn't an answering machine. Your "this is Peter" was never heard by
> the person who then spoke to you.
As I understand it, it is illegal (in the U.S., anyway) to have a recorded
message robocalled to a phone without first getting permission to play the
recorded message. (Or something like that.)
Well, we just got a recorded robocall the other day, which went something
like (paraphrasing):
This is a message for $(NAME). There will be a 5-second pause before
the message is played. By staying on the line, you are agreeing to
receive this message. (5-second pause) $(MESSAGE).
Wow. You mean my answering machine gave you consent to play your recorded
message, by not hanging up?
Talk about sleazy. I doubt it would pass a legal challenge, but I certainly
don't have the time for that.
--
Kenneth Brody
Seth
Peter H. Coffin <hel...@ninehells.com> wrote:
>Exactly. I've yet to be pleased by any call so dialed. Especially
>annoying is the calls to my work number purporting to be from $City
>Professional Firefighters Association that start off thanking me for my
>support (I foolishly gave them $20 a decade ago), and them refusing to
>take me off their calling list. The next step is to wander down to City
>Hall, with a letter to the Fire Department Chief stating that I will be
>billing them for any further time spent dealing with calls from their
>labor union masquerading as a charitable organization. Because asking to
>be removed from the list, demanding to be removed from their list,
>notifying them I'm on the national Do Not Call Registry, all have
>accomplished precisely zero change in behavior.
What makes you think the callers have any affiliation with the actual
Fire Department or its employees?
Seth
Peter H. Coffin
*shrug* Not my problem. The callers claim to be calling on the behalf of
the organization at uggc://iaff407.bet/ If they're not, it's that
organization's responsibility to halt the fraud, because I've got no
claim on the name or reputation. If they are so represented, the bill is
justified.
--
Science is like sex:
sometimes something useful comes out, but that's not why we're doing it.
-- Richard Feynman
Lionel
> In article <ha2mrn$a2$5...@xen1.xcski.com>,
> Lionel wrote:
>> Paul Martin wrote:
>>> In article <i3ncp6-...@buffy.sighup.org.uk>,
>>> Nomen Publicus wrote:
>>>
>>>> "Is this Mr Nomen Publicus?[0]" asks someone with an Indian accent. The
>>>> connection is very poor. He used my real name.
>
>>> I'll bet you're registered with the TPS, too. There's one thing that
>>> always gives a major clue to an intercontinental VoIP link: latency.
>
>> Yep, that & the noise level are the clues I use to decide to hangup on
>> the fuckwits.
>
> I had a "silent" call this afternoon. Only it wasn't silent. There was
> office ambience for about 10 seconds before the line was cleared.
I've just hung up on a call where the telemarketer's voice sounded
pitch-doubled, & was utterly unintelligible. I assume that the codec had
screwed up somehow.
--
W
. | ,. w , "Some people are alive only because
\|/ \|/ it is illegal to kill them." Perna condita delenda est
---^----^---------------------------------------------------------------
Garrett Wollman
Paul Martin <p...@nowster.org.uk> wrote:
>In article <slrnhculu...@shady.adminspotting.org>,
> Gary Barnes wrote:
>
>> Tangentially, I slammed the door on a door-stepper yesterday.
>
>Over the course of a month, I had three different lots from npower come
>and ask why I'd dropped them as my gas and electricity billing agent[0]
>earlier in the year.
This is an experience that is practically unheard-of in leftpondia.
That sort of user interface is almost exclusively the preserve of
religious nutters (and even those are rare in the places I've lived).
-GAWollman
--
Garrett A. Wollman | What intellectual phenomenon can be older, or more oft
wol...@bimajority.org| repeated, than the story of a large research program
Opinions not shared by| that impaled itself upon a false central assumption
my employers. | accepted by all practitioners? - S.J. Gould, 1993
Peter H. Coffin
> I opened the door, eyed her suspiciously, noting her fleece with company
> logo and clipboard, and she says:
>
> "Don't worry, it's not about double-glazing *heh*. I'm calling on behalf of
> a company called Aqua-"
>
> "No, thank you" *slam*
>
> I went back to the living room, where SWMBO is sitting, and she gives me the
> "I can't believe you can be so rude" look.
>
> So I say "What? I said 'No, thank you'". Sheesh.
>
> SWMBO also gave me evil looks when a bloke with a clipboard tried to talk to
> me in the street. Just because the exchange went:
Apparently, SWMBO may be the person to get up and answer the door in the
future, since you seem to do so poorly at it.
--
3. My noble half-brother whose throne I usurped will be killed, not kept
anonymously imprisoned in a forgotten cell of my dungeon.
--Peter Anspach's list of things to do as an Evil Overlord
SteveD
<hel...@ninehells.com> wrote:
>On 09 Oct 2009 15:35:07 GMT, Gary Barnes wrote:
>> I opened the door, eyed her suspiciously, noting her fleece with company
>> logo and clipboard, and she says:
>>
>> "Don't worry, it's not about double-glazing *heh*. I'm calling on behalf of
>> a company called Aqua-"
>>
>> "No, thank you" *slam*
>>
>> I went back to the living room, where SWMBO is sitting, and she gives me the
>> "I can't believe you can be so rude" look.
>>
>> So I say "What? I said 'No, thank you'". Sheesh.
>>
>> SWMBO also gave me evil looks when a bloke with a clipboard tried to talk to
>> me in the street. Just because the exchange went:
>
>Apparently, SWMBO may be the person to get up and answer the door in the
>future, since you seem to do so poorly at it.
Sounds efficient enough to me.
Nomen Publicus
> In article <slrnhculu...@shady.adminspotting.org>,
> Gary Barnes wrote:
>
>> Tangentially, I slammed the door on a door-stepper yesterday.
>
> Over the course of a month, I had three different lots from npower come
> and ask why I'd dropped them as my gas and electricity billing agent[0]
> to go back to an organisation that couldn't send me a bill between
> signing up with them a year previously and me requesting to switch to
> another bill provider. I did get a pair of "final bills" off them, but
> the calculations were opaque.
It's behaviour such as that which makes me want to go "off grid". Not for
any ecological reason, nor in the expectation that I will save money. I just
don't want to be that close to a creature that is both capricious and
vindictive.
>
>
> [0] It's the same methane and electrons whomever you buy them from.
> Only the price and competence of those billing you changes.
>
Kenneth Brody
[...]
> I've probably mentioned before that sainted Pater would habitually say
> "what a pity you didn't call half an hour ago". They always ask why,
> to which the response is "because I was out." and a firm closing of
> the door. He did taunt one bloke for a while: "I'm from (whoever)
> Windows." "No thanks, I already have windows." "But these are
> aluminium!"
"But transparent aluminum hasn't been invented yet."
> Mute and highly meaningful stare at very obviously
> aluminium window frame alongside the door.
"Oh, you meant aluminum window _frames_? I already have those, too."
> Last one that doorstepped me, effectively called me a liar. Great way
> to make a sale. We're just buying some windows now, his firm was not
> on the list for quotes.
"Well, thank you for making any future choice in where to purchase windows
that much simpler." (Though he'd probably take that the wrong way and think
it was a compliment.)
--
Kenneth Brody
Robert Uhl
>
> <closing the door on door-to-door salesmen>
>
>> I went back to the living room, where SWMBO is sitting, and she gives me the
>> "I can't believe you can be so rude" look.
>>
>
> How about the rudeness of thinking your product or cause is so important
> that people must drop whatever they're doing and listen to you?
I dunno, I think it's admirably low-tech: 'I have a product; you may be
interested; I will ask you.'
My biggest concern about it is that most of the folks going door-to-door
are scammers of one sort or another.
--
Robert A. Uhl
I've got a lot more than nine words for snow, and I don't even need to
resort to Eskimo. This is because I have a powerful descriptive vocabulary.
--Cecil Adams
Kenneth Brody
> wrote:
>
>> "I'm sorry to bother you..."
>> "Well, don't then."
>
> Project manager came over today and said "May I bother you about
> $PROJECT?" To which I replied "No." It didn't work, but we had an
> interesting conversation around the fact that it doesn't have to work
> very often to be worth a try every time.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Yes, and that was it."
I eventually got people to ask "can I ask you a question following this
one", or variations thereof. (Of course, that implies that they had
permission to ask that first question.)
--
Kenneth Brody
Steve VanDevender
> Gallian <gal...@linuxmail.org> writes:
>> How about the rudeness of thinking your product or cause is so important
>> that people must drop whatever they're doing and listen to you?
> I dunno, I think it's admirably low-tech: 'I have a product; you may be
> interested; I will ask you.'
The problem is that there are a lot of products out there and if every
manufacturer felt they had to ask me personally about whether I might be
interested in it, I'd never be able to get away from the door or off the
phone. And their invasion of my personal time or space will _not_ make
me favorable to their company and their products.
As I told the most recent cold-caller on my office phone, "If we should
someday have the money and the desire to replace our current expensive
file servers, we'll survey the market and if it should happen that we
want to buy your company's products, WE'LL CALL YOU." That and some of
the other things I said ("I hate being cold-called!" was among them) got
him to not only promise to remove me from his calling list but email me
a rather nice apology.
> My biggest concern about it is that most of the folks going door-to-door
> are scammers of one sort or another.
The worse the product is, the more it needs "salesmanship" to get any
sold.
--
Steve VanDevender "I ride the big iron" http://hexadecimal.uoregon.edu/
ste...@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu PGP keyprint 4AD7AF61F0B9DE87 522902969C0A7EE8
Little things break, circuitry burns / Time flies while my little world turns
Every day comes, every day goes / 100 years and nobody shows -- Happy Rhodes
Jed Davis
> Paul Martin <p...@nowster.org.uk> wrote:
>> Over the course of a month, I had three different lots from npower come
>> and ask why I'd dropped them as my gas and electricity billing agent[0]
>> earlier in the year.
>
> This is an experience that is practically unheard-of in leftpondia.
> That sort of user interface is almost exclusively the preserve of
> religious nutters (and even those are rare in the places I've lived).
I've had people from my side of the political fence come begging for
money.
In one case I thought it might be a parcel service, and so made for the
door with a certain amount of haste, and so was wearing a t-shirt and
underwear and not much else while a member of the inappropriate sex (who
was clearly not entirely used to the idea that when you ring people's
doorbells you may get a certain amount of undefined behavior) attempted
to talk politics.
--
(let ((C call-with-current-continuation)) (apply (lambda (x y) (x y)) (map
((lambda (r) ((C C) (lambda (s) (r (lambda l (apply (s s) l)))))) (lambda
(f) (lambda (l) (if (null? l) C (lambda (k) (display (car l)) ((f (cdr l))
(C k))))))) '((#\J #\d #\D #\v #\s) (#\e #\space #\a #\i #\newline)))))
Richard Gadsden
> wol...@bimajority.org (Garrett Wollman) writes:
>
>> Paul Martin <p...@nowster.org.uk> wrote:
>>> Over the course of a month, I had three different lots from npower come
>>> and ask why I'd dropped them as my gas and electricity billing agent[0]
>>> earlier in the year.
>> This is an experience that is practically unheard-of in leftpondia.
>> That sort of user interface is almost exclusively the preserve of
>> religious nutters (and even those are rare in the places I've lived).
>
> I've had people from my side of the political fence come begging for
> money.
>
> In one case I thought it might be a parcel service, and so made for the
> door with a certain amount of haste, and so was wearing a t-shirt and
> underwear and not much else while a member of the inappropriate sex (who
> was clearly not entirely used to the idea that when you ring people's
> doorbells you may get a certain amount of undefined behavior) attempted
> to talk politics.
I have called on doors to talk politics.
The advice I was always given, and in more recent years have given out,
is not to impose yourself on people and to leave immediately if asked.
I've had doors answered by people wearing less than you did, and usually
apologise for disturbing them and get away quickly. On one occasion,
the voter wanted to hold a discussion while wearing so little that I was
unable to concentrate on politics and I had to make my excuses and leave.
--
Richard Gadsden ric...@gadsden.name
"I disagree with what you say but I will defend to
the death your right to say it" - Attributed to Voltaire
Robert Uhl
>
>>> How about the rudeness of thinking your product or cause is so important
>>> that people must drop whatever they're doing and listen to you?
>
>> I dunno, I think it's admirably low-tech: 'I have a product; you may be
>> interested; I will ask you.'
>
> The problem is that there are a lot of products out there and if every
> manufacturer felt they had to ask me personally about whether I might be
> interested in it, I'd never be able to get away from the door or off the
> phone.
You're right about that.
--
Robert A. Uhl
People from East Germany find the West so confusing. It's so much
easier when you have only one choice. --Linus Torvalds explaining
why having $BIGNUM Linux distributions is not necessarily a bad thing
Shmuel Metz
at 06:30 PM, Richard Gadsden <ric...@gadsden.name> said:
>The advice I was always given, and in more recent years have given out,
>is not to impose yourself on people and to leave immediately if asked.
And yet ...
>I've had doors answered by people wearing less than you did, and usually
> apologise for disturbing them and get away quickly. On one occasion,
>the voter wanted to hold a discussion while wearing so little that I was
> unable to concentrate on politics and I had to make my excuses and
>leave.
You've already been rude enough to interrupt a person that you had no
reason to believe was interested, and then you compound it by leaving it
prematurely. That's luserish.
If you aren't willing to hold a discussion with the resident regardless of
attire or lack thereof, then find a job that doesn't require face-to-face
cold calling of homeowners.
--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz <http://patriot.net/~shmuel> ISO position
Reply to domain Patriot dot net user shmuel+bspfh to contact me.
We don't care. We don't have to care, we're Congress.
(S877: The Shut up and Eat Your spam act of 2003)
Richard Bos
> How about the rudeness of thinking your product or cause is so important
> that people must drop whatever they're doing and listen to you?
>
> (the local UNICEF branch tried it this week. I didn't even phrase it
> nicely, just: "I don't do business at the door, and that includes
> charities". <click>)
I have, with great regret, put Unicef on my list of "do not give a cent"
charities. They wouldn't stop paper-spamming my dead father.
Richard
James Wilkinson
> I have, with great regret, put Unicef on my list of "do not give a cent"
> charities. They wouldn't stop paper-spamming my dead father.
And the very next day, Spamhaus listed www.unicef.org.uk and related
sites for email spam. (SBL 80426 to 80431).
James.
--
E-mail: james@ | "Security question ... What's your dog's maiden name?"
aprilcottage.co.uk | -- Peter Gutmann on bad security designs