Cold Calls

I cannot stand cold calls. Over and over again they call trying to sell you products that you never asked for. To take a "quick survey" regarding products in your home. To inform you that your current insurance products are either running out or could be improved upon. In this digital age, it is a simple process to go on-line and find the cheapest insurance quote, or the specific electrical item I want to buy, or even sign-up to websites that offer payment for completed surveys. In short, there is no point to the existence of telesales calls. All that they achieve is to annoy those unfortunate enough to have there personal details disseminated for marketing department to marketing department.


In the past, I have taken different approaches to dealing with this annoyance in the vain hope that they will get the message and stop calling. Perhaps this was a poor method as the calls have increased over the past few weeks. I have therefore decided to take a new approach.


Whenever I receive a cold call I will obtain as much information about the caller as possible and post this information on-line. I will also do an internet search to locate any additional information about the company and caller as possible. In order to maintain a level of professionalism I have written an opening statement and created a set of questions ...

Inform the caller that … Please be aware that the details of this conversation will be posted online at telrec.blogspot.com– you have the right to read what has been written about this phone call and any comments you wish to post will be reviewed. Any information provided that is deemed suspicious or misleading will be passed to both the FSA and the Police for further investigation. Are you willing to continue this phone call?

The following information will then be obtained ...

1. Date & Time
2. Phone Number
3. Who is calling?
1. Will you give a Full Name?
4. What company are you calling from?
5. What is the purpose of your call?
6. How did you obtain this phone number and my personal details?
7. What personal information do you hold?
8. Will you give the companies VAT No. to confirm you are calling from a legitimate company?
1. If not then why not?
9. Would you be willing to give me your personal information so that I can contact you with a follow-up call to discuss the information collected and posted from this phone call.
10. Call Duration

I invite you to participate - feel free to print off a copy of the question list and post your results, or you can post a comment if you have had calls from the same people / number.