beat me to saying it!
Found this, Jo :
http://www.vodeo.tv/documentaire/call-center-les-nouveaux-proletaires
A bit old but it's supposed to cover the subject.
another friend explained about the silence and the "goodbye" being an automated calling system and not having an operator available. He's in Australia so it's a global nuisance, but it's good you gave the same explanation too, as it makes it more solid to grasp as the real issue.
I think the old fashioned answerphone might be best...though if I do answer and I get someone who refuses to take a breath whilst they rattle out their pre-ordained spiel, I may need that whistle just to grab their attention. Quite often they dn't listen to me at all and I have to shout "locataiiirrrre!"
When they do eventually stop to listen to me, and they realise I am a "locataire",even if I have not needed to shout, most of them decroche without even saying 'merci' or 'bonne journee'...so rude. Doesn't cost anything to say thank you and good day after interrupting you.
I have some doubt that people working in call centres are much worse off than me. North Africa is a big catchment area and I think the vision of all Africans as being from slums is at last fading into history. Though I have little doubt that they don't have much of a support system to fall onto if they are disabled or unemployed.
I'd like to see a quality documentary about foreign call centre workers and what their conditions really are like.
How about trying to use these calls to your advantage.
We would get lots and my wife used them as free French lesions - her French was good beforehand, but she did very well... as an example, she learnt a lot about Mercedes gearboxes ! - not that we have one or want one.
This went on for a while, so I thought I would have a go as my French is terrible. Oddly enough, they do not spend as long with me on the phone....
I like this idea a lot..."passive/aggressive" does the trick!
And for the Moroccans there's "N'ad-din amuc" which is SHOCKING :p
If I do happen to answer, which, as I said is rare, I sometimes say that the person they want to speak to is in the garden and that I will have to go and get them, and then I just leave the phone off the hook until they hang up. My silly little game :)
My OH, using her strongest Irish accent, simply asks: "Can I help you?" and gets a cut-off immediately!
Unfortunately the Orange community, which they told us to look at, is a discussion forum that mainly asks questions with few answers. Worth a look anyway for ideas. Apart from that, one can hear the shrugging going on when the people at Orange do not know what to say and are trying to get rid of nuisance callers with genuine grievances.
Sounds good Andy. I never answer any calls from the Paris area. In fact I very rarely answer the phone at all unless I really recognise the number. If its something urgent people will leave messages and I can call them back...or not, as the case may be.
You can almost always block anonymous calls…
I use OVH for telecoms and through their web interface I can also block individual numbers or ranges of numbers. I can also block numbers “starting with” and then could even put 02 and block half the country!!
Recommend that to everyone!! And although OVH is Internet based telephone, it costs 1,18 a month and gives unlimited calls and unlimited calls to 40 major countries too…
Hi Jo, yes I have received loads of calls like this so I did a search on the number and stumbled upon an Orange community discussion page about harcèlement téléphonique :
http://communaute.orange.fr/t5/mon-t%C3%A9l%C3%A9phone-par-internet...
I am pleased that I resisted the temptation to answer, but the message on the answer phone just cuts off with a brief "goodbye" like you say. We also heard that this is to do with pirating your account and running up huge bills...so whatever you do do not answer. Those particular "people" seem to have given up now.
Ah yes, Ālibaug sē aayā hai kyā? - Have you come from Alibaug? in taxis, when you are staying at the Residency Hotel Fort and they think you belong in at least the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and will try to drop you of there... Ya come from the nuthouse mate, in other words. Highly appropriate for the cold callers.
I don't mind if there's actually someone there to talk; I just listen, decide if I'm interested. Usually I'm not, so just politely say " Merci, mais ça me n'intéresse pas" and put the phone down. But I hate the silences and have no remedy to offer.
I too tired of these annoyances and purchased a land line phone with voice mail. Telefunken makes a dandy desk phone with big number buttons ( for aging eyes) and hands free feature. Telemarketers usually hang up when they hear my fractured French outgoing message. Friends leave a message, or I just pick up if at home when I hear their voice. Problem solved and no more running to the phone from the garden only to find someone wanting to sell me something I don't need.
Mine literally translated is 'Oi! Wotcha thinking! Think I just got out of Ali Bagh?' (Ali Bagh being the Bombay asylum ;-) it is what my friends in my office taught me to say to rip-off taxi-drivers when I was working in Mumbai ;-). Brian is much politer than I am!!
I would say 'Āpa maiṁ sirpha Mumba'ī pāgalakhānē sē bāhara hō gayā hai lagatā hai', it involves a lot of rocking your head left to right, axis on your neck and teeth close together. Emphasise the letters with accents by raising your voice a tone and pitch. It is 'Do you think I just got out of Mumbai lunatic asylum?' in other words.
Every day from 014 or 017 or prive or inconnu. I do not pick up now as before if I picked up the phone it started calling a number. If it is someone you know they will ring back or leave a message. It must be sequential dialling. If you pick up they know you are there.
"Aap kya samachta hai? Mera Ali-Bagh se-ayihu?" is useful, it is Hindi for 'Do you think I just got out of Mumbai lunatic asylum?' I hope this helps...
Telephone Answering Machine, young fellow!
In the old days we had those before service suppliers worked out how to do that for you.
But you could still buy them last time looked and they are indispensable for warding off nuisance calls.