Dr Livingstone I presume!
We get the same - its really annoying. I'm going in to the local office today to see if there's a way of putting a stop to it.
They also doubled my last bill for some unexplained reason so that's two good reasons to have a rant in their office.
I am going to try this - especially as I can never get my act together to say "ca ne m'interesse pas" or whatever the combination of words is. I think I usually end up saying "I am not interesting", which at that point, to them, I am not.
I did once mistakenly acquiesce and ended up accepting the call with the result of a house visit subjecting me and my husband to a two and half hour barrage from a heating man - who bored me solid about a heating system we don't need and at the cost of a small mortgage. He even tried to make us hand over a cheque despite our no message. Thank goodness my husand is: 1. too stingy to even hand money to St Peter or the boat man; 2. Has the balls to just say "NO" without even a flutter of discomfort.
It's not racist, I imagine they do the same to everyone anyway. It's just plain rude. In their defence, they will be under pressure to hit their targets and won't have time to waste on calls that are not going anywhere for them. This is a management issue, not the fault of the call centers.
They call at lunchtime, Susan, because they know that's when you are most likely to be at home, simple as that.
Hi Jo,
the Pacitel sign up works. We used to get at least a call a day from assorted companies. I signed up to Pacitel at the end of January and have had three weeks of silence since then. Bliss. Here's the link again. http://www.pacitel.fr/particuliers.php
We get these calls on our landline and also on the internet number. I find that saying that the house is sold does the trick . But as far as the rascist thing is concerned, my favourite one was a very pushy young man who told me that he would have to speak to my husband as my English accent was too strong and he couldn't understand me. (My husband speaks NO French and I would have gladly handed the phone to him had he been there.) The young man became quite rude and aggressive (so did I!) he informed me that as I lived in France I should have a better accent, I told him that if he was going to call people in France then , so should he, he then called me a rascist , and I told him that he in that case, so was he!! I demanded to speak to a supervisor, who came onto the phone and could hardly stop herself from laughing and apologised on behalf of the company. Never did find out what they were trying to sell. Quite enjoyed that one !!! But I do agree that it does drive you mad, especially when both phones are going at the same time.
Even if someone was offering to give me the best offer ever on a product I really needed I would not buy from a cold caller! As someone has already said, it's not their fault and they have an awful job but I hate cold callers, when I put the TV, radio, internet on, when I go anywhere there are always adverts trying to get me to buy this and that or having a certain service etc and I feel in my own home I should be able to get away from all this!
What I hate more than anything though is when you get a call and there is a voice saying "Please hold the line." and then you get music. I find this so rude, how dare someone who doesn't know me, call me and then expect me to wait for them to be ready to answer me!
My husband does it differently and talks to them for ever, when they ask if we are the owners of the house he asks them if they own their own house, when they ask him how much he earns he asks them to tell him first how much they earn, they usually end up hanging up as they realise they aren't going to get anywhere!
I don't run to answer the phone if I'm busy. Callers can leave a message, and if it's urgent, and they know me, they know my mobile number as well and will call me on that number. If I do answer, I stay polite just long enough to determine if they are someone I need to speak with, and if they're not, then the fun begins. I tell them I will go get Monsieur, and then I just leave them waiting on the phone. Forever. Or, I speak English. Or, I just keep saying "What?" or "Hello?", or "Why," in English or any other language but French, as if I don't hear anyone. At some point, I realized that, in my own home, I no longer owe strangers on the phone an explanation of why I don't want to listen to them or buy something, or feel I need to apologize because I say that I don't understand (even if I do). I find that these calls come in batches, and it's always after I've done something official, registered a business, searched for a Mutuelle on the internet, bought office supplies online. It's useless to sign up for any kind of do-not-call list. Companies have ways of getting around it, and they can't be found. I do feel sorry for the people who do this job. I tried it myself once when I was a student. Didn't last two hours in the "boiler room", as it is known in some places. If you think the callers are annoying or intimidating, you should see their office manager. Nasty, aggressive, intimidating, lying, thieving types.
I just say ( best BBC accent) "I`m English, do you speak English" and they cut the call in a nano second, not a problem
oh no ..... I am absolutely wetting myself here - wrong granny! So funny
Laughing so much here! Oh dear!
I joined Pacitel a couple of years ago, but am still being bombarded with intrusive calls! I doubt whether these trolls even look at, or possess a list of subscribers to this service. And then, as well as EDF and their bleep bleep solar panel selling monkeys, we have people calling ALWAYS from something called La Maison de xxxx (the name changes) wanting you to go on a bus/to a venue somewhere/to a Salle de Fête in an unknown village but never, never to buy anything. No : they give you something from the goodness of their hearts. Like hell. They all have a helluva problem with our surname too. Perhaps next time somebody mauls it up, I'll say "NO! That's definitely not MY name". Why do they always call at lunchtime or when I am preparing supper?
Jo Blick I am having a good laugh too - also like Brian Milne's little scheme (or should that be Dr Milne!) - great ideas - made my morning. Oooo err phone ringing ..... must go!
we have been getting 2 or 3 a day from EDF, Ive asked them to stop calling but they still insist, now I dont answer the phone if I dont recognise the number, and I totally agree they are very rude!
Pacitel has reduced enormously the number of cold calls we get but has had no effect on these people trying to sell us solar panels. Does it not just block companies that have signed up to their charter?
For some reason the ones who call us only want to speak to people aged 65 or less. Or sometimes it's 67. So that gets us off the hook even if they clearly don't believe me. Occasionally, when I've nothing better to do, I string them along, asking them to spell their name, the name of the company they represent, where they are calling from, what their private telephone number is so I can call them back in the middle of the night .... The problem is, of course, that these people are doing a thankless job, possibly the only one they can get. Presumably they have a quota of calls to make which is why they hang up fast when it's clear they will get nowhere. I honestly feel sorry for them. Which doesn't stop it being a major pain.
I always say " En principe je 'n'achete rien par telephone" and that seems to shut them up.
We have lots of calls from EDF, and of course, we are a customer, but I do not want to buy frozen food either!
I was thinking about putting up a post about finding the pacitel number, but will now follow through with that. Many thanks Caroline.
Maybe it was just a wrong number. I rang my Granny in Scotland once when I was a student in Germany and had a lovely chat with someone else's Granny for about 5 minutes (actually quite a long time) before we simultaneously realised it wasn't the right Granny/granddaughter combo.
I've already been asked if I really do live at No 23 Avenue Charles de Gaulle in Monbazillac & have I had their literature through the post (an obvious ploy to get my address) so I say yes of course (there is no Ave CdG in Monbaz. In fact I don't think any street has a name). I also enjoy asking them if they know where Monbazillac is & they never do. & as they ALWAYS get my name wrong that gives plenty of scope for innocent fun too.
thanks to Carolyn, I did the http://www.pacitel.fr/ thing, it took about 30 seconds.....what a good idea!
EDF should be made accountable for this though. They started it.