Interesting change (phone)

[Pat-inCO]

We've all seen tons of solutions on how to get rid of nuisance calls. Mine
is like many here of making the caller leave a message, before I even
acknowledge anything. All water under the bridge.

I have been receiving three to ten hang-ups per day Since late January, I
find that more than annoying because my current answering machine does
not allow me to shut off the outgoing announcement. Oh well.

Decided to turn off the answering machine. Since I can not hear the ringer
unless I am literally sitting next to it, I was curious as to what difference,
if any, that might make. DANG!

Had it turned off for a full week and the three to ten calls per day have
gone away! Did I happen to match my action with the movement of the
focus of the spoofers? Have no way to tell, but if by simply not answering
AT ALL, they will leave you alone, I'm one happy camper.

How do I know it was a spoofer? One call had a "from" of all zeros, while
another one had my number in it and yet another had my number with the
last digit changed.

What ever the reason, I LOVE the result. 8)

 

[Fox Mike]

I have noticed that the PITA calls normally never ring enough for my answering machine to kick in. I am set to pickup on the 7th ring and they seem to 'go away' after four rings. I look at the phone and if I do not recognize the number it will either shut off or they can leave a message. I answer who I want when I want.

 

[Paul B]

I just got one of those calls. Out of state number I did not recognize. I answered, "City Morgue. May I help you." "UH Uh I'm looking for Mr. Paul B.???" I sez, This is the city morgue. He's not here." A stammering "Uh sorry. Good bye."
Wife is cracking up in the background and I'm splitting a gut trying to hold it in. I think I'll be doing stuff like that more often. It's fun when you catch a real human.
Paul B.

 

[powder smoke]

Don't recognize the number I do not pick up, if it's important they'll leave a message.
Simple but it works for me. My phone service blocks all robo calls, since I did that the
volume of calls went way down. ps

 

[Pat-inCO]

I answered, "City Morgue. May I help you."
"UH Uh I'm looking for Mr. Paul B.???" I sez,
This is the city morgue. He's not here."

See . . . you messed up. You should have said
"This is the city morgue, let me see if he has arrived yet." :shock:

I'll bet that would give them even more fits fits.

 

[Ka6otm]

I switched from Cox Communications to Vonage for my phone. A small speed bump caused me to be without phone service for around 3 days.

When I got Vonage up and running, the spam/telemarketer calls had gone away and they haven't returned yet even thought his happened around 3 months ago.

 

[bogus bill]

I had a woman call wanting to give me a free cruise. I declined. She pressed why would I refuse a free trip? I started bawling, said I was a paraplegic. She apologized all over the place and started crying too!

 

[mohavesam]

record the tones/message for "You've reached a number that is not in service..." and use it for your incoming message for a week or so (drives your relatives crazy too). :wink:

 

[clintsfolly]

Yrs ago we would get calls asking for Sue. I would tell the same young lady that we have no Or never had a Sue here. Finally I got the point across. The last time she called I told her that “ Sue will not be here for 5-7 yrs but with good behavior maybe 4 1/2. Never heard from her again!

 

[clintsfolly]

Yrs ago we would get calls asking for Sue. I would tell the same young lady that we have no Or never had a Sue here. Finally I got the point across. The last time she called I told her that “ Sue will not be here for 5-7 yrs but with good behavior maybe 4 1/2. Never heard from her again!

 

[pete44ru]

I have noticed that the PITA calls normally never ring enough for my answering machine to kick in.

Many, but not all, professional telemarketing outfits now have "smart" auto-dialers (they auto-dial TN's from an uploaded list) that can sense the presence of an answering machine on the line, and quickly discontinue the call, to move on down the list.

.