Now ‘they’re’ getting really sneaky.
I picked up the phone last night when it rang to get that pause, the one that tells you you are about to be connected to Indian Call Center Hell ™ (r).
Only it wasn’t.
Suddenly a recorded voice sprang out that told me the date and then encouraged me to dial a 1900 number (“only $3.95 a minute!”) to win a car. They repeated the number and automtically hung up. It was all over in 30 seconds but I was so stunned I didn’t jot down the name of the competition.
I’ve just called Telstra and apparently it’s been going on for a while. It’s an overseas company blasting Australia (hence the VOIP pause at the start). As it’s international there’s nothing we can do here.
Sigh.
Oooooooooooooh the humanity! Craig and I aren’t answering our homephone anymore – we’re just letting the machine get it – we think if it’s important people will call our mobiles. I’ve been getting text messages from my SP prompting me to use my mobile net access – they are shifty shifty …
We’ve had a slient number for a few years now – for the sole purpose of avoiding telemarketers et al.
With Karen being at home since Patrick was born (nearly 7 years ago) the constant badgering by those people got too much. We never used to notice it since we both worked and were out of the house most of the time.
Since the introduction of our silent number we’ve been tele-spam-free.
Your call could have been worse – it could have a late pre-election call from smiling Pete or his boss little John!
Every night, without fail, I get at least one telephone call from telemarketers, hawkers, salesmen and the like. It’s now gone to the point where I screen all my calls with my messagebank, and then call back only those I want to speak to.