I pick up the phone.
"Hello,"
Nothing.
"Hello?"
Again nothing. Just an empty cave and the ghosts of electronic crackling.
There's nobody there because this is a typical robocall or what some people call a bot call.
I got one this morning at 8am and I received a similar call at a similar time on Monday morning. Generally speaking, I am a night owl. To use one of my late mother's expressions, you will often find me "raking around" in the early hours - painting foxes, watching "Democracy Now", reading books or blogs etc.. Consequently I often get up late - around eight thirty or nine so you can imagine that I am not at all happy about being disturbed by robocalls. After I have leapt out of bed to take the intrusive phone calls,, it is just about impossible to get back to sleep again. I wouldn't say such days are ruined but they certainly begin on a very unpleasant note having been deprived of my desired allotment of refreshing sleep.
It used to be that unsolicited phone calls and robocalls happened in the evening and it was rare to be hit by them in the morning but over the last few months I have noticed a growing incidence of morning calls. How long will it be before the scumbags who oversee these disrespectful systems start disturbing us in the middle of the night?
Please don't blame me. Like thousands of other people I am the innocent victim of robocalls. I have blocked several numbers and I signed up with the TPS (Telephone Preference Service) years ago. It's not my fault these calls keep coming.
You can't help wondering what on earth "they" are doing about robocalls. You know who I mean - telephone companies, governments, GCHQ, the FBI, The United Nations, the police, Interpol etc.. Surely in this day and age it should be possible to pursue the perpetrators of robocalls, rogue telemarketing outfits and other phone-line crooks - to stifle their unwarranted intrusions into law abiding citizens' lives.
Sorry you had such an unpleasant start to your day. Is there a way you could keep your phone on "mute" until a certain time? Or simply not pick it up when you're still in bed? (I know that is very hard to do - after all, it COULD be an emergency call from Shirley, or one of your children.)
ReplyDeleteAs long as companies who use such methods are fined less (if prosecuted in the first place) than what they can gain in profit, they will keep doing it, in spite of laws and regulations against it.
I got a robocall this afternoon when I was just drifting off to sleep (a much needed short nap)and it was one of those automated things that says, "Congratulations! You've won a vacation rental prize in Myrtle Beach!" Sure....I won a contest I never entered! haha. I just hang up. That was the end of my nap though.
ReplyDeleteHey, I sent you an email. :)
We received an intrusive call this morning just after 8 a.m. also. In fact, the fellow called back four times. On the third call I picked the receiver up and then put it back down, hard. Then I left the phone off the hook. That didn't deter him. He left a message of over one minute long, with nothing but background noise. It ruined the rest of my sleep, too, and I am sick with a bronchial virus! He was much more aggressive than any others we've had, and YES WHY CAN'T THE UNITED NATIONS DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!
ReplyDeleteThose calls make me extremely angry...and if there is a living person at the other end I ensure they're fully aware of my feelings towards them, and I give no apology to anyone for doing so!
ReplyDeleteIt is my right...it is not their right to ring me!!
There are times, too...depending upon the mood I'm in...if there is a living being on the end of the phone invading my privacy I say...
Delete"This is 'such and such' police station, Senior Constable 'So & So' speaking...how can I help you?"
And sometimes when they've asked for me by name, I answer with..
"I'm sorry...she passed away a few days ago. I can't talk now we're in the middle of the wake!"
Both make the callers hang-up promptly without a further word uttered!
Ha ha! Well done, Lee :)
DeleteI can't help myself, Jenny! lol
DeleteI have call display so most of the telemarketers calls are not answered. There seems to be an unwillingness to block these calls.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine that anyone anymore is so uninformed as to actually purchase anything from/give information to one of these unsolicited callers. Why one earth they keep it up is beyond me. I usually manage to have spent the day hard at work of one sort or another, FINALLY sit in my recliner, feet on a pillow, laptop on lap....and then the stinkin' phone rings. Argh. A pox upon them!
ReplyDeleteThey seem to be part of normal life now and an absolute pain in the butt because even if you don't answer, the ringing has disturbed you in one way or another. Like you I subscribed to TPS years ago but it's had little effect.
ReplyDeleteWe dispensed with our home landline a few months ago as we both have mobiles and we still have the business landline in the house. The only calls we were getting were the scammers and I don't miss it one bit. I can see who is calling on my mobile so can choose to answer or not! I did used to quite enjoy playing along with them, pretending to be an old lady....( actually I am quite old !! ) I would say, yes I will go and put the computer on, but it took me ages of course to struggle upstairs where the supposed computer was kept.......they would then say press the start button on the bottom left......I can't see it I would say several times. By then I would be getting bored , and say in my normal voice.....get off my phone you dirty rotten scammers ( though not as polite as that) my computer is a " Mac " .
ReplyDeleteBT have introduced a service to prevent them. I have used a BT 8500 phone for several years and no longer have any unwanted calls although I can see that several attempts are made most days. The TPS has no control over calls generated abroad (unless on behalf of a UK organisation) and most calls I see also have a computer generated number to give the impression of being legitimate.
ReplyDeleteThe older you get, the more calls you'll get. Because, they think, anyone past 65 is a dolt and will buy anything. Just once I'd like to walk into one of those call rooms with my cane and smash a few heads and hands before I leave. We've been sold out (once again) by our legislators who don't give a rat's ass about us. All we are is turnips, and it's free season for anyone who wants to try to extract blood from us. They'll try to invent reasons to keep terrorists out of our countries, except by phone of course. Phone terrorists are just fine.
ReplyDeleteWe have a free service called Nomorobo which intercepts robo calls after the first ring. Wonderful!
ReplyDelete