Accident that wasn't my fault.

[Rollypolly 51]

I'm sure this must have already been discussed but I was just curious having received yet another phone call telling me I'd had an accident which wasn't my fault. Does anyone ever say 'oh yes, that's right, I did'. Surely if you'd had an accident you'd sort it out not wait for some random phone call. I get 3 or 4 calls a week which I find is as I've never had an accident. I just quietly put the phone down but it really gets on my nerves.

[geared 303]

Quite common, it's annoying and against the law (unless you've consented to receive these calls) but often they fake their number making it hard to report.

Edited May 7, 2019 by geared

[L00b 441]

I’m still getting them occasionally 7 years on. And they simply must be trawling the web for updated contact info, because I’ve changed mobile and country since!

 

You’re very kind with just hanging up. I swear like a sailor until *they* put the phone down: if enough people did it, after a while these ambulance chasers simply couldn’t recruit anyone anymore, and the practice would die down with them 😉

[Top Cats Hat 10]

1 hour ago, Rollypolly said:

Does anyone ever say 'oh yes, that's right, I did'. 

I used to when I had a broken ankle and was stuck in the house and very bored. What you need is a genuine reg number which you can get off ebay which will show up on their database and confirm that ABC 123 D is the blue Toyota Yaris that you described.

 

You would not believe how angry they get when they realise that you have wasted an hour of their time. Got bored with it in the end.

 

If you don't want to do the full hour, you can ask them how they got your phone number. They will tell you that something like the Motor Accident Reporting Bureau informed them. When you ask them who they are they usually say that they are a part of the Department of Transport or VOSA. You then say that you are looking at the DoT website on your device and it doesn't seem to exist, and watch them wriggle and squirm to get out of it. 😀

[Janus 28]

I don`t answer unknow numbers, but store them in my phone under nuisence 1 2, 3, 4 and so on, and ensure each one is on auto reject. Never had the same number call me a second time.

[Top Cats Hat 10]

2 hours ago, geared said:

Quite common, it's annoying and against the law (unless you've consented to receive these calls) 

 

Even if you consented to the call, it is a crime of deception if they lie to you in order to get your business. As they start the call by claiming that they have been informed by a ficticious body that you have recently been in an accident, every call is potentially against the law.

 

[Rollypolly 51]

I certainly haven't consented to the calls. I didn't realise it was illegal. I might have to give the swearing a go 🤣

[Top Cats Hat 10]

25 minutes ago, Rollypolly said:

I certainly haven't consented to the calls. I didn't realise it was illegal. I might have to give the swearing a go 🤣

I'm sure that they are used to swearing. 

 

If you have the time, a good wind up is so much better. If you really lay it on thick with the whiplash/couldn't work for a year stories you can picture the $$$s racking up in their head.

 

Remember, every ten minutes of their time you are wasting is ten minutes they don't get to con some poor innocent. And if you are a driver, remember that fraudulent and inflated insurance claims increase your premium.

[Rollypolly 51]

I never realised I could have so much fun on the phone. 😀

[altus 538]

There was an article in the Guardian a while back by someone who had come up with a new way to deal with these sorts of phone calls.

 

'Is your mother proud of what you do?

'When she's talking with her friends, does she say "My son phones up people in the UK and tries to presuade them to commit insurance fraud'[1] or is she embarrassed of what you do."

'Have you actually told her what you do for a living or have you not because she'd be too ashamed to have a son like you?'

'Get yourself a proper job your mother could be proud of you doing.'

 

One guy phoned her again few months later saying he'd stopped working at the call centre and got a job he didn't feel embarrassed telling his mother about.

 

 

[1] Replace with appropriate for calls from "Microsoft", etc.

[ECCOnoob 1,021]

I dont agree with all this.

 

Whilst these calls are clearly annoying and shouldn't be tollerated - what is wrong with a simple no thank you and hang up.

 

Why all the wind ups and swearing and harrassing. 

 

The poor sods making the calls are probably sat there on tuppance a hour just doing a job.  A job they clearly dont want and clearly hate but its a job to pay their way.     Its just like the poor sods doing chugger work or market researching or leaflet dropping or canvassing.   Im sure they dont want to be working as that - but its a job.   Surely there is no need to make their crappy day worse by being jerks to them. 

 

No thank you and walk on.    No thank you and end call.    Works for me perfectly fine. 

 

If you want to be productive, report the companies, report the numbers, go after the owners and directors.   That's the people who we should be antagnoising and disrupting not some poor call handler. 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2019 by ECCOnoob

[Top Cats Hat 10]

3 minutes ago, ECCOnoob said:

If you want to be productive, report the companies, report the numbers, go after the owners and directors.   That's the people who we should be antagnoising and disrupting not some poor call handler. 

Firstly, it's not the poor call handlers who you are winding up, it is the sales advisors they put you through to when you say you have had an accident. And secondly, anyone who rings my home and lies to me is not going to get a whole deal of sympathy.

 

Reporting them is a waste of time as most are hiding behind anonymous switchboards. Disrupting their business is much more productive.