Do you often receive phone calls from people trying to offer you free stuff?
Better stuff, cheaper stuff or just... stuff?
Stuff that is mostly unwanted, being offered by a person on the end of an often unwanted phone call. I've been receiving such phone calls more and more frequently of late (averaging once or twice per week). These phone calls make me feel slightly violated in a way as I wonder how they obtained my number in the first place. I refuse to change my number because of this and decided to fight back against what has become a nuisance.
Recently I received a phone call from a company (that I won't name here) trying to offer me a new mobile phone and upgrade since (due to their records) I was coming to the end of my current contract which meant that I was entitled to new... stuff!
I began by co-operating getting the name of the person calling (which is very important) then asking for a contact email address which is most important.
So how to stop these calls from continuing?
It's really simple, you can bill and charge the company calling per minute for YOUR time that they waste.
That's correct you have the right to be compensated for your time, time that could be spent pursuing happiness rather than speaking to some stranger on the phone trying to offer you... stuff!
As long as the person you are charging has consented then you can and should bill them for your time. Now this isn't about making money, this is not intended to get you paid this is how you put an end to these calls once and for all.
Here's how
Once you have a name and a company email (could even be info@companyname.com) you should then verbally issue your terms and conditions by stating that you no longer wish to receive phone calls from this service, but if they continue to call, you will charge per minute for each phone call received. This will undoubtedly put an end to the current phone call but you should immediately follow it up with an email stating the following:
"
Hello,
Further to our recent telephone conversation I am writing to set out the following terms & conditions:
For each telephone call received from COMPANY NAME HERE there will be a standard charge of £100 per minute.
For any email correspondence received from COMPANY NAME HERE there will be a £200 charge (as considered spam) and an additional £100 for each reply.
For mail received through the post from COMPANY NAME HERE there will be a charge of £500 since this will require human capital to open, read then dispose of each letter and a further £1,000 for each reply.
These terms and conditions will come into force immediately should you wish to continue to email and/or contact me by phone or by post.
If you prefer not to incur any of the above charges please do not contact me in the future.
If however you agree to these terms and conditions please reply to this email or contact me by phone or post at the earliest opportunity.
Thanks in advance.
"
And that is it, if they reply you send them a bill for your specified amount since they agreed to the terms and conditions set out in your email. But trust me they won't and they will not call again either.
This is not legal advice... It's just advice!
Brutal. Great post and good advice.
Thanks for reading it!