I may be just a grumpy old man but

[DerbyDad03]

So, was it really "impossible" to buy a full tank of gas or were you eventually able to after offering your explanation?

[Charlie]

In my case, I boght a cheap trac-phone for a cell phone. We don't use the cell for much. When I first got it I discovered that while the calller ID number was displayed correctly but the name that showed was "wireless caller". I tried to get it changed to my name but that was an exercise in futility.

Charlie

[clare]

I had to leave one because they insisted I prepay a fixed amount. I had enough fuel to move on so I did. At the second, I had the same problem, so I just said if they were afraid I'd run without paying, I'd leave all 3 of my credit cards and my driver's licence - and they relented and said one credit card would do. From then on, the next 2 fillups, I just said I'd done it at other stations and they accepted.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Couldn't you just pay at the pump? Something different about Canadian cards?

[DerbyDad03]

My guess: they don't accept Canadian postal codes as zip codes.

What do I win?

[DerbyDad03]

I found this at

"3. A Canadian Zip Code - A number of readers have contacted me to suggest entering "00000," "11111," "12345" or "99999" (depending upon gas brand). Other suggestions have included punching in the 3 digits from your postal code followed by two zeros (e.g., L5G 4N9 would be entered as "54900"). All claim that these work at their southern destinations. When tested, we have found these to be regional or brand specific. There is no continuity in this solution and when you drive into a station away from your home base, you really do not know whether you are going to be able to actuate the pump or not with your card."

[Ed Pawlowski]

First prize is a week in NWT Second price is two weeks in NWT in January.

Forgot about those codes. I guess they work, but they don't have an easily memorized flow to them like our all numerical zip.

[gregz]

I can't figure one leaving question on answering machine. Its actually not a question, but an answer. It's like listening to an answering machine message. We are sorry that option is not available at this time.... ?????

Greg

[HeyBub]

Alternatively, you can supply a telephone number of (area code) 911-1234. Should anyone use this number, they should be connected to your local emergency service. The 911 people frown on people using the service for non-emergencies. The caller may end up with a SWAT unit surrounding his facility.

I've sometimes used the non-emergency telephone number of my local police department or Rat Abatement bureau.

[HeyBub]

Yeah, but robocalls are like toll roads; you're just encouraging them to create more.

[Peter]

I agree. When it comes to answering your cell phone, you never know if it is a loved one or a close friend in an atypical situation (dead zone when attempting to use their cell phone, or emergency when they've been in an accident or victim of a crime) calling from a number that is unfamiliar to you. If you only accept incoming cell phone calls from familiar numbers you would miss receiving those calls when they mattered most. Of course, if you have no loved ones or close friends, that's not a consideration for you.

[DerbyDad03]

Good idea.

Let's all find ways to burden our 911 centers and police departments. It's not like they have anything better to do with their scant resources than answer calls from telemarketers.

Oh wait...this was from HeyBub. Odds are this was posted for no other reason than to get a reaction.

[Metspitzer]

I got a girl's number at a party once. It was the police station. :)

[Atila Iskander]

I don't know The North Pole is H0H0H0 Pretty simple to me

[rlz]

I signed up for call-blocking thru my local phone company. I'm allowed to input a list of phone number to block. I used to get a lot of unwanted charities calling. Now I just put in their phone numbers and I no longer have to deal with them.

[The Daring Dufas]

It's sort of like the guy who told the police his infant was in his car when it was stolen. The cops pulled out all the stops to find the guy's car but no child was found. He told them that if he hadn't told them his kid was in the car, the police wouldn't have done anything more than file a report. HeyBub's ploy may be similar, the authorities won't take action unless it affects them directly. O_o

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

I've given them another telemarketer's phone number before. ^_^

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

I would tend to give bizarre answers like "Your technicians disturbed my dead mother in her rocking chair, I had to glue her arm back on." or "You really shouldn't move the equipment in my meth lab, it could cause an explosion." ^_^

TDD

[DerbyDad03]

The "authorities" whose number HeyBub is suggesting we use (911 and local police stations) have no authority (or reason) to deal with robo- calls from charities, political parties or whomever except to try and block them from their phone lines, not your's or mine.

Do you really want the 911 centers and local police to be wasting resources by answering calls from these organizations? How would you feel if they were answering one of those calls when a loved one of yours was trying to get through?

Of course, the fact that we are evening discussing this means that HubBub probably accomplished his goal.

[Nil]

On 10 Sep 2012, The Daring Dufas wrote in alt.home.repair:

If I'm in the mood to toy with them, I'll pick up some piece of technical literature, or a novel, and I'll respond to their questions by reading from it in as conversational a tone as possible. Doesn't matter what I say, but it needs to be plausible, well-formed sentences that are completely irrelevant to their questions. It helps if I mumble a little so they're not quite sure if they really heard me say what they think I said. I can keep them going for quite a while this way, but they eventually hang up of course.

In practice, though, I almost never bother any more. I get too many of those robo-calls these days (in the past couple of months it's gotten to be 2 or 3 a day sometimes,) so now I let all calls go to voice mail unless I recognize the number on caller ID. I had been told that if you answer in any way, even to say something rude and then hang up, their computer system will flag your number as "good" and your number will be put on the list to be sold and receive even more calls. I'm skeptical about that now because I don't answer any more and I'm receiving more junk calls than ever.