Cold call from "Space Kitchens" in Nottingham

[Jonathan]

(Sorry about cross-posting - will explain itself as you read on) Just got a cold call* from a company calling themselves "Space Kitchens" from Nottingham. A couple of things caught my attention: When they called, they said I'd be chosen for a free kitchen (yeah, right). But when I expressed an interest, the "adviser" I got put through to said a refund would come to me IF I was chosen to appear in the magazine. Did some more digging, found this blog:

phone number matches to one shown on this site: you trust someone who didn't even pay the fiver or whatever to remove to uk2 banner?? But wait - looking at the frame, it points to: don't have a Nottingham office, but DO have the offer they mentioned. I googled for them...whats this about? Hundreds and hundreds of subdomains like oburn32 whall4 fulford96 etc etc, all pointing to the same place... when I get junk calls on this "call sign" second number, they always ask for the homeowner - I got callsign at the same time I switched the line over to me, and yet these people were asking for the previous occupant of the house, who never had callsign! That's weird - how did the crossover happen?

Anyway, I WAS actually thinking of getting a kitchen done, so if these people are much of a muchness, then I might as well take a punt. They said they'll ring back in an hour (about 30 mins now) so any advice appreciated, and if it's a "NO!" then what info can I squeeze out of them to add to the anti-scam blogs?

Thanks!

*(on a line I registered for TPS last week, but I understand the process takes longer than that, so I'm not complaining about the call, per se!)

[John Cartmell]

Anyone who accepts such 'offers' has money to burn. It's an interesting way to throw money away but I'm sure I can make you an equally interesting offer - just pack the notes in brown paper and post them to ...

[erics]

Never heard of this company, but I would tend not to trust a company that embarked on cold-calling; a good company will get enough business from referals without having to resort to this desperate tactic. I would ask family, friends colleagues if they have any recommendations for a local company.

[Walter B.]

When are in a free (allegedly) country, do what you like. But don't come screaming here in a few weeks that they ripped you off.

[Jonathan]

Right, all responses quite conclusive then! Back to plan A which was to see how much of a mess I could make with some DIY units from B&Q...(any better suggestions?!?)

[Mary Fisher]

Wise man

You'll get some!

Mary

[Mad Ad]

Isn't it just a variation of the old 'we'll give a discount if you agree to show around xyz people' and the people never come, because its just another vehicle to get you to sign up for their over priced kitchens/upvc windows that are made with less than desirable specced materials and fitted by monkeys that barely know how to bang a hammer for their minimum wage.

Ad

[Derek ^]

Look here:

DG

[Jonathan]

I'm going to top post reply to myself because, ooh, it's SO daring! So they kept calling back, the phone was ringing relentlessly, eventually thought I should at least answer an give 'em the "no thanks". "Yes, I've spoken to my wife and she's not happy to have anyone round until you can fax us the full terms and conditions* of the off...."

They didn't even let me finish the sentence before they hung up! A rude cold-caller...imagine that!!

*I'd asked when they first called if there was some way they could get me the T&C's of the promotion, and they said no because the consultant would bring everything with them.

Now the only question remains - should I now netkkkop myself for top posting a followup to my own post, or should I start a massive sig war with a minor infraction of sig standard.

-- You decide! Retards - take your positions!

[John Cartmell]

Just send us all a payment for saving your time. The 'consultant' wouldn't have left your house until you had signed away your life - and if you were stubborn enough that could have taken many hours.

[Ian Stirling]

OTOH - the consultant gets paid for doing this. If they spend enough time not making sales, then the companies that cold call will stop doing it.

[Rob Morley]

The "consultant" probably gets paid commission only, so why would the company care? I suppose we could start a protest by everyone agreeing to an appointment with a representative from every company that ever cold-calls them, waste their time and buy nothing, but I'd feel sorry for the reps who are just trying to make a living and not responsible for the way that the company gets its leads.

[Gareth A.]

I don't understand these people who complain about salesmen staying for hours and hours and "we couldn't get him to leave". A friend of my parents gave a Kirby salesmen (the "free carpet cleaning" people) our number and said the only way they got them to leave was by giving them the names of six friends.

What is difficult about saying "I don't want your product at any price, you have ten seconds to pack up and leave" ?

We get a lot of Indian people who call asking for the person who "pays the BT bill", they are resellers of various shoddy services. For the first dozen I attempted to politely sidestep the questioning and terminate the call, then realised they were on a good script so now I just say "we're not interested thanks" and hang up. The snag is that BT themselves appear to be using Indian call centres for various reasons so it is necessary to detemine who is calling, a bit difficult when the cold callers are deceitful to various degrees.

Gareth

[John Schmitt]

give you a few ideas.

John Schmitt

[Aaron]

Gareth A. wrote: > I don't understand these people who complain about salesmen staying

We're too polite in this country except when we want to be rude. I for one would tell someone thanks for you time etc but then ask them to leave.

You could always say you have a colonic irrigation booked and you don't want to be late ;).

Heh one nice Scottish sounding woman called and asked if I had a BT line. I asked her why and she said because she was updating her records of BT customers, the snag is I don't have BT number :P. So when asked if she could check for me since I didn't know she prompty hung up!

Another good idea is to copy them word for word like a five year old, see how long they can go before hanging up.

The best one I have found so far is one of the American accent prize draw calls. I let these automatically transfer to an operator then walk off a watch TV. They don't seem to be able to hang up! I left one 20mins once, was great :D.

[John Weston]

Aaron, in article , says... how long they can go before hanging up.

Son did better than that with our "friends" from Florida. He managed 10 hours...

He just hung on and eventually heard several other calls, after hearing queuing messages and hold music. He estimates about 75% cleared down immediately and others go on to listen to the usual timeshare type scam with the caller having to pay for a large cost component like flights or meals. There were a couple of hard sell conversations that were disconcerting. - One where the guy was really pressured to give his credit card number despite him repeatedly stating "I don't think I want to ..." Eventually they hung up leaving him saying "hello...". The other was them telling the person at the other end to "...just use their dad's credit card number..."

Please, think up your own type of response to these callers and don't let them win - and make sure your kids know how to deal with them.

[Aaron]

Or in my case my parents ;). Or my mum at least. She's not rude enough to these people!

[Mary Fisher]

You don't need to be rude to get them to go away. I'm never rude to them.

Mary

[Rob Morley]

You don't need to be rude - just say "I'm not interested thanks, goodbye". If they continue say "Thankyou, goodbye" and hang up on them.

[Steve]

Units from IKEA plus a local tradesman was what I did.

Quite a few tradesmen seem to use IKEA anyway.