Automated insurance calls

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stevenz

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#108433 29-Aug-2012 12:55

I've recently had a couple of automated life insurance advertising calls, one immediately plays a trumpet call and then proceeds with a woman talking, the other is a very scratchy recording of a man talking. The first was to my home number which is unlisted, has caller ID blocked, and has been given out to a total of about 3 people, so they're presumably just dialing batches of numbers. The 2nd was to my work number, unsurprisingly the caller ID was blocked.

I didn't have time in either case for them to eventually get to the point and tell me who they were (waffled on for ages with the build up of how amazing it's going to be etc)

Anyone else getting these lately?

@KnightNZ

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#678701 29-Aug-2012 13:01

stevenz:

Anyone else getting these lately?

Yeah, I've had a couple of these.

keewee01

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#678726 29-Aug-2012 13:42

Yeah, I got the first one of those at work about 6 weeks ago. Took the opportunity of using the recorded message to tell them what I thought of them!

Kraven

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#678729 29-Aug-2012 13:47

I've had a few over the past few days on various numbers. No idea who the company is behind it but I'd never buy insurance from a cold-call anyway, let alone an automated one!

BlueShift

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#678747 29-Aug-2012 14:19

Kraven: I've had a few over the past few days on various numbers. No idea who the company is behind it but I'd never buy insurance from a cold-call anyway, let alone an automated one!

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And goes double for the robot call I had from John Key as well.

SaltyNZ

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#678779 29-Aug-2012 15:08

I've had one to my work landline, and one to our house, which is a silent number. What I don't get is who the hell buys life insurance based on some s*****y robocall. Obivously people must, or they'd stop doing it. But WHO!?

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stevenz

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#678811 29-Aug-2012 15:51

May need to leave legit details with them to call back then try to get a name out of them. Pretty dubious. I certainly wouldn't trust a company that tries to mask who they are initially.

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SaltyNZ

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#678817 29-Aug-2012 16:01

My wife had someone from Samoa calling her every couple of days for about a fortnight, asking for the same person, and being told, no, wrong number. I told her I'd deal with it.

The next time they rang, I answered, put the phone on mute, and then left it. They hung on the call for two and a half minutes, hearing dead air at whatever exorbitant rate you pay to call NZ from Samoa, before hanging up. They called back again a few minutes later; same thing, this time they lasted a bit less than a minute. Never called back again.

TL;DR I might try this with the robocalls if I get another. At least it will slow them down, and cost them a bit of money.

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richms

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#678864 29-Aug-2012 17:30

I have found that "oh sorry, he's no longer with us" works for those constant wrong number callers.

One time I just said "he's dead" even ;)

Richard rich.ms

ubernoob

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#678876 29-Aug-2012 17:52

I agree with SaltyNZ. I usually let them babble on, put the phone down on the coffe table, and continue with what I was doing. It's their money they're wasting. Same with junk mail that has a "Return To Sender If Undelivered" I cross out my address and put Return to sender on it they get charged for the junk to go back to them, and they can dispose of it.

SaltyNZ

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#682720 7-Sep-2012 11:01

Just had another one; put the phone on mute and listened to it all the way to the end. Never mentioned who they were, but gave 'press 1 for more info' - so I did - and then they were very specific that you needed to speak slowly and clearly (they mentioned it twice) when leaving all your details after the tone.

So, I'm going to go less with 'clueless insurance marketers' and more with 'outright scam.' After 2:30ish of recording silence, they dropped the call at ~3:45.

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CYaBro

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#682725 7-Sep-2012 11:17

Aren't these automated calls illegal?

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richms

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#682726 7-Sep-2012 11:20

Possibly, but what can they do when anyone anywhere in the world can make a phonecall and be outside nz laws?

Richard rich.ms

Kyanar

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#682857 7-Sep-2012 15:57

CYaBro: Aren't these automated calls illegal?

When I first received one of these, I prayed that this was the case and pored over the many legislations relating to telephone usage. Unfortunately, no they are not. So the best we can do is establish whether they can even legally sell insurance in NZ (you have to be licensed no?) and set the appropriate authorities on them, or to report them for harassment if they persistently do it.

JimmyH

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#683070 8-Sep-2012 14:17

I think I got the same one. " 'The following is an announcement of interest to all parents'...."

That's as far as I let it get. Woke me up too, I was home from work in bed with the flu. I was not best pleased. Had my brain been functioning better I might have let it go to at least try and waste some of their time & money.

maverick

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WorldxChange

#683114 8-Sep-2012 15:35

We have seen these a little bit, it appears to be coming from the usual supplier when these things pop up.

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