Spike in telemarketing immediately after I became a Public Mobile customer?

[pubmonewbie]

Has anyone had this experience? I became a Public Mobile subscriber not even a week now and I've experienced an immediate spike in telemarketing calls. Multiple calls per day from Ontario (I'm in Alberta). I did a reverse search on one of the numbers (the other 3 numbers did not produce any hits) and it's a telecommunications company in Ontario.

What's with the unsolicited calls? 

I'm happy to be rid of Rogers but the Public Mobile experience is lacking in many ways. Still waiting to hear from the mods re: my onboarding experience (terrible). 

[Nezgar]

 If you block numbers, normally this will direct the calls to your voicemail, where they can further annoy you if a message gets recorded.

To avoid this, set the busy/declined conditional call forward to something other than your voicemail. A simple example is an unassigned US number:

Dial: *67#8080000000#

The rejected call will go to a fast-busy instead of your voicemail.

Reset it back to your voicemail by dialing: ##67#

You can also direct these calls to other entertaining numbers, which I wrote about in a prior topic: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Fun-with-Conditional-Call-forwarding-and-...

[Gwenel]

Passive resistance. Love it

[gail709]

I'd like to share my favorite method.....I ask if they can hold for a moment....then I lay down the phone and walk away...I assume they hang up at some point.

[Gwenel]

Love your techniques. May give them a try. Another fun one is to say you are busy. Ask if you can call them at home when it is more convenient. My fave was the young woman who was about ready to give me her number when it all dawned on her

[iPhoneUser]

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@mpcdesign wrote:

Do what I do:

Method one: Answer the call and be a business. When I don't recognize the call, I answer it as Bell Mobility, Rogers, Shaw, etc. They start to tell you who they are. And then I interrupt them and tell them they contacted a business. They stop calling me and maybe start up again in 6-9 months later. 

Method Two: Have some fun. I get them to talk and tell them their spiel. And then when they ask to sign-up, I start to talk about my day. They normally hang up on me!

Method Three: Same as above, but when they ask for me to sign-up, I tell them am not interested. I did have a few people yell at me for wasting their time. I just smile, when I close the call. 

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 Be careful of method 2 and 3. And never use the word YES (especially if the caller first asks “can you hear me”) or any other word of approval or confirmation. While it sounds like fun....be safe....say nothing, hang up and block the number. Although, I must admit, when Microsoft India calls I ask “Does your mother know what you do for a job” and the call always goes blank. 

[iPhoneUser]

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@PublicHelper wrote:

I just left Rogers...with 4 lines!  So they probably miss us VERY MUCH 🙂

3 of the phone lines are ok, but the other phone kept getting an unrecognized call from Ontario.  I did not pick up, but I have a feeling it's Rogers.  Based on what I heard, perhaps I should pick up the call once and for all.... 

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Google the number at 800Notes. Either way if you don’t know who the caller is.....block that number. 

[mpcdesign]

Do what I do:

Method one: Answer the call and be a business. When I don't recognize the call, I answer it as Bell Mobility, Rogers, Shaw, etc. They start to tell you who they are. And then I interrupt them and tell them they contacted a business. They stop calling me and maybe start up again in 6-9 months later. 

Method Two: Have some fun. I get them to talk and tell them their spiel. And then when they ask to sign-up, I start to talk about my day. They normally hang up on me!

Method Three: Same as above, but when they ask for me to sign-up, I tell them am not interested. I did have a few people yell at me for wasting their time. I just smile, when I close the call. 

[PublicHelper]

I just left Rogers...with 4 lines!  So they probably miss us VERY MUCH 🙂

3 of the phone lines are ok, but the other phone kept getting an unrecognized call from Ontario.  I did not pick up, but I have a feeling it's Rogers.  Based on what I heard, perhaps I should pick up the call once and for all.... 

[iPhoneUser]

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@Gwenel wrote:

That is a drag.  I am in BC and have had next to no change in my first month. 

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This issue of telemarketing and all the other games being played has nothing to do with Public Mobile. And there are steps YOU can take to reduce them. 

[Gwenel]

That is a drag.  I am in BC and have had next to no change in my first month. 

[iPhoneUser]

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@Sfairbank wrote:

I am new to Public as well and am having the same experience. Not impressed. I will be interested to hear if anyone has a "fix" for this annoying situation.

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The fix is in YOUR hands. Since I moved from Telus to PM I have less. But I don’t think that PM is the cause or the “eliminator” as I ported my Telus number to PM. I know there was a onus put on all Telecoms to block calls that don’t come from a conventional phone number.  But it is easy to spufi a legit number.  If you take time to update your contacts and when you see a call showing a number only.....be suspicious. Answer if you like and then add to your contacts or block, block and block some more. My home phone is VoIP.ms and has hundreds of blocked numbers and for some reason these spammers call specifically to either land lines or mobile phones. How they know and why.....who cares......I don’t pay for a phone to have 50% of my calls from spammers and unwanted solicitation. Block, block and block more. Also use 800 Notes to verify the callers and don’t be afraid to spend a minute to add to 800 Notes it only takes a minute to help you and everyone else. Now I hardly have any spam or solicitation. And in my opinion the national Do Not Call Registry is a failure and a waste of time.......DO IT YOURSELF!!

[Sfairbank]

I am new to Public as well and am having the same experience. Not impressed. I will be interested to hear if anyone has a "fix" for this annoying situation.

[Nezgar]

If you block the calls using the phones built in blocked callers list, this will just immediately devert them to your voicemail - where they can potentially continue to annoy you by leaving junk messages you have to delete.

To prevent this, set the "busy/declined" conditional call forward to an invalid US number, so these callers only receive a fast busy:

*67*8080000000#

Unanswered calls and calls while out of the service area (or phone off) will continue to go to your voicemail as usual.

[Dolphin1]

I have also noticed a spike in spam calls.  It was happening everyday for about a week.  I would mark the number as spam and block it.  The calls have stopped for the time being.  I don't think it has anything to do with PM, as I was speaking to others who are with Bell, Rogers and Virgin and they all noticed a spike in spam calls over the last few weeks.

[dabr]

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@pubmonewbie wrote:

Has anyone had this experience? I became a Public Mobile subscriber not even a week now and I've experienced an immediate spike in telemarketing calls. Multiple calls per day from Ontario (I'm in Alberta). I did a reverse search on one of the numbers (the other 3 numbers did not produce any hits) and it's a telecommunications company in Ontario.

What's with the unsolicited calls? 

I'm happy to be rid of Rogers but the Public Mobile experience is lacking in many ways. Still waiting to hear from the mods re: my onboarding experience (terrible). 

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@pubmonewbie  I had a similar experience and started receiving more than usual spam calling after porting my number to PM but that may have been just a coinicidence and I would tend to agree with @wetcoaster  suggestion that these spam callers seem to come in waves and then there is a lull for a short period before it starts again.  Although I do think they have been on the increase over the few months unfortunately.

Your best options are to try block the numbers on your phone if possible or ignore.  Blocking only provides limited success because the numbers keep changing.   Unfortunately, they are unlikely to go away anytime soon without some serious attention being given to this issue from the phone carriers themselves, which has not happened so far.

[pmmobile]

@pubmonewbie  I haven't bothered with the do not call list as I've heard that bad companies will get the list and specifically call those numbers, or even worse sell the list. I believe telecommuncations companies are now required to put in measures to reduce/stop telemarketing calls as of last December.

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@wetcoaster wrote:

I find that those calls come in waves. Every couple of months there is a week or so when I get many calls a day, from all over, that I'll just go and block the number. They are initiated by dialing robots that go through blocks of numbers per sequence. In general, if you answer the call your number might end up on a list of "active numbers".

I'd guess that it's a coincidence that it's happening just after changing providers.

You can add your number to the national do not call list. It didn't really make a difference for me*, so I'm just dealing with it from my phone and look forward to the ebb.

* This number is my business number, published on my website, so that may play into this as well.

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[PAULRANG18]

Try blocking these calls or just dismiss them, or just don't answer when the number becomes familiar. They will stop after a little while.

[wetcoaster]

I find that those calls come in waves. Every couple of months there is a week or so when I get many calls a day, from all over, that I'll just go and block the number. They are initiated by dialing robots that go through blocks of numbers per sequence. In general, if you answer the call your number might end up on a list of "active numbers".

I'd guess that it's a coincidence that it's happening just after changing providers.

You can add your number to the national do not call list. It didn't really make a difference for me*, so I'm just dealing with it from my phone and look forward to the ebb.

* This number is my business number, published on my website, so that may play into this as well.

[LovesToPM]

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@pubmonewbie wrote:

Has anyone had this experience? I became a Public Mobile subscriber not even a week now and I've experienced an immediate spike in telemarketing calls. Multiple calls per day from Ontario (I'm in Alberta). I did a reverse search on one of the numbers (the other 3 numbers did not produce any hits) and it's a telecommunications company in Ontario.

What's with the unsolicited calls? 

I'm happy to be rid of Rogers but the Public Mobile experience is lacking in many ways. Still waiting to hear from the mods re: my onboarding experience (terrible). 

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Its likely Rogers calling you to offer their best deals ever.

They don't give a peep when you're with them, but as soon as you leave, they already miss you!

Based on personal experience, the calls may not stop until you've answered one to listen to and decline their offer.

[boundless]

For what it’s worth, I have ported several Rogers lines to PM (in Ontario) and have not experienced any spike in spam calls.

It’s frustrating but these calls tend to stop after a few days.