... and another thing - I'm not your mate!!

I got a phone call this afternoon from somebody trying to sell me an upgrade for my mobile phone - somebody who knew as much about selling as I do about ancient Greek.

Things that really put me off included:

• his total lack of knowledge about my affairs - he was trying to sell me a Blackberry to replace my trusty Motorola, blissfully ignorant of the fact that the Motorola is on my personal account and I already use a Blackberry for business purposes
• slagging off my reliable Motorola wasn't a good move - it works all the time which is all I require of it
• expecting me to sign up to a new account even though they were unwilling to give me anything in writing about the terms & conditions - I may be approaching 60 but I'm not senile
• and the icing on the cake: don't call me "mate"! - we've never met; I wouldn't know him if I fell over him; and he certainly isn't on my christmas card list.

Where do these companies find these silly children? Has it ever occured to the companies that they might sell more - and even get repeat sales - if they acted like a real business?

[Rant over - time for a biscuit and a nice cup of tea ]

chill out mate!

hahaha!

Dont worry Andy, I had Sky on the phone today trying to sell me a warranty on my Sky HD box even though it is only less than 3 months old and is still under warranty.

Sky have been trying to foist this warranty crap on me for the last 5 years despite repeated requests to stop ringing me.

Why do I need it? I have no lock-in with Sky so if it doesn't work they can come and fix it and if not they can stick it where the sun don't shine.

Pah!

Mark

Must be the day for it.

Had a lady called Regina from Autodesk call me today to ask how I got on with the demo version of 2010 that I downloaded. Its a damn fine piece of software and I was happy to say so. Great she said, we are doing a special offer of £250 rebate off the product if you buy before July 31st. I said, thats cool, give me a call beginning of July and offer it again, I will most likely buy it then as it will be needed at that point. Phone goes quiet, a bit of um and a bit of err, then she says, well I'm not sure if I can do that, I will have to see what I can do. Which I found to be a really strange attitude, so I told her to stick it and don't hassle me again.

The Sky thing is irritating too. I have two boxes and neither are under warranty. They never will be. If I want another one to replace a dead one I shall get it on eBay, I guarantee it will be cheaper than a warranty deal.

...he could have called you 'fella'

...just a thought.

;)

The Sky thing is a scam

If you do a quick google on Sky Warranty and Scam you will get an idea of what is going on

Basically Sky only use one company (Domestic & General) - Anyone else contacting you is nothing to do with Sky other than they have probably purchased your details from Sky in the form of a mailing list

We hear them all Andy. It's quite unbelievable how unprepared some cold-callers are and as for reading from a script, well!

I must remember to stop calling people "mate"!

Mate tends to lend itself to geezers. Reminds me of Only Fools!

Good call Brian fella.

Know the feeling, when my husband was selling his Murcielago kit car, he was constantly moaning about why total strangers were calling him "mate" which could be a verbal slip up, but also writing "mate" which is even worse!

I agree . . . But lets not forget, these guys have got a job to do none the less. They obviously find it hard to build rapport with the client on the phone and feel thart acting as a "friend" will be an easy wayt to communicate with you.

Cut the guy some slack!

If you were in Glasgow, he'd have been your 'pal'.

Annoys me too!