now this relates to nuisance marketing calls from HSBC rather than debt collectors but the principle is the same, after many letters asking them to stop ringing (they'd pretend it was a matter about our account in order to get to marketing something) without success i adopted a very succesful strategy and the conversation went like this (dates and names changed)

HSBC Hello can i speak to david john smith please

r/ yes speaking

HSBc introduction rubiish then - before i commence can i just go through

some security questions with you

r/ yes of course

HSBC what is the month and year of your date of birth

r/ my FULL date of birth is 14/10/1955

hsbc im sorry that is not what we have on our records can you just

confirm the month and year of your date of birth

r/ yes i just told you my date of birth is 14 october 1955!

hsbc I', sorry this is not the information we have, you ARE Mr David John

smith

r/ yes of course i think i should know my own date of birth don't you?

what date of birth do you have on your records

hsbc im sorry i cant tell you that data protection act

r/ so what is it you wanted?

hsbc Im sorry i cant discuss that as you didnt pass the security check

r/ thats a shame you seem so nice- goodbye!

on the next few calls i continued to change the date of birth and continued with the ploy

hey presto 2 weeks later- no calls

you could of course just give a different name and say your brother is not at home he's away for 6 weeks on a cruise or travelling the country looking for work

whatever......... they certainly cant discuss anything with someone else about your account theyre stuffed!

try it- it works

It's hard not to play these people for fools, however, it seems odd that any one ringing you should ask security questions. I think I would be telling them that I have only their word that they are who they say they are and that I have no intention of giving out information that might jepordise my security and they should know this and can I speak to their supervisor.

joint the tps website

bye bye calls!

dx

I just tell them the number called is registered with the TPS, not to call again and hang the phone up.

If they do call back, I will either play games (like pretending to be deaf) with them if in a bad mood, or in a good mood call back and give a manager an earful.

the point of my thread was that telling them that you wont talk to them wont work - because their job is to harrass and torment you with incessant calls until you give in

however these guys work on bonuses and commissions so all the time you protest they think they are getting to you and will continue he making the calls

however if they realise after three or four calls that you are taking this p*ss, and since they cannot reveal what the security information is that they have got ( in case they are not talking to the right person) then it is THEY who will get demoralised because they realise that you are giving better than you are getting

just treat then calls as a game with this ploy and i guarantee after two weeks tops they will give up and then write to you only

TPS will not protect you in these circumstances since you are their customer and you have given them your contact details

TPS will only protect you from unsolicited callers with whom you have no financial or other connection!

you cant always call back because most use unlisted numbers or numbers that do not accept inbound calls

tendogs- do that and you'll play right into their hands-- you will not know that you are talking to a real supervisor and since the object of the call is to get you to talk to them and reveal information you would be defeating the object of the excerise- NO CALLS NO UNWRTTEN communication

Oh I do - I sometimes pretend to call from another office of the same company!