Bedtimes when my husband is working away are frantic to put it mildly. Baby man has now learnt to stand in his cot and come 7pm you will find him there screaming in protest of his early bedtime. Meanwhile, middle man insists on performing a roll call for all of his soft toys, and starts crying because he has lost "My Mickey", Wenlock, Donald......the list goes on. Big man starts to get ready for bed and then gets distracted. I often find him dressed in pants doing his sticker book, or similar, claiming he can't find his pyjamas. Then the phone rings.....

Before I answer it, I have to find it. So amidst the screaming, crying and looking at stickers, I find myself running around the house trying to track down where the noise is coming from and where I left the phone. More often than not it is a telesales call, mainly because all of my family and friends know it is bedtime and not to call. Clearly these people are unaware of this fact.


On the whole we don't get too many telesales calls, but the ones we do get are usually between 5 and 8 pm. I suppose this is because there is more chance that they will catch someone in. We generally get 3 types  of telesales calls:

1. TV.
Would we like to upgrade our existing package? I politely say no, my husband on the other hand usually gets fooled into thinking he has enough time to watch a sports channel. This is probably why they keep calling.

2. Credit card company
They are always trying to get hold of my husband to sell him some insurance or make him pay for some sparkly new card. They call a lot!

3. The ones I hate the most.
"Can you complete a quick survey?" I got confused once thinking it was a company I know and after about 10 minutes of questions I advised I was going to need to end the call. It was an overseas call centre and both of us had difficulty understanding each others accents. When I advised I couldn't continue with the call the lady started arguing with me and it resulted in me hanging up on her and asking her company not to call again. (I am pretty sure they have.) I have no idea where they got my number. And if it had been a short survey I wouldn't have been bothered. I have worked in company to company telesales before, so I always try to be polite, but when someone starts arguing with me when I am trying to help them, I get annoyed.

Do how do you deal with telesales calls? Do you ignore the phone and let it go to answer phone? Do you find that they always call just as you have got your little one to sleep? How do you feel about companies selling your details?

Bounty have asked me to write this post, to spark discussion on the topic of telesales calls.