[Sheel]

Greetings!

I don't know how it is in metros or other places but in Bihar and at some parts of West Bengal, you get a call for:

# Service reminder
# Insurance renewal reminder
# Service feedback reminder
# How is your car doing Saar, just random

How you guys deal with it? You are trying to focus on your work or are in the midst of something and this happens. During a car purchase, I specifically ask them not to give me any calls for any reason, unless it is a service bulletin or some thing really important. But no, all pleas fall on deaf ears.

While going for an inquiry too, we prefer taking the sales person's contact number rather than giving our number to them.

[OverKill]

Originally Posted by Sheel

How you guys deal with it?

Well Thank You Truecaller here.
90% of the times dealership numbers are flagged as spam. I don't bother answering such calls.
Unless and until my trusted SA is calling me, I simply ignore calls from all other dealership numbers. Even if I have to take an service appointment, I just call my SA and he does the rest for me. Having a good rapo with the SA helps for sure.

Regards.
Sahil.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Sheel

How you guys deal with it? You are trying to focus on your work or are in the midst of something and this happens.

I guess the story is the same everywhere including metros, doesn't really matter where.

I get too many service reminder calls despite telling them I'm tracking it myself and do not need reminders.

With insurance it's a different thing - I don't get reminder calls from my insurance company but get calls from other companies that want me to switch

I just flag and block these phone numbers.

Another irritating type of call is the service feedback one - despite giving them an on the spot feedback, they call on the phone. The first time is fine, but after that several other staff of the service centre keep calling asking for the feedback over and over again
The SA says they have a separate team for this and he can't do anything about it!

Whatever happened to the feedback given the first time for that service - clearly it's not being saved or tracked for future reference, it's just a formality. I just don't understand this, and they have several different numbers from which they call, so now these numbers also go into the blocked list. Over a period of time one will end up with more blocked numbers than legitimate contacts!

[RaSing]

Originally Posted by OverKill

Well Thank You Truecaller here.
90% of the times dealership numbers are flagged as spam. I don't bother answering such calls.

+1 to that. Also, these days i keep 2 Sims on my android and yes the second one is for all those not so important and miscellaneous places where i have to give my number :-) so eachtime a phone call comes on that i know its not important.

Also, i believe the car service stations are the worst people to give your number as they are the ones to distribute that data to spammers. Most of the spam start coming in as soon as you give your number there. The reason i am saying is that once there was a mistyping by the service station staff in my name, and thereafter all spammers including insurance agents, credit card people used to call me by that name. I was surprised to know that how many places that number was shared.

[archbishopofbhp]

I definitely hate these spams but I am a bit reserved about using True Caller due to numerous breaches of its database. Is there a crowdsourced app containing a database of spam callers that doesn't require you to disclose your phone number thus preventing a chance of a breach?
If not perhaps that's going to be my summer project. Let me know if it's worth working on as support from Team BHP members will propel it to success and the data will easily become accurate for proper use within months.

[mayuresh]

Legally the calls are classified into "transactional" and "promotional". Provisions of DND apply to "promotional" calls only. Some morons use an existing relationship to technically show it a service (transactional) call and try to promote new products.

First thing is to register for DND. It may not solve the problem fully, but may reduce its extent.

Secondly if you find that the caller has defied the DND you can file a complaint. Easiest way to do that is using a TRAI app.

Thirdly you can block the caller on your phone.

Besides calls the nuisance is in terms of SMSes as well. All above steps (DND, DND complaint and blocking) are applicable to SMS. But one additional thing is to use an SMS app that detects promotional messages and does not raise any alarm for them. For one, Microsoft has got a suitable messaging app on Android that fits the bill.

[libranof1987]

Yep, the focus on customer service has companies spend an irritating (for us) amount of time asking customers for feedback.

But hey, you asked for it. Every customer is clamoring for a better experience and the only way dealerships/companies can get better is when you give them real world feedback.

Ford and Tata-paid callers call me periodically and after every visit to the showroom and ask for detailed feedback: whether I was tended to in time, the SA, the facility, the washing, the billing and so on. To be fair to them, they always ask if we can spare a few minutes and try to be quick. A couple of times I was unhappy about something, there were efforts to fix it on priority.

The only calls I detest are those by JD Power; they take an awful amount of time. However, those by dealerships, I tend to entertain because it is eventually for things to get better for us. Be careful what you wish for!

[GTO]

If you guys have a problem with car dealers, imagine my plight. The entire auto industry has my cell number and their PR departments keep calling me each time they send out a press release ("sir, did you get our email", "will you be carrying the news story?").

I zap them all with TrueCaller. Not only do I reject the call, but I also 'block' the number in TrueCaller so they don't bother me again. I can't imagine using my phone without TrueCaller.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by mayuresh

Secondly if you find that the caller has defied the DND you can file a complaint. Easiest way to do that is using a TRAI app.

TRAI doesn't help. Have e-mailed them the SMS [screenshot] but no response. And their response [when escalated via app] is - the subscriber got back and says, it doesn't indicate any telemarketing activity.

Originally Posted by GTO

I can't imagine using my phone without TrueCaller.

Feel for you .
Is TrueCaller your default dialing app. I switched to android [it was worse in iOS] and I can't see in any way if the number is a spam till the call gets disconnected. And then I look it up at TrueCaller.

[Santoshbhat]

I still get calls for insurance renewals of cars which I sold more than 5 years back!

OT : More than renewal of vehicle insurance I am hounded by Life Insurance companies. They call you all through the year saying "this is a service call on existing policy" and try to set up a meeting with one of their managers whose only agenda is to bait you with more useless policies. March is peak season for these guys. Have learnt to simply cut the phone with a curt "not interested".

[SJM1214]

We have a newly launched Nexa in my hometown, Anand. I keep receiving calls from both normal MASS and NEXA Service to bring my MS Brezza for fourth paid service. It seems both the service stations are competing with each other to pull customer towards them. It is strange because the owner of both the service stations is the same. Earlier, I used to receive calls only from MASS, now both the service centre keep calling me for Car services.

The most irritating (and long )calls are service feedback calls from different car brands as well as multi-brand service stations (like Frist choice). I keep doing TDs of the newly launched car, so of course, I keep receiving follow up calls from the dealers. However, now almost all the local dealers know me and they proactively call me to try my hand on newly launched vehicle's test car.

[timuseravan]

It is not just the dealer. It looks like he has sold all customer details to multiple insurance companies
I get calls from 4-5 different companies during renewal time.

Originally Posted by Sheel

How you guys deal with it?

Once I know the call is spam, I keep the phone on my desk and let them speak for however long. Once they disconnect the call, I block the number.

[mercedised]

Originally Posted by GTO

If you guys have a problem with car dealers, imagine my plight. The entire auto industry has my cell number and their PR departments keep calling me each time they send out a press release ("sir, did you get our email", "will you be carrying the news story?").

I zap them all with TrueCaller. Not only do I reject the call, but I also 'block' the number in TrueCaller so they don't bother me again. I can't imagine using my phone without TrueCaller.

Strictly for this purpose I have 2 SIMs. One phone number I use for business, and the other one is strictly for personal contacts. I never give my personal use number to business contacts.

[catchdoon]

Apparently, haven't faced this issue. Perhaps my number is registered with DND (I'm not sure about it) but apart from the people involved in my previous year's Insurance, no one else calls me.
Not for Car Insurance renewals at least.

Yes, if you by any chance go to Policy Bazaar etc, they will make your life hell for a couple of days to come. That's where True Caller comes to the rescue.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Sheel

Is TrueCaller your default dialing app. I switched to android[ it was worse in iOS] and I can't see in any way if the number is a spam till the call gets disconnected. And then I look it up at TrueCaller.

Yep, this is how it looks when a spammer is calling. You need to set your TrueCaller up: