Grecians' phone calls

[Katharine]

I had a lovely chat last night with a very new OB (left last week?) who was making one of the fund raising phone calls. Sorry, CH, my money this year is going to the youth suicides charities but he was a nice young man.

It was interesting to learn how little he knew of Hertford, he assumed we had worn Housey there and that we were as large a school. I said that there had been just 2 in my A level Maths group, and had I been in a larger group it would probably have been far better for me. His response to the idea that just 2 did Maths was incredulity. It was good to chat to him, and next year I will probably give again, he got me at a bad moment as I had just been on the phone to my sister.

[wurzel]

I was on my UF merger year and was one of the few who went on a coach trip th Hertford the preceeding Summer and I know very little about it. It is only because I know you only filled 4 house that I can guess it was <200 girls.

My only memory of it was that it was like a miniturised horsham folded in half about dining hall, that dining hall was upstairs and I got whistled or shouted at for running down from lunch, the sports pitches seemed very cramped and it was weird it being in a town on a roundabout as opposed to being out in the country

[englishangel]

We had 8 houses and there were about 280 of us at the peak but I think numbers were reduced proior to the merger.

That little sports field was on the school grounds but we had a much larger one about 3/4 mile away with (if memory serves) 2 hockey pitches and a hard area with room for a hockey pitch, on the edge of town then but probably under houses now.

I had a call from CH the other day as well, not a recent Grecian, an older woman. Apparently the last round of calls was 2 years ago.

As we had just received daughter's rent invoice for next year at Uni. oursa was not very well timed either.

[Mid A 15]

I freely admit to being an archetypal "Grumpy Old Man" but in my opinion cold telephone calling is not the way to win friends and influence people or obtain donations.

I would be LESS inclined to donate if I received a cold telephone call because they are wasting scarce resources incurring needless costs making the phone call in the first place unless the Grecians themselves or their families are funding the calls.

[Jo]

I had a letter about a month ago from the Treasurer, warning me that I was likely to receive a call, and advising me that I could let Anne Sartain know if I didn't want to receive one. So for me, it wasn't a cold call. I had thought I might start to donate - was reluctantly talked into donating to my university some years ago, and decided earlier this year that they'd had enough from me and that I didn't need to feel quite so grateful for having received a university education as it wasn't down to the generosity of individuals. I wanted to switch my donation to CH instead as I thought it was about time I gave something back. So actually the call was quite timely and I had a pleasant chat to a recent OB and agreed to a monthly donation.

[Foureyes]

For reasons I do not understand, my wife and I receive about 10-12 cold calls per week. I have spoken to BT and we are registered on whatever list it is that they keep, but to no avail. As a result, as soon as either of us realise that a call is of this type we simply put the phone down, regardless of who it is from. This may seem rude but there is no point in getting into a discussion. Curiously, I do not get any calls from this Grecian thing, but my reaction would be exactly the same. It is not that we don't give to charity, because we both do, but it is the question of an unwarranted intrusion into one's home that is so aggravating.
Incidentally, I have been told by someone in the Counting House that the Grecians call is one of the most successfull in the country, so it would be interesting to know how much they make.

[J.R.]

We also registered with BT about 6 months ago to stop 'cold-callers', but still receive them.

That's why we monitor all incoming phone-calls through our ansa-phone. You find that 'cold-callers' will obviously NOT leave a message.

[Mrs C.]

i believe they raised over £12,000 on the first day!
I met a few of them in Sainsburys the other day - they`re all trying to outdo each other and beat last year`s record!

[Vonny]

We had 8 houses and there were about 280 of us at the peak but I think numbers were reduced proior to the merger.

Yes - numbers were reduced in the last few years. 8's was closed 2 or 3 years before the school closed so we only had 7 houses. 8's was used as some kind of sixth form doss house

we had a much larger one about 3/4 mile away with (if memory serves) 2 hockey pitches and a hard area with room for a hockey pitch, on the edge of town then but probably under houses now.

Was it really only 3/4 of a mile away? It probably was but at the time it seemed miles away! There were tennis courts at Ashbourne as well. Plus a running track/hurdles etc in the summer term.

[sejintenej]

We also registered with BT about 6 months ago to stop 'cold-callers', but still receive them.

That's why we monitor all incoming phone-calls through our ansa-phone. You find that 'cold-callers' will obviously NOT leave a message.

The company to register with is not BT but, when I went there, appeared to be independent of them. Details of the number and web address are in the UK telephone directory. It takes (according to them) about a month for your registration to become effective.

I have found it pretty effective; I now get perhaps one call each two years, always get the name of the caller, as much detail of the company they represent, the time of the call etc. and end up by telling the caller that he/she is committing a criminal offence under the telecommunications acts by making the call and that I am reporting him/her and his/her company with a view to prosecution. Only once did someone try to argue so I actually did send in the details!!!! The company (double glazing) was already well known to them......

[Katharine]

These were NOT cold calls, as Jo said we had a letter saying they would be making the calls and we had the option to say so if we did not want them to call.

[englishangel]

Katharine is correct, they are not cold calls, even if we had not received a letter actually as we are quite legitimately on the telephone list. as Old Blues.

http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/ to stop cold calling to landline and mobile


http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/ to stop junk mail

[Mid A 15]

Asking for permission to telephone puts an entirely different complexion upon things and in such circumstances a telephone call is fair enough.

I'm afraid that we were so plagued with cold and nuisance calls that we changed our number and went ex directory. We have also become very careful about disclosing our phone number to any organisation since database equals opportunity for unscrupulous selling on of details.

The only unwanted calls we get now (touchwood!!) are the random number dialling ones and they are very infrequent.

I can just about live with junk mail as very occasionally something useful turns up but the amount of personal information they include when "helpfully filling in the application form" is sometimes disconcerting. I believe such practices have exacerbated the identity theft problem and fraud as many people simply discard junk mail unopened rather than shred it.

[blondie95]

if you want to avoid cold calls you need to register with TPS who monitor all lists bought by companies and if you are marked at tps then the company cannot ring you, if they do they can get into a lot of trouble.
as for the grecians calling for donations, the fact every year they raise a lot of money for school and i think having spoken to some who did it, a lot of ob's like the chance to have a chat with a new ob etc. and like the others have said, the fact is there is a ltter that goes out and opportunity to say you do not want to be called

[englishangel]

Yesterday I got a letter saying thank you for talking to whomever, even if I couldn't donate at this time.

Now that is two letters (68p) and a phone call, so that's nearly a pind could have been saved right there.