Are cold callers the bane of modern life?

cold callers are one of the most irritating aspects of modern life, and they are particularly annoying for the retired, who spend much of their time at home. But there is a simple solution — fight technology with technology by installing an answering machine and leaving it on. cold callers never leave a number and quickly ring off. choose a model that displays the caller’s number, so you can answer if you recognise a friend. Some models feature nuisance call blocking. After installing such a machine two years ago, I haven’t had a single cold call. Remember, cold callers only ring you for their benefit, not yours, and with the new pension legislation offering fraudulent opportunities, they are liable to become more persistent than ever.

JOHN REVELL, Sudbury, Suffolk.

ALTHOUGH I’m registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), I still receive a number of calls offering me all sorts of things I did not know I needed. After ascertaining who is calling, my stock reply is: ‘I’m sorry, but I do not accept unsolicited calls, thank you.’ Most times, I haven’t finished my reply before they hang up.

COLIN HUBBALL, Northwich, Cheshire. I AM one of those rare folk who doesn’t mind cold callers. I string them along, ask them to repeat themselves, ask a lot of inane questions, then hang up — after all, they’re paying for the call. or you can pretend someone has just knocked on your door and ask them to hold on while you see who it is. Then don’t hang up and put the phone on its side. Go back about ten minutes later and the caller will have gone.

MARTIN HALL, Bognor Regis, Sussex.

I WELCOME cold calls. They give me free rein to practise my acting skills when I go into my Al Read comedy routine or pretend to be the member of a certain organisation conducting an intercepting service following an undisclosed ‘incident’ at the address being ‘phoned.

JOHN COLLINS, Chelmsford, Essex.

MUCH as I value a landline, after getting a cold call at 2.35am and a stream of them every day, I can’t take the torment any longer and have switched mine off. It is ridiculous that this kind of stalking is legal.

CHARLOTTE PRIMROSE, Lawford, Essex.

ALL political parties are expressing horror and revulsion at ‘cold calling’ as an invasion of privacy. Yet over the next four weeks those same people will be pestering us all with their own cold calling, by mail, on the phone and at the door. Is the word hypocrisy in any political dictionary? TERENCE BUCKLEY,

Taunton, Somerset.