I can only speak from experience, but when I used to answer my grandmother's endlessly ringing landline, when she found the calls increasingly confusing, I did not feel warmly towards the cold callers.
HM Revenue & Customs has been criticised by MPs for costing callers £136m a year by not answering telephone inquiries, despite spending £900m on customer service.
The Spanish freephone number - 900 555 111 - will put local callers through to English-speaking handlers in the UK, to whom they can talk in privacy.
Related: Confessions of a charity professional – we want your blogs When I receive a call from fellow cold callers and gleefully inform them that I too do the same for a charity, they respond in one of two ways - either an instant mutual bond is formed, or a note of hesitancy comes over as they head for a tactical withdrawal.
Holland's inquiry was hampered by the hoaxer Wearside Jack, and the ongoing investigation is starting to receive its fair share of crank callers.
Multiculturalism doesn't work, said callers.
Beyond the capital, York Minster will admit night-time callers and visitors to Bristol's suspension bridge will be given a tour of its illuminations".Museums at night" will run for three evenings.
Callers must listen carefully to lists of choices and work through branch after branch of various decision trees, with few options for back-tracking when sent in the wrong direction.
Like many callers, her rage focused on the idea that members of Congress are "exempt" from Obamacare.
To pledge support for his programme, callers were invited to "Zipdial" a number that flashed on one of the news channels.
Storms, sporting events and transport strikes, for example, can affect callers' moods and purchasing dispositions, he says, and can be used to provide tips to agents.
