Telephone Etiquette - am I getting VERY old-fashioned?

[Martin963]

The phone rang just now,  I answered,  and the conversation went something like this:

Her:   Est ce que vous etes Monsieur W******?

Me:  C'est qui qui pose la question?

Her:  Est ce que vous etes Monsieur W****** Martin?

Me:   Madame,  je ne reponds pas aux questions comme ca des personnes que je ne connais pas,  voulez vous vous identifier svp.

Her:  Donc vous etes Monsieur W******.

Me - I hung up.

Given that the French are normally so painfully polite and formal on the phone,  I found this exchange extraordinary.

She probably did too!!!

No second attempt so I doubt it was the Champs Elysée Palace.

Am I getting too old for this world?

[idun]

It isn't old fashioned at all. You have every right to know who is on the other end of the phone.

I don't like business being dealt with by my forename. I prefer to keep some things very formal, as if things go wrong there has been no 'pal'iness' involved.

[Pierre ZFP]

Sounds like a cold caller to me, I would have hung up too.

I had a call recently and when I answered with just a bland 'hello?' I heard a barely inteligible male voice say 'Who is dat dere?' My reply was 'Well you called me so you should know, who is this calling me?' Various chuckling noises and something else uninteligible then he rang off.

I found out later that someone had stolen a friends mobile so this lowlife was probably just going through the numbers in the phone for laughs

[Sunday Driver]

Perhaps it was the Lottery Winners Notification Team phoning and were reluctant to disclose who they were before identifying you in case they'd called the wrong number....[:)]

 

[Russethouse]

 I had a call about insulation grants the other day, before discussing it I asked her which organisation she was phoning on behalf of, she repeated she was phoning about insulation grants and I asked her again not what she was phoning about but who she was phoning on behalf of....she put the phone down !!![Www]

[Clair]

I'm with you on this, Martin.

If someone asks for me or Mr Clair by name, I invariably say "C'est de la part de qui?" and on the rare occasion they don't identify themselves, I just hang up.

[Martin963]

...  and your wording Clair (naturally enough!) is somewhat more elegant than mine!

Thanks for the re-assurances from everyone.

And I haven't ever played the Lottery so we can probably rule that one out.....!

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

I had a phone call yesterday from a fraud company. They kept asking me to identify myself, and I kept asking them to identify themselves, we went back and forth for several minutes until I finally caved in and gave a little away.

Fortunately it was a proper company and they were just clarifying useage of my debit card.

But you can never be too careful and when I call someone I don't know I always make sure to introduce myself first.

[Martin963]

It gets worse.

Phone rings this morning

"Est ce que vous etes M W******?)

Me  - c'est de la part de qui?   (thanks Clair)

Her - c'est  gobbledigookgobbledigook,  (sadly it was so fast I couldn't get the name),  et nous sommes chargés a telephoner tous les proprietaires de S*******

Me - Madame,  nous sommes sur la liste orange de France Telecom

Her - liste orange,  liste jaune,  liste verte,  liste bleue,  ca n'a aucune importance

Me - Donc,   est ce que vous vendez quelquechose?

Her - Non.

Me -  Donc,   est ce que vous etes dans la service publique?

Her - C'est a dire.....?

Me - Madame,  vous vous moquez de moi,   (slams down receiver).

Now my guess is that this is the same organisation time and time again,   yesterday a quite polite man rang but I cut him off fairly quickly.   Next time I shall insist on a repetition of the company name.

I find it incredible that the liste orange (I think we're still on it) should be taken so flippantly by this woman.

I'm assuming that the tax office/police/government would have responded to the question about service publique.    I'm taking it that the "giveaway" that this is some sort of sales campaign is the "nous sommes chargés de telephoner a tous les proprietaires de....." - it's a tactic that has been used often in the past,  to make it sound more "official".   I could of course be wrong.

Goodness I'm getting cynical and crotchety in my old age!

[Clair]

Martin,

I hear there's a new opt-out register being created, which should come on line at the end of the month.

All tel sales services will be required to check if their potential prey has registered before calling.

I'll post the details ASAP.

[pachapapa]

Calls recently pushing the electricity price increases and offering an alternative.

Very persistent and the numbers dont appear on the AliceBox log.

Journal de réception d'appels

Heure d'appel	Numéro	Nom	Durée
13/06/2011 11:45		Inconnu	4 minutes

[JohnRoss]

Well I have answered the phone "Stonehenge here, chief druid speaking" or "War office here, want a fight?" This usually puts off sales people and friends usually reply something suitable!........JR

[nectarine]

ha ha, Mr. Nectarine often answers "House of Ill Repute, Chief Pimp speaking" which sorts out those who know us from those who don't.

But with sales calls, I cut them off with "Je n'acheterai rien, cette maison est a vendre" and they usually realise there's no point pursuing a sale.

(the house isn't for sale, but it works. In the UK, with cold callers, I used to say "I'd love to buy your product, do you sell to registered bankrupts" and they couldn't put down the phone quick enough!)

[idun]

Those who are tenace aren't put off by much.

Had one trying to sell me english lessons. Evident from my accent that I was english.

So I said 'je suis anglaise'. And they said to me that I could learn to speak like a native.

So I said that I was.

And they said, well better than that!

So I hung up.

[Iceni]

I always answer in English. If a French caller does not identify him/herself as representing an organisation I know (or is a friend) I respond with "I don't speak French, there is no-one here that speaks French. Good bye" and hang up.

Works for me.

John

[londoneye]

If they are selling something I immediately say I only speak English.    9 times out of 10 this has the hugely entertaining added value that you can then hear in the background (Henri, Henri (replace name with whichever fibbing salesman/woman has declared an extensive level of english on their cv) - ou est Henri ?????    Anglaise !!!).

Poor Henri, who by this time I can visualise as attempting to slink towards the men's room is finally dragged to the phone (meanwhile I've prepared the dinner).

Poor Henri rarely speaks more than two words of English - I test him for a while and it's just not working, at which point I tell him in French that thank you very much but I cannot understand your English and hang up.

Now I am not a mean person normally and I don't do this every time but it works a treat.