Miscellaneous advice

I used to get calls "...about your recent accident". They got thrown when I said, "Which one? I've quite a few recently".

I got a call saying my router was faulty and I said "Fine, send me a new one", and hung up.

Had a call yesterday from an unrecognizable number. On answering the caller asked if he was speaking to Mr Strong, I gave my usual answer to this question by saying, "it depends whom you are and what you want?". To which he said I had been overcharged for my telephone line and was due a £205 refund. Telling him to "just send me a cheque" he replied that he could not due to the number of refunds they had to process, and therefore he needed my bank details to process my refund. Then, me being the very polite person that I am, I told him to donate my £205 to Children in Need, and for some un-explained reason, he hung up on me!!

One more example of our rip off society. I needed to renew a subscription for AVG VPN program and this time checked the renewal price carefully. Found it far too high. Checked other trusted sites and found many offers half of the AVG price. Cancelled AVG and paid for a different one. Received email today from AVG qouting a price half of their original quote. A common modern business practice it seems. Where have trust and loyalty gone. I'm too old!

Argon, I keep getting new deals from AVG, they are as you say but I just delete.

Hi all, A Security Watch. I sometimes see posts on Facebook, advertising the fact of a meet up for coffee or the like. I love it, but, unless we live in open door homes with umpteen family members, we are as good as advertising an empty house. Please be aware of that when posting. Particularly as Christmas do's are looming, forum Christmas dinners, teas, breakfasts. I tend to state where I've been rather than where I'm going. I do have close neighbours where we share whereabouts info, but all of the security in the world can be wiped out by publicising future whereabouts. Ok, carry on.

Very good advice. I confess to being cagey about personal details. Not because I'm worried about you lot but you never know what some harvesting software might pick up. Facebook is a very unsafe place to drop in details.

I can never understand people who put their holiday pictures on while they are there!

Whilst on the be careful conduct notions, spams can be very smooth talking. Like an email thanking me for a successful application for a credit account with a bank that I regularly use. No, I hadn't applied for a credit account. I deleted the email completely. Contacted the bank by normal means. All ok. Had I proceeded with the spam email, it would have taken me through the stages of revealing account details & passwords. Please, if you receive an email, text or any communication that says you have done what you haven't, please simply bin it. Talk to your bank as normal. PS. Please share any of your experiences on this or any other kind of hoodwink. Sooner or later, I will be caught out if I'm not up to speed.

I had a phone call the other day informing me that my home had been flagged up on a register (couldn't tell me which one) of homes with 'suspect' insulation. Apparently, the insulation causes condensation and other nasties. But it was my lucky day, as 1) they were in the area and 2) they were carrying out free surveys to anyone between the ages of 50 and 75. Playing the daft old codger, I kept him talking for about 15 minutes, giving absolutely nothing away before telling him I just wasn't interested. Checking on 1471 it appears that the call originated from Bournemouth.

I got a call saying that my house was listed as having insufficient insulation. Potentially there is a record of an energy certificate for the house but it relates to when I bought it, not now. What should have alerted me though is how they got my phone number as that's not the same as it was when I bought the house. The most likely reason is that I have asked for quotes for double glazing in the past and it's through that they are chancing their arm suggesting the house needs insulating. I periodically get a call from window companies, to which I reply that I have no more empty orifices that need glazing - double or otherwise. I don't get many sales calls but I'll be on the ball next time and ask where they got my number.

My standard answer to anyone trying to sell is to tell them that I don't have any money, they seem to lose interest.

Bohica, we have been getting those nuisance calls from the Bournemouth number for months, from Matthew I believe. We now only accept calls from anyone announcing who they are unless they are entered in our phone book.

Not sure that NeilsYard has taken this advice on board!!!!