I received a call from a company selling emergency insurance. Their rep explained that if I had a gas leak, they would come out and fix it - however long it took. 'But I don't have gas', I said.

'What if I had a problem in the sewer pipes between my house and the main road', he asked. 'Wasn't that something to worry about?' 'My house isn't connected to the main sewers', I told him.

'That's a very unusual house', he commented, somewhat sceptically.

'Not really', I said. 'I live in the UK'.

'Ah, you live in THE UK.'

He thanked me for my time and rang off.

I would have played really stupid, like whats a house, whats a sewer

First we sell you fear -- that's free, actually.

Then we sell you your peace of mind back for a nominal fee.

The salesperson is not in his proper job and unprepared for his call as he should know that you live in the boondocks.These type of sales people just call people at random and try to sell whatever they have to offer and many times have no clue whatsoever on where you are and what your needs are.

He could have asked you for e-mail and send you what items they cover and the premium to pay.

In any event this type of offer is pure nonsenseas it`s like taking an extended warranty on any appliance or Tv etc for a few more years and the price to pay is $200 or more, forget it. 

In the U.S. we have a national "no-call" list. If you are on the list they can't call and try to sell you things. When they do call I just ask, "Why are you calling me? I'm on the no-call list." They will disconnect without so much as a word and you won't hear from them again.

Prior to the creation of the no-call law; whenever they would call I would answer and when they started with the pitch I would just set the phone down on the table and go on about my business.

I've only just realised that mobile numbers can be added to our no call list!

In Canada you can block all advertising coming from Canada by registering to the federal Canadian Do not call list.

Link: https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/insnum-regnum-eng

Obviously if the call is from USA or any other country it cannot be blocked.

You do need to reregister every 3 years and God knows why only as to this step.

Since I adhered to this exclusion program, the number of undesired calls dropped from about 15 a week to one every 3 weeks or so and I love it.

We have three 'Do Not Post Junk' schemes - but they are designed to be ineffective.

B-u-m-p

... though not as ineffective as the ones on chess.com! 

Stimulating . I have my phone set so that it automatically rejects "unknown" callers and the few that get through are fobbed off with a story about "my distrust of the banking system " and the fact that i don't have a current account . Works every time.

Also most marketing companies operate a "3 No rule " if you say "No" 3 times they terminate the call .

Have fun.

My favorite was always the lawn care company that called me every year to offer their services to maintain my lawn .... at a time when I lived in a third floor apartment.

you could have an artifical lawn on your balcony.