In France the calls may come from North Africa or Romania, where there are enough hopeful young people who speak French. Since I haven't needed to fix a problem by telephone (I really believe in writing to the fuckers if there's a serious problem, but it may not be the same in LA), I'm talking about cold calls. I try to be helpful if I hear a twitch of humanity at the other end - this means, for example, tell them if they have a box on their screen to check that says Not Owner or No Money or Hopeless Prospect they should check it right away and waste no more time on me - but if it's boilerplate I just put the phone down.

If someone has real problems to settle and letters don't do it, well I suppose that's today's hideous corporate world - and no one in public office is doing anything to change it.