Is it possible to go ex directory with Telefonica and avoid the endless cold callers? Whats it known as in Spanish?

I used to have a monologue I would go into in the UK, i'd congratulate them on getting back to me so fast after my complaints about the leopards breeding in the drains etc until I ran out of bullshit to feed them.

If you have the spare time, and you aren't having to pay for the call, there is a world of fun to be had with cold callers.

Trouble is, over here my Spanish isn't up to that.

I often pass the phone to my 10 year old , this winds them up a treat

I had one of them explaining to me who Vodafone was. Great laugh.

Glad to see you are bringing him up in a good sound moral framework.

A friend of ours in the UK let a kitchen saleswoman ramble on for half an hour extolling the virtues of their product.
She asked about the state of his farmhouse kitchen and he said it was a mess. At the end of her scripted speech she asked him... now that she had told him what they could do, what did he intend to do, his reply was......I'm going to move!

Oh how I wish my Spanish was up to doing that here when they cold call.
I have learned though never to speak to them in Spanish, I just keep repeating ..."I don't speak Spanish", they always put the phone down on me.

yes, that ususally works

however my OH thought he had come unstuck recently when the girl said in careful, scripted english, 'I will find an english speaker, please wait'

after a few minutes of listening to music, she came back on the line and said, again very carefully, 'I'm sorry the english speaker is not here. Thankyou'

Judging by the answers, I guess nobody knows!
I have no idea if Listarobinson works, but it is supposed to be the equivalent of the UK's Telephone Preferential Service
https://www.listarobinson.es/default.asp

I am and always have been (22 years) ex directory in Spain, as I was for many years in UK.

No doubt you are but it might be useful to the OP if you told us how to achieve that exalted status

No mystery Fred. I requested it when I signed up !! Sorry I assumed that would be obvious.

I told a couple friends who want to change, they called 1004 and requested ex-directory, no problem, except that they had previously been 'in the book' so their number and address could be found if someone looked at an old directory. Or the number could have been changed but the address bit would still be problematical.

Thanks for that - very useful.

But does it necessarily stop spam calls if you were previously not ex-directory?

It's probably like computer spam - once you are on the spammers lists there is nowhere to hide!

Whenever I get a cold call I ask them to wait a moment, I then shout out loud for father and put the phone down and leave it for 5 to 10 minutes or the next TV adverts.

That wastes their time until they ring off, time being their most expensive commodity

I don't recall any spam calls on my ex-directory line although I do get some spam on mine and my wife's mobiles. I just say politely, "No hablo español, gracias" and hang up. Seems to work so far.

I don't think being ex directory will help you, telesales companies operate from lists rather than the phone book. Every time you give your contact details to a company whether it be opening a bank account, booking a flight online or just basic online shopping you put yourself on a list.