View Full Version : Telemarketers-how to stop them?
I am really getting tired of telemarketers calling me, and lately they have increased their frequency to where i get 4-5 calls a day from phone companies, etc, trying to get me to switch. My method was to tell them I like my long distance and hang up on them. This apparently didn't work and they still call. I finally lost it today and started swearing at one, but I'm annoyed, so what can I do to stop them? I know I have to have some rights in the matter and I've already changed my phone # to a unlisted and they STILL call. Help!
I am not sure if this is a federal law or not, but here in GA, you can tell the telemarketer not to call you anymore and to take your name off their list. If they call you back, then you can sue them. The problem is that usually you get calls from all sorts of companies.
Have fun with it.
1) Ask them stupid questions
2) tie up the line and make their time per call go up
3) After talking to them in english, tell them in english that you do not speak english
4) ask them if you can call them at home and discuss this further
5) tell them you do not live there anymore
6) tell them that they are talking to an experimental AI voicemail system and would they like to leave a message
7) ask them what part of NO did they not understand
8) tell them you will by their product if they will convert to insert favorite cult or group here
9) ask them to buy girl scout cookies
10) ask them if the line is bugged and act paranoid.
I think you get the idea.
Jeffery
I had the same problem, and appear to have fixed it. There are legal ways to get them to stop. If you tell them to stop calling you, and they continue to call, you can bring them to court and they'll probably have to pay a fine.
The problem with that is a) you have to keep track of who calls and when so that you can prove you told 'em to stop and b) It doesn't work with first-time telemarkers, of which there are many.
I got Caller ID, and found out that the bulk of the calls from telemarkers showed up as "unavailable" calls. I believe this is because they use PBX's and such to call out of a business phone system. Very few telemarketers show up on Caller ID with an actual business name.
My local phone company just came out with something called Privacy Plus. Basically, when you get a call from an unavailable source, a recording comes on and says "This number does not accept calls from unavailable numbers. Please record your name for identification purposes."
If they record their name, my phone rings with a unique ring, and when I pick it up it tells me who's calling. If they don't leave their name, the phone doesn't even ring. As I only have one friend who infrequently calls from an unavailable number, this has worked GREAT! I was getting 4-5 calls a night, and now I get NONE!
Caller ID works great for this--I still get the calls but I don't answer them. My new phone has all the bells and whistles on it and I have recorded myself saying "Unknown Caller" when I get an unknown caller on the Caller ID--then I don't even have to get up to answer it.
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Gail
"Any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you, my friend--
Any minor world that breaks apart falls together again...."
-Steely Dan
The whole problem with a lot of the methods suggested is that I don't really have time for court or anything else. I told my local phone company and all they said is that someone has my phone number and is selling it to telemarketers? I get repeat calls from AT&T, MCI, Sprint, etc, so it wouldn't be too hard to record their names and stuff, but I wouldn't know where to go from there. I just get annoyed because I'm a student, I'll be doing some in-depth studying and then the phone rings, and it's someone who wants to tell me about their phone service. I tried the nice approach, telling them that I really like my phone service and don't want to switch, but then they ask me what I like about my long distance and so on. But yes, they do show up on Caller ID as UNAVAIABLE, the problem is that my parents, who travel a lot, also show up as UNAVAILABLE (if calling from a hotel), so I pick up the phone regardless in case it is them. Are there any ways to get them to stop besides going through the legal system?
Changing your telephone number to unlisted is not going to work, you're already in the system. Take it from me, you have to start out with a number that's never been listed publicly.
Then you never, ever give that number to anyone you don't actually want to call you.
And I mean never ever. I routinely refuse to give a phone number to store clerks who ask or insist they need one to complete a form or whatever. The only reason they need one is so they can either:
A. Have their evil minions call you during dinner.
or
B. Sell it to as many other companies as they can find who like to have their minions do so.
Likewise with product "registration" cards and such. These items are designed to gather your personal information either for internal use or for sale to others. I never return these cards, and I have become very adept at avoiding online registration. If you feel the need to be on a company's mailing list, don't give them your phone number. I like to give them the number for the phone line my computer is on.
They can call that one all they like.
I've had this same number for almost 5 years and I get maybe one or two telemarketing calls every few months, usually from my credit card people or a telephone company.
I tell the former, if they call me one more time I'll cancel the card, and the latter "I'm not interested, and if you call me agin, I'll personally come and kill you" and hang up. I'm not popular with these people, and that's the way I like it.
That's a great idea, Nickrz. I'd love to talk with you some more about it. Hey, could you post your phone number so I can call you?
Your Quadell
After listening to their sales pitch, bark like a dog. That'll teach 'em.
(Yes, I've done it.)
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Chaim Mattis Keller
ckeller@schicktech.com
"Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks."
-- Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective
hey everyone, as someone who has slaved in obscurity in Customer Service, I'd like to say: let's not shoot the messenger, ok.
The people making the calls just have a crappy job that they probably hate. They don't want to to call you. Unfortunately, they require renumerative work to get along in this world. Please do me a personal favor, and don't be rude or obnoxious, and death threats can certainly ruin their day.
No amount of hateful talk on your part is going to change their job. You need to change the *company* to do that, and that takes a little more effort than telling off the telemarketer.
A simple, I'm not interested, and tell your boss I'm reporting your agency to the BBB is usually plenty.
Just my 0.02, I realize these calls are annoying. I am not pro-telemarketing by any strech.
As a side note, if some of your calls are survey research, those numbers are randomly generated by Bellcore. No matter how unlisted your number is you can still show up on a survey list. I did phone interviewing for a while. Even though it was for a legitimate academic purpose, boy did it suck.
-rmariamp
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I'm sorry, but I don't owe the boobs who can't make a living doing something else anything. They are invading my privacy, and they called me, not I them. They pays their money, they takes their chances.
I don't care if it's Momma Leone supporting her ten kids on $5.95 an hour, tough shit. They took the job, they better be prepared for all manner of language from the people they are being paid to abuse.
Are there any ways to get them to stop besides going through the legal system?
What about getting an answering machine and letting all your friends/family know that you will be screening your calls? That way if they get the answering machine, they won't hang up first, you can only answer calls you really want to answer and even if it is your friend/family and you don't want to talk at that moment, you will know to call them back? Some phone companies also have voice messaging, and you can set that up to answer after only one ring if you are busy, etc.
rmariamp said: "...death threats can certainly ruin their day."
That's too bad, because I work nights and when the phone rings every hour or so (I used to get 8 or more calls a day, although it has eased up lately) it wakes me up. It's very hard for me to get back to sleep during the day. I am an RN in an intensive care unit so when I've gone without sleep, this not only ruins my day, it also literally puts some very sick people in danger.
I can't just turn off the ringer because my kids are in school or at the sitter and one of them has health problems; I need to be able to get important phone calls.
Caller ID doesn't prevent the phone from waking me, but I never answer "unavailable" calls unless I'm really tired. God help the telemarketer who calls me when I'm really tired- I invariably begin to cry (and swear incoherently) because I am SO TIRED AND I CAN'T GET ANY SLEEP! I have seriously considered suicide simply because I am so tired. I hope my phone company gets that Privacy Plus thing Athena mentioned; that would be wonderful.
I'm a telemarketer. And trust me, saying "take my name off the list" is the best way to go. Cursing and the like may give the telemarketer an easy laugh at your expense - then again, it may make him set you up to be called tomorrow, so it's not entirely wise. All the "telemarketer torture techniques" may amuse, but they don't do anything about your callbacks. If you say "I don't speak english" then you just get sent to the list for the bi-lingual folks to call.
One handy tidbit I learned at work is that you can have the credit reporting agencies not hand out your information (so you don't get all those "Pre-approved" offers in the mail and such.
Unfortunately, this job has eliminated what little integrity I had left. But hey, it's money, right?
A good little resource on how telemarketing works is at www.antitelemarketer.com
But don't tell them I sent you.
Trip (don't) Fall
Two words: Rape Whistle
Keep on tooting untill they hang up. They may not stop calling, but it sure is fun!
And most local phone service nowadays have a relatively inexpensive service to block telemarketing calls. Any calls made to your house from an autodialer type service (the ones that come up "unavailible" on your Caller ID), never get through. Ameritech, Bell Atlantic and Bell South (IIRC) and possibly SBC all provide this service. Ask your local phone service if they have something called "privacy manager" or the like. If not, demand that they get it, since the technology exists, and is infact the same technology as the caller ID... If this doesn't work, keep the whistle by the phone!
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Jason R Remy
"And it could be safely said that at that moment, in the whole of India, no one, absolutely no one, was f^(king a goat."
-- John Irving A Son of the Circus (1994)
According to radio personality (L. A. Area) Gary Owens, whom some people may remember from "Laugh-In," a good way to fend of telemarketers--without being rude to the hapless employees--is to say, "Hello...hello...hello..I can't seem to hear you, hello.." then you hang up. They won't wast time calling back of they think your line is out of order.
Excuse me--IF they think..."
Don't you mean "If they think?"
I'd guess that they don't, it might give them headache.
Telemarketers exist because it *works*. If it didn't work, companies would not do it.
So: get telemarketers started on their "pitch" - act interested for a few moments. Then just gently put the phone down on the desk and walk away. Come back in a few minutes and hang up. If you hang up righta way, they just call somebody else, but if you waste their time, it makes telemarketing less effective financially.
--
peas on earth
A friend of mine used to have a prepared sales pitch written down near the phone for such occasions. I think he would try to sell tham light bulbs.
Seriously, before you chew out some telemarketer, make sure it is one and not a market researcher. I used to do market research calls, and I would get chewed out and quoted telemarketing laws every single night. Most of the time we were looking for people for focus groups, which paid very well for a few hours of giving your opinion. We're trying to do you a favor, people.
Dr. J
I find that asking them what kind of panties they're wearing usually gets me on the "don't call back" list. It seems to work for both female and male telemarketers.
The system I use is effective and I'm trained to it now. It is very rare for a telemarketer to not hang up after the third ring (I've heard many reasons speculated to explain this). Seriously, during the marketing hours, I answer my phone on the fourth ring - haven't talked to a telemarketer in a year or more, although my phone rings (3x's) ~ a half-dozen times every evening.
I don't do market surveys, either.For both kinds of calls, I hand the phone to my 4 year old, if she's nearby. She talks to them and tells them what she did today.Then I ask her to hang up. Just a little less rude than the rape whistle.
Do what I do: Leave your Internet connection open. Telemarketers never leave messages on your voicemail. Everyone who calls me knows when I pick up my messages (3 times a day) and if they need me right away, they can get on their own computers and email or ICQ me.
Kat is right. I solved this program by getting on the internet when I came home from work and reading every single post on the SDMB. Friends and family can call during the day and leave a message, or get online and e-mail or IM me. They usually do saying "I tried to call you for six hours last night!" I like the idea of asking about their panties, though - lol. The weird thing here is that our area has become some sort of real estate hot bed and we keep getting real estate agents cold calling us saying "Would you like to sell your house?" How often could that possibly work to make it worthwhile? Who's going to answer that with "Why, I've never really thought about it, but now that you mention it, I guess I would!"
There are several things you can do, some even legal --
1. If you get a call from a telemarketer, tell them to put you on their "do-not-call" list. Federal law requires they stop calling you, and you can sue the pants off them if they try it again. Using this technique, I managed to reduce my telemarketing calls considerably. They also hang up immediately when you tell them to put the on the list.
2. Most telemarketers use predictive dialers -- software that dials you and makes sure that someone is answering (this is why there's often a delay between the time you say "hello" and when you seem to have a connection). In these days of answering machines, predictive dialers have strategies to differentiate between the machines and real people. They assume that a real person will answer the phone with a simple "hello" and then pause, whereas answering machines will talk for several seconds before pausing.
Use this to your advantage. Set up your answering machine message so that it starts "please wait" then wait three seconds and begin your message. The dialer will think its a live person and not a machine. Similarly, train yourself to answer the phone by saying a phrase that lasts several seconds. The machine will think it's talking to an answering machine and hang up.
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www.sff.net/people/rothman (http://www.sff.net/people/rothman)
I was getting rings on the phone every half hour for a couple weaks and dead air when you picked up. This is what a telemarketing company does when they use a automated dialer. The phone company said to record the date and time, and file a harassment suit with the police department. The police could then match the calls with the phone records. The calls stopped just about the time I got the information on what to do. I'm ready for the next time though.
A while ago, a local paper kept calling me trying to get me to start suscribing to their paper. In one week I got about 5 calls! So one day when they called, i used my little girl voice and said, "My daddy reads the newspaper.He reads it every night." The guy said, "Huh?" Then I said "my daddy buys the newspaper and he reads it every night." (I also kept babbling in my little girl voice) And then there was silence and he stammered, "Uhhhh...ok" and hung up and never called again. Now I have a answering machine and my friends know to let the machine get it. if I'm home I will answer it. If not they know that I'm really not home and not just NOT answering in case it's a telemarketer and they leave a message.Works like a charm.
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MaryAnn
Sometimes life is so great you just gotta muss up your hair and quack like a duck!
Tonight I got my first telemarketing call in years. Up to now anything caller ID posted as "Out of Area" I wouldn't take, and it worked. I didn't get telemarketed didn't ruin some poor grunt's day.
It had to happen, the tape recording speal was ID'd as "John Sanders."
Seriously, before you chew out some telemarketer, make sure it is one and not a market researcher. I used to do market research calls, and I would get chewed out and quoted telemarketing laws every single night. Most of the time we were looking for people for focus groups, which paid very well for a few hours of giving your opinion. We're trying to do you a favor, people.
Dr. J
Please, don't do me any favors. I don't want market researchers calling either.
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>^,,^<
KITTEN
Coarse and violent nudity. Occasional language.
One thing I've noticed with telemarketing calls is that there is a delay when you answer the phone before you actually hear their voice. If I hear this delay, I just hang up right a way. Seems to work. Most of the telemarketing calls are for the morons that used to have the phone number before us and failed to let every person they know that they changed numbers. Even the company that provided them pager service through their phone company-we were getting charged for their pager service for a couple months! That ended quickly!
I just changed my phone number to one with π as a digit. Most telemarketers can't dial π yet. :)
Im deaf. I only got one TTY telemarketer call
in 20 years.
These days I use Caller ID. As the person said, they show up usually as 'unavailable' thus, I don't answer. Only catch is, so does the Relay which translates calls from deaf-hearing people. Shoot.
For the $6.50 a month Caller ID costs, its well worth it to know when not to pick up the phone. Also, calls that are mis-dialed are easy to select to not answer.
Pray for us who get calls from a computer generated telemarketer with a war dialer or those that search out fax tones and fax you an ad.
'm sorry, but I don't owe the boobs who can't make a living doing something else anything. They are invading my privacy, and they called me, not I them. They pays their money, they takes their chances.
I don't care if it's Momma Leone supporting her ten kids on $5.95 an hour, tough shit. They took the job, they better be prepared for all manner of language from the people they are being paid to abuse.
Nickerz, calm down. I don't think anyone who's employed should be derided for what they do. Would you rather they be on welfare? Cut down on the elitism.
I used to be a telemarketer, it got me through my first year of college. Granted, I was raising money for the university, and we took a loose approach, meaning the "script" was minimal. That's what I hate most about most telemarketers. They just run through a 5 page spiel like robots and won't let you get a word in edgewise.
If the TM takes the time to talk to me like a human, I respect them as such, with a sincere "I'm sorry, but I'm not interested". Otherwise they get a cold "no thank you."
But, as has been said before, don't kill the messenger. You and society gain nothing being angry to a stranger just doing their job on the phone.
tetzel, I side squarely with Nickerz on this one. There is no defense for telemarketing, period. There are manny other effective ways to conduct business. I assume any company which feels it cannot survive without cold calling me probably does not deserve to be in business, and absolutely will not get my patronage. I don't care if they are selling gold for a nickel an ounce, I will not do business with a telemarketer.
You and society gain nothing being angry to a stranger just doing their job on the phone.
Not true. Naps, dinner, family time, reading, and movies uninterrupted by spurrious telephone calls would be examples of what I stand to gain.
No company or individual has the right to enter my home uninvited - and that includes via the telephone. I have no problem with television advertising. I extend that invitation simply by turning on the set with the foreknowledge that advertising is the price I pay for programming. The same holds true for most print ads, they help hold down the cost of the newspaper/magazine. But, dammit, [b]I[/i] own my phones and I pay monthly for the privilege of using the phone lines. Telemarketers do nothing to defray the cost of the phone, waste my time, and interrupt my life, and invade my home. No job gives anyone that right.
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The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. -- E. Grebenik
Right on, DrJ!
It's interesting to note the question was "what can I do to stop them?" but the discussion has turned almost exclusively to
"You can't stop them, but you can do this this and this."
Screw that. I don't want my telephone ringing, period, unless it's someone I know or conduct business with. I don't have to screen my calls, I don't have to submit to caller ID, and I don't want a rape whistle.
My point was, the only way I have found to be left alone by these ruthless people (and no, I don't buy into that "I'm just doing my job" crap any more than I bought into the Nazis' "We were just following orders") is to get an unlisted number and keep it unlisted.
I'm sorry if I seem irrational on this subject, but I'm a firm believer in a life as devoid of advertising influence as possible. I prefer to ride in silence or listen to recorded music in my car rather than listen to the ceaseless noise on the radio; I record TV shows I need to watch so I can fast forward through the 20 minutes of commercials in a one-hour show.
Call me a zealot or whatever, but these people are stealing my time and my peace of mind with their mindless barrage. I can turn off the TV and the radio, but they are not going to force me to stop answering my phone, not if I can help it. Rail against the darkness, kids.
If you bought a phone, and have your number in the phone book, you have no right to complain.
It amazes me that supposedly intelligent and sophisticated people cannot handle "Sorry, no thank you, <click>."
Phobia
I was getting rings on the phone every half hour for a couple weaks and dead air when you picked up
This can be caused by the phone company conducting line tests.
theoperaghost
I saw a gizmo for sale in a catalog that attached to your phone line and if you got a telemarketer call you pushed a button and it gave them a pre-recorded message saying that you don't take this sort of call and to remove you from the list.
They sell these at Radio Shack. The recording tell them to take your name off the list, but I doubt a TM will listen that long.
It amazes me that supposedly intelligent and sophisticated people cannot handle "Sorry, no thank you, ."
BZZZZT!! I've had lots of experience with ths NOT WORKING. The quickly jump to the (1st no) section of the script.
I remember one call where I said no once, and they went on with the schpeel, I hung up, and they immediatly called back.
I have had great success with saying "hang on a second," and then setting the phone down. But the acting interested and setting the phone down sounds more appealing.
I think I'm just going to start being assertive and say "Wait. Take my name off the list."
We have caller ID, and I have the "private caller" filter turned on, but there are many calls that show up as "unknown caller", which is evidently different from a private caller. I also have a caller ID box(from BellSouth) that you can select certain numbers as "priority" numbers. When any of these numbers shows up, the box beeps three times, and I know it's family or friends.
Other than that, I let the answering machine talk to mister "unknown caller", and he/she doesn't have much to say. :)
BTW, I have a portable phone with caller ID right in the handset. Handiest thing since toilet paper!
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FixedBack
It might also be a good idea to say "no hablo ingles" or "jag taler inte engelsk" or "ne govoriyu po-angliski." If the telemarketer thinks they have reached a non-English speaker they will give up on you--except, of course, in the unlikely instance the primarily English-speaking telemarketer DOES understand Spanish, or Danish, or Russian, or whatever.
The phone company said to record the date and time, and file a harassment suit with the police department. The police could then match the calls with the phone records. The calls stopped just about the time I got the information on what to do. I'm ready for the next time though.
I'd hate to think of the criminals that get away because the cops are busy chasing after telemarketers! Surely the police department has more important things to follow up on. Your best route is asking to be removed from the calling lists. There really isn't much the local police can do...believe me, it won't stop the telemarketers from calling! Going through an attorney or contacting your state attorney general's office is the best legal route to get you started if you are serious about pursuing it.
If you bought a phone, and have your number in the phone book, you have no right to complain.
Same goes for if you have a credit card, own a car, have ever taken out a loan, own a house or business or have purchased ANYTHING through a catalog or mail offer. If you have done ANY of these things ever in your life, you are on a list somewhere.
The good news is there are more and more states adopting restrictive legislation against unsolicited sales calls. It is making it more difficult for companies to make offers through phone sales...however I think telemarketing isn't going away anytime too soon.
The whole notion of "they sold your number" or "get an unlisted number" doesn't work with predictive dialers. I worked for a company that manufactured and programmed the things, and they couldn't give a rat's ass if you're listed or not (depending on what the product is they're trying to sell) -- they can just do a random generation of all the numbers in one particular area code or prefix and start dialing those. Now it *is* illegal to dial all of those random numbers in sequence, because the dialer could wind up calling every phone in a hospital or an office or something one right after the other, so they have to dial them randomly, but they don't check to see if they're your line, or an unlisted number, or anything.
Now, there are certain "campaigns" where they only want a certain group of people. Then they will buy a bank of numbers from some number broker. But don't count on not getting called just because you're unlisted.
http://www.verinet.com/~geoff/Enigma
(I hope that worked in to a link!)
Somebody posted this link on the About This Message Board Forum. I can't remember if it directly discusses anti-telemarketer tactics, but if it doesn't then it links to places that do.
-Melin
You can get an unlisted number and keep it unlisted Nick, but some telemarketers simply use a computer program that dials every possible combination of number. Sure to hit plenty of unlisted numbers. IE:
555-1234
555-1235
etc
The more I think about it, the more I think "irrational" doesn't even begin to cover it, Nickrz.
I mean, "Hey, lady, sorry you had to take this job to feed your kids, and get paid minimum wage plus a commission that you don't even get to collect until you get 50 sales, but I'm going to act abusively towards you, even though you don't own the company, because I don't like advertising"--what kind of asshole does that? Comparing telemarketing operators to Nazis? Are you daft?
Back before I got my present job, as a broke college student, I was a telemarketer for 4 hours. Call me whatever you want, but the job sucks. I don't care who you are or what you are selling, I just want to be left alone. If I want a new service, I will call the freaking company that provides it and let them know. The worst part is that lately, my local phone company(GTE) has been calling me to offer new services. So my number is safe from no one. Keep in mind, i don't harass them when they call, i just say I'm not interested and hang up. But privacy is a big deal to me and it freaks me out when people come to my door to sell things, even though i live in a No solicitation apartment complex, they still try to sell me stuff and it's not like it's little kids, who I am happy to buy stuff from if it's for a school fundraiser, I've had creepy looking adults come to my door. I call my apartment complex and they tell me to call the police, and I call the police and they tell me to call my apt complex. WHY won't these people just leave me alone!!!!!!
pldennison writes, "I mean, 'Hey, lady, sorry you had to take this job to feed your kids, and get paid minimum wage...'"
I'm with Nickrz on that one. Can the sob story here. Their lack of job skills is not my fault, I didn't make them have kids, and "it's just my job" is not a valid excuse for being rude, which cold sales calls are. I am always polite to people who are polite to me. But if you act like an ass to me first by calling me at dinner time trying to sell me crap I could not possibly be less interested in, well, don't expect me to be overly nice in return.
I'm a very charitable guy in general, but I won't be guilt-tripped into feeling sorry for these people.
I usually temper my hostility towards them somewhat, but I am at least curt with telemarketers. If they don't like this, then they don't have to call me.
k0myers
I have found that the best way is to use 2 phone lines. Between my wife and I, we are on the internet a lot, so we use the second line for the computer. Whenever we fill out a registration card, warranty card, enter a contest, etc. we give the computer line number. There is a phone attached to that line, but the ringer is off. The only thing that is on there is the fax software.
On the main line, we have caller id blocking restrictions. As above, if someone calls who has caller id blocking, they can't get through. This was free from our phone company, we don't actually have caller id, but when a telemarketer calls and hears that they have to release thier blocking to complete the call they always seem to give up.
The only telemarketers that this doesn't seem to stop is my local phone company asking if I want additional services or my long distance carrier.
As for blowing a rape wistle, I wouldn't recommend it, if you damage someone's hearing from that, you can be held liable in court.
I saw a gizmo for sale in a catalog that attached to your phone line and if you got a telemarketer call you pushed a button and it gave them a pre-recorded message saying that you don't take this sort of call and to remove you from the list. I just wish you could customize the recording.
I have a phone line (well -2) for MY convenience, not for someone else to try to make a few bucks. I get enough advertising on TV, radio and the WWW. I don't need to get it at home on my private phone line as well. If you are a telemarketer and want to use my phone line to conduct your business, I suggest you pay me in advance for using my phone.
Then I will listen
For about 1.5 seconds, the time it takes me to hang up.
"...the boobs who can't make a living doing something else..."
Ok, well, as a former telemarketing boob who has just landed an executive position due mostly to skills learned at my boobesque telemarketing job, (in the same building, BTW, that houses this regions BBB department), I can give you two foolproof ways to prevent the otherwise unemployable morons from ever calling you again.
1) Everytime you get a call, politely, yet firmly interrupt the salesperson. Example: "Hi Blank, this is So&So calling with Acme Marketing..."
"So&So, Acme Marketing. So&So, I no longer wish to receive offers from your company. I want you to have my name removed from your call list. I'm writing down the date and time of this call, and if I receive another call from your company, I will file a complaint. Is it clear to you that I want my name and number removed permanently from your calling list?"
Unless the salesperson really is an idiot, this shouldn't be a hard concept to understand. You can be assured that your information will be deleted from their system within the week. Keep in mind that many companies have offices nationwide, and each one of those offices has a lead with your name on it. Just because you tell one guy to delete it does not ensure that your desire to be deleted has been made known throughout the entire company network, and you may get a call the next day. Again, give it a week.
2. Invest a few more dollars per month in the Privacy Plus (or equivalent). So what if a predictive dialer recognizes it as an answering machine and tries to call again later? It will still think it's a machine and any attempts to reach you will be futile. When a telemarketer who is not using a dialer hears the privacy recording, he/she will treat your number as a wrong number or disconnected and you'll be put in a pile. From then, someone will call information, attempt to get your new phone number, realize they have the correct number already, call it again, hear the privacy message, and put you into the DNC databank.
The DNC databank does not remove you from all call lists... it only removes you from the lists managed by the company whom you told to remove you. If you elect not to get privacy manager, you will spend a little while telling people to add you to the DNC databank.
In defense of the position, may we consider the following:
1) To repeat what someone said above, if it didn't work, it wouldn't be such a widely used sales method. Many companies that one would not expect to need telemarketing services employ a full telemarketing staff for that very reason.
2) In that so many people find telemarketers in general to be a despicable and disgusting offbreed, to make any money at it requires that you effectively employ powers of command persuasion simultaneously with customer service sensibility. Indeed, this is not the position for someone who is unemployable or fundamentally retarded. People who are as such do not last long, perhaps not even one shift, as telemarketers and are forced to either go to school or work fast food or housekeeping positions.
3) I do not defend "cold-callers", those who call straight from the phone book. However, again to repeat a bit from someone above, if you've placed your name on any sort of registration card, subscribed to a magazine, ordered an item by phone, mail, or email, you've shown an interest in a particular company or product and therefore have zero right to complain when someone believes that you may be interested in their offer based on such information. Just as easily as tossing junk mail into your recycling bin, you can refuse a telemarketer by instructing him/her to place you in the DNC bank.
Just my $1.25 worth, but then again, why should you listen to me? Evidently, I'm a boob.
Hey Phil - I may be daft, but I don't have people calling me trying to sell stuff I don't want.
If you'll read my posts a little more carefully, you'll see I have an unpublished number and I was not comparing telemarketers to Nazis, I was comparing people who say "I'm just doing my job" in defense of their violating my privacy to Nazis who defended their misdeeds by saying "I was just following orders." If you don't see the parallel, don't blame me.
And I'll thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head here in GQ.
So, let me see if I've got all this straight?
--People are only allowed to have the jobs that Nickrz, k0myers, and Doctor Jackson think they should have;
--Companies are only allowed to engage in sales practices pre-approved by them;
--If someone has a job or engages in a sales practice they do not approve of, they are permitted to be abusive;
--Companies are supposed to be psychically aware of the details of these mens' schedules, such as when they are napping or eating.
That about cover it?
Actually, it's much simpler than that:
Don't call me, I'll call you.
Well, this is a spicy debate...
I can tell you Nickrz, from being on the inbound end of a telephone banking center, they people who call in are hardly any intelligence trophy winners either.
I am rarely bothered by telemarketers, I firmly tell them to remove me from the list.It works, and I dont waste energy getting stressed about it. When I get the market research calls, I am happy to give them my time, it is like voting in an election, if you dont contribute, you dont have the right to complain about the outcome. What I am saying is that if they suddenly make all coffee pink, it might be because folks that like pink took a few minutes to participate in a survey.
As for the advertising on tv and radio 'stealing' your time...wow! relax man! The ads in papers, radio and tv are what pay for the product...no ads, no shows...try watching pbs for a week, then see how you feel.you americans have the best tv on the planet...even your commercials are good. Lighten up, life is too short.
As for getting hostile/rude/obcene with telemarketers...that is not nice,they are not trying to bother you, they are just providing a service, if you dont want the service, just say so. Is that how you treat the check out clerk at the store when she asks "will there be anything else?".
I will agree on the auto dialers though...they call multiple #'s at the same time, and only the first one to answer gets a person, the rest ring , you pick up, and nothing...that is harrassment in my opinion, and many areas are taking action to stop auto dialers.
So spotgirl, imho, get a contact name and phone number of the company calling, tell the caller to remove you from the list, and if the same company calls again, call the contact and give him hell!
------------------
"give me ambiguity...or give me something else.."
"As for getting hostile/rude/obcene with telemarketers...that is not nice,they are not trying to bother you, they are just providing a service, if you dont want the service, just say so. Is that how you treat the check out clerk at the store when she asks "will there be anything else?"."
I would be tempted to be rude to the check out clerk if she came to my house and bugged the shit out of me while I was trying to sleep.
Phil, in his usual knee-jerk style, sez:
If you bought a phone, and have your number in the phone book, you have no right to complain.
Bullcrap! Most municipalities have laws against door to door soliciting. If a law is not on the books I can put out a "No soliciting" or "No trespassing" sign to keep salepeople away. I do not have to give up property ownership to avoid being hassled. Tell me how telephone solicitation is less invasive. If telemarketers were surcharged by the phone companies and subsidized my phone bill I would agree. But they are not and you are wrong.
Phil also halucinates:
So, let me see if I've got all this straight?
--People are only allowed to have the jobs that Nickrz, k0myers, and Doctor Jackson think they should have;
--Companies are only allowed to engage in sales practices pre-approved by them;
--If someone has a job or engages in a sales practice they do not approve of, they are permitted to be abusive;
--Companies are supposed to be psychically aware of the details of these mens' schedules, such as when they are napping or eating.
That about cover it?
Please show me one post where I said:
A) Anything about telemarketing as a job, as opposed to a business practice;
B) That I was, or approved of, being abusive to telemarketers (you have proved repeatedly that posting a non-Phil approved opinion on a message board is permission enough for you to become abusive);
C)That I expected any company to know my schedule. That is one reason I despise telemarketing. They wrongly assume that I want to stop whatever I am doing in order to hear their latest fantastic offer of aluminum siding for my brick home. Hugely presumptuous, but that would fit with your on-line personality anyway.
Otherwise, shut up.
As for you second "point", if a company uses practices I do not like they will not get my business. I said as much in my post. Until this odious practice is abandoned I will continue to vote with my dollars.
Nickrz was right when he said "Don't call me, I'll call you.", but Holly absolutely nailed it.
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The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. -- E. Grebenik
Holly says, "I would be tempted to be rude to the check out clerk if she came to my house and bugged the shit out of me while I was trying to sleep."
Well said, Holly! I couldn't have put it better myself. Be polite to me, and I'll be polite to you. Be rude to me, and, well, don't expect me to pretend like I'm enjoying it.
It is no less than sheer arrogance to think that my time is free for the taking just because you want to sell a product. Carried to the logical limit where every company did this, telephones would be useless, since you'd be receiving telemarketing calls constantly.
pldennison says, "--People are only allowed to have the jobs that Nickrz, k0myers, and Doctor Jackson think they should have;"
Howzabout this: I'll pay somebody $10 an hour to set up a loudspeaker in front of your house and blare recorded salespitches at you all day and night, maybe even when you're trying to sleep. It should be OK with you - after all, don't begrudge this person their job! They're just trying to make a living like the rest of us.
k0myers
Bullcrap! Most municipalities have laws against door to door soliciting. If a law is not on the books I can put out a "No soliciting" or "No trespassing" sign to keep salepeople away. I do not have to give up property ownership to avoid being hassled. Tell me how telephone solicitation is less invasive.
Signing up for phone service + putting telephone number in book distributed to every house in town = "Call me." I mean, presumably, that's why it's in there, right? Otherwise, you'd simply give your number only to those who need it.
And don't respond with any crap about unpublished numbers, because I specifically said if you bought a phone and had your number published. If you don't fall into that category, why take issue with what I said?
If telemarketers were surcharged by the phone companies and subsidized my phone bill I would agree. But they are not and you are wrong.
Yeah, well you're ugly and your mother dresses you funny. And it certainly doesn't cost you extra to answer the phone, does it?
Please show me one post where I said:
A) Anything about telemarketing as a job, as opposed to a business practice;
You'll notice I was including you in a group of 3. Not all of you will meet all the criteria.
B) That I was, or approved of, being abusive to telemarketers
Some other person:"You and society gain nothing being angry to a stranger just doing their job on the phone."
You: "Not true."
So, here, not only do you approve of getting angry, which one can assume covers "abusive" or "nasty," you do in fact blame the person holding the job rather than the company, so there.
(you have proved repeatedly that posting a non-Phil approved opinion on a message board is permission enough for you to become abusive);
Oh, please. Give it a rest. If you want to engage in ad hominem, I'll meet you in the pit.
C)That I expected any company to know my schedule.
You expect them to know they're interrupting you. "Naps, dinner, family time, reading, and movies uninterrupted by spurrious telephone calls would be examples of what I stand to gain." How the hell are they supposed to know what you're doing when the phone rings?
And what's with "spurious"? I assume these are actually real telephone calls, no?
Hugely presumptuous, but that would fit with your on-line personality anyway.
Are you implying that I have something to do with telemarketing? Oh, and by the way, pot/kettle/black.
Otherwise, shut up.
Oh, my, how mature.
As for you second "point", if a company uses practices I do not like they will not get my business. I said as much in my post.
Actually, you said they don't deserve to be in business. Ergo, only companies which conduct sales practices of which you approve deserve to be in business, on Planet Jackson.
Until this odious practice is abandoned I will continue to vote with my dollars.
Well, bully for you. I expect most people do the same. It would take a particularly ignorant person to support companies he or she doesn't want to support. On the other hand, I don't walk into Wal-Mart and yell at their clerks for working for a company I don't like.
I'm like Kat & Voguevixen. I am usually online most of the time. In the event of an emergency, my company's answering service pages me, not calls me. My relatives also have my pager # or they reach through IM.
Like Nickrz said, you must not give out your number and beware of responding to any mass mailing. Look for a box or stick a note on it saying don't sell your name & address.
Thanks to Reality Chuck for the answering machine tip. This has worked for us.
If you hate being getting telephone solicitors during lunch, dinner, nights, weekends, pretty much any time you or your sons & daughters are not on the phone, then write your name, address, and phone number
and send it to:
Direct Marketing Association of Farmingdale NY
P.O. Box 9014
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9014
It is published quarterly.
May you get some peace and may your answering machine not fill up with hang-ups.
------------------
"Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'"
E A Poe
pldennison says, "--People are only allowed to have the jobs that Nickrz, k0myers, and Doctor Jackson think they should have;"
Howzabout this: I'll pay somebody $10 an hour to set up a loudspeaker in front of your house and blare recorded salespitches at you all day and night, maybe even when you're trying to sleep. It should be OK with you - after all, don't begrudge this person their job! They're just trying to make a living like the rest of us.
Yeah, that's a rational comparison. What's that job called? "Stupid Things That Only Exist In My Head And Have No Bearing On Real-Life Stuff"? Who gave you the right to decide what jobs other people may and may not have? (Quick hint: Nobody did, so get off your high horse about it.)
<h1>Wow.
One day I hope that the most stressful thing I have to deal with is an occassional unwanted phone call.
Only then will I take the time to plot ways to make the callers life as miserable as mine used to be before I attained this utopia.
As is telemarketing as an occupation doesn't do that already.</h1>
------------------
Brian O'Neill
CMC International Records
www.cmcinternational.com (http://www.cmcinternational.com)
ICQ 35294890
AIM Scrabble1
Yahoo Messenger Brian_ONeill
I come from a telephone-company family, so I have picked up much telephone lore by osmosis. It's impossible to do anything about the joker who hangs up when you answer the phone and say "hello?" instead of having the good manners to say, "Oh, I'm sorry, I got a wrong number," and THEN hang up. And, here's the flip side of soliciting by phone: I have worked telethons as a data-entry operator for the religious TV network TBN (although I do not agree with their religion's creeds--that's a long story). Ninety-nine times out of a hundred the callers are nice, and I try to be nice too--even when some are obviously hard-of-hearing or strangely inattentive on the phone. But there's always that rare sorehead or crank who views the telethon as a forum for criticizing religion. When one such person, after insulting the program host in his absence, was clearly spoling for a verbal battle, I coldly informed him, "Sir, you are entitled to your opinion,"and quietly hung up. My point: I will not bite a telemarketer's head off: it may be that this person is a shut-in, or crippled, or otherwise unable to do any other kind of work. I stand by this approach, the notions of some hotheads who have entered callous replies on it notwithstanding.
That is to say, Those who have entered callous replies on this message board notwithstanding.
Nickrz - have you ever been in the service field?
By this I include:
Waitstaff/barstaff/busboys
Customer Service (phone/email/inperson)
Checkout person of any variety
Bank Teller
Caller (survey/fundraising/telemarketing)
I think if you had, you would have a different attitude. I have done 3 of the 5 above jobs (to put myself through school, thank you) and I know what tremendous assholes people think they can be just because they're holding the money.
I am a happy professional cube drone now, but I *do not* forget how jerky "customers" act. I give every working person the respect they deserve, even if this takes a moment out of my day. All I'm suggesting is that you do the same. As has been suggested, if not interested, I calmly say, "Thanks, I'm not interested, please take me off your list" I even hang up in the middle of a speech once the above has been said. but just calm the $@! down, would you!?
Clue in! A service person is more likely to help you if they are not being verbally assaulted. Plus, the person you are berating has practically no power to change the situation. Ask to speak with a supervisor if you're so upset.
I just don't understand your "shoot the messenger/ignore the cause" approach. How does that make the situation better?
Flame away, dissenters.
"Yeah, that's a rational comparison."
So in other words, it's ok for somebody to annoy me if they're "just doing their job", but it's not OK for me to provide a job to somebody if that job will annoy you. I think I understand now.
Rmariamp wrote, "A service person..."
A telemarketer is not "a service person". Annoying me for their own personal gain is not a service. If I enter into a business relationship with someone of my own chosing, then they're a service person, and I will treat them with all the respect in the world. I do not, ever, abuse people in the service industry.
(I don't even abuse telemarketers. I'm just not going to be artificially friendly towards them).
All of the other examples you mentioned are cases where a customer voluntarily enters into a business relationship - i.e, grocery store clerk, bank teller, and so on. It's an entirely different concept.
k0myers
In reply to HelloKitty:
quote Phobia:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The phone company said to record the date and time, and file a harassment suit with the police department. The police could then match the calls with the phone records. The calls stopped just about the time I got the information on what to do. I'm ready for the next time though.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote HelloKitty:
I'd hate to think of the criminals that get away because the cops are busy chasing after telemarketers! Surely the police department has more important things to follow up on. Your best route is asking to be removed from the calling lists. There really isn't much the local police can do...believe me, it won't stop the telemarketers from calling! Going through an attorney or contacting your state attorney general's office is the best legal route to get you started if you are serious about pursuing it.
--------------------------------------
I said that nobody was on the line when the phone was answered. Hense I could not ask them not to call me. I was not getting my sleep, because the phone rang evry half hour on average. It's hard to work when you fall asleep at your workstation. I don't want to turn off the ringer, in case my mother has an emergency and needs help now. I have no problem when a telemarketer is on the other end of the line. I say "No thank you. Good bye." and hang up immediately.
For falcon2: I called the phone company in the first place to tell them their phone tests were ringing my phone all the time, and to stop it. They assured me that they weren't doing it, and that an automatic dialer for a telemarketer was the problem.
By this I include:
Waitstaff/barstaff/busboys
Customer Service (phone/email/inperson)
Checkout person of any variety
Bank Teller
Caller (survey/fundraising/telemarketing) It seems to me the people who are defending the telemarketers are consistently and purposely confusing the one issue that means anything in this debate:
All the people you list, with the exception of the telephone users, are people I'M IN FRONT OF VOLUNTARILY. Therein lies the gist of this argument, and if you do not see the distinction, then you're completely missing the point.
Bringing up the fact many people in public are rude jerks to the people serving them has no bearing on the matter, either. That's saying two wrongs make a right.
I agree fully with Nickrz last post. I go to places or call places of business that have hired someone to help me. Everybody wants to conduct business with the other. Telemarketers call you at home. They want to do business, you don't. They invade your personal abode where you want to relax and be left alone.
"Yeah, that's a rational comparison."
So in other words, it's ok for somebody to annoy me if they're "just doing their job", but
it's not OK for me to provide a job to somebody if that job will annoy you. I think I
understand now.
No, actually, you don't. For one thing, you seem to take telemarketing awfully personally, as if there are scads of firms out there all thinking, "Hey, let's all call up k0myers and bother him at home." I certainly seem to be able to tell telemarketers I'm not interested and to take me off their "call" lists without fraking out about it. In fact, I can't even remember the last telemarketing call I got.
For another, there is an obvious difference between phone calls to individuals and a blaring public message over a loudspeaker that should be clear to anyone who is not dead.
Finally, I'm still wondering who conferred upon you the right to decide who may and may not have what job.
I certainly seem to be able to tell telemarketers I'm not interested and to take me off their "call" lists without fraking out about it. In fact, I can't even remember the last telemarketing call I got.
And therein, I think, lies the source of the difference of opinion. You're lucky, Phil. I keep telling 'em to put me on their "no call" lists, but like locusts they come, one after the other. I've had as many as EIGHT telemarketing calls within a four hour spread. I am not exaggerating when I say I bet my household gets close to fifty or more such calls a month.
And yeah, I think that sometimes they ought to have some idea that they are going to be interrupting. There's a pretty good bet that if you're calling a home on a weekday night between, say, 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. you're going to be interrupting either the dinner preparations or dinner itself. I get home from work -- when I'm lucky -- around 6 p.m., and on a school night that gives me about three hours to be with my younger kids before they have to go to bed. I've got better things to do with my time (dinner, help with homework, talk about the day's events, etc.) then waste it answering the phone for a telemarketer. I resent the intrusion. I don't think that just because I have a phone that means I ought to be fair game for constant intrusions that I didn't ask for.
When I used to get such calls only once in a while I would be polite to them. Now I don't even try, especially the ones that call up and call me by my first name, acting all nice and friendly at first, like maybe we know each other from someplace. And then there's the asshole who called me about a month before Mother's Day the first year my mother was dead: "Hello, Melin?" (sounding like a long-lost friend). Me: "Yes, hello?" "Hi Melin, how are you this evening?" "Fine, thanks" (me puzzled, but still not sure.) "Mother's Day is coming up next month, Melin. Have you talked to your mother recently?" Stunned, I could only say "My mother died several months ago . . . ." What did I get? An "oh I'm sorry, excuse the call?" ANY kind of apology? Nope, just a "click" as the caller hung up. Not even goodbye.
Sorry, you won't find a good word about a telemarketer from me. They could fall off the face of the earth tomorrow and I wouldn't miss 'em.
-Melin
pldennison writes, "For another, there is an obvious difference between phone calls to individuals and a blaring public message over a loudspeaker..."
It's a difference of degree, not of principle, in that a PA system bothers a lot of people at once, while cold calls bother a lot of people sequentially. They both bother people. And you seem to have carefully avoided answering the question.
pldennison also writes, "Finally, I'm still wondering who conferred upon you the right to decide who may and may not have what job."
First, I never, as in not once, have claimed the right to decide what jobs these people can have. If you're going to put words in my mouth, then there's no hope of having a rational discussion. What I did say, is that if they're rude to me, then don't expect me to be artificially nice in return. I also said, their lack of jobs skills is not something I caused. The only person I ever knew who became a telemarketer spent all her time in school, as far as I could tell, polishing her fingernails, while I studied my ass off. Now I'm supposed to feel sorry for her because she can't get a good job and has 3 kids? No dice. There are people in this world I feel genuinely sorry for, people who got dealt a really crappy hand in life through no fault of their own. But she's not one of them.
k0myers
children, Children, CHILDREN!
Sheesh.
Can we agree on something? To wit:
#1 There is no good time to be called by a telemarketer(althought Holly's situation is far worse than having dinner interrupted)
#2 The people who decide to use telemarketing in their company are scum of the earth and should be subjected to sleep deprivation by having their house called every half hour. (Now, if we could just get a phone number...)
#3 There is a gaping hole between being slightly rude and being abusive.
Now for some home truths (IMHO)
#1 Being abusive to a telemarketer is probably not going to make them change their profession.
#2 Even if you manage to get someone to quit, their company can probably find 20 more people to fill that position.
#3 If you managed to get every telemarketer to quit that you ever talked to, and no one else took their place, you would still probably not make a dent in the number of calls you get.
#4 Being mean to people makes them mean to other people, which goes on ad infinitum. If you are mean to someone, you are contributing to meanness pollution! :o (It does not make them reconsider the choices they have made in their life. OK, I've already said this but it bears repeating)
#5 Telemarketing exists because it is profitable. They probably only need one schlepp in hundreds or thousands of calls to make a profit. The only way to stop this evil ( :) ) is to make it unprofitable.
Good Bloody Luck.
Or to make it against the law.
#6 Contrary to popular opinion, expressing your anger is not necessarily going to relieve your anger, it may make you fixate on the incident and blow it out of proportion. (Not that anything like that is going on here ;) ) The best thing to do is to say No, thank you, hang up and let it pass. (Of course, if you want to screw with them and vent - make very angry cat sounds MROWRRR - satisfying and mystifying at the same time)
And Phil
#7 You don't think that they get their phone number out of the phone book, do you? If I were setting up such a system, I would either buy the numbers or auto-gen them. Having an unlisted phone number is only going to stop the local obscene phone callers, not the national ones.
Holly - if the three ring trick won't work for you, may I suggest either telling critical people a code ring, e.g. ring once, hang up and then call back, or get a pager - then you can turn the phone off
Ok, I'll admit I made up the "I'll personally come and kill you" statement.
I always immediately say "I'm not interested" and hang up.
I would not be abusive to someone who had just interrupted an extremely personal climactic moment or anything like that. Really, I was just kidding.
Would it be at all possible to cease accusations/assumptions that people who become telemarketers have no other job skills?
Quoting myself:
"Ok, well, as a former telemarketing boob who has just landed an executive position due mostly to skills learned at my boobesque telemarketing job..."
Quoting myself again:
"2) In that so many people find telemarketers in general to be a despicable and disgusting offbreed, to make any money at it requires that you effectively employ powers of command persuasion simultaneously with customer service sensibility. Indeed, this is not the position for someone who is unemployable or fundamentally retarded."
Why do I feel like the mommy all of a sudden? I shouldn't have to say it twice, kids...but I will. (Using caps to avoid dealing with UBB crap, be warned.) IF YOU TELL A CALLER TO PUT YOUR NAME IN THE DNC DATABANK, IT WILL BE DONE WITHIN THE WEEK. HOWEVER, IT WILL ONLY BE DONE ONE COMPANY AT A TIME. COMPANY "A" DOES NOT CALL COMPANIES "B" THROUGH "Z" TO LET THEM KNOW THAT JOHN SMITH WANTS HIS NAME OFF THE LIST. JOHN SMITH WILL HAVE TO DO THAT HIMSELF. UNLESS YOU PLAN ON FAKING YOUR DEATH, YOU WILL FOREVER BE ON *SOMEONE'S* LIST.
Quoting myself one last time:
"if you've placed your name on any sort of registration card, subscribed to a magazine, ordered an item by phone, mail, or email, you've shown an interest in a particular company or product and therefore have zero right to complain when someone believes that you may be interested in their offer based on such information."
'K?
I'm not a religious person, but this afternoon when two guys came around to talk to me about the word of God and the Church of Mormon and all that, I certainly didn't turn them away because I don't share their beliefs. Sure, I would rather have been playing with Bowen, but it didn't kill me to let them in for a few minutes so they could do what they had to do. It's called tolerance, folks. Learn it, use it, it's good for you.
good point.
I'll consider myself told.. :)
k0meyers says:
The only person I ever knew who became a telemarketer spent all her time in school, as far as I could tell, polishing her fingernails, while I studied my ass off.
I studied my ass off in school, and I became a TM so I could continue to study my ass off in college.
A call from a telemarketer takes, at the most, 30 seconds out of my day, certainly less time than it takes for my dinner to get cold. Unlike the guy with the bullhorn, it's at a normal volume and, thanks to my phone ringing, I know it could be coming.
As for being uninvited, well, almost every phone call I receive is uninvited. If a friend called me at a bad time with someone inane to tell me, I wouldn't be rude to them, even though what they're doing is pretty much the same as the telemarketer.
Just because you don't know someone is no reason to be mean to them.
It's a difference of degree, not of principle, in that a PA system bothers a lot of people at once, while cold calls bother a lot of people sequentially. They both bother people. And you seem to have carefully avoided answering the question.
Let me ask you a question in return: Do you care if I get a telemarketing call, or do you care if you get a telemarketing call?
I also said, their lack of jobs skills is not something I caused. The only person I ever knew who became a telemarketer spent all her time in school, as far as I could tell, polishing her fingernails, while I studied my ass off.
Don't confuse your limited experience with the totality of the situation. I had a good friend in college, Brian Giese, who spent several months just prior to graduation working as a telemarketer to put together some money so he could get an apartment in the Cleveland area and look for a job. Brian is now a producer for the local news on our Fox affiliate.
Now I'm supposed to feel sorry for her because she can't get a good job and has 3 kids? No dice. There are people in this world I feel genuinely sorry for, people who got dealt a really crappy hand in life through no fault of their own. But she's not one of them.
So, because of this one person, you assume all telemarketers are like that? Again, you seem to be heavily leaning towards the attitude that people in difficult situations are only permitted to have jobs of which you approve.
Signing up for phone service + putting telephone number in book distributed to every house in town = "Call me." I mean, presumably, that's why it's in there, right? Otherwise, you'd simply give your number only to those who need it.
If you don't understand the concept of auto-genning numbers by now and how it undermines your arguement, no amount of additional explaining will help.
And it certainly doesn't cost you extra to answer the phone, does it?
And I suppose you support unlimited spam e-mail based on the same principle? It's the exact same concept.
You'll notice I was including you in a group of 3. Not all of you will meet all the criteria.
Then don't make blanket statements.
Some other person:"You and society gain nothing being angry to a stranger just doing their job on the phone."
You: "Not true."
So, here, not only do you approve of getting angry, which one can assume covers "abusive" or "nasty," you do in fact blame the person holding the job rather than the company, so there.
What a crock! One who cannot get angry without being abusive or nasty can be described in one word - immature. Doesn't fit here, how 'bout there?
Oh, please. Give it a rest. If you want to engage in ad hominem, I'll meet you in the pit.
Oh, please back atcha. In this thread alone you have posted ""irrational" doesn't even begin to cover it, Nickrz."; "what kind of asshole does that?"; and "Are you daft?", among others. I rarely start ad hominem attacks, but I can return them. Cripes, Phil, that was the best documented statement in the whole post ;).
You expect them to know they're interrupting you. "Naps, dinner, family time, reading, and movies uninterrupted by spurrious telephone calls would be examples of what I stand to gain." How the hell are they supposed to know what you're doing when the phone rings?
What I said was that they cannot know what I am doing when they call. They assume that their sales call is more important than anything I may be doing - and that's a poor assumption.
And what's with "spurious"? I assume these are actually real telephone calls, no?
spurious (adj) L. illegitimate, not genuine, false - Webster's New World Dictionary. An appropriate word,IMHO, for an industry which consistently ranks at the top of fraudulent business practices.
On the other hand, I don't walk into Wal-Mart and yell at their clerks for working for a company I don't like.
Nor do Wal-Mart clerks call or visit my house to announce a special in aisle 3.
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The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. -- E. Grebenik
pldennison writes, "So, because of this one person, you assume all telemarketers are like that?".
In a word: "no".
pldennison also writes, "Again, you seem to be heavily leaning towards the attitude that people in difficult situations are only permitted to have jobs of which you approve."
You said that before, and I explained that I don't think that. Now you're saying it again, but I don't think this any more now than I did the last time. You seem to be leaning heavily towards putting words in my mouth and arguing with those. It is clearly not possible for us to have a rational discussion if you're going to do this, so I see no point to continuing it.
For what it's worth, I don't think what you say I do here. I never have. I likely never will. So stop telling me that I do. All I've said is: telemarketers annoy me, and while I'm not rude to them per se, neither do I try to be artificially friendly, nor do I feel sorry for them. That's it. That's the whole enchillada. I'm not telling them what jobs they can have. I'm not calling for the death penality to telemarketers. I'm saying I'm not going to pretend like I like somebody bothering me in my home for their own personal gain.
k0myers
but this afternoon when two guys came around to talk to me about the word of God and the Church of Mormon and all that, I certainly didn't turn them away because I don't share their beliefs. Sure, I would rather have been playing with Bowen, but it didn't kill me to let them in for a few minutes so they could do what they had to do. It's called tolerance, folks. Learn it, use it, it's good for you. Sorry for the lengthy quote, folks, but.. uh.. EXCUSE ME?
Since when does religious "tolerance" include letting proselytizers into my home so they can extol their religious beliefs?
I'm truly stunned at those sentiments.
I dare not say more.
"Since when does religious "tolerance" include letting proselytizers into my home so they can extol their religious beliefs?"
OK, bad example...my apologies.
Here it is, in a nutshell. You don't like recieving calls from marketers? You know what to about it, so do it. If you're not going to take the measures to stop the calls, you'll continue to get calls till AFTER you're dead. Like I've said before, there are several companies who have telemarketing departments, companies you wouldn't expect. Gannett Publishing, for one (you know, the big guys who make MOST of this country's newspapers?) Insurance companies like Shelter, Farm Bureau, Principal, etc. Granted, most telemarketing calls are from rinky-dink operations trying to sell siding, "event" tickets, or drum up contributions to police/fireman causes (note: none of that money actually goes the the policemen or firemen ... don't give.) At any rate, there is a point I was trying to make about tolerance. There's no need to let yourself get angry about marketers, or other, equally trivial matters... nor is there any reason to insult the intelligence level of the person who performs a job that you don't like. I don't particularly LIKE paying taxes, but I don't hate the person who works as an auditor or collector for the IRS. It's a job. There are 24 hours in a day, there's no sense in whining about missing five minutes. If you want to stop the calls, dial up your phone service, tell them you want Privacy Plus, Privacy Manager, whatever its called in your region. If your area doesn't have it yet, tell them to get it. If they get so many calls about it, they'll install it. In the meantime, tell callers to add your name to the Do Not Call list.
"...If they get so many calls about it, they'll install it."
LOL... made myself giggle. Here I am, suggesting to people who hate getting service calls that they make incessant phone calls. Well, turnabout's fair play, isn't it??
There are 24 hours in a day, there's no sense in whining about missing five minutes. If you want to stop the calls, dial up your phone service, tell them you want Privacy Plus, Privacy Manager, whatever its called in your region. If your area doesn't have it yet, tell them to get it. If they get so many calls about it, they'll install it. In the meantime, tell callers to add your name to the Do Not Call list.
Seems like you haven't read what's come before. Eight calls in four hours in one day takes more than "five minutes." "Do Not Call" lists do not except for that one specific company. And I don't think I should have to pay extra for the "privilege" of not getting such calls.
Sorry, if you invade my space uninvited you deserve what you get.
-Melin
What i do is let them talk their heads off for a while, then say "no thanks". Strangely we rarely get called back after that. But i guess we're an exception. Unfortunately even if i say i'm not interested they'll keep up on their pitch. Then i curtly tell them no thanks and hang up. My family and I have gotten so tired of telemarketers, we just dont answer the phone anymore. We let the machine pick it up, and then call back whoever called us that is a friend, or we pick it up if its urgent we talk to that friend or family member. Other times we just say that so and so isn't home, or we're too busy to talk. My personal line is ALWAYS connected to my computer. I don't have a phone connected to it, so even if they try to call, either it's always busy, or they dont get an answer.
I have found that the "request to be removed from your list" tatic works, however, depending on my mood, I have developed more intensive ways of dealing with the problem. Some of my tatics are a bit time intensive, but are very satisfying.
First, if I don't recognize the voice in a couple of seconds, then I interrupt whatever they are saying with, "Who is this?". If it is a telemarketer then, I use a couple of different approaches depending how mad I am and how much time I feel I can spend on the project.
Tatic A:
1) Stop them in mid-sales pitch with "Let me speak with your supervisor!"
1a)If there is no supervisor around(so they say)then continue with step 3
2) Tell the supervisor to turn on their recording equipment (this I do only to make them start guessing at what is next and usually gets and keeps their attention thru the rest)
3) Tell them that I'm recording this phone call to be used at a later date if needed.(actually, I don't even have a phone recorder)
4) Request to be removed from all call lists and explain that if I'm called back I will make sure that they will be fined for breaking the law and I'll file a compliant with the BBB.
Tatic B:
(this is the really time consuming one, but kinda fun to do.)
Use as much of Tatic A as time allows, then later on.
Using the name of the Company who called, research for the names of one or more of the following.
CEO/Owner
VP(or equavilant) of marketing
A major stockholder
usually, one or more of these people will be mentioned somewhere in an article or list in trade publications or magazines/newsletters.
then, using the Internet(Gawd, I love it!) you look up a home phone number (you can find unlisted numbers if you dig in the right spots)
then, call said person or persons at a very inconvient time(dinner time or anytime after midnight) and explain who you are and the reasons why you are calling and that you will never, ever do business with the company due to the telemarketing.
Only make the one phone call so that is harder for them to say that you were harrassing them.
I have only had to resort to Tatic B a couple of times, but when I've done it, I have never been called by that company again.
Tatic B sometimes also works for;
Spam email
Door to Door Scum
and those that insist on cluttering up my porch with their flyers telling me about anything and everything I could careless about(however pizza coupons are always welcome and encourage at my door.)
It is too bad that my wife won't let me tell those Blue-haired ladys with the bibles that we are Satanist, but usually a few choice words sends them scampering away.
If you haven't noticed by my rant, Anyone who phones, emails, or comes to my house uninvited is going to get major anti-social behaviour. They'll do it once but, not twice.
And, yes we probably have the reputation of being the nieghbor A-Holes, but hey, I don't care what my nieghborhood thinks of me as long as they leave me alone.
wduty
I think you should have to register your number with the phone company, when you get it, to accept telemarketing calls. Any telemarketer that uses computerized dialing to bypass that list of approved numbers would be in violation of phone company regulations and have their lines removed.
Are you listening phone company people!!!
We are paying for a service. These telemarketers are abusing that service... and computerized spread dialing makes it worse. At least once a day at dinner time, there is a call with no one there. Their computer has dialed several numbers and picked up the first that has answered- hanging up the others. If you have young children or ageing parents out and about that may need to call from an "unauthorized" number, you can't use the nifty ( costing extra ) whistles and bells the phone company sells. Besides, I resent having to pay extra to prevent phone invasion- why is their right to call me with a spiel greater than my right to privacy.
Back to the point. I think you should have to actively register your number with the phone company in order to receive telemarketing calls. Any calls to other numbers would be a violation of terms of service and have their service disconnected.
If the phone companies won't do this on their own, then there "otta be a law".
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Randy:
Teacher of Extraordinary Students
From News of the Weird:Unitel Corp. announced in March it was relocating its 100-job telemarketing office from small-town Frostburg, Md., to Florida. Unitel said Frostburg workers' telephone manner is too polite for
the telemarketing business.
I would've thought New York City would have been ideal. "Whadayamean youse not intrested--HEY, I'm breakin my balls here! What?! Fuck you too!!"
First off, sorry for all the spelling errors, I was up late while typing the previous post.
Second, I am intentionally rude to telemarketers. Not just to enjoy it, which I freely admit I do, but also, I am hoping to let the offending companies know my feelings about telemarketing. I am not naive enough to think that I am going to change a whole industry, but at least I am letting my feelings be known. If EVERYONE who hates telemarketing responded to the companies' calls in a manner that attracted the attention of the Executives of the offending companies, then possibly a few of those companies would re-examine their marketing practices. Corporations will only adjust their policies if they recieve overwhelming negative feedback.
Until then, I will continue with my methods because telemarketing companies don't seem to care how rude their sales methods are.
wduty
Anti-telemarketing E-Terrrorist
Tragically, pathetically, I had to take a job as a telemarketer. I endured it for four weeks before I gave up in disgust. I feel my sin was mitigated by the fact that I was calling people at work rather than at home, selling a product (business directories) that people conceivably might be interested in. Be that as it may.
Telemarketing is rude, it is true. But it is rude to be rude back to rude people. Read that sentence a few times. People who are rude to you do not forfeit their right to be treated politely. They *do* forfeit their right to be treated happily. There is nothing rude with "No, thank you." or "No, thank you. I'm noting the date and time" etc...
The best thing to do is *waste the teletmarketer's time*!!!
If you get them started on their sales pitch and just let them talk for as long as they'll go (you don't have to listen), it reduces their profit margin and makes the whole thing less efficient. I've had them going for several minutes before! It's fun. You can make a game of it, trying to better your old records.
BTW, I agree FULLY - telemarketing is just flat out RUDE.
So far I haven't done this, but I've given some thought to asking telemarketers for their name and the company they work for, and if they give me their name (like a dumbass, but i'm sure a few would!), finding their home phone number (there's always a way!) and...well... turnabout is fair play, no? I'm sure they'd be thrilled to get a large number of phone calls at dinner time or while they were sleeping asking for information on the products they hawk. If it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander, after all.
--
peas on earth
If EVERYONE who hates telemarketing responded to the companies' calls in a manner that attracted the attention of the Executives of the offending companies, then possibly a few of those companies would re-examine their marketing practices. Corporations will only adjust their policies if they recieve overwhelming negative feedback.
...which, I'm sure, definitely works its way all the way to the top from some schmoe manning a phone who just had some asshole yell at.
Gee, I wonder why society is so uncivil these days?
The most important words on this topic so far are from zyada about the rudeness pollution being created. You who are so angry: Why don't you just say no and hang up, or take the steps to get your names off the lists? I suspect the answer is that it feels so good to have a person you can really vent at; nobody likes telemarketers so if you treat them badly no one cares and some people even cheer. But beware; expressing your anger does not in fact "release" you from it; it makes you angrier.
Try this tactic:
The next time AT&T, sprint, or some other phone company calls to ask you to switch long distance carriers, tell them you don't want the service because you never use long distance.
They will ask how or why.
You respond "its against my religion."
They will be confused.
You will reassure them that making or receiving long distance calls violates the core tenets of your belief system. In fact, using the telephone at all violates all your religious principles.
They will then point out to you that you are talking on the phone now.
You then drop the phone, screaming "NOOOO! LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO! I'VE VIOLATED THE PRIME DIRECTIVE! I'M DAMNED FOR ALL TIME! I'M GOING STRAIGHT TO HELL! AND ITS ALL YOUR FAULT! NOOOO!
Odds are they will hang up.
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SoxFan59
"Its fiction, but all the facts are true!"
Direct marketeers & telephone marketeers - BEWARE! Try this site: www.thedma.org Click on the Consumers tab.
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"Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'"
E A Poe
I found an amusing concept in a book titled "How to Cope With," written by Merrill Pollack in 1962. In a chapter dealing with what was called at that time "telephone solicitors," he introduced the "Overwhelming Unanswerable," to throw the telemarketer off balance and end the call. One called from a local department store, inviting him to come in to look at new TV sets. He said he let the pitchman continue, and after a little while, Pollack interrupted with, "Yeah, yeah, Jack, I get the pitch. But, tell me, do you have a set that runs on gasoline? We sure do want a teevee, but there's no electricity out here."
And he got a call from a new-car dealer, to which he replied, "I'm really hot to buy something from you. Only I can't give you my good old Hupmobile [an ancient make] in trade. The louses who sold it to me are about to repossess it because I've been a little slow on the payments..."
What can modern telemarketers do about the Overwhelming Unanswerable?
My Uncle is in jail, yet we still get telemarketers for credit cards, phone bills, etc. These people have been told to stop calling, but they persist. Quite a few want to know what he's in for, and we respond "none of your business." Finally, when one asked what he was in for, I responded, "for eating a telemarketer." It didn't make them stop calling, but the frequency dropped (dramatically.) :)
Eldest Son
I used to try to be polite (having worked at jobs which required making cold calls), but now I'm direct and to the point:
"I don't accept phone soliciations. Please remove me from your list. Good-bye."
It's to the point. It's polite.
Oh, and BTW, I always put a phony number whenever I must fill out a registration card. :)
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One suggestion for the daytime sleepers that I haven't seen mentioned thus far:
Turn off the ringer on the phone in your bedroom. Have a second phone on the other side of the house/apt with a fairly quiet ringer. If you're awake you'll hear it and can look at the caller ID to decide if you want to answer it. If you're asleep, you likely won't wake up.
I've had roommates for years, and between them and telemarketers only about 5-10% of calls to my house are for me. So I've trained myself not to jump for the phone when it rings.
Between the quiet ringer and screening calls I almost never talk to telemarketers anymore. Usually only when my roomie answers the phone and wants to annoy me by giving me the phone when they mention my name. Then I say quickly, "I'mNotInterestedPleaseTakeMeOffThisList" and hang up.
I do like "I don't live here anymore" :-)
Before this thread gets sealed up for good, check out this link. It's what the NY Attorney General recommends you do about telemarketers.
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/consumer/tips/telemarketing.html
Nothing about rape whistles, surprisingly enough...
I basically side with Nickrz, and I think the hole being dug by pldennison is getting deeper, but the grief-causing stimulus is the
UNWANTED TELEPHONE SOLICITATION.
If you answer the call, the best method of reducing calls is to demand that your number be put on the "do not call" list, but if your number is a business number this typically does not apply because it is then a business-to business call. In this case the "do not call" aspect does not apply in most states. If you would rather not answer the calls, caller ID is great except that it is often an inconvenience to get to the caller ID display to see that it is an undesired caller. Another idea is to include on your answering machine's outgoing message a statement like "Please add this number to your do not call list if you are a telemarketer." By using these methods, the average number of unwanted calls I get per weekday has dropped from 12 to 2.
1) Why do we allow telemarketing? I mean, we got a law passed to block unsolicited commercial faxes (because enough _businesses_ complained), but not unsolicited voice calls. What if somebody with a national reach and a LOT of readers/listeners (Ann Landers, Paul Harvey, sorry Cecil) took this up as a crusade and got a Network-esque groundswell of grass-roots support behind a friendly representative's bill? Wouldn't our society be better without telemarketing?
2) I agree with previous posters. I avoid giving my phone number to anyone. When I get a sales call, I ask "Who's this?", I say "Put me on your list of numbers not to call again," and I hang up. It minimizes my interruption, and it's reduced my calls by 2/3.
3) I'm never mean to telemarketers (unless you count hanging up), but I have no respect for them either. This I'm just trying to make a living garbage just doesn't cut it. If you go into a job knowing that you're going to interrupt so many happy moments, stealing so many people's time, all for nothing nobler than your employer's profit, then karma-wise you might as well club baby seals for a living.
Three hours into my sleep time a telemarketer woke me up last night. "Hello I'd like to speak to Phobia." Me "What?" Her,"Im with Chase credit card and would..." Me "Is this that free magazine offer? I don't want any." Her, pause, "No. We would like..." Me "Ooh! is this the life insurance?". Her "No would like to give you for 3 months..." Me "Don't call back, I just got three hours sleep before you woke me up."
Rude? Tough crap. The worst chosen profession I can think of is a telemarketer.
It takes a special kind of pond scum to be a telemarketer. Here's what you do: Act interested. Get the scumbags name and phone number if you can. Ask the scumbag to place you on his DNC list. Also ask the scumbag to mail you a copy of his DNC policy. If you do not recieve a copy of the DNC policy in the mail within 30 days, report him to your local FTC office. You have just become $500.00 richer. If they call you back after 30 days, report it to your local FTC office and become $500.00 richer. It worked for me!
As a member of a telephone-company family, I have discussed with relatives some of the ways to deal with nuisance callers. One idea is to "blow a shrill whistle into the mouthpiece," which sounds effective but which I fear could get me sued! Has anyone tried this without getting arrested or hauled into court?
As a member of a telephone-company family, I have discussed with relatives some of the ways to deal with nuisance callers. One idea is to "blow a shrill whistle into the mouthpiece," which sounds effective but which I fear could get me sued! Has anyone tried this without getting arrested or hauled into court?
I used to get very upset with telemarketers. SO upset that their calls ruined my evenings. Eventually it became clear to me that my becoming upset with the calls was part of the problem, and was not really helping anything. Since then I have calmly interrupted the caller and asked them to get their superviser (they have always done so). When the supervisor comes on, I tell them I don't want to be interrupted anymore and would like to be on their "no call" list. This has worked for many companies and I get very few such calls now. AT&T even sent me a nice letter.
In sum, getting upset at these folks and playing silly games with them only wastes time -- which I thought was why we all don't like the calls in the first place.
We (like fools) used one of those XX free hours CDs from AO-hell. After the hours were used up, we canceled our account. Well, they
wouldn't take no for an answer. After the third call in which I explained that we found the service lame, we could get cheaper access through work, and NO we were NOT interested in any further contact, I told one poor guy we had decided to become Amish. I'm sure he
didn't buy it, but it convinced him of my sincerity.
Ringo
08-08-1999, 06:34 PM
Yesterday, for the first (and will be only) time in my life I took a telemarketer up on what they were selling. It was a guy from Southwestern Bell pitching Caller ID.
Just out of curiousity I asked him what kind of success rate he had and he said he moved one w/approx. 10 calls, but allowed as how sometimes he'll get 2 or 3 in a row. I was impressed. That's why they do it folks, it works.
dougie_monty
08-08-1999, 06:59 PM
Thanks a lot, Eissclam. I too like to think that "a soft answer turneth away wrath." :)
Re: telemarketers:
1) I remember seeing a device at K-Mart that hooked up to the phone. Whenever you got a telemarketing call you didn't want, you would just have to push the device's button and hangup. The telemarketer would hear an automated message requesting them to remove you from their list, and would hang up the phone for you at the end of the message.
2) If you really don't like telemarketers, make sure you NEVER buy anything over the phone, ever! Chances are that if you do, your phone number will be moved to a "confirmed buyer" list. I assume this to be true, I can't prove it, but they'd be fools if they didn't. Among my other paranoid suspicions:
a) they keep track of what times you pick up the phone, and what times you don't
b) they keep track of how long you stay on the phone with them before hanging up (the longer the better, I'd figure)
c) assumptions are made about you based upon such things as where you live, what your last name is, how long you've lived at this address, etc. I was often assumed to be a Spanish-speaking homeowner, since I had a Spanish last name and I'd rented the same apartment for years. Wrong on both counts, but give them credit for trying.
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Reuben Marchant
08-08-1999, 11:50 PM
I worked as a telemarketer a couple of times when I didn't need a job, just to see what it was like. One was selling a Gold Dining Out Card which I thought was pretty good. You did not have to present coupons or tell them you had the card until after the meal. Just call first to find out the deal is still good. The bad part of it was they were really pushing 2 for 1 flight and hotel deals which were not even as good as making reservation directly with the airlines. A year or so later I had fun with a young woman trying sell me this. I told her my wife and I own our company and deduct business meals since she acts as my private secretary, we fly in the company jet all over the world combining business and vacations. She paused for awhile probably wondering if I wanted a misstress. It was a slow TV night. The other one just totally disgusted me. Selling cookbook series to old folks. I walked out on both after 4 hours. Basically if you don't want to have fun just HANG UP! Or laugh in an hysterical and sick manner.
lbbeloo
08-12-1999, 07:18 AM
With long distance telemarketers, my husband told one we did not have a phone. That really blew the caller's mind! It worked, for a while at least
Stella*Fantasia
08-12-1999, 01:39 PM
When telemarketers pester me, I like to say (in my most vampsih voice), "What's your name?" Follow up with, "What are you wearing?", then, if necessary, "Uh-huh...and what do you have on under there?"
They shouldn't bother you again.
My post may be lost in all of the above hooplah, but I'll try to interject. As I see it, having a telephone does not make you automatically prey for telemarketers. There has been quite a bit of headway made regarding unsolicited emails, but nothing has ever been done about unsolicited phone calls. If I hang a sign on my door that says "No Soliciting" and a salesperson knocks anyway, I can call the police and have them ticketed for trespassing. Why is the same not possible for phone solicitations?
I recieve solicitation calls starting at 8am, and they seem to peak at about 6 or 7pm, dinnertime. Callers tend to ring through, hang up on the machine and call right back, sometimes two or three times.
I have tried screening all of my calls as suggested by HelloKitty - telemarketers hang up on the machine, but usually not until a multi-second patch of silence has been recorded. Also, the ringer cannot be turned off on my phone, so it still interrupts me when they call.
Recently, I was told by a friend that all I needed to say was "I don't accept phone solicitations, please remove me from your list". I decided to spend six months trying this. I must say that it seems to be working on the calls that come in at dinnertime. They have definitely decreased.
I have not been forced to take this any further, but I know that federal law provides the following: (15 USC Sec. 6102)a equirement that telemarketers may not undertake a
pattern of unsolicited telephone calls which the reasonable consumer would consider coercive or abusive of such consumer's right to privacy.
If you are being bothered by telemarketers that are ignoring the federal statute, trap and trace their call (your phone company can tell you how to do this - it's a *-something code) and pursue them to the full extent of the law, your attention span or your free time.
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Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps.
-- Emo Phillips
Wonko The Sane
08-12-1999, 04:38 PM
I have tried two ways of dealing with telemarketeres.
1. when offered long distance claim that you have no phone. When questioned on what you are talking on now say either something about the voices in your head, or "I guess you should not answer the phone when you break into someone's home."
2. wait for the initial pitch to fininsh. Say in a clear, calm and uninterested voice "I am not interested" This never stops them. Put the phone just even with the rim of the toilet and flush. (you need an odd bathroom, or a cordless for this.) Then hang up after the final gurgle.
They tell me about things I don't want to know, so I tell them things they wish they did not know.
Stoid
08-12-1999, 04:55 PM
I only read a little of this.
Shoot me, I spent years as a telemarketer. Almost entirely dealing with businesses, but a little with consumers.
There are aggressive butthead jerks out there with skins as thick as cement, no question.
But the majority are young, unskilled, desperate people who have themselves been lied to and misled, and are trying to do one of the most draining jobs you can imagine. They are screamed at and abused, they have their time wasted terribly by many of the tactics I see posted here, and they usually go home defeated and broke at the end of the day. They rarely do the job for long.
Please remember that however annoyed you may be by their calls, they are ten times more anguished at their endless failures.
Nowadays, since I have such sympathy and undeerstanding for the gig, I don't let them waste too much time with me, I am very polite and very firm. I simply state that while I appreciat ethe call and that they are just doing their job, I am very definitely not interested and I will not change my mind, I wish them luck and that's it. I've never had anyone call back.
A few times I felt so for the poor kid fumbling with his script I actually gave him a few pointers on how to do better.
It's a horrible job, try not to be too harsh.
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*************
We do precision guesswork
Timothy Campbell
10-22-2000, 10:20 PM
I was in New York City last year and wandered into a bad neighbourhood. Some guy stuck a pistol in my face and demanded my money. I cursed at him and he said, "Hey, man, I'm only doing my job!"
Okay, so it's an old joke, but I figured somebody had to mention it.
I'm guessing that most telemarketers would be amused by some of the funny and creative techniques that have been suggested here. Not all of the tricks, though ... I've been wondering if telemarketers wear headsets. I would expect not, since some people probably have air-horns within reach of the phone.
As for the abusive responses, I'm sure that if they've done the job for more than a week and can square it away with their conscience, being called names doesn't bother them. I say this because I used to be a Jehovah's Witness (25 years ago) and we got all kinds of rude responses at the door (which we certainly deserved, considering that we'd sometimes ring bells at 9:00 AM on a Sunday). It didn't phase us, though, for we were doing God's Work.
Actually, I think what probably annoys telemarketers most is getting an really old anti-telemarketer trick. For example, I'm sure that after Jerry Seinfeld introduced his "Can I call you at home later?" routine, they heard that bit a thousand times a week.
justwannano
10-22-2000, 10:37 PM
I recieved a call one time and told the caller that there was someone that wanted to talk to him. I then put the phone down and let him talk to himself. After quite a few minutes I went back and he was still there. He said "You know noone answered." I replied" oh yeah" and put the phone down again.Next time I checked he was gone.
FairyChatMom
10-23-2000, 07:01 AM
I don't listen to pitches - it's a waste of my time. The standard response is "I'm not interested. Please do not call again." followed by a hang up. I don't know if it reduces the number of calls we get, but it relieves my frustration. Just say NO! :)
squarepants
10-23-2000, 10:59 PM
I like to answer thier questions with the same delay they give me when I first answer the phone.
Like this: (ring) (me)-hello? 2.. 3.. 4.. 5 (tm)-Hello? 2.. 3.. 4.. 5.. (me)-Yes, I said hello first. (tm)-Mr. Squarepants? 2.. 3.. 4.. 5.. (me)Yes. (tm)How are you today 2.. 3.. 4.. 5.. and so on. They get annoyed pretty soon, but don't hang up. It takes a little longer to get to the "I'm not interested", but they usually stop the pitch once they hear that. Juvenile, yes, but I find it amusing...
Mr2001
10-24-2000, 12:11 AM
I am currently employed as a telemarketer.
:ducks:
Yes. Now, I can tell you what won't work:
Hanging up immediately or before we get into the pitch. We hit redial and you get another call in a few days. Why do we call back? We can hope that when we call back we'll talk to someone else, and in any case, you can't refuse something if you don't know what it is.
Swearing, yelling, blowing an air horn, etc. This is another redial. Yes, we wear headsets, but we get enough fax machines that whatever you do probably won't disturb us.
Saying "take us off your list". This may be required by law, but in practice I have doubts about how often it works. I personally don't even know how to take someone off the list. I mark it down as either a redial or a turndown, depending on how long you stay on the line.
Any kind of device that does something like that for you.
Screening your calls with an answering machine. Answering machine = redial. You won't talk to us, but we'll keep calling.
Answering the phone like a business. This just gets you put on different lists.
What will work?
Listen to the pitch and say no until the caller hangs up. This is a turndown and we call back in a year.
Answer the phone like a fax machine, modem, TDD, phone error message, etc. This is a disconnect and I assume this means you won't get called again.
Don't speak English. This gets you marked as "no English".
What if you just want to be an ass?
Listen to the pitch and agree to it, but reveal at the end that you're under 18, or you need to check with your mom or husband or whatever. This wastes our time but gets you marked as a redial.
If they offer to send you something and then you're supposed to send back a check, get them to send you a few but then don't respond. This screws up their collection percentage, but gets you marked as a previous customer and may send you to a collection agency.
Act senile, pretend we're too quiet for you to hear and ask us to speak up, say yes but later say you don't understand, etc. This wastes our time but may get you marked as a redial.
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