So you’re fine with not having the use of the phone you pay for because you had to turn it off to keep Flyer from calling you over and over (he did explicitly state you have to divine exactly the right magic incantation or he’ll do just that)? I’m not. I’m also not fine with having my husband kept awake when he’s in a line of work where going to work sleep-deprived endangers him and his co-workers (and he’s a shift worker, so badgering calls during the day are going to be a problem). I’m also not fine with having my phone tied up so calls I need or want can’t get through. That’s not why I pay for a phone (and have an unpublished number).
As for the value of my time, I’m a homemaker. I’m fortunate enough to have more flexibility than a lot of those Flyer brags about badgering with repeated calls. Doesn’t mean I don’t have better things to do with my life than be harassed by a telemarketer who won’t take NO for an answer.
Trouble is, it isn’t possible to direct the (well deserved) vitriol to the people actually managing the companies doing the surveys, so the “phone monkeys” doing the surveys are the only possible target. Just as for telemarketers, one can only hope that treating the “phone monkeys” like shit might discourage them from continuing in their chosen occupation and make things more difficult for the survey company itself.
What is there about that type of response that would prompt you to notify your employers that such a responder is interested in doing business with them?
Or perhaps I’m asking the wrong question. What, exactly, did “Prospect” mean in that context (if it meant “person who is likely to be interested in doing business with the company,” please also answer the first question)?
When I carelessly find myself connected with a telemarketer, I very politely inform him* that I’m going to do him* a favor, and let him* get started on his* next call. THEN I hang up.
I’d guess that “prospect” means “call again”. We were discouraged from giving up too easily on a number. Eliminating too many numbers would give the useless assistant managers something to “coach” you about.
As already pointed out, hanging up doesn’t mean that the phone monkey won’t call back. The PM might mark it down as a disconnect or just not make any record the call. Chances are that somebody else will make the next call, eliminate your number, and take the performance hit. If you want to avoid future calls from that particular office, you might try asking the name of the company-- not who they are “calling on behalf of” but the company the PM works for-- and saying that you never take cold calls and don’t want another one.
Problem with that is that any people that you owe money to might see it differently. Especially the bank that holds your mortgage or the various utility companies.
You’re questioning the ethics of a person because they work for a survey company? That’s totally reasonable and makes perfect sense. :rolleyes: Fucking unreal.
So because you can’t reach the person you want to be angry with, you’re going to be angry at the nearest available person. This makes sense to you. And here I thought I was an asshole. I can still manage to deal with a minor annoyance without feeling the need to punish someone. Right now I feel pretty damn nice. Maybe it’s just the comparison.
The OP is in a line of work where it is his job to disturb people who don’t want to be disturbed. It is as simply as that. We have the do not call list in the US because the people of the US found unsolicited calls from strangers to be enough of a problem that the law had to step in and control things.
They had to step in and control collection agencies too - mandating how often and when they can call. They’ve put controls on plenty of completely legitimate businesses. I think the main problem here is that most people think it’s completely illegitimate to try and gather information in an upfront manner. Is quietly harvesting info from facebook, credit card applications and such a better format? I have a hard time believing many people dumping on telephone surveys would think so.
I get that this activity can be kind of annoying but I find it hard to believe the vitriol some have. Doesn’t everyone have call display? If I don’t want to talk and want the phone to stop ringing I just pickup-hangup. Sometimes I just let the phone ring. Sometimes I answer and say “take me off your list, please”. It is such a minor annoyance.
Before I got my phone screener I would say:* I’m sorry, I do not accept unsolicited phone calls, please do not call again. *That didn’t work, so I would get a little more firm: *I do not accept unsolicited phone calls, do **not **call again. *That didn’t work either. Eventually I realized that it was simply easier to get a device or software that would allow me to black-list them. Beyond the first call I don’t even hear the phone ring any more. The only thing I never did that you suggest, was to ask the name of the company.
I confess, I was tempted to just give bogus answers - hoping to get rid of them, but I figured that they then would put me on a list and sell that list to others. The screening device was easier.
Regardless of the claim up thread, I cannot believe that calling back people who do not wish to participate - and have made it clear that they do not wish to participate - results in valid data. I know that I would never have given any truthful answers. Mind you, the success of “reality” TV tells me that I am often not “normal”; but I don’t believe I’m unique either.
It’s annoying. That’s all. If you feel it necessary to lash out at a person due to a minor annoyance, you’re an asshole. You can try to justify it however you want, but you’re the person behaving poorly to a person who doesn’t deserve it. You’re not striking a blow against a company. You’re not taking a stand against something. You’re not even teaching someone a lesson. You’re being an asshole because they made you answer the phone.
I quit Radio Shack for this reason. I hated their computers (but I wanted the discount on the gagety things). People would ask me about them and I’d explain them in a way that didn’t say they were bad, only that there are much better manufacturers out there. In the end the people would say “I want to buy from you because you know what you’re talking about.” It made me ill to sell those pieces of crap, so I found a job at the local feed store instead.
For all you who are saying that we need to be nicer to the minimum wage phone monkeys…
(a) The TELEMARKETING INDUSTRY shit their own damn bed with their aggressive tactics and requiring some magic incantation to stop calls. I can’t wait till technology can screen them into oblivion. I’m researching Google Voice right now to see if it will work for my situation.
(b) It isn’t just the OP’s one company, it is all the political organizations who want to complain about their issue and ask for money, all the charities begging donations, push polls, then there are also some legit polls. Then there is that fucking Rachael from Card Member Services who calls daily (if not twice a day!). Literally ***MILLIONS OF DOLLARS have been spent to engage a freaking army of telemarketers ***over this fucking election. Last election, I spent months where I would get 6 - 8 calls a day. That’s near (sometimes over) 50 calls a week from people who are trained to be pitt-bull aggressive about getting their donation or their questionnaire filled out or what ever else their issue is. I have a cell phone and pay by the minute.
So, it is fine that the OP wants to work in that industry and glibly say… well, just answer my poll and I won’t call you back. I just don’t care about the OP’s stats or bonus or what ever. As long as they keep calling, I’ll keep hanging up. I’m happy to waist their time and screw their stats. I hope my hang ups make them look like shit and then maybe the companies who pay for this stuff will get the message.
There’s a difference between telemarketing and phone surveys. Pollsters are subject to different laws, for example.
What I’ve been trying to get across, for several posts now, is that you’re wasting your time. Phone surveys have been around since (I’m guessing) the 1920s. One little person shaking his tiny fist in rage at a phone monkey changes nothing. Telemarketing has been around since at least the 1970s-- you really think you’re going to get a message across to the companies who employ the people to whom you’re a dick? They know your opinion already. If you don’t want the call, just play the stupid game for five minutes and they stop. Worked for me, anyway.
Speaking of people with a lot of time to waste fucking off on message boards, it’s Vinyl Turnip! How’s the whole marching with the status quo thing going for ya? So edgy. Think you’ll ever develop an opinion of your own?
Let me know your number and time zone. I’ll start calling you randomly about 1 AM til 7 AM, your time. About a dozen times a night. Assuming you work during the day, this will get really old, really fast. Oh, and you can’t turn off the phone/put it in silence mode, either, because your job requires that you must be on that electronic leash, or possibly because you’re waiting to hear from someone in the hospital. Let’s add a teething baby to the mix, too.
Getting random unsolicited phone calls can be more than an annoyance. It’s hard enough for shift workers to get to sleep and to stay asleep. There are legitimate reasons for a company to call an individual, but it needs to be to the individual’s advantage as well as the company’s advantage. Phone surveys and telemarketing calls are only advantageous to the company, and not to the individuals that they are calling.
I have one phone number. So until they start calling some other number, they are all the same to me.
No, I put them on the no ring contact and so I am saving time. Adding them to my no ring contact takes about 1 second. IF I switch over to Google Voice, then hopefully I won’t even have to do that much.
I have never posted that I am a dick to these people unless you count hanging up. IF that is being a dick, then yes I’m a dick and they can quit calling if it hurts their feelings so much. Second, my answering their questions will not change anything since the number is blocked after the first contact. So hanging up is the best solution for all involved because then I don’t risk becoming a DICK while I tell them that I’m not going to answer their questions.
It is people like you (and those too poor or old to use callerID and shut ins desperate to talk to anyone) who keep this industry alive. Bravo for you. When they send me a check then I’ll “play their game.” As the rest of the world filter them into the dust bin, you can count on getting more and more calls as the pool of people who answer the phone for these companies continues to shrink thanks to technology.
And were you happier forever after because no one ever again said “you know what you’re talking about” or was it a premium feed store that didn’t sell any cheap stuff at all?
