# Have you ever bought anything from a telemarketer?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-anything-from-a-telemarketer/32619
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 9, 2000, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-anything-from-a-telemarketer/32619 "2000-09-09T19:18:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2000, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-anything-from-a-telemarketer/32619/1 "2000-09-09T19:18:06Z")
There are several threads (mostly in the Pit) about telemarketers, and the overall concensus is we don’t like them.
But have any of you ever bought anything from them? Neither I nor anyone I know has ever bought anything from any telemarketer! How about you?
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### Author:  [@Mu\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mu_Mu)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2000, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-anything-from-a-telemarketer/32619/2 "2000-09-09T19:26:33Z")
I’ve known guys who signed up for telemarketing jobs, and the scam is on them. They never get paid.
Like one was supposed to call everyone in an older neighborhood and say they were “sealing” a neighbor’s roof and since they were already out that way would give the answered a “special deal”.
There was no other neighbor. There was no special deal. They were just calling everyone from a list of phones indexed by street, which is available at most libraries.
When you name the street, it makes it sound more legit.
But the telemarketers get so many turndowns they quit after a week. Since they only get paid after the job is finished, and they have no way to tell this, they worked a week and never got a dime.
So pity the caller, but don’t buy from him either.
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### Author:  [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2000, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-anything-from-a-telemarketer/32619/3 "2000-09-09T19:31:11Z")
I bought a Newsweek subscription from a telemarketer. It was for some charity and I was planning on subscribing anyway.
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### Author:  [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2000, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-anything-from-a-telemarketer/32619/4 "2000-09-09T19:43:45Z")
I have never bought anything from a telemarketer, and plan on continuing this tradition. I tell all telemarketers (should I choose to answer the call) to put me on their “do not call” list.
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2000, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-anything-from-a-telemarketer/32619/5 "2000-09-09T19:45:11Z")
I would speculate that folks who have even heard of “the Straight Dope” are not really the prime target for telemarketers.
Ask this same question at the bowling alley, the church sewing guild, the gardner’s club, etc. (not to demean bowlers, church goers, sewers or gardners).
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### Author:  [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2000, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-anything-from-a-telemarketer/32619/6 "2000-09-09T19:50:11Z")
I haven’t BOUGHT anything from a telemarketer, but I’ve SOLD a whole hell of a lot of stuff over the phone, if that’s any surprise :o)
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### Author:  [@Spider\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spider_Woman)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2000, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-anything-from-a-telemarketer/32619/7 "2000-09-09T19:55:07Z")
I have never bought anything from a telemarketer who cold-called me; I consider those calls to be highly intrusive and I ask where they are calling from, and to put me down for “do not call” on **all** of their lists.
I once ordered extra services when I called to ask a question about my phone bill, when the person who was helping me asked " Would you be interested in . . . "
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### Author:  [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2000, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-anything-from-a-telemarketer/32619/8 "2000-09-09T20:03:09Z")
The telemarketers evidently believe I have…my bank will shortly be sending me a “fraud packet” so that I can take action against an outfit that charged $70 directly to my checking account (yes, they actually printed a check to draw from my account) for some cockamamie service I never agreed to. I sure as hell never gave these rat bastards my checking account number, much less permission to withdraw money. They are SO going down.
Only things I can think of that I’ve bought from telemarketers are upgrades in cable service (calls by my own cable company offering specials) and a subscription to Playboy, since I was thinking of subscribing anyway.
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### Author:  [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2000, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-anything-from-a-telemarketer/32619/9 "2000-09-09T20:41:32Z")
I signed up for a meat/grocery delivery service that was brought to my attention through a telemarketer. And in a roundabout way I acquired my Kirby vacuum through a telemarketer, but I was under the impression I was getting my carpet cleaned, and surprise! It was really a Kirby demo. :rolleyes: (Not cool, watch out for that one.)
I refuse to pledge to charities over the phone, ESPECIALLY if they’re ones I’m allready flooded with via the mail. The exception to this is once a year or so the Police Department calls and sells tickets to a charity ballgame, which I do buy. Hell, who’s gonna slam the phone down on the police?!?!
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### Author:  [@Anti\_Pro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anti_Pro)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2000, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-anything-from-a-telemarketer/32619/10 "2000-09-09T21:56:39Z")
Nope. But, it’s kinda fun to think of new ways to say, no.
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### Author:  [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2000, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-bought-anything-from-a-telemarketer/32619/11 "2000-09-11T17:37:14Z")
No really, it’s not what you think. It was JC Penney, cold-calling him. They offered three months free coverage, at the end of which we would of course be billed $30/month. He has a hard time hanging up on telemarketers, and sometimes says yes, to finish the call (we also get Time Life books for this reason). After he signed me up, he forgot about it, and I got the first bill three months later. When I called about it, the customer service rep actually thought it was pretty funny.
I cancelled it.