Do you listen then say “no thanks”.
Do you just hang up?
Do you trick or mess with them?
We have caller ID so if it says Unknown we don’t answer. If it’s someone real, they’ll start to leave a message and we’ll pick up. If I’m not near the caller ID phone and it’s a telemarketer, it depends how they approach it.
My wife has a French maiden name and if they ask for "Mrs. (French name mis pronounced with a hard G instead of a soft G), then I just say no. Sometimes they’ll ask if I’m “Mr…” and I say “No”, since i"m not.
If they ask for us by our real name I’ll just say “No they aren’t home can I take a message”.
If they start talking without givine me a chane to say anything, I just hang up.
I usually just say, no, not interested, take me off your list, and hang up. It saves both of us time. If the person sounds friendly and/or bored, I might chat with them for a couple of minutes, but only if they want to just shoot the breeze.
My caller ID says “Out of Area” when a telemarketer calls, which is weird because if I get out of state calls fro a normal person, it will show up as California call, Florida call…etc. So Out of Area calls do not get answered - until the clinic my SO had Lasik at started turning up as Out of Area too.
I got put on the WI Do Not Call list, that went into effect Jan. 1st. The few Out of Area calls that have come up, I let them state their name and company, but then I fire back with "I’m on the Do not call list, you’re not supposed to be calling us, and that usually gets me an apology and they say good-bye.
I like to lead them on for a minute, letting them think I’m somewhat interested. Then, I ask them to hold on for a minute while I get something out of the oven that’s going to burn.
They hold, I put the phone down and don’t go back to it for at least a good hour.
Anything I can do that will screw with them, make them lose commission and make them rethink what they do for a living…
I have caller ID and normally don’t pick up, but sometimes I do. My standard response is to interrupt them with “I’m not interested. Put me on your do-not-call list.”
I will listen to what they are offering, I HAVE bought/accepted/answered from time to time, but if I am not interested, I say, “Thank you for calling, but I will not be buying/donating/whatever to your company/cause/school, but you have a wonderful day, thank you and goodbye.” I talk over them if need be, and wait for them to reply “goodbye”, if they do, if they don’t, I hang up. Polite and firm.
Usually, I just hear the initial spiel, then say “No thank you” and hang up then and there. I normally wouldn’t answer, but I’ve had companies call and call and call (same company 4 times in one night!) until someone answers. So now, I just answer and shoot 'em down so they leave me alone. If they call again, I usually say “I already said no, what the hell?” and they usually just apologize and hang up.
We’re unlisted and always have been so on the very rare occassion one arrived, I asked them how they have my number since it’s unlisted and they should not be calling me. I’ve received apologies and no second calls.
I am a telefundraiser, and since I don’t terribly want to talk to people who don’t want to talk to me, I’ll give you a bit of advice: If you hang up on us before we have identified our organization, you have GUARANTEED THAT YOU’RE GOING TO GET ANOTHER CALL!!! We do not classify such an action as a “no,” we classify it as a “reschedule” and press a button that sends you back into the pile of numbers to be called.
Here’s another bit of advice: If you pretend that you’re interested, walk away and leave the phone off the hook, you have also GUARANTEED THAT YOU’RE GOING TO GET ANOTHER CALL!!! I mean, come on, TVGuy, how clever do you honestly think you are? You do that to me, I’m going to give up in a minute or so and press the button that sends you back into the pile of numbers to be called. And I’m going to be very happy at the thought of having inconvenienced you yet again.
One last bit of advice: If you answer and I’m calling someone else in your household, and you lie and say they’re not there even though they are, you have – you guessed it – GUARANTEED THAT YOU’RE GOING TO GET ANOTHER CALL!!! You might think you’re being real slick, but you haven’t really done yourself a favor. Just go ahead and say “no”; I don’t know why subterfuge is necessary.
Hope this has been helpful. I want every person who is likely to heap abuse on me to be free of ever coming in contact with me.
Having worked as a telemarketer for four, terrible, long days, I’m polite but firm. I don’t make them finish the spiel (cause that was one of the things I disliked: having to go through the whole thing just to have the person refuse and tell me to take them off the list.) I cut them off as soon as I realize the nature of the call, though sometimes I have to repeat it a few times: most of them are told to keep trying. (my company actually listened to calls we made and would chastize us for taking “no” for an answer. We actually had a chart of responses for such cases, and were told to keep talking until the customer hung up on us.)
I’m polite, because, hey, they’re just trying to make a living. The nature of their job may suck, but they’re not evil people. I just say no, and please remove me from your list. I also tell them to have a nice day, because I know they get heaps of abuse. If you want to get nasty with someone, write a letter to their corporate headquarters. Berating a low-level peon like a telemarketer does no good except make their day a little rougher. They still have to do their job.
That’s nice, Snooooopy. So person X who employed devious means Y to get rid of telemarketer gets called again. Person X isn’t going to purchase product/donate funds, obviously. So why exactly will anyone call him again, unless they’ve got inefficient calling policies? You’re wasting people’s time and annoying them, but they’re wasting your productivity. It is economically stupid to call them back, unless you do it later on your own time because you get kicks annoying people, I guess.
Myself, I talk over telemarketers spiel to say no if they don’t give me a pause in the first 10 seconds or so, and then hang up regardless of whether they keep talking or not. I don’t quite understand why so many won’t let you get a word in edgewise without talking over them. It seems to me that since more people say no than not, you’re better off ditching the negatives quickly and trying another number.
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I don’t quite understand why so many won’t let you get a word in edgewise without talking over them.
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That’s why I was only a telemarketer for four days. I got yelled at several times for not talking over the customers.
Ever see a room full of reporters shouting questions? Eventually, every one but the most persistant will shut up, and the most agressive will get to ask their question. A good majority of people, I found, will submit quickly, and listen to you if you just keep on going. It was an interesting phenomenon.
Nope. The theory is that you’ll be able to argue some of them into buying your product if you persist. I’ve seen it work. Customers who said no, but didn’t have the agressiveness necessary to hang up sometimes got badgered into buying our product. One sale was enough to pay for a heck of a lot of calls.
After many requests to have my name removed from their calling list, I once told a newspaper subscription telemarketer that I really wanted the paper, but couldn’t read. When she laughed at me I threw a huge fit, telling her she was making fun of me and asking to speak to a supervisor. She apologized profusely… and the paper has yet to call me back. That was over a year ago. I win.
I just tell them that the person they are calling for (normally me) died about 3 weeks ago and how dare they call for them. I will go on and on about how they need to update there lists and how they have just stabbed the knife in a little deeper. I know it is mean, but it is fun and these people should expect every bad thing that comes thier way for taking that damn job to begin with. Sorry for the mini rant. I am done now.
they may be people, but they’re sad bstrds who can’t get a proper job and enjoy annoying people.
Cite?
Certainly:
Well that’s the first step - you’ve admitted you have a problem. Now get help (and a proper job).
Ah, the unthinking stupidity of the otherwise unemployable.
The typical telemarketer - unable to empathise with the rest of humanity.
Still at least we normal humans can win. Remember people, if you ask a telemarketer to hold on, and just walk away till they hang up, they spend their working life listening to nothing!.
It only takes a few seconds of your time, and it teaches them a well-deserved lesson.
Subterfuge is necessary because you are unthinking scum.
Why not get a proper job then?
To build on TVGuy’s excellent advice:
once you have received a couple of calls, left them hanging, and they have hung up:
CALL THEIR SUPERVISER AND COMPLAIN THEY HUNG UP ON YOU!
If we all stick together, we can beat this ghastly plague on humanity.
depending on the mood I am in, I will usually just say “No thanks, pls take me off your list”, but sometimes it’s time to fight back. If they have a long spiel (the longer the better), I’ll let them get all the way through and say “What? I’m sorry, I was distracted. Can you repeat that?”. I spent a great half hour once with some window salespeople, telling them I needed bars put on my windows because my brother was getting out of jail soon.