How do you handle telemarketers?

In My Humble Opinion
21

Ever since I got Privacy Plus with my caller ID the annoying “Out of Area” calls dropped off to almost nothing. Now unidentified callers must verbally identify themselves before the call will go through, and at that point I can either accept or reject the call. Most telemarketers won’t bother with having to go through this routine, but a few persistent telemarketers will.

For the telemarketers who aren’t bright enough to mask their ID and show up on my display, I’ll ignore them at first. If they become persistent and start calling each day I’ll either pick up and hang back up immediately, or I will turn the TV/stereo down and pick up, but then say nothing. I’ll listen to the background noise on their end and after about five to ten seconds they’ll say, “Hello, hello?” The silence on my end confuses them and makes them think they may have lost the connection. One time I heard one say, “what the hell?!” before hanging up. I figure this is a more peaceful way of dealing with them than to scream in their ear, which I have also done at times when I’m already in a pissy mood.

A friend of mine likes to mess with them. He’ll ask the most ridiculous questions he can think of and sometimes he’ll use a cartoon character’s voice (Beavis and Butthead is his favorite). I admire his tactics and enjoy listening to his stories about how he messes with them, but I just don’t have the patience to deal with them in this manner when they call. I just want to get them the hell off of my telephone right then and there.

22

I usually picture some poor guy or gal stuck with a telemarketing job and an asshole of a boss who monitors the calls. I politely listen to the telemarketer recite their script and then I decline their offer. I try not to be rude, even if they get rude first, because I know that they are often pushed by their supervisor to be pushy. At the end I say, “Thanks, but no thanks,” and hang up.

I used to be a telemarketer. It’s a sucky job. Few people choose that line of work because they think it’s a fun way to spend a life. Most of my co-workers were people who lost their jobs because of things like plant closures or were unable to find “real” work for one reason or another. Many were students. A lot of people were kids–late teens/early twenties–just starting out in the “real world.” There were a few disabled people. Some of my co-workers were real pricks; the majority, however, were extremely nice people.

I used to really appreciate people like UncleBill up there, who would at least listen to you and give you a chance . . . and then be half-way polite if they decided they didn’t want the Deal of the Day.

Also, when I worked for an insurance company, all the telemarketers used a computer system. There, things worked exactly as Snooooopy described, although the terminology was different. At the end of a rude call, most telemarketers would hit the “Call Back” button on their keyboard instead of one of the buttons that would prevent somebody from getting called back. Most telemarketers didn’t mind wasting a few seconds to irritate somebody who was perceived to be a jerk. Right or wrong, that’s the way it worked.

23

As soon as I realize I’m talking to a telemarketer, I say “Please take me off your calling list” and hang up.

I don’t buy things via unsolicited phone calls on principle. I told a telemarketer that once, and he tried to argue with me about it. HELLO??? What part of “I DON’T DO THIS” don’t you understand???

But now that I read Lissa’s post on being told not to take no for an answer, I understand what was happening.

My S.O. listens politely to the whole spiel and then says “No thanks.” Me, I don’t want to hear it, because I am not going to buy. Period.

24

How much empathy am I supposed to have for someone who insults my job and brags about how much fun it is to screw with people who have my job?

25

My sister and I have taken to answering the phone with a heartfelt “Bonjour!”. That is inevitably followed by a “click” from the caller.

We laugh and don’t get the sales pitch. It’s the best of both worlds!!

26

Well, it’s the telemarketer who started the annoyance. If they don’t want to be annoyed back, they shouldn’t call in the first place. Perhaps you’ve justified somehow that it’s okay to annoy random people because it’s part of your job. But those people you are annoying didn’t ask for you to call and don’t want you to call. They want you to stop calling but for some reason you think it’s still okay to call them even when they don’t want you to.

27

Once I know it’s a telemarketing spiel, I say “Thank you for calling, but I’m not interested. Please take me off your calling list. Thanks.” Then I hang up.

I see no reason to abuse people.

28

That’s exactly what I do. I don’t go through any “hilarious” antics or anything. I say that, hang up, and get back to whatever I was doing before, instead of taking time to wind them up and then complaining that they waste my time and interrupt me.

29

I got “Privacy Manager” last year and that eliminated my telemarketing calls dramatically by seeing out unavailable calls. The ones I still get - I tell them I died, or I just hang up. I’m not friendly to them, I have no patience for that at all.

30

Here’s what I find really annoying. Many of these telemarketing creatures, before identifying themselves, will ask for you by name. You don’t know, it could be a legitimate call (I actually have been embarrassed a few times when I blew off a legitimate person, thinking it was a telemarketer), but don’t necessarily want to confirm to a stranger that you are you until you know who it is and what they want.

So this guy calls and asks for me by name. I say, “who’s calling?” He repeats, “Is this Ms. Suspenderzzz?” Me: “Who wants to know?” We seem to have reached an impasse. The standoff continues along those lines for a few minutes. By then, of course, I know it’s a telemarketer, because a normal caller would have no problem identifying himself. He tries a new tack: “I’m calling for Ms. Suspenderzzz. Is she there?” I leave him in suspension for a little while, enjoying his desperation as only a truly sadistic person (me) is capable of doing :D, and then I hang up on him quietly.

Thinking I had gotten rid of him, I pick up the phone again immediately to make a call. And, surprise, surprise, I fail to get a dialtone. Instead, I hear my little friend, still on the line after I hung up on him, talking away to himself, leaving a message for Ms. Suspenderzzz to call Company so-and-so at 1-800-whatthefuckever. That, of course, was for the benefit for his supervisors/coworkers or whoever is monitoring his job performance. It makes him look a little better if he at least pretends to be leaving a message with a roommate/voice mail than admitting the indignity of having been hung up on. What a loser job. In a twisted way I actually feel sorry for these guys.

31

That’s not the question I asked.

My question is: If someone openly says that people who have my job are scum, and gleefully talks about how much fun it is to heap abuse on people who have my job, am I really supposed to care whether or not I hurt his feelings?

There are plenty of people in this thread who don’t feel the need to treat telemarketers like punching bags. What does that say about the ones who do?

32

Beware! The following is a blatant generalization by me made from the blatant generalizations directed towards telemarketers and telesurveyors.

Anyone who would get a real big kick out of fucking with and insulting strangers who call them as part of their job is a fucking asshole who probably gets picked on a lot in day to day life and doesn’t have the balls to deal with it person or seek therapy. Grow a pair, learn some manners, say “No thank you” very firmly and hang up your fucking telephone. And if you’re a decent, productive member of society like I sometimes fancy myself to be, you can even throw in a little “Good luck, though” at the end!

A little secret? You’re not scaring anyone, you’re not ruining anyone’s day, you’re not making anything rethink their employment situation, you’re not frustrating anyone, and any stupid, cute, clever bullshit you think you’ve come up with has been said to said telemarketer thirty fucking thousand times that day already, and two to five seconds after they’ve hung up they’ve forgotten all about you. The only person’s time you’re wasting coming up with these wacky shenanigans and crazy capers is your own, so have fun, because obviously it’s the only way you know how to.

I was once a telesurveyor, and when I think of the laaaaaughs we had making fun of people like you who thought they were making us soooooo saaaaaad…I must admit it makes me chuckle every time. However, those few and far between people whose parents educated them on what it means to be POLITE, well, those people we thanked for their time and never called them again. Crazy how it works, huh?

33

Posted by ** glee **

Trust me, if a “proper job” had been available, that’s what I would have taken. I was in a tough spot at one point in my life, and I may be a bastard for it, but I preferred working as a telemarketer to losing my car and my home. The telemarketing company was the only company hiring at that point and I needed a job fast. When another (better) job became available, I took it.

It’s like ** Mephisto ** said. Few people dream of growing up to be a telemarketer. It’s a hard, thankless job, and out of any other job in the world I can think of, probably filled with the most verbal abuse. I wasn’t trying to annoy people: I was trying to get my 8 hours in, so that I could get a paycheck.

I always appreciated those who just firmly said “No, thank you,” and asked to be removed from the list. Fine, no harm, no foul. I did my job, you declined my offer, and we both moved on.

It was the people who thought that “killing the messenger” would somehow make the calls stop that made the job suck so badly. NailBunny is right: we heard the same “funny” responses at least ten times a day, and believe me, after taking all of that shit for hours on end, you might feel a certain mean pleasure in hitting the button, because, oops, those folks were so busy being “clever” that they forgot the magic words.

There’s just no point in abusing the telemarketer: either one of two things will happen. The telemarketer will just say, “What an asshole,” shrug it off, and send your number back to be re-called, or possibly, your abuse willl succeed in being the straw that breaks the camel’s back and they’ll quit. But another person is standing behind their chair waiting to take their place.

Simply put: if you want the calls to stop, never buy anything over the phone, always check the box which forbids your info from beign given out to other companies when purchasing something, and ask to be removed every time you get a telemarketing call. Tricks and “jokes” will accomplish nothing.

34

I’ve actually made a few telemarketers snap. I mean snap to the point where they will personally call me back and yet and scream and whatnot. Probably getting themselves fired in the process.

Usually, though I just hang up. The goal is to minimize wasting my time so as soon as I hear “good evening Mr. …” or the click of the autodialer I simply hang up without a word.

35

Well, Snooooopy, you said:

To which glee responded:

So the situation is that the telemarketer calls homeowner and homeowner is so upset that he decides to get back at telemarketer by being mean. Telemarketer doesn’t like it so he is mean to homeowner by putting him back in the queue. Telemarketer calls homeowner again and homeowner is mean to telemarketer and so on.

The point I was trying to make was that it was the telemarketer which initiated the situation by placing the call in the first place. It would be nice if the telemarketer would be sensitive to the homeowner’s feelings and realize that the person did not want to be called again. By putting that person in the queue, you are making a bad situation that you started even worse. Yes, the homeowner is not being polite, but it wasn’t the homeowner who called you.

And I would like to say here that I am very polite to telemarketers. I just tell them to put me on their do-not-call list. If you do anything else, even if they don’t put you back in the queue, you’ll still be on their list for promotions they run in the future. Getting on the do-not-call list is a much more effective way to fight telemarketing than trying a lot of tricks.

36

Oh, my God, I’m so ashaaaaaaamed.

Of course, telemarketing is not the vile and reprehensible outgrowth of capitalism that it is made out to be! Telemarketing is getting a bum rap! It is perhaps the most misunderstood profession on Earth! When are you people going to get it through your thick skulls that telemarketing is Good and Noble, because it Creates Jobs???

37

And this is why we still have the problem. The 1% (or whatever) of people who either don’t realize or don’t care that by actually buying what a telemarketer is selling, they’re encouraging the telemarketers to call the other 99% of us who won’t ever buy anything.

38

Personally, the ringing of the phone is more annoying than the actual pitch, so rather than mess with 'em/let the machine get it, I just answer and tell them, as soon as I get a word in edgewise, to tell them to add me to their do-not-call list.

They always sound so sullen when I do that though…

39

I don’t know what you’re so upset about, Suspenderzzz. We weren’t allowed to survey anyone under 18, anyway.

rimshot

But seriously folks, I find the idea of people so lonely and unsatisfied with their own day to day lives that they derrive such glee from supposedly tormenting strangers far more disturbing than the idea that, from time to time, I get unwanted sales calls that I have to GASP deal with like a grown-up.

But, I say to you what I always said to people just like you when they screamed a string of nonsense obscenity at me and then hung up their phones, or sexually harrassed me, or physically threatened me: whatever. :rolleyes:

40

I am usually polite and give the “no thanks take me off your list” line. But… the one type of telemarketer that really annoys me is when they willl ask for “Mr. or Mrs. Intrinsic”. Since I’m a gay man and have a partner, it kinda rubs me the wrong way that a company assumes that all households have a “Mr. or Mrs”.

I gather that many heterosexual households also do not have a “Mr. or Mrs. same-name.” For that matter, many households just have one person.

Thus, I politely inform them that their inappropriate greeting has alienated a potential customer, explain the reason, and inform them that I will not do business and request to be removed from their call list.

It probably does no good, but hopefully at some point one call center attendant will never have considered this and might end their shift somewhat enlightened.