# Obnoxious new telemarketing technique
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-new-telemarketing-technique/167203
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [April 8, 2003, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-new-telemarketing-technique/167203 "2003-04-08T00:58:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Zenham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenham)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-new-telemarketing-technique/167203/41 "2003-04-09T23:03:13Z")
I like asking the telemarketers what they’re wearing… followed by passionate grunting and slapping sounds. I find this is much more effective at irritating them, than explaining just WHY they are going to hell.
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### Author:  [@Zenham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenham)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-new-telemarketing-technique/167203/42 "2003-04-09T23:19:05Z")
I like asking the telemarketers what they’re wearing… followed by passionate grunting and slapping sounds. I find this is much more effective at irritating them, than explaining just WHY they are going to hell.
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### Author:  [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2003, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-new-telemarketing-technique/167203/43 "2003-04-10T07:57:30Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Velma \*
> \*\*Thanks. I don’t normally back out of a commitment, but I am irritated with them. Maybe I’ll donate the pledged amount to another charity instead. \*\*
Perhaps the charity that you’re irritated with will come to think of you as an unreliable donor and be done with you altogether! Or maybe not. But it’s funny to think that you could reap some unexpected benefits from this.
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### Author:  [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2003, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-new-telemarketing-technique/167203/44 "2003-04-10T09:42:30Z")
I have bill collectors, orders of magnitude more annoying than telemarketers. What makes it even worse is my mother lives with me (she’s 68) and they try to harass her into making me call them back, as they have all been told that I am not at home during the hours they call (I actually am there during the mornings, but I’m asleep until just before I start getting ready to go to work). She told me that yesterday that one of them called, and she told them that I’m not home, and they asked her if they would give me their number and have me call. My Mom agreed to take their number, since the lady was polite to her. The woman called back today, and was not so nice, and my Mom told her I wasn’t home and hung up on her. She called back immediately and got onto my Mom, saying ‘I thought you were going to have him call’. My Mom told her that she couldn’t make me call, and there was no reason to keep calling every day when they know I’m not home. The woman then told her that she was going to keep calling her until I called them back. My Mom told her that was harassment, and the woman hung up on her.
It makes my blood boil, I’m very protective of my mother (up at 4:37 right now because she’s been coughing pretty bad and I worry). The thing is, most of the bills I intended to pay once I got on my feet again, but the tactics used by their collection people (some have been making vague implications of criminal charges against me, worrying my Mom to death) have made me not want to, and the only reason I even consider it now is to save my Mom the worry.
And before someone tells me off for not paying my bills, I had very decent credit until the last year or so. I got laid off last April and was unemployed for 3 months, and now have a job making a third what I did before. My wife ran up huge credit card bills and stopped paying on them a few months before she ran out on me, and I didn’t know what a hole we were in because she managed the finances. I had to get help from my family to get moved and get a car to get to work in, and every spare cent I made went to paying them back.
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### Author:  [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2003, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-new-telemarketing-technique/167203/45 "2003-04-10T10:41:33Z")
**Badtz Maru,** in TX if I recall correctly the legalese is that bill collectors cannot call you more than 3 times a day, and not before nine a.m. or after eight p.m…bill collectors are also not allowed to threaten you in any way with criminal charges, b/c they have no authority in that arena and are basically talking out their ass to scare you.
You can also threaten to sue them for harassment if they keep this up; if I were you, I would tell them (or have your Mom tell them, if she’s up to it) that every time they call, you are recording the phone calls and keeping an electronic log of every call they make to your house. They are aware of the laws but they don’t know you are, too, so feel free to remind them that what they are doing is potentially illegal and you are keeping track.
And credit card debt is not punishable by criminal charges in the state of TX, btw; the only thing they can do is ruin your credit for 7 years until it’s off your credit report. This is why it’s harder to get credit in TX than it is in some other states.
Seriously, they have no right to yell at your mother or call your/her house at all hours, all day long, but until you let them know that you know this, they’ll keep it up. You have rights, too.
Oooh, this stuff makes me mad!
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### Author:  [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-new-telemarketing-technique/167203/46 "2003-04-10T14:25:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by davidm \*
> \*\*Good suggestion. Pennsylvania residents can [sign up right now](http://www.nocallsplease.com/) for PA’s no call list. It dramatically reduced the unwanted calls I receive. I think some other states may have similar lists. \*\*
New York State’s Do Not call list is at [www.nynocall.com](http://www.nynocall.com). Thanks for the PA list…I’ll be telling my parents about it immediately!
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### Author:  [@JayElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayElle)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-new-telemarketing-technique/167203/47 "2003-04-10T17:53:05Z")
The weirdest “sales?” call I ever got was this woman inviting me to her next bible study class.
I have no idea how she got my number, unless she just bought a random call list. Anyone else receive “do-it-yourself” telemarketing calls?
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### Author:  [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-new-telemarketing-technique/167203/48 "2003-04-10T18:02:52Z")
Yeah, I received a call from a DIY telemarketer. He was trying to sell chimney cleaning or something. I said “please put me on your do not call list,” and he responded plaintively, “I dont’ have a do not call list. I’m just calling people out of the phone book!” I had to laugh because he sounded so pathetic. I told him that he ought to look into the telemarketing laws, because there were rules about such things. He thanked me very nicely.
I wonder whether he was just very new at calling people, or if sounding like a novice was part of his sneaky marketing plan.
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### Author:  [@drafty\_de](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drafty_de)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-new-telemarketing-technique/167203/49 "2003-04-11T01:46:24Z")
A sneaky telemarketer… NEVER!!
seriously, my girlfriends family gets t/m calls all the time. I keep telling the family about the magic words…do not call list, but they dont seem to get it.
On the other hand I think her brother kinda likes the calls. Ya see, their mother passed away several years ago and he just loves when they ask for her.
T/M: Is Mrs Smith home?
Brother: Hang on, it may take a while for her to get to the phone
…
seeing she has been dead for about 7 years…
T/M: …(long pause)…Oh, …click!
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### Author:  [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-new-telemarketing-technique/167203/50 "2003-04-11T02:39:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \*
> \*\*I have bill collectors, orders of magnitude more annoying than telemarketers. What makes it even worse is my mother lives with me (she’s 68) and they try to harass her into making me call them back, as they have all been told that I am not at home during the hours they call (I actually am there during the mornings, but I’m asleep until just before I start getting ready to go to work). She told me that yesterday that one of them called, and she told them that I’m not home, and they asked her if they would give me their number and have me call. My Mom agreed to take their number, since the lady was polite to her. The woman called back today, and was not so nice, and my Mom told her I wasn’t home and hung up on her. She called back immediately and got onto my Mom, saying ‘I thought you were going to have him call’. My Mom told her that she couldn’t make me call, and there was no reason to keep calling every day when they know I’m not home. The woman then told her that she was going to keep calling her until I called them back. My Mom told her that was harassment, and the woman hung up on her.
>
> It makes my blood boil, I’m very protective of my mother (up at 4:37 right now because she’s been coughing pretty bad and I worry). The thing is, most of the bills I intended to pay once I got on my feet again, but the tactics used by their collection people (some have been making vague implications of criminal charges against me, worrying my Mom to death) have made me not want to, and the only reason I even consider it now is to save my Mom the worry.
>
> And before someone tells me off for not paying my bills, I had very decent credit until the last year or so. I got laid off last April and was unemployed for 3 months, and now have a job making a third what I did before. My wife ran up huge credit card bills and stopped paying on them a few months before she ran out on me, and I didn’t know what a hole we were in because she managed the finances. I had to get help from my family to get moved and get a car to get to work in, and every spare cent I made went to paying them back. \*\*
This is not legal advice, but . . .
I did represent a lady in a similar situation after a divorce, and while the credit card companies called and tried to intimidate us repeatedly, eventually they realized they were probably liable to our client for more money than she owed them, and accepted her offered settlement terms. Their liability came from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a federal law that protects consumers. It is notorious in collection circles as being very easy to violate. You might want to peruse it: [http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm](http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm)
Also, if you have a friend who’s a lawyer and they would be willing to field such calls for you for a minimal fee or some such, that should (under the Act) prevent the collectors from calling your house anymore. Once you tell them to contact your attorney instead of you, every time they call your house, it’s a violation of the Act.
Good luck!
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### Author:  [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-new-telemarketing-technique/167203/51 "2003-04-11T14:59:46Z")
Georgia has a do-not-call list as well. It seemed to work for my ex.
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