# People who do business with deceptive telemarketers or deceptive junk mail **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 9, 2016, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-do-business-with-deceptive-telemarketers-or-deceptive-junk-mail/745664 "2016-02-09T23:54:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-do-business-with-deceptive-telemarketers-or-deceptive-junk-mail/745664/21 "2016-02-13T03:08:29Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > \*\* - Today, end of the day on Friday, long after most offices closed if they opened at all, I spent ten minutes extra talking with a lady in Roswell-yes-that-Roswell about it as a potential place to retire. Sounds real nice. From the looks of it you can certainly do worse for the incredibly low price. Not my cup of tea but it’d sure beat Florida even without the cheapness. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-do-business-with-deceptive-telemarketers-or-deceptive-junk-mail/745664/22 "2016-02-13T06:37:49Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I think we have a right to expect that we will be contacted by the actual companies we have done business with or their corporate subsidiaries ONLY, and that contracted third parties will be excluded from any exceptions to the DNC rules. > > Actually what I really think is that we should have to opt in, and sign up with each telemarketing company before they’re allowed to call. > [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > You may think that, but it isn’t what the law says. > > Companies, their corporate subsidiaries, contracted companies. even any unrelated business who agrees to give them a kickback for any customer who signs up – all of them are defined by the law as “having a pre-existing business relationship”, and so can legally contact you. A tremendous loophole in the law! A careful read of my second paragraph should suggest the level of my awareness of that. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-do-business-with-deceptive-telemarketers-or-deceptive-junk-mail/745664/23 "2016-02-13T23:58:15Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > It’s not usually worth it to try again, but sometimes I will call a few days later and lead with “May I speak with Rhonda\*?” instead of my normal “My name is dropzone, calling on behalf of Company C. May I speak with Rhonda?” Mostly not, since it probably won’t work and I have a couple million other leads to try. And then what do you do when they say “May I ask who’s calling?” How do you know who the lead is? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-do-business-with-deceptive-telemarketers-or-deceptive-junk-mail/745664/24 "2016-02-14T01:00:22Z")
> [@Me\_Billy](#): > > I know some of these dumb people… > > The wife said “I want a car with payments!” (She had a car which was paid off and needed a $300 repair.) Possible explanation - everyone else on “Facebook” (same mental capacity as her) has a car '“with payments”, so she wanted to be like them. > > Her husband had a car salesman call and say they were “pre-qualified” for a car loan. So they immediately go to this dealer and wind up paying over $20k for a used car with over 100k miles on it. Also high interest rates and a 7 year loan! But of course it is only the amount of the monthly payments which matters to them. > > She now has a car with “payments”, and does not have enough money left each month for food - they run out before the end of the month. Of course they shop at the most expensive grocery store and buy name brand products. > > The husband has a Fingerhut account (charged up to the max) and they notified him around Christmas that he had an additional $800 of credit available. He quickly purchased a bunch of stuff totaling that amount - including some shoes for his kid which cost over $100 (only lasted a month). > > These folks are real financial geniuses! I used to work with a woman who took the “get a mortgage no more than twice your income” thing too literally; she’s a pharmacist, and she and her high school teacher then-husband, who had a combined income of about 150K, got one of those 4BR 5BA McMansions, which in that area cost about 300K, even though they were both about 25 years old and had no children at the time. :rolleyes: 😕 :smack: Two kids later, yes, they’re divorced, something that surprised absolutely nobody, and while IDK if that was a factor, dollars to donuts it was. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-do-business-with-deceptive-telemarketers-or-deceptive-junk-mail/745664/25 "2016-02-14T02:08:26Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I used to work with a woman who took the “get a mortgage no more than twice your income” thing too literally; she’s a pharmacist, and she and her high school teacher then-husband, who had a combined income of about 150K, got one of those 4BR 5BA McMansions, which in that area cost about 300K, even though they were both about 25 years old and had no children at the time. > > :rolleyes: 😕 :smack: > > Two kids later, yes, they’re divorced, something that surprised absolutely nobody, and while IDK if that was a factor, dollars to donuts it was. Huh? Never heard that bit of advice and I totally didn’t follow it. $40K salary and I got a $120K mortgage. So, should that have crippled me? It was a 30 year mortgage that I easily paid off in less than half the time. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-do-business-with-deceptive-telemarketers-or-deceptive-junk-mail/745664/26 "2016-02-14T03:34:54Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > And then what do you do when they say “May I ask who’s calling?” How do you know who the lead is? “My name is dropzone, calling on behalf of Company C.” But by then I have given them more confidence that I’m not just another sleazy telemarketer. Leads come from lists compiled by Company C of offices with which they work, and a lead pops up automatically. However, as it happens the lead list is elderly and I often ask for former employees and dead people, or the name field is empty. Then I ask for the Office Manager, contrary to the script I mostly ignore, because that’s who I usually end up with, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-do-business-with-deceptive-telemarketers-or-deceptive-junk-mail/745664/27 "2016-02-14T05:51:50Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Huh? Never heard that bit of advice and I totally didn’t follow it. $40K salary and I got a $120K mortgage. So, should that have crippled me? It was a 30 year mortgage that I easily paid off in less than half the time. It’s not a hard and fast rule, and it was a lot more relevant when interest rates were much higher than they are now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-do-business-with-deceptive-telemarketers-or-deceptive-junk-mail/745664.md?page=1)