Telemarketers and why some of them piss me off

The BBQ Pit
1

I know that complaints about telemarketers are fairly common. But I got a really obnoxious fundraising call last night. This guy really started out on the wrong food. So, the phone rings, tele-fund raiser (jackass for short) asks “Can I speak to [burble, burble.” I ask “what??” Most people can’t pronounce my fiance’s last name, or his first name for that matter, so we always know when it’s a telemarketer or someone from outside our families and/or friends. So the jackass says “Can I speak to the man of the house please,” sounding very important now. So I tell him my fiancee is unavailable, but I can help him. He tells me that he’d really rather speak to my husband, but he can call back later. So I tell him, “Look, my fiancee is unavailable. Would you please let me know what this is about?” So the guy launches into his schpiel.

“Would you like to donate to the Policeman’s Fund? This Fund raises money for widows and children of policement killed in action.”

So I politely tell him we’re not interested, to which he responds by launching into yet another explanation of this program. Okay, I think. He’s probably required to do that, so I’ll cut him some slack and not get mad. I politely tell him again that I’m just not interested to which he responds “Not interested in helping poor widows and fatherless children?”

Okay, guilt in telemarketing really pisses me off. So I say “Look, I’m just not able to give anything now.” To which he responds by saying “I’m sure you’d feel better about yourself if you’d make a charitable donation. Truly you are not so un-American as to refuse to donate. After all, I got your number from your fiancee’s parents, and they made a donation. They seemed convinced that you would, too.”

After hearing this, I hung up.

Thinking back on this, I should have gotten the man’s supervisor name. For one thing, while I understand that telemarketers of any sort are expected to make a sale, get a donation, whatever, it is not in their job description to guilt customers into doing what they want. I’m not un-American if I don’t have the cash to donate to policemen’s widows. Why the hell would that make someone un-American??

The thing that pissed me off the MOST, though, was this guy’s assertion that he had spoken to my fiancee’s parents. My fiancee’s parents live in India. They are divorced. Even I have not met them, and probably won’t until the wedding.

I hate it when people lie. I hate it when people use guilt as a tool to get you to buy things or give them money. Anybody else have similar experiences with telemarketers? I’d like to hear some so I can fuel my ire with others’ similar experiences.

2

I just realized I said the guy started on the wrong food. Foot, I meant foot. Though food is always welcome.

3

That is so annoying! The other day I got a call from someone and said “I’m not interested.” Three times! Finally, I said, “You know, I’ve said no thank you three times. I’m hanging up now.” I think he said thank you before the phone hit the receiver. JERKS!

4

The other day I got a call from someone who represented a republican candidate for supervisor, or something like that. I picked up and barely got out the word “Hello” before he started telling me about how this guy had lowered my taxes and wanted to know if he could count on my support.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m a convicted felon and am therefore not allowed to vote.”

If there’s a better way to get off their mailing lists, I don’t yet know it!

5

Hmm…

I vaguely remember seeing a commerical here in Los Angeles from the LAPD saying that their authorized charities do not solicit over the phone, and that any charity which solicits in this manner on their behalf should be reported. I’m not sure if my recollection is off, though, since it was very late at night, and I was drunk. For what it’s worth. Anyone else know?

6

I had a similar experience with some Police Fund or the other years ago, where the voice on the other end tried to guilt me into donating. I also heard afterwards from family that it’s a fairly bogus charity in that actual police charities don’t solicit over the phone.

For a long time now I’ve taken to responding to telemarketing with a common script. As soon as it’s clear that they are telemarketing, I interrupt them and politely say, “I’m not interested, thank you very much, please do not call back,” and hang up. I haven’t been pissed off at a telemarketer since.

7

Say, “No thank you,” and immediately hang up. There’s no reason to listen to their spiel.

Funny, he asked for your husband, then referred to your fiance’s parents. If he’d talked to them, he would have known you weren’t married and not asked for your husband.

8

Telemarketers get ONE polite refusal. After that, all bets are off.

9

I cannot WAIT for the national Do Not Call list to come out in July.

10

I’d call the cops about this. As others have pointed out, it has “scam” written all over it. I’m sure the police would just love to get their hands on someone using “widows and orphans of police officers” to defraud the public.

11

No kidding. We had another telemarketer call and tell my fiancee that he had talked to his mom at our home - yes, at our home! - earlier in the day and that she had asked him to call later. My fiancee got his number (somehow talked it out of him) and called his supervisor to tell him that he’s on the Missouri no call list (so it’s already illegal for them to call us) and that their employee blatantly lied to him. I don’t recall what happened. Probably nothing.

It also made me mad that he wasn’t willing to talk to me. I don’t usually take things as anti-feminist slights, but I still bristled at the fact that he needed to talk to my husband, or “the man of the house.” I rarely got offended at telemarketers before we were on the no-call list. I mean, I’ve never done it myself, but I hear telemarketing is a really shit job, and it’s not their fault their job requires them to call my house. But then again, this is the first time a telemarketer has tried to brush me off, guilt me into giving him money and then lied to me, all in the same phone call.

12

They seem to be getting worse. I basically screen all calls for my boss, and we got a NASTY bitch yesterday who swore up and down that she wasn’t selling anything (office supplies), and when I said we weren’t interested, she came back with “I’m not even supposed to be TALKING to you, I’m supposed to be talking to your boss!”. So of course she got my typical response “Well, sweetheart, you aren’t getting through to my boss, especially not with that attitude. Take us off your list NOW.” and put the phone down. She was incredibly rude to me, and I was so mad that I tried to find the company on the 'net to complain - couldn’t find them, of course:rolleyes: .

I’m just hoping she calls back.

Ava

13

I am always amazed at people who say they had to say no a second time to telemarketers. I do what you do reasonably politely say that I am not interested and hang up. There is no point in arguing with them.

14

I’m surprised that people say “No” the first time; there’s almost always a pause while the autodialer routes to the rep’s desk, and I always hang up during that golden moment.

On the rare occasions that I do end up speaking to a human being, I say “Nothankyougoodbye” and hang up the second I hear it’s a sales pitch.

15

I would call the cops, too. And the Better Business Bureau. And maybe a local newspaper (they love that kind of shi…I mean, story).

That sort of behavior is fucking disgusting. Especially considering what our country has been through.

16

However legit this is, Special Olympics called the other day. A rough transcript follows:

Me: Hello?

Solicitor: (all pleasantries skipped) I’m calling on behalf of Special olympics; unfortunately, the government isn’t providng funding this year for the games, and we were looking for donations.

Me: Well, I wish you good luck in your donation-soliciting.

Solicitor: (beat) Okay, thank you very much for your time.

[click]

Of course, this approach assumes a passive attitude on the part of the solicitor. More aggressive attitudes would be better handled with the above strategies.

17

Yeah he was a bit of a wanker

That wouldn’t make much of a difference, he’d probably just give you a fake name or just hang up (a good thing).

But next time anyone calls, maybe you could try using one of these :wink:

18

I had a telemarketer call the other day to whom I gave my standard response of “No, but please put me on your Do Not Call list.” Get this: She said to hold because only her manager could do that. Now that is fricking BS.

19

Some groups do hire third parties to do fund-raising for them. Typically the third party gets a fairly hefty percentage of the donations, but the non-profit group doesn’t have the funds to set up their own system.

Now, it is a known scam (at least in Southern California, USA) that some companies will call you at home and ask you to donate to the “Policeman’s Fund” or something similar. One of the indicators that this is a shady operation is, when you offer to write them a check, that they say “can you leave the check on your front door, we will send someone to pick it up.” (Presumably because they prefer not to give out a mailing address.) I am embarassed to say that I donated several times to this kind of “charity” until I read in the Los Angeles Times that many (most) are con operators.

20

I got smart to this last year–that pause is plenty enough time to hang up the phone. I’m so tired of telemarketers that I no longer have call waiting (if someone needs to contact me for an emergency, they have my cell phone number) and I screen all my calls.