Because I can turn off the TV. The phone isn’t a luxury that I can feel comfortable turning off at will, it’s a necessity the same way that water/electrity/gas are.
Fenris
The difference here is that I get to watch television shows for free, and in return I watch ads. I listen to the radio for free, and in return I hear ads. I buy a magazine and pay less for it than I would if there were no ads in it.
Telemarketers aren’t providing anything in exchange for you listening to their advertising. They call you on the phone line you pay to have, intruding into your home, and the only ways to avoid them are to pay extra for an unlisted number, or get rid of your phone. Now, while I could live without tv, radio and magazines, I need my phone.
You also mention ads on the internet. Some subsidise the pages you view, thereby giving you something in return for seeing the ad. You’ll find many people hate the other types of internet advertising (spam, etc) as much as they hate telemarketers.
Finally, when a television commercial comes on, I don’t have to drop what I’m doing to get it’s message. I can watch if I want, or tune out if I want, but I don’t have to leave my chair. Telemarketers take you away from what you’re doing when they call - typically, that’s eating dinner (or cooking it).
So there it is in a nutshell. We tolerate advertising when we get something in return. Telemarketers are more inconvenient than television commercials or radio ads, and provide nothing in return. If telemarketers subsidised your phone bill, they might be better received. In fact, that would put them on a par with free or cable tv - if you want the cheaper service, you put up with the ads. If you’re willing to pay the extra, you don’t get advertising.
Until telemarketers pay my phone bills for me, I’ll continue to hang up on them.
One day I will learn to qoute properly! And I didn’t meant to post the part under where I concede Cazzle’s point.
Darn computers!
If they don’t buy your service, then by definition they don’t think it’s worth the money.
a) If they’ve removed their carpets, then you aren’t providing them with a valuable service.
b) If they bought a steam cleaner instead of hiring you, then either they think that the steam cleaner does a better job ( they don’t think that you’re providing a valuable enough service) or the steam cleaner is cheaper (it’s not a reasonable enough price).
c) Not sure what you mean by this.
d) Then they don’t think that the carpets being cleaned is a valuable service.
Haven’t you considered that these may simply be excuses from people who are too polite just to hang up on you? Most people I know do this.
Can you not see any difference between simply not needing the service and passing a judgement on the value of it? What about the many people who ask me to call back later in the year, and then book? Have they suddenly decided to change their opinion?. No, because the refusal had nothing to do with whether the service has value, simply whether or not they needed it at that particular time.
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a) If they’ve removed their carpets, then you aren’t providing them with a valuable service.
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No, I’m not providing the service. I am, however, offering it because they have previosly used it. Unless a customer calls the office to tell us they have removed the carpets, I have no way of knowing that the situation has changed.
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b) If they bought a steam cleaner instead of hiring you, then either they think that the steam cleaner does a better job ( they don’t think that you’re providing a valuable enough service) or the steam cleaner is cheaper (it’s not a reasonable enough price).
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Granted, in some cases. I do however still have some customers who like to have the carpet done professionally every so often even though they own a machine.
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c) Not sure what you mean by this.
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As the cleaning unit is truck-mounted ant has a limited hose length, we cannot do apartments.
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d) Then they don’t think that the carpets being cleaned is a valuable service. **
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No, they are simply saying that it is not required YET. Again, no judgement is being made on the value of the service, simply the timing of it.
TheRyan, I’m beginning to suspect that you are continuing in this thread simply because you like to argue. Alright, I’ll continue to defend my own workplace if I have to, but don’t you think this is getting just a tad repetitive?
sirjamesp, yes, of course some people are just making polite excuses. I wish they wouldn’t, though. I’d much rather get a polite, but firm refusal than keep calling people every few months for nothing.(In the case of the people who put me off 'til Spring/Summer/Fall and so on and so on…) I guess they’re afraid I’ll get mad or something, but really it’s not a big deal.
Please excuse the split post. I’m having trouble quoting from two posts into one reply.
Please, everyone, do realize that I said I cannot agree with 99% of people being of the opinion that the product has neither value or a fair price. Of course there will be some people with that opinion. I just think 99% is way too high of a figure. As I said, most people who refuse the service do so for reasons other than a low opinion of the company.
zoogirl - this must be the first time I have ever heard a telemarketer complain that their time is being wasted by the people they are calling! 
Zoogirl, I’m against cold calling rather than what you do - but I’d rather the steam cleaners drop me a note than call me. I’m sure calling is cheaper, and therefore better for business, but I’m not a fan of people ringing me to ask me to hire them.
And yes, I do watch three channels with an antenna. I don’t pay for television, outside of running costs. If I had to buy, say, every series of Friends on video, it would cost me a fortune. Instead I watch it on commercial television stations, and it costs me nothing because the advertisers pay the television company instead of me paying them. I couldn’t afford to buy or hire the videos/dvds of all the shows I watch on tv, and I won’t pay for cable because I don’t watch that much tv so this is the perfect setup for me - the advertisers pay for my favourites shows to screen around their ads, I buy their products, everyone is happy. If they stopped showing quality television shows and kept advertising, I’d switch off the tv and probably not buy their products in future.
Now, when a telemarketer calls during one of my favourite shows, everyone loses!
I used to be polite but quick and firm: As soon as I realized it was a telemarketing call, I’d say “No thanks” and hang up. Learned long ago that talking to these people just gets you nowhere because they won’t let you politely decline.
BUT NOW, I get so pissed off with this new technology has a computer dial the next number while the telemarketer is still on the previous call, to maximize the connection speed. But about half the time, the call connects before the telemarketer is ready for it, so the computer just hangs up. The result is that between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., my phone will contantly ring once to three times, and then nothing. Each time, I have to check the caller ID and see if it’s anyone I want to talk to. Each time, I’m reminded that some company out there doesn’t give a flying fuck about interrupting my evening as long as it makes their operation just a tiny bit faster.
So I’ve gone from benignly dispatching the calls to wanting some revenge. Now I’m answering the damn calls – if they actually complete the call – and finding ways to fuck with them. Small joys.
– Greg, Atlanta
OOPS! Open mouth, insert foot! :o
About the only other point I have is that I’m pretty sure one of the reasons the phone is fairly affordable is that the phone company is making a bundle off the multiple lines used by TM offices etc. I know that’s a fairly lame point, but it makes sense when you think about it.
GregAtlanta, I don’t care if I was starving, naked and homeless, I would NEVER use one of those computer dialers.
Apart from the fact that they’re usually used by the real scum, they’re just plain rude. We have a guy in our office who had one at his last job. Brutal. I know you have no sympathy for TM’s, but this was pure sweatshop. It was a charity, and it was a straight yes or no answer, donate or not. They had about thirty seconds per call and as soon as one call was complete another came up. He says guys were bailing from the stress inside of an hour. He lasted a week or less and had a migraine after every shift.
At our office we can talk for as long or short a time as the conversation naturally goes. We have control over our own lists, and can call a customer back, if requested, at whatever time THEY request, not when the machine spits out their number. We can take a bathroom break, or stop to look over our lists, or even carry on a conversation between ourselves while we’re waiting for the phone to be answered.
In other words, we’re treated like adult humans, not rather childish machines.
Whoops! Sorry for the rant, but some places just tick me right off!
I’ve been trying this for about a year. My home number is unlisted, and my home phone is not plugged in. If someone wants me, they call my office and talk their way through the receptionist, and then talk their way through my secretary. Net result? Family and friends get through immediately. Business calls are prioritized. Telephone spammers get put on hold, and stay there until they hang up.