I’m generally tolerant of telemarketers. I used to do it and I realize that most of the time it’s someone who couldn’t find anything better at the time. I mean, no one sets out to “be a telemarketer when they grow up” right?
I usually tell them nicely that I’m not interested, please put me on the do-not-call list.
Then AT&T called. They wanted me to switch to their long distance. They called a couple of times a week. Each time I’d say “No thanks, we’re happy with what we have” and they’d say “Oh, what rates are you paying now?” and I’d say “I have no idea. Bye!” and hang up.
Then it got worse. They called in the morning, waking me up. I told them I wasn’t interested. They called again that afternoon! I was on the other line long distance with my mom, so I said “excuse me, I’m on the other line long distance.” She said “Oh ok. Well the reason I called is to offer you our new blah blah blah…” and just launched back into her script!!! I interrupted her and said “Did you hear what I just said? I AM ON THE OTHER LINE-- L O N G D I S T A N C E!!” but she still didn’t get it. I had to hang up on her.
Then that evening, they fucking called A G A I N!!! Three times in the same day, and it’s not like they got no answer so they called back! I pretty much chewed that guy’s ear off, telling him that i didn’t appreciate it, I considered it harrassment, he should talk to his supervisor about their methods, etc. I told him to put me on the list to make sure they never called me again, because the way they’d been, especially the one when I was on the line with my mom, ensured that I would never ever use AT&T long distance, no matter WHAT rates they had. If they call again, I’m gonna set the building on fire.
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From an actual catalog: “Disco balls create an enchanting, dazzling effect of light shafts, adding movement and glamour to any occasion” the Abrams’ bris was certainly memorable
O p a l C a t www.opalcat.com
I use AT&T, but I just got my phone bill yesterday, and I am seriously thinking about switching. My long distance bill came to $75 (we have a lot of long-distance relatives, so I can accept that), but my total bill was over $200. And it was paid to zero. There’s no previous balance. Thought I’d faint.
If we get a call from a telemarketer trying to sell me phone service, I just might give them a listen–if they aren’t jerks like the ones that called you. Yoinks. Three times in one day? That is outrageous.
This space blank, until Wally thinks up something cool to put here.
Yeah, AT&T every day for three weeks they would call at lunch & dinner. I know I have Caller ID, never did pick it up. They show, as most telemarketers do, as ‘Unavailable’ on the caller ID.
My phone statement includes pages from AT&T, Sprint & MCI. That should keep them all happy,you’d think?
Do like I did. I use an answering machine, figuring that call ID just points out a lot of wrong numbers for a fee while my machine usually stops all such numbers for free and, if curious, I have the dial caller ID. I just dial *69 and get the last number who called.
I had AT&T calling me. I also had previously had AT&T illegally switch my service to them and had to get it switched back. So, on my announcement, after my brief message where I encourage callers to leave a note, I simply put: ** I you are a telemarketer for AT&T, SPRINT or any other form of business, do not leave a message. If you persist, I will take legal action.**
It worked. Now all I get are wrong numbers. From the way my machine cuts on, delivers the message and is followed by the sound of the other caller hanging up, I figure I’ve saved myself from answering a couple of hundred telemarketing calls.
Course, the only drawback is that I’ve had to replace the outgoing announcement tape more frequently because the frequent attempts to sell me something have actually worn it out.
Some time ago, I switched from Spint to AT&T. AT&T was supposed to be giving me 60 free minutes a month for 6 months, a nice low rate, cover the cost of switching, all that jazz. Well, I never got the free minutes or the check to cover the switching cost.
When a call I hadn’t made (I was on vacation at the time) showed up on my bill, I finally called them and tried to figure out what was going on. The person I spoke to was extremely unhelpful; I got nothing, not even the call removed from my bill. So, I switched to MCI. You get one chance with me, and that’s it. I’d rather pay more than stick with a company that doesn’t give a rat’s ass about its customers.
They called me twice in the next two days to figure out why I switched. I told them, very briefly, the above story, plus outlined what it would take to get me to switch back. They either weren’t willing to do it or were unable to do it, so they dived off the phone pretty quickly. I get the impression that the second call was from a supervisor, trying to figure out what had pissed me off.
AT&T hasn’t called me since, apparently writing me off as a lost cause. So, that’s my secret for stopping the calls from the phone companies: tell them their customer service has pissed you off in the past and you wouldn’t even consider giving them money ever again.
This post brought to you by the US Department of Overprotective Paternalism.
The telemarketers get to me to, but especially the recorded sales pitches. That’s just insulting. Can’t even give me a real person to hang up on, eh?
But here’s my biggest gripe. I can’t get them to give me a goddam phone book. It’s been more than a month since I moved in to my new house, and I still can’t get one. After more than two weeks of patient waiting, I called them and told them I would PAY for a phone book. They said that their distributer was out-of-state and they had to be ordered, and mailed. What? Why in God’s name don’t they have some at their office?
So I waited another week, and called them again. Then they told me that the order for my phone book had never been put in and it would be another seven to ten working days. I’m still waiting.
I’m at the end of my rope. You can’t function in today’s society without a phone book. Food, air, water and a phone book: the elementals of human survival. I’m seriously considering driving around until I find a pay phone and ripping off its book. I can’t order a pizza. I can’t find the library. I can’t make reservations. The phone company tried to placate me by giving me free 411 calls, but, as I pointed out to the phone company representative, you can’t get a number unless you know the name of the buisness you’re wanting to call.
I’ve tried it. We called my father in law, but he could barely hear us, and what he could hear he could barely understand. He ended up saying “hello? hello? Ok, well I"m hanging up now” and disconnecting. I have also tried…um… myfreeld.com is that it? And I couldn’t even get it to work on my computer.
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From an actual catalog: “Disco balls create an enchanting, dazzling effect of light shafts, adding movement and glamour to any occasion” the Abrams’ bris was certainly memorable
O p a l C a t www.opalcat.com
I am also a little disppointed with dialpad. The audio is too chopped up. Maybe it’s my 33.6 connection or that Freewwweb (my ISP) doesn’t give a good streaming feed on demand, I get the feeling they send me large data in spurts. (FTR, their service has been outstanding otherwise)
On the other hand, I look cool in this spiffy new headset…
opus: I doubt that has anything to do with it. I tried it and I have a cable modem. I run streaming video and audio to several people simultaneously almost 24 hrs a day with no problem.
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From an actual catalog: “Disco balls create an enchanting, dazzling effect of light shafts, adding movement and glamour to any occasion” the Abrams’ bris was certainly memorable
O p a l C a t www.opalcat.com
Getting back to the telemarketing. I just hang up on them, usually I tell them I have no TV, car, phone, kids, whatever they are selling.
But some day, we may have to be a little friendlier. My prediction of jobs in the US by 2080:
5% farmers
5% make stuff
10% make web pages
10% entertain.writers, movie industry, music
10% sell, handle, deliver stuff (see above for stuff)
20% study
10% telemarket
10% sell info
10% appear in talk shows full time
So you too will have 1 out of 10 friends and relatives in telemarketing
I am usually polite to telemarketers, figuring they’re just trying to earn a living. I turn down whatever they’re selling firmly, but cordially. It thoroughly pisses me off when they start giving me attitude and using an impatient tone of voice because I don’t want whatever scam they’re pushing. I have just gone out of my way to be polite to someone who is invading my time and home, for crying out loud! At this point, I shift into bitch-mode without remorse.
CalifBoomer, you ARE that telemarketer that kept hassling Opal aren’t you?? Fess up!!
I do have AT&T, but my bill is still SO high, and yet no company that I’ve seen so far could get my bill any lower, and keep my son in school in Virginia! Boy, do I look forward to the summers, I get DJ home, AND my bill goes back to $50 bucks a month again.
“Erlich, the woman is a TURNIP!!”
“I know, but my mom always told me to eat my vegetables!”
I would rather not say were I work now, but I have worked for both AT&T and MCI and they called me regular as clockwork also. When I worked for MCI, AT&T would call. We can give you blah de blah rate, and I would reply that I got my long distance basically free. There reply was “how do you do that?”, to which I would respond that I worked for MCI and they paid so much of the bill. (I dont have a very big monthly LD bill so the $25 dollars they put toward it usually covered it) They would still try to convince me to change for the next 5 to 10 min or until I was forced to hang up on them. When working for AT&T it was the same thing with MCI. I can honestly say that if there was any difference in the average monthly bill it was negligble. And to whoever mentioned the recorded sales pitches, ditto. What an insult, I usually never make it past the “please hold for a special offer/announcement” whatever it is they say.
OpalCat, you just missed out on $1500.00!!!
There’s still a chance for you! If they keep
calling, ask for the supervisor, get his/her
name/number, and ask to be removed,and keep a record of the calls. Advise them that for everytime they call, you can by law, sue for $500.00 for each instance.
Bet it’ll stop pretty quick. As for your long distance bills, We have $0.07 during the day, and $0.05 at night. The best I could get was $0.25 during the day, $0.11 at night, and $0.11 during the weekend with MCI.
I just quit those bastards after 7 and 1/2 years, and when I would tell that to the MCIWorldcom telemarketers, they would go,
“well, would you like to switch back??”
Real brain sturgeons!!!
I pity the fool that brings a knife to a gun fight.
Lissa, does your local telephone company have stores that you can visit? Here in Cincinnati our local service is Cincinnati Bell and they have stores sprinkled throughout Cincinnati (usually in malls) where you can go buy their greatly overpriced equipment and talk to the salespeople about their services. Anyway, these stores have the phone books stacked on the floor and you can go and grab one, for free.
I have a deal that my local phone service offered. I get 7 cents a min. anytime and 5 cents a minute on evenings and weekends.
I was on AT&T for a long time. Always got great service. There were a couple of charges for services I didn’t have (some company out of Nevada fraudulently charging me) and AT&T were very nice about it.
For about a year, MCI would call, and call… and call. I kept telling them I wasn’t interested (this is before I knew about the “do not call” list). Finally I agreed to take MCI provided they waive their monthly fee. The rep said no problem. When I got my bill, there was the fee. I called and told them they were supposed to waive it. They did. Then it was on the next month’s bill. I was getting a bit ticked. They said the person who told me the fee would be waived was incorrect. I told them that waiving the fee is a condition of my using their service. No dice. I switched back to AT&T (who sent me a cheque for $100, BTW).
But wait! There’s more! After I cancelled MCI, I got another bill! This was for “taxes on the airline mileage program”. I told them I didn’t want their service, I’m not making calls on MCI, and I didn’t want their airline miles. I told them that since I don’t use MCI they should waive the bill. I was told they couldn’t because it’s a federal tax (for something I no longer used!). I finally ended up taping small change to their bill and sending it back.
I will never use MCI.
… Or so I though. I eventually went to Sprint (I get a USAA discount) and I heard MCI merged with Sprint! Oh well. The service has been good, and I haven’t been getting any marketing calls.
AT&T sent me a $90 cheque to switch back, and when I didn’t respond they sent a $75 checque. I’m happy with Sprint. I do use AT&T Cellular though. Ninety minutes “free” per month (no charge for long-distance) for 30 bucks. Sure, that’s 33 cents/minute; but not bad for a cell phone.
“I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry
