I can't stand telemarketers, they call when I think it's someone I know. Can we convince them either to stop calling or start selling us rare 80's movies instead of the crap they want us to buy?
Posted by Everything is NOMS (Member # 2688) on :
I always use the
"can you just hold on a second" approach then I go shopping or watch a movie or something.
Doesn't stop them calling but it wastes their time somewhat...
TeleNoms Posted by Sam 'The Made Man' Hain (Member # 3150) on :
The one I like to do on occasion is let them go through their entire spiel taking up a couple minutes of their time. Then when they're done telling me the spiel they ask
"Does that sound like a good deal to you?"
"YES" very enthusiastically
"So Can I Sign You Up?"
"NO" even more enthusiastically
*crickets chirping*
then I hang up
Posted by Paul Dangerously, you iceholes.... (Member # 1022) on :
In the UK, we have something called the Telephone Preference Service (there must be a similar scheme in the US) where if you register with this service, the calls should stop from all companies bar those you have done business with before, or have actively allowed to call you.
Companies are legally obliged to check that list before calling you, and if your number is on the list, they cannot call you. Although I've never actually gone through the grievance route yet, I always interrupt the caller straight away and ask if they had checked the TPS list becore dialling my number (something I know they wouldn't have done). I then tell them that they are acting illegally, and are both corporately and personally liable for damages. Then I ask for the name and address of their legal department, and their name.
You'd be surprised how quickly people can hang up a telephone......
Posted by JAY LEE (Member # 6345) on :
What about the old Seinfeld approach?! Don't remember the name of the episode. But a telemarketer calls Jerry, and asks if he is happy with his long distance service or something. To which he replies something like this... "Im a little busy right now, but why don't you give me your home number, then i'll call you later and we can talk about it". the guy says no, and Jerry says "Oh, I guess you don't like people calling you at home.... well, now you know how I feel". And hangs up. Brilliant! I tried that once, and the girl got all confused.... funny ****!
Posted by mamamiasweetpeaches (Member # 1715) on :
There is a number you can call/link you can click to get them to stop calling...BUT it expires after a certain time and then they start calling again.
What bugs me is NOW THEY CALL MY CEL PHONE TOO!
I always hang up the second I realize its a telemarketer, my husband lets them go through their whole shpiel just to say "Put Me On Your Do Not Call List", wasting their time as revenge.
Incidentally, I had a good friend who was desperate for work awhile back and she took a telemarketer job out of sheer desperation. It ate her soul. The few months she worked for them she was a totally different person, looked totally drawn out. She KNEW she was part of one of the biggest pet peeves in the world and that everybody hated her. She didn't work there long.
Posted by Riptide (Member # 457) on :
I like that Seifeld approach that Jay Lee mentioned, it's genius. I'm thinking though I will throw them offguard by asking them if they could sell me a copy of Savage Streets or a rubik's cube instead of some credit card I will never use. That'll teach em!
Posted by Kash (Member # 297) on :
'Sienfeld', they are annoying, intensely so, but then again, sometimes I remember that when Emma, or Larry or Vinod or whatever their names are were young, none of them had this in mind for themselves and most of them are pretty desperate when the take it on. I once began talking to a pre-recodred telesales call, only for a second, but still.
Posted by Stitch Groover (Member # 2895) on :
I don't know about you guys overseas, but we get automated calls from robots at random times during the day, which record when people are most likely at home, so the human telemarketers can call back!
Whenever I get a call now, and they always ask for me by name because I'm the homeowner, I say "Oh I'm sorry, he died yesterday". The telemarketer will either believe it, apologise and hang up, or if they don't believe it, they can't do anything about it, just in case there really is a dead person!
I'm more annoyed by the ones who go door to door. I'm constantly getting bothered by knocks at my door on my day off asking if I want to change electricity carriers because they can offer such and such rate. I really hate to be rude to these people coz they are just doing a job, but sometimes it's the only way to get rid of them!
Posted by ISIS (Member # 1780) on :
I heard that about them being allowed to call people on their cell phones. There's a number you can call...that will block them for 5 years.
I think about how that has to be the most horrible job on the planet. Why would anyone want that job...you'd have people hanging up on you, screaming, cursing, and all kinds of stuff at you. I'd want to jump out a window after 1/2 an hour of that. It would drive me crazy.
I have a telephone that "talks"...it tells me exactly who is calling...so I can be anywhere and hear the phone saying who it is...so then I know if I want to even answer it or not.
Posted by 80'sRocked (Member # 6979) on :
quote:Originally posted by ISIS: I have a telephone that "talks"...it tells me exactly who is calling...
Does it say, "***hole" when they call? Posted by ISIS (Member # 1780) on :
Yeah I wish....
sometimes I tell my mom it's for her.... Posted by ISIS (Member # 1780) on :
I am not sure what happened with my email...but all of a sudden in the last 2 days I have been flooded with emails for "male enhancement"...it is nothing I sure need...that's for sure....but I don't know how to get rid of it...every time something comes in...I hit "Block Sender"...I keep getting them...and it will say a name of a person in the "from" box. Each time...it says a different person. I don't understand that stuff...and where it comes from.
I have some kind of blocker built in to my computer for that...and I never got that kind of stuff before...why now is it coming to me?
Posted by mamamiasweetpeaches (Member # 1715) on :
I get those too! Every freakin day someones emailin me about VIAGRA! HAHAHA!
Posted by Paul Dangerously, you iceholes.... (Member # 1022) on :
I try to ignore those calls, mamamia, but sometimes it's hard, you know?
Posted by Sam 'The Made Man' Hain (Member # 3150) on :
quote:Originally posted by Paul Dangerously, you iceholes....: I try to ignore those calls, mamamia, but sometimes it's hard, you know?
BADUM CHING
Posted by Riptide (Member # 457) on :
I've heard there's a no caller list here, I'm trying to get on that.
Posted by NowhereGirl (Member # 465) on :
quote:Originally posted by Paul Dangerously, you iceholes....: I try to ignore those calls, mamamia, but sometimes it's hard, you know?
bahaha... Posted by 80'sRocked (Member # 6979) on :
Good one Paul....
I get a ton of that crap too. I reply to them with some pretty awful words, but does no good. Alot of them are electronic emails. They automatically change the sender name to try to fool you. Even with all my blockers, they still get through. Posted by jdocster (Member # 5752) on :
I used to get these calls. I'm on the no call list now and I never get them anymore. I also read that it's illegal for them to call you on your cell phone.
Before I got on the no call list I used to do one of the following:
1.) Answer the phone and pretend I was sitting on the toilet. I would go into the bathroom and make noises and say things while they were talking i.e. uhhh, ohhhhh, OUCH! NO MORE MEXICAN FOOD FOR ME! Is that supposed to bleed like that? IT BURNS!!!! Make it stop!!! Look at all of the colors... Hey, I don't remember eating that... Then I would hold the phone over the toilet and flush it several times while saying: Oh boy, that's a big one! I don't know if it's gonna go down or not. Nope it's a double flusher!
They would usually hang up by this point, or, they would ask me if I was OK, or they would be laughing... I did this routine in front of my neighbor once and he laughed about it for a couple of days.
2.) I would answer the phone and pretend I was robbing the place. I'd ask them things like: How long do you think it would take a cop to get here, do you know how to shut off an ADT alarm system? etc... I had one guy selling Satellite dishes and I told him that I was stealing the TV and he wouldn't need satellite. He still kept pitching it to me. Unbelievable!
3.) Sometimes I would tell them to hang on a second and then place the phone next to my stereo speaker and blast Iron Maiden etc...
4.) I used to love to answer the phone and pretend I didn't speak English. They REALLY hated this one...
Since I've been on the no call list I haven't received any of these telemarketer calls. I still get the political ads and the local police or firemen call for donations but I can deal with that.
All of you really should check out the no call list in the internet. It's a wonderful thing!
[ 08. October 2008, 13:44: Message edited by: jdocster ]
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'Sienfeld', they are annoying, intensely so, but then again, sometimes I remember that when Emma, or Larry or Vinod or whatever their names are were young, none of them had this in mind for themselves and most of them are pretty desperate when the take it on. I once began talking to a pre-recodred telesales call, only for a second, but still.
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