Pushy Telemarketers

[Weevil]

You wouldn't believe how little that person wanted to hear that I really didn't need a Platinum Mastercard.

 

[Pyper]

I recently was on the jury for a case where an "Account Executive" (read: telemarketer) sued his company for not giving him the stock options he deserved. In two years, he raised 8 million dollars for this company. 8 million dollars! All by himself! I'm scared of salesmen.

 

[Cheyenne]

I never hear the sale pitch. As soon as I hear it is a sales call, the words "thank you but I'm not interested" are out of my mouth and the phone is back on the hook. I usually hear them starting to say "but" just as the phone clicks down.

 

[Weevil]

You know this one was real weird. Everytime I said "I don't think I should sign up for anything financial without talking to my Girlfriend. That's how I wound up buying my Solar powered fridge" She would restate her reasons for me getting this card and continue without waiting to hear if her powerful rhetoric had swayed me.

This is why I shouldn't have a phone.

 

[Pyper]

My freshman year in college, I was always getting calls from Chinese telemarketers. (I knew they were Chinese because I can recognize the language, and I concluded they were telemarketers because of all the phones ringing in the background.) I would say, "I'm sorry, I don't speak Chinese," and they would say, "Oh, sorry," and hang up. How the hell did I get on that list?

 

[lavender]

 

[BlondGirl]

Here's the trick.

To get rid of telemarketers, when you get such a call you state:

"Take me off your call list now."

9 times out of 10, they will simply respond with a "Yes sir/ma'am" and it is over. If any of them says it will take a few days or any other such nonsense, ask the person's name and company and then state it again. If they still do not respond, ask for the sup.

It takes a few days, but it will cease almost all calls. I used to get between 20-30/day and now I get maybe 2 or 3 a week.

The way the laws are written, the above phrase must be used. "I am not interrested" has no legal weight. Nor does, "I do not want any", "I have no money", or ""Don't ever call me again."

You must be exact. Try it.

 

[Never]

Hey, my mother was a telemarketer once. You do what you can to get money - there's no reason to 'hate' someone who makes a little more than minimum wage.

 

[Cirrus]

BlondGirl is right...in most states if you ask them to take you off their list, and you have to say those exact words, they cannot legally call you for 10 years. When I first moved I got at least 3 calls a night. You think I'm exaggerating. I'm not. After a year of saying that magic line, I get maybe one a week, and that's on a busy week.

 

[teresafannin]

I have caller ID & an answering machine. I never answer the phone, if someone needs to talk to me, they know to leave a message.

 

[Cheyenne]

The way the laws are written, the above phrase must be used. "I am not interrested" has no legal weight. Nor does, "I do not want any", "I have no money", or ""Don't ever call me again."

You must be exact. Try it.

Did I mention that I ENJOY hanging up on these people? It is part of my stress management program.

 

[Purple Haze]

I like to pretend I can't hear them, I keep saying "Hello? Hello?"

Hopefully they spend the rest of the day trouble-shooting their equipment.

Telemarketers are the lowest form, anybody that calls me at 8 AM on a Saturday will hurt for days.

 

[Never]

What you need is a good backrub - if I had stress I'd demand a good backrub from all my friends.

 

[Weevil]

QUOTE]Originally posted by lavender
Road rage is my main form of anger.

The other is the immense hatred deep within my little soul for telemarketers. [/QUOTE]

I don't hate them, nor do I particularly wish to be rude to them. I just don't see why she couldn't take a polite little hint. I'm not really enough of an adult to have a credit card and I was trying to poke that in to her

"Gosh, I just don't think I'd know what to do with a Platinum Mastercard. I don't think I should do this without talking to my Girlfriend."

"Yes sir, communication in a relationship is important but with no annual fee you could simply put it in your wallet for an emergency and you could probably impress your Girlfriend with your new fiscal responsibility and good credit rating(Aren't most girls driven wild by the ability to secure loans?) Blah, Blah Blah So if I could just get your SIN I'd be happy to......."

"Wait, does this mean I've said yes? I didn't want to."

"Yes sir, but with no annual fee.........."


Yeesh.

 

[Never]

Purple Haze:
"I like to pretend I can't hear them, I keep saying "Hello? Hello?"

Hopefully they spend the rest of the day trouble-shooting their equipment.

Telemarketers are the lowest form, anybody that calls me at 8 AM on a Saturday will hurt for days."

Because, you know they enjoy working at 8am on Saturdays. They don't want to spend time with their family or friends, all they can about is bothering you.

 

[Todd]

Whenever a telemarkers calls me and says, "Are you interested in blah, blah, blah?"

I say, "Are you intereted in being born again?"

They usually say, "Thanks for your time." and hang up.

Thats The only time i really force my gospel instantly at someone is telemarketers. But it works.

 

[Cheyenne]

Has anyone here ever actually BOUGHT something from a telemarketer? I haven't. I can't imagine that I ever would.

Where are the people who listen to this crap and sign up?

 

[beckbabe]

I'm with Blondegirl too. When they ask for me I like to say, "I will never want that so take me off your list," or "I just bought that/had that done." When they ask for my husband my preferred response is" When you find that bastard you tell me, he ran out on me and took everything." It's amazing how they stop pressuring you.

 

[Purple Haze]

Never, I'm not rude to all telemarketers. As a matter of fact I'll sit and gab with them sometimes if I have nothing else to do. I just consider any phone call to a residence before 10 am RUDE.

Most telemarketers get a "No, thank you" from me.

I just wish everybody would hang up on these folks, they'd cease to exist if somebody wasn't buying.

Obviously calling people at home works.

Amazing.

 

[Siren]

I just say, I know you are trying to make a living and this is the only job

 

[Weevil]

Re: I just say, I know you are trying to make a living and this is the only job

you could get, I feel sorry for you, what a waste
and all those dreams you had of a big career and success and
look at you know, calling people and annoying them with this useless shit,

But you know, if you look at the sunday paper, there are plenty of other jobs that dont entail pissing others off, try it,

good luck and good bye.


Works everytime,
they actually stop talking.

try it.

Again, I don't have a big problem with Telemarketers(My GF usually says "Take me off your call list" so I don't get many calls from people wanting to sell me stuff) but it can be really surreal. Especially back in my pre-sober days. I did find a good way to bother them back when I drank. Just try to initiate phone sex. That'll get them to hang up lickety split.

Some of the conversations I had with telemarketers when I was high were really funny.

 

[Ksss]

I actually had one call back after I had hung up on her. She stated, "Gee, I think we were disconnected"...My response.."No, I hung up after the first no thank you"...then I proceeded to ask her for the company name and the name of her manager. She asked why...because you have called an unlisted number and I want to know how and where you got this number...CLICK!

 

[Ticklish Girl]

Usually I say, "No thank you, I'm not interested," and then I hang up. All very civilized and polite. But earlier this month, MCI really made me lose my cool. They called my house twice in one day trying to get me to switch my long distance. Then, even though I told them both times that I wasn't interested, they called me again the next day! I blew up at them. "Don't you people take no for an answer? This is the third time in two days that you've called here! Enough is enough!" She had no idea what I was talking about, and I slammed the phone down before she could reply. They haven't called back since.

 

[Willing and Unsure]

i get lots of telemarketers calling about credit cards while i'm at school.. and the number there is unlisted... i simply tell them i dont believe in plastic and create weird stories for them when they ask strange questions about that. what really gets them is sometimes they have enough information to know that i already have a credit card... those stories are really fun







and no, i'm not on drugs anymore and i dont drink either

 

[White_Tigress_]

We did buy something from the telemarketing. Not to my knowlege though. My husband agreed to one when we first bought our house to "accidental death" insurance. It was free for 8 months, then they start to bill. I didn't know this and harrased the mortgage co. about it. They are the ones who told me it was telemarketing. I called them up and had it cancelled at once.
Next time I am doing this!!! Try it..you'll feel better..lmao

----
Phone solicitation

One thing that has always bugged me, and I'm sure it
does most of you, is to
sit down at the dinner table only to be interrupted by
a phone call from a
telemarketer. I decided, on one such occasion, to try
to be as irritating to
them as they were to me. The call was from AT&T and
it went something like
this:
Hello, this is AT&T...
Me: Hello AT&T: Me: Is this AT&T?
AT&T: Yes, this is AT&T...
Me: This is AT&T?
AT&T: Yes This is AT&T...
Me: Is this AT&T?
AT&T: YES! This is AT&T, may I speak to Mr. Byron
please?
Me: May I ask who is calling?
AT&T: This is AT&T.
Me: OK, hold on.

At this point I put the phone down for a solid 5
minutes thinking that,
surely, this person would have hung up the phone.
Much to my surprise, when
I picked up the receiver, they were still waiting.

Me: Hello?
AT&T: Is this Mr. Byron Me: May I ask who is calling
please?
AT&T: Yes this is AT&T...
Me: Is this AT&T?
AT&T: Yes this is AT&T...
Me: This is AT&T?
AT&T: Yes, is this Mr. Byron?
Me: Yes, is this AT&T?
AT&T: Yes sir.
Me: The phone company?
AT&T: Yes sir.
Me: I thought you said this was AT&T.
AT&T: Yes sir, we are a phone company.
Me: I already have a phone.
AT&T: We aren't selling phones today Mr. Byron.
Me: Well what ever it is, I'm really not interested
but thanks for calling.

When you are not interested in something, I don't
think you can express
yourself any plainer than by saying "I'm really not
interested," but this
lady was persistent.

AT&T: Mr. Byron we would like to offer you 10 cents a
minute, 24 hours a day
, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

I am sure she meant she was offering a "rate" of 10
cents a minute but she at
no time used the word rate. I could clearly see that
it was time to whip out
the trusty old calculator and do a little ciphering.

Me: Now, that's 10 cents a minute 24 hours a day?
AT&T: (getting a little excited at this point by my
interest) Yes sir, that's
right! 24 hours a day!
Me: 7 days a week?
AT&T: That's right.
Me: 365 days a year?
AT&T: Yes sir.
Me: I am definitely interested in that! Wow!!!
That's amazing!
AT&T: We think so!
Me: That's quite a sum of money!
AT&T: Yes sir, it's amazing how it adds up.
Me: Ok, so will you send me checks weekly, monthly or
just one big one at the
end of the year for the full $52,560, and if you send
an annual check, can I
get a cash advance?
AT&T: Excuse me?
Me: You know, the 10 cents a minute.
AT&T: What are you talking about?
Me: You said you'd give me 10 cents a minute, 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week,
365 days a year. That comes to $144 per day, $1008
per week and $52,560 per
year. I'm just interested in knowing how you will be
making payment.
AT&T: Oh no sir I didn't mean we'd be paying you. You
pay us 10 cents a
minute.
Me: Wait a minute here!!! Didn't you say you'd give
me 10 cents a minute.
Are you sure this is AT&T?
AT&T: Well, yes this is AT&T sir but......
Me: But nothing, how do you figure that by saying that
you'll give me 10
cents a minute that I'll give you 10 cents a minute?
Is this some kind of
subliminal telemarketing scheme? I've read about
things like this in the
Enquirer you know. Don't use your brainwashing
techniques on me.
AT&T: No sir we are offering 10 cents a minute
for.....
Me: THERE YOU GO AGAIN! Can I speak to a supervisor
please!
AT&T: Sir I don't think that is necessary.
Me: Sure! You say that now! What happens later?
AT&T: What?
Me: I insist on speaking to a supervisor!
AT&T: Yes Mr. Byron. Please hold.

So now AT&T has me on hold and my supper is getting
cold. I begin to eat
while I'm waiting for a supervisor. After a wait of a
few minutes and while
I have a mouth full of food:

Supervisor: Mr. Byron?
Me: Yeth?
Supervisor: I understand you are not quite
understanding our 10 cents a
minute program.
Me: I'd thish Ath Teeth & Teeth?
supervisor: Yes sir, it sure is.

I had to swallow before I choked on my food. It was
all I could do to
suppress my laughter and I had to be careful not to
produce a snort.

Me: No, actually I was just waiting for someone to get
back to me so that I
could sign up for the plan.
Supervisor: Ok, no problem, I'll transfer you back to
the person who was
helping you.
Me: Thank you.

I was on hold once again and was getting really
hungry. I needed to end this
conversation. Suddenly, there was an aggravated but
polite voice at the
other end of the phone.

AT&T: Hello Mr. Byron, I understand that you are
interested in signing up
for our plan?
Me: Do you have that friends and family thing because
you can never have
enough friends and I'm an only child and I'd really
like to have a little
brother...
AT&T: (click)