Telemarketers: How do you deal with them?

Telemarketers: How do you deal with them?

  • I actually talk to them and hear what they have to sell

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I tell them at the first break in their pitch that I am not interested, then hang up

    Votes: 14 27.5%

  • I give the phone to my 5- year old

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I just hang up while they are talking, because they won't stop.

    Votes: 18 35.3%

  • I get upset

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other (please elaborate)

    Votes: 19 37.3%
  • Total voters
    51
I try to be polite and decline whatever it is they are selling before hanging up. I tend not to give them time to respond, though those that have the chance seem to appreciate the fact I don't just slam the receiver down. I try to remember they are real people trying to do a difficult job. I just don't really appreciate what they have to do.

There are worse things in life than having to answer a telemarketing call.
 
visiondr said:
Call display baby! If I don't know 'em, I don't answer 'em and let the answering machine pick up and listen as they leave a message (or don't)
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That's exactly what I do. And then I report the number to the FCC because I've listed my number in the Do Not Call List a long time ago.

Then there's the idiot (with no ID) that calls and never leaves a message, on and on and on and on. Little do they know that eventually I find out where the call originates from, and I promptly report it to the FCC.
 
peter_n said:
Ray - have you been flogging my mobile number to marketers? ;)
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No... I wouldn't do that.

I just wrote it on the urinal wall at the men's room in Grand Central Station. ;)
 
Since the home phone has been on the "Do-Not-Call" list I seldom get any sales calls, but do get a few from the folks conducting surveys. When asked if I would like to answer a few questions I usually reply, "um, look I'm in a real bad mood right now, and this is a real bad time, and any answer I give you will be made up -- so I'm going to hang up right now -- OK?"

But since the politicos are exempt from the National Do-Not-Call. At election time my home phone is bombarded with calls pushing one canidate or another. To those folks I just say, "You know, you just cost your boy a vote don't you? I was planning to vote for the jerk until you woke me up from my nap. So go away, and never bother me again, and then I might vote for someone in your party oneday."
 
My last name is Tennyson. I have come to the conclusion that if they can not pronounce my last name, then I don't know them and therefore do not need to listen do them. If I have won the lottery they will call back! :p

My favorite though are the ones that call for my dad. He wears hearing aids so I always say he can't hear on the phone can I take a message. To which they always reply no I will just call back later. To which I reply well OK but he won't be able to hear any better then either!

Usually they have no idea what I meant but on occasion they realize their mistake and they apologize and hang up! We don't get many anymore though since I put our number on the Do Not Call directory. Seems to have worked.
 
Your new friend

Your new friend

A pesky tele marketer kept calling and telling me that i could save money on my long distance calls to friends and family.

I told her(in a creepy Norman Bates voice) that I didn't have any friends and family,but if she would give me her home phone number,I'd sign up for the money saving plan and call her every night.

I never heard from her again.

Coming,Mother!

GaGa
 
I've found it's quite effective to just present them with an utterly unimaginable scenario. For instance if they call to sell tickets to the symphony orchestra, tell them you don't like music. Or if they try to sell long distance telephone service, tell them you don't own a phone. Or if they want your opinion on something, say you have no opinions, never did have for that matter. Or if they call from a police charity, you say you're an anarchist and think the world would be a lot better off with no police.... I feel sorry for them too, if they have any sense of humor this approach may lighten up their day...
 
Its so simple, and funny. Jjjjjj uuusssss t t t t t t stutter and talk about doctors, operations, what mum said at thanksgiving...
 
I used to ask for the name of the company they were representing, then ask then them to tell their supervisor that I had added their name to the list of companies I would never deal with, because I find telemarketing offensive. These days I simply hang up.
 
Heh! That anti-marketing flow chart is great!

Pity when a marketer calls they are rarely English.
I have no prejudice to race or whatever, but if I can't understand someone I'll tell them. You don't call up germans and start talking polish, so why call up an english person and speak in a confusing dialect/accent.

If the person sounds well-spoken, there isn't noise in the background, and they are asking for me specifically, I may ask what it is concerning, and be polite.

When I was called about changing my mobile phone contract to a 3rd party rival phone plan, the person spoke in really difficult to understand English.... their accent was Welsh. I asked them if their accent was Welsh and why they were calling me, then I couldn't stop laughing because I couldn't understand them. Telling someone they don't speak properly usually gets them to hang up.

Once I answered the phone to an indian call centre, and I put on a mock-japanese voice, shouting incoherent words like an irate old man. I was hung up on very quickly.

My dad once answered the phone and told them they had a porn shop.


The simpsons -
Joe's taxidermy! You stuff em, we fluff em! (or words to that effect).

I occasionally hang up on the spot, once I shouted at the person on the other end of the phone to remove our number from their database or the police will be called. They didn't call back. I think I'm quite rude really!
 
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I usually just speek to them in Italian. I used to do spanish but due to our immagrants comming in from Mexico that just dosen't wook to good anymore.
 
Bad strategy

Bad strategy

To the poster who said that they fake a stutter on the phone-On the what do you do for a living thread,I posted that I'm a speech pathologist. As such,I treat stutterers;PLEASE do not make light of this disorder;you have no idea of what people who stutter go through.
 
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Robert Price said:
I usually just speek to them in Italian. I used to do spanish but due to our immagrants comming in from Mexico that just dosen't wook to good anymore.
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Lei e molto cattivo!
 
I am always polite as believe it or not these people are trying earn a living to support themselves or others, however:

I immediately tell them, "I am sorry, but I'm not interested. I know you've got a job to do, however please do not call back". Said firmly and politely (and having worked on teh delivery) I have yet to have anyone say anything other than, "OK, bye" or in many cases a very polite "Have a nice day, bye". Letting them talk and shooting them down only wastes their time and yours. I butt straight in as soon as I realise what they are. They realise the futility andmove onto calls that could yield a result.
 
Seems that we fall into one of two camps: be rude and abuse them, or treat them politely, realizing that they are folks having to do an unpleasant job to make a living.
 
RdEoSg said:
I have come to the conclusion that if they can not pronounce my last name, then I don't know them and therefore do not need to listen do them.
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Exactly.

Besides, I can tell people's accent on the phone; if it's not from an area I know, Mr. Egwr doesn't exist :rolleyes:
 
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