@GyroMight: wasn't there a product a while back (the Zapper?) that detected when an incoming call was auto dialed and return the tone for \"this line has been disconnected\" which would remove it from their system?

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KMan13 still wants a Pontiac G8

@wickedpixel: yea, we had one, and it worked very well for a while ... i guess call centers eventually found out how to beat it though.

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DeathByCuriosity

@wickedpixel: Yes, the Telezapper.

[www.telezapper.com]

We used to have one, but I think we quit using it once we got on the DNC list. We probably still have it but I don't know where it is because we've moved three times since.

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@GyroMight: I call this \"always giving out my landline number but never, ever answering it.\"

Also, I enter numbers that call as telemarketers into my cell as \"Z Douche\" (so they sort to the bottom of the alpha list) and set them to a silent ring. Last time we discussed this people had funny names for these; I think my favorite was \"Satan.\"

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repete7

Suing might be an option in theory, but how do you get contact information to be able to do it? I once asked a telemarketer (who said he was calling about my credit card) for the number to get off their list and he gave me a phone sex line number.

5 replies

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nbs2

@repete7: Is it possible to sue the client company instead of the agent call center? I would think it easier to sue BoA than Joe's Telemarketing.

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KMan13 still wants a Pontiac G8

@nbs2: BOA would just claim they never hired the company and have no idea who they are...

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dragonfire81

@repete7: A great resource is to google the company and/or the phone number that was calling you (if it came up on the call ID) oftentimes you'll find reports from other people that have been contacted by that number and usually someone has done the sleuthing and figured out what company is behind it.

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bohemian

@repete7: This is the real problem. You can't get the info on who and where they actually are. So suing is a long shot.

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@repete7: Even if you can't get the number, you can report as much information as you have to your state AG. Mine will hunt down and sue companies that harass enough state residents.

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oblivious87

I called and asked for donations from alumni for my school. It was a great way to connect with people and see how my school helped them, but at the same time, I'll totally agree with every confession on here.

I would have people yell at me as soon as I finished my pitch. This was usually because they were eating dinner or watching the news. I can totally understand why you don't want to be bothered, but first off, don't answer you phone if you don't want to be bothered, and second off, yelling at me will only result in me putting you as a non-personal callback 5 minutes later.

One guy did this to everyone who was working that night and he was called 10 different times because a) he never asked to be not be called again and b) he would yell at every person he called.

Also, it drove me nuts when I would state who I was and they would lie that so and so wasn't available at the time, even though the kid graduated 2 years ago and you were obviously calling a cell phone because the area code was different then the area they lived. A callback would only lead to the voicemail confirming this.

Telemarketers might be considered scum, but I did it to pay the bills. I was working and going to school and to have some dick treat me like I was the piece of gum he stepped on would only result in me trying to make him feel just as miserable.

A simple \"sorry, i'm not interested, please take me off the list. good luck though with your cause\" is all it takes to get off the list forever and ever. I would go above and beyond for these types and 99% of the time, remove their numbers so they didn't get called if the people who managed the lists failed to remove the number.

23 replies

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Brian Nunchux

@oblivious87: Thanks for the stories. Seriously though, folks, what's up with all the hate? Sure, we all dread the calls from telemarketers, they make us angry, etc, etc. But what's with all this \"get a better job\" bs? Seriously, for those of you who have actually gone to college, you should know that finding a job that is willing to cater to your college schedule is next to impossible. If you need money while going through college, you need a job that can accommodate a schedule that changes every 4 months, and there are very few of those out there. Most of those are call center or fast food work (I worked fast food for 4 years to pay my way through college). It's nice to think that anybody can just wander out and get a \"respectable\" job that pays well and is flexible enough to work around school hours, but we don't actually live in that world.

Second, there seems to be a HUGE disconnect between what you want to do and what actually works. When we get calls from telemarketers, we want to get angry and scream and swear at the person calling us. How dare they interrupt our dinner! But the simple fact of the matter is that this does NOT accomplish anything.

Sure, we'd like our yelling and swearing and threatening to fix the problem, but it doesn't, as these two have pointed out. Perhaps there's a policy that doesn't allow it, or the rep on the other end of the line feels like being a turd or whatever, the simple fact of the matter is being rude doesn't solve the problem. I'd like it to just as much as the next person, believe me. What DOES solve the problem (according to these folks anyway)is being polite and simply asking to be removed from the list. \"Take my name off your calling list.\" Problem fixed (most of the time).

I mean, you can give in to what you WANT to do (get mad and scream) and continue to deal with the problem of telemarketers calling you when you're eating dinner, or you can be polite for 5 minutes and not have to deal with that problem again.

Now, I'm not saying you don't necessarily have the right to yell or whatever (that is debatable - I have certainly done it many times before), I'm just saying take a step back and look at what is going to be an effective use of the time you're already spending on the phone with a telemarketer.

When you step back and look at it from the perspective of which approach actually gives you RESULTS... isn't it worth 5 minutes of being (fake) nice in order to not receive the really annoying calls any more?

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@Brian Nunchux: Here's where the hate is:

\"yelling at me will only result in me putting you as a non-personal callback 5 minutes later.\"

It's immature, vindictive, and done deliberately to piss someone off. People work at telemarketers, no big deal. But oblivious is claiming \"don't get mad, I HAVE to annoy you to stay in college, they MAKE me\" and in the same breath admitting that s/he goes out of his way to punish people who are rude to him. That's unprofessional. (And yes, I've had jobs where I've taken abuse from the public. It's unprofessional to strike back.)

I am never rude to the college students who do alumni solicitations for my college. But then, they aren't paid -- they're volunteers who get paid in pizza. So they have no motivation to be rude. They're always polite, only call me once a \"call season\" (about every two years, these days), and have my alumni stat sheet up so usually the student who calls has something in common with me -- from my hometown, lives in my dorm, involved in the same extracurriculars. (On occasion, is even someone I'm related to.) When I politely say I donate to the annual appeal (Christmas mailing), they ask if there's anything they can update in my alumni record or do I need any assistance with anything related to the school, and they transfer me to alumni relations if there is.

My husband's college uses a call center. They call repeatedly; there's some number of times they have to call before giving up, they ask repeatedly on every call if we'll donate, they're obviously hitting metrics and on a \"hard sell\" script. They know nothing about us except that we're grads, they're not invested in the school, they hate what they're doing.

It's colored our picture of the two schools, and I'm sure you can guess which one we donate to and which one we try to avoid calls from.

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Brian Nunchux

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Don't get me wrong, I definitely agree with you!! I've been working in customer service for a very, very long time. On one hand, I certainly know the feeling to want to take vengeance upon some rude a**hole on the other end of the phone or across the counter. BUT, I've also understood that it's not right to strike back, nor is it what I'm actually getting paid to do. Part of what I'm getting paid for is to tolerate (and continue to assist) people who are screaming at me.

It's definitely wrong (and immature) to say that just because a customer is rude, I'm going to subject them to more punishment, as oblivious is saying. I thought, at the time I made my post, that oblivious was stating that most people who were rude forgot the key \"take me off the list\" phrase, and those people were thrown back in... but after a re-read, I see what you are seeing... all rude customers are thrown back in. That kind of behavior IS immature and vindictive.

I do think my argument from above still applies, that being polite will get you there faster, but I would love to see a company policy that says \"punish rude customers\" or something similar.

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Brian Nunchux

@Brian Nunchux: if that is, in fact, what you're saying oblivious, I'm disappointed. If it's not, then my apologies. :)

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oblivious87

@Brian Nunchux: The way our school worked, as I stated at one point was it was better to have a response then have someone leave you with nothing. If people didn't specify a better time to call them back, they were put on the list for later that night. People who were especially rude would be listed to be called back relatively quickly because you knew they were home. Without any sort of response, whether this was a pledge, a refusal, or asking to be put on the no call list, that person would be put back into a pool or potential donors. It was better in the long run to get them off quickly hence the quick call backs. Usually one person would have better luck at keeping the person on the line long enough to get some sort of response.

There was never a time where someone was rude and asked me to put them on the no call list where I would ignore them and re-add them to the pool. Many alumni are still close to people they went to school with and using this tactic would only result in people who have donated in the past to refuse to do so in the future.

Truth be told, the school was doing what it did to keep certain programs going. The USA Today rankings of universities take into account alumni who donate each year in their calculations. Knowing both these facts, it becomes obvious that the school wanted to do everything in its power to not piss off a potential donor, but at the same time, its in their interest to get people who don't want to donate off the list.

But what if the person I called was having a bad day, but would gladly make the pledge the next day? That's the reason why we couldn't just assume that someone who yelled wanted to be taken off the list. This is actually more common then you think. Believe me, if I was called the same day I wrote my bank a $700 check to pay this months college loan bill, I'd tell the school to kiss my ass. Next week though, I'd remember the awesome job I have now and the great lifelong friends I have.

@Lemony-Fresh: I did say this earlier, if I could keep someone on the phone long enough, I could ask them if I should call back at another time. This usually was the perfect bridge which allowed these people to say \"tomorrow\" (call back), \"next year\" (refusal), or \"never\" (permanent do not call). It was that simple. Just as much as you don't want to have me call you every day, I don't want to be yelled at by you everyday.

And for the record, I don't really appreciate the fact that you label me as scum based off of a job I did. Hell, I'm not even doing that job anymore and you're taking out your hate of telemarketers on me on a damn website. So what does that make you??

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PipeRifle

I don't know what to do, guys. Every time I go to Burger King I don't want Mayo on my sandwich. I don't know what to do. I yell \"MAKE MY SANDWICH RIGHT\" every time, and have tried \"GIVE ME THE SANDWICH I WANT\" but I guess I don't know the \"Magic Word\" to get no mayo. Stupid scumbucket burger jerks!

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Scarlet_Begonias_and_a_touch_of_the_Blues

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Just wanted to point out that I don't think the OP or oblivious87 calls people back to be \"immature\" or \"vindictive\", and I don't think that the callbacks are \"done deliberately to piss someone off\"...I think that's what their jobs require them to do. If the person they are calling does not specifically ask to be put on the DNC list, then their job is to recycle the number. Can't say that for all telemarketers, though....maybe some are everything you've stated above.

I do think the most effective way of dealing with telemarketers is to request to be placed on their DNC list....it takes seconds and rudeness is unnecessary to make your point.

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Walkallovaya

@Brian Nunchux: I totally agree about the difficulty of getting a job. It just sucked where I went to school, unless you wanted restaurant work, and even then it was not easy. \"This American Life\" did a feature about a rest stop in upstate New York where they interviewed the workers. Turns out they were shipped in from somewhere in Eastern Europe (Serbia? Slovakia?) because American teens were too difficult to deal with. Americans would slack off and want vacation time, etcetera, so the company operating this rest stop just went to shipping in these youngish Eastern Europeans and even housing them.

Evidence that there really is discrimination against American school kids for some low paying jobs.

During college, I once interviewed to push buggies at Wal Mart, and did NOT get hired.

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lmarconi

@oblivious87: I also called for my school during college and I concur with a lot of these points. It was a last resort job for me, as it is with lots of people. I desperately needed a job and the money was good. A friend recommended it to me and I didn't think it would be that sketchy because as a freshman, I still had some respect for my university. It ended up being the first and only job I ever quit/was fired from. For these reasons, I don't necessarily think everyone who telemarkets is a scumbag. Lots of people take lots of jobs in desperate situations and it's better than not working at all and the pay is generally better than Mickey Ds if you have limited skill sets.
- People screaming at me generally did not make me want to put them on a do not call list, mostly because I was too busy crying (I don't take yelling very well). I had the power to do it and would quite happily do it when someone asked nicely. I actually felt good when someone asked me to take them off the list because I was one of the few that wouldn't fight them on it (reason 1 why I was fired).
- Don't just say that it's a bad time or whatever because you'll get called back. Honestly, so many excuses that people regularly give get you called back. Just ask to be taken off the list. Repeat if necessary.
- We frequently called cell phones, because that's often the number alumni gave. I didn't even know that was illegal until now.
- Telemarketers are paid on commission. We had special rewards days, office competitions, etc etc. Some kids (me) would rather take their $10.50 per hour than beg someone on the phone to donate $25 to get an extra ten percent. Some kids (most of those that stayed all four years) wanted that extra $150 per month and a free school sweatshirt and would work for it. I think a lot of them were also kids who were easily able to separate the task they were supposed to do from the morals involved. They played games on their laptop or studied while they called and tried their best not to think about what they were doing. Some people can do it, I couldn't.
- 95% of university calling is run by a company called Telefund. If you have any complaints, they're the company you want to mention to the AG/BBB.
- We are punished if we go off the script and eventually fired. Frankly, I was fired because I spent a lot of time on the phone talking to elderly alumni who had fabulous stories about the good ol' days and seemed happy that someone wanted to listen. One time I gave someone directions to a wedding (they happened to be going to the area near my hometown). That was the best part of the whole job, and when I was told that I needed to stay on the script and hang up immediately if someone wanted to gab, I quit.

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katia802

December 2, 2009 2:52 PM

I worked for a time in telemarketing for a charity. Was very lucky in that i wasn't selling anything, just reminding them that we needed donations. As I was officially the supervisor (over a department of one, me) i got to spend time talking to lonely folks when they wanted without being screamed at that I was taking too much time. Made the job bearable.

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oblivious87

@lmarconi: \"We are punished if we go off the script and eventually fired. Frankly, I was fired because I spent a lot of time on the phone talking to elderly alumni who had fabulous stories about the good ol' days and seemed happy that someone wanted to listen. One time I gave someone directions to a wedding (they happened to be going to the area near my hometown). That was the best part of the whole job, and when I was told that I needed to stay on the script and hang up immediately if someone wanted to gab, I quit.\"

That was my favorite part of the job. I spent an hour on the phone listening to a guy talk about his company where he made mobile living units for the military and made his small fortune doing it. In the end, the guy donated $10k not only because he wanted to give back to the school, but because I actually took the time to listen about all of his accomplishments in life.

Fortunately my school allowed us to chat with alumni within reason. It definitely made a crappy job more enjoyable.

@VagrantRadio: I'm not trying to change your mind of telemarketers. To you, I'm scum. I honestly don't care what you think of me. I'm not even trying to defend my actions. All I'm trying to do is say that being nice works wonders, especially with a group of people who are used to being shat on.

Since working that job, I've never had a problem with having a telemarketer leaving me alone or getting a customer service rep to work hard at resolving my problem. It seems like everyone here who thinks I'm scum fails to realize why these people won't help them and when I explain, they ignore that as well.

November 13, 2009 4:37 PM

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ovalseven

@oblivious87: \"...when I was told that I needed to stay on the script and hang up immediately if someone wanted to gab, I quit.\"

But if someone got angry and made it quite clear they didn't want to \"gab\", you called them back. Go figure.

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oblivious87

@ovalseven: You do realize I quoted lmarconi and I never said that myself. But have fun being a tool and putting words in my mouth.

@Brian Nunchux: Brian, you basically said it best. People can yell and rant and rave all they want, but their time would be better spent being calm and asking to not be called anymore. I'm not saying its right that someone can't just hang up and it can be assumed that the person wants to not be called, and since this isn't the case, you make due with the situation and waste 5 minutes of your time asking for someone to take you off the list rather then take 5 minutes everyday and yelling at them.

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ovalseven

@oblivious87: Well, you did say you liked to gab. I just quoted the wrong sentence. Sorry.

\"That was my favorite part of the job.\"

Better?

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oblivious87

@ovalseven: Regardless, you put words in my mouth. Which still makes you a tool. A few alumni actually enjoyed talking to current students, its the reason why they made students do it instead of some third party. Those people made the job enjoyable at times.

I never called them back because they didn't want to \"gab\" to with me. I called them back because they didn't give me a response.

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PipeRifle

@oblivious87: I just wanted to say that you stated your case in a way that made sense and you don't seem to be sadistic or disagreeable in any way.

People who don't have to work a \"bad\" job in their life seem to have a real easy time criticizing those who do, and the lack of empathy around here is shocking. You're not even talking about the sleazy telemarketing; what you did could be considered an expected nuisance, at best. Every college begs alumni for money, and someone needs to be there to do the begging.

Just wanted to let you know that not everyone thinks you're scum just because you did a job one time.

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samurailynn

@oblivious87: Yes, you're \"just doing your job\". If the university asked you to then go out and kill the people who didn't donate, I suppose you would do that too, as long as it knocked another 10k off your college tuition. Sorry, but doing your job doesn't mean that anyone will like you for it. Actually, come to think of it... if a college is paying people to do telemarketing to raise funds so that those telemarketers can afford to go to college... that's something I don't want to support.

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lmarconi

@samurailynn: The only people I felt less bad about calling were people who had received full or most of their tuition paid for by similar donations twenty years ago. Granted telemarketing is a crap way to raise money (though it's surprisingly cost effective for the university), so maybe these people donated through another channel. However,I went to school on a partial scholarship and I always thought donating in some way for these people seemed like a way to pass on the gift that they'd received to someone else.

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Trick

@oblivious87:

Telemarketers are scum just as your defense of them is scummy. What kind of dick puts someone back on a call back list because he or she didn't want to be bothered? Answering the phone to talk with your friend and relative is far different than some scumbag telemarketer with the train of thought that if you don't want to talk to him on the phone, don't answer the phone.

No matter how much you try to justify how you were not a scumbag, you were. Scumbag.

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oblivious87

@Trick: Just how everyone says I should have considered the person on the other end of the line, why wouldn't you do the same? In the end, I couldn't care less if you felt I was a bother, a scumbag, or just an overall jackass. I still sleep soundly at night and so will you. Just don't expect me to feel bad for you for being a rude asshole to me and expect me to risk losing my job so I don't bother you anymore.

@samurailynn: That's a pretty bold \"if\" statement. Calling alumni and asking for money and putting them back on the list if they neither refuse or make a pledge is a little different then going out and killing someone. As far as people liking me for my job, that's not the point here. As I said to Trick, being rude to me wasn't going to make me want to risk losing my job so I don't call you anymore.

Telemarketers hate jackasses, just as much as those jackasses hated us. But in the end, you being rude is more entertaining on my end rather then yours!

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curmudgeon5

@oblivious87: You wrote: \"Just how everyone says I should have considered the person on the other end of the line, why wouldn't you do the same?\" Because I didn't call you and interrupt you you unsolicited; you did.

Look, I don't think telemarketers are \"scum.\" But I do think that's a bit ridiculous to have an attitude when people are rude to you when you call, or to get all self-righteous about how you'd treat them better if they just knew what magic words to use to get you to stop calling. You take the job because you're desperate; I understand that. But go into it knowing that you're going to be pissing people off, and don't get an attitude about that, and act like they owe you any courtesy.

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PipeRifle

I don't understand why people who feel they are so superior to telemarketers feel that they are then justified in \"sinking to their level.\" Someone annoys you so you make their life miserable? Why not take the high ground and be polite and brief (which, more than likely, is ACTUALLY how the telemarketer is acting toward you) and be done with it?

Does yelling and throwing a tantrum somehow get you the 10 seconds back that you spent picking up the phone? What will you do to get back the 2 minutes you spent screaming at some bored college kid who will in no way be impacted by your words?

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oblivious87

@curmudgeon5: Believe me, I knew going into it that people would be rude to me. And I completely understand why someone would be pissed off.

That still doesn't change the fact that there isn't much I can do about it without having someone ask me to take them off the list. Most people when they get angry, forget that minor detail which would force me to keep you on the list and you'd get another call back.

Personally, I'd much rather have a refusal or have someone ask me to take them off the list then to yell and hangup. In the end, I didn't have a response which would get me in trouble because not getting a response is worse then getting a refusal.

If you can scream \"PUT ME ON THE PERMANENT NO CALL LIST\", that method works just as well, but telling me that you're busy and i should leave you alone only suggests I should try back another time.

I needed the words \"NO CALL LIST\" to move you to that list. From my experience, if someone wasn't interested and they said it in a nice manner, I'd ask them if they'd like me to call them back at another time which resulted in them either saying \"sure\" or \"no, please take me off the list\". Too many people who are upset hung up before I could get to that point and as a result, they needed to be called back.

Believe me, the school would much rather have a list of people who were only interested in talking to them rather then calling useless numbers where people ignored them and took away from the time where donations could be made.

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Lemony-Fresh

@oblivious87: \"I needed the words \"NO CALL LIST\" to move you\"

It's NOT our responsibility to know exactly what \"Magic Word\" to say. You're the one acting like an immature slimebucket and peskering us on OUR TELEPHONE in OUR HOUSE. You may not be \"scum\" in other parts of your life, but trust me, in this case, you're scum.

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DangerMouth

@Trick: as a friend of mine says, I'd rather have a brother who was a prostitute than a sister who was a telemarketer.

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JulesNoctambule

@Trick: I don't feel your post made adequate use of the term 'scumbag'. You need to personally attack the poster some more.

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SatanicGuinea

@oblivious87: I answer the phone because a loved one may be in an emergency situation. Caller ID doesn't always show their number, so I always answer the phone.

Sorry, I don't put you on the same pedestal as my family. You can get off of your pompous and righteous high horse.

Its amazing how imbecilic people such as yourself have no clue as to why someone would be pissed off at a frivolous phone call during dinner time. Get a clue.

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oblivious87

@SatanicGuinea: The number on caller ID stated the universities name + \"alumni assoc.\" Sorry, not a loved one dying, but wouldn't it be nice if your alma mater was so nice to let you know Billy was in the hospital! If you didn't answer, you'd get called back another time. You consented to these phone calls when you went to college.

@curmudgeon5: I raised over a half million dollars for my school. All so I could have $10k knocked off my final bill. I was put in that crappy job so I could get an education and because I actually have people skills. Some alumni don't want to have anything to do with their university and until I am told that, there wasn't much more I could do, unless I wanted to lose my job and my education.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Acting like a jackass prevented me from losing my scholarship. If I started removing people for simply hanging up, I wouldn't have had the job for all 4 years I was at school. Someone else would have happily filled my place. I did what I had to do to get through school without doing anything illegal. I much rather would have preferred to do something else, but that was the job I was given to get my work-study grant.

In the end, I was simply telling people this is all the truth, at least from my experience. All of this was the minority of the people I talked to. I have my degree and I'm better for the job I had. Its just sad that most of you would chose to be rude to someone doing their job (oh and not collecting welfare) when all it would take is simply saying \"please don't call me again, i'm not interested\" and 5 minutes of your time.

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HogwartsAlum

@oblivious87: Chiming in late here, but not everyone has Caller ID. As long as the phone company charges for it, I won't get it. It's free on my cell phone so I don't pay for it on my landline. I get charging for voicemail because I have an alternative, but not for Caller ID, which should be free so I can avoid these types of calls, harrassment, etc.

I get that my university calls me for donations, and believe me, when they did I told them I'd be happy to if I ever have any money. That said, it's still annoying to get these calls, no matter who it is or what it's for.

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cranke

@oblivious87: Ahhhh now I get it. You're part of the Y generation. The \"entitlement\" generation. You called me so I MUST be polite to you for 5 minutes.
You can't possibly comprehend why everyone hates your type, because its ALL ABOUT YOU. Nobody else matters other than they owe YOU 5 minutes of polite conversation.
Thanks for doing US all a favor and gracing US with your call. You obviously have \"great people skills\" and are \"better for the job you had.\"

I worked for the University California call center years ago. It took me 6 months to realize what I was doing was not healthy, for me or the alumni. I took responsibility for my actions and quit. Apparently you prefer to justify continued poor behavior so long as a dime can be made.

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floraposte

@oblivious87: What caller ID?

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richcreamerybutter

@oblivious87: Its just sad that most of you would chose to be rude to someone doing their job

Just because someone creates a paid activity does not make it a legitimate \"job.\" What if I paid people to defecate around your car and home? If this upsets you, you can rest assured knowing these people are \"just doing their 'job'.\"

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curmudgeon5

@richcreamerybutter: Exactly.

@oblivious87: What really gets me is the self-righteousness -- that because your employer has these particular policies, how dare people take issue with you/them? Rules and policies above all else! Step back and really think about your stance here.

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glevkoff

@richcreamerybutter: I have a feeling that \"oblivious\" picked chose his/her particular name for a reason, knowhadimean?

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@oblivious87: \"One guy did this to everyone who was working that night and he was called 10 different times because a) he never asked to be not be called again and b) he would yell at every person he called.\"

WOW, that is an AWESOME way to ensure I never, ever, ever donate to my alma mater ever again. I sure hope the school is monitoring student reps who are damaging their fundraising capabilities that way!

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oblivious87

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): If the guy hasn't donated in his lifetime, the odds are good he won't, so it didn't hurt anyone. When he refuses to take the time to say \"please take me off the list\" like every other never-giver, he's going to get called back until he either refuses or asks to be taken off the list.

Some lists are shorter then others. If we're calling the \"never-givers of the class of 1967\" the odds are good, the list will be short and this will happen, OVER AND OVER AND OVER again...

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curmudgeon5

@oblivious87: You seem to be more focused on the polices of the telemarketer instead of what the whole goal actually is. The goal is to raise money and maintain good relations with alumni, right? And you're contributing to that how, exactly?

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lmarconi

@curmudgeon5: It doesn't. It's a stupid practice. Personally, from working in one of these organizations (and hating it - see below) I would recommend that anyone interested in donating to their university contact the alumni relations department directly. Tell them specifically where you want the money to go (there's a separate fund for almost everything on every campus). Tell them that you may renew your donation from time to time, but that you do not ever want to be called and will not donate if you are. If they need to remind you, tell them to mail you something.
The alumni relations people have the power to get all of this done and it'll help you out.

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@oblivious87: So what you're telling me is, acting like a jackass is okay as long as there are no consequences to you?

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JohnQPublic

@oblivious87: \"don't answer you phone if you don't want to be bothered\" My phone ringing bothers me. My phone ringing from the same number repeatedly for 6 months straight REALLY bothers me. It feels like a minor invasion of my personal space, no different than a solicitor knocking on my door.

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curmudgeon5

@oblivious87: \"yelling at me will only result in me putting you as a non-personal callback 5 minutes later.\" Come on, are you really defending your behavior there?

I love how telemarketers get this sense of righteousness that allows them to harass people who never asked to interact with them in the first place.

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AdvocatesDevil

@curmudgeon5: Yep, seriously. If you call me and I don't want you to call, I'm going to give you hell and you deserve it. Get a real job and stop bothering me!

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lmarconi

@AdvocatesDevil: To be fair, as someone who did this before (and hated it), it's a last resort for a lot of people with limited skill sets.
As a freshman in college, I worked retail nights until it started interfering with my classes. I ended up working for a few months at the university call center because the pay was better, I absolutely needed to make money for school and they worked around my class schedule. I only stuck around for a few months because I hated it but still, there are really two contigents of people that work at call centers, lifers who actually have no problem with doing the job, and people who for one reason or another need good money fast and feel they have no other choice. I'm not defending people who are overzealous with the job (see below) but at the same time, there are lots of things that bring people to horrible jobs (especially in a bad economy).

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oblivious87

@curmudgeon5: Actually, as far as graduating from a university and getting calls, often times, you consent to them calling and asking for financial donations.

Its easy to get off the lists and doesn't take more then 5 minutes of your time. I'm not defending myself anymore then stating its a truth.

I don't want to be calling you anymore then you want me calling you. I had people threaten to sue me, kill me, and make a professor fail me. These are alumni from a top engineering school. I'm sorry if I don't give a shit when you want to yell at me and hang up because in the end, if you didn't actually refuse, I have to put you back on the list.

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VagrantRadio

@oblivious87: \"I'm sorry if I don't give a shit when you want to yell at me and hang up because in the end, if you didn't actually refuse, I have to put you back on the list.\"

Obviously you have no decency or the brain power to figure out that these people don't want you calling them. So, be an asshole and call them over and over again and then try to defend it? You're a scumbag.

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Scarlet_Begonias_and_a_touch_of_the_Blues

@VagrantRadio:

Having \"no decency or brain power\" has nothing to do with it...it was the kid's job. He already made it very clear that if the people he was calling did not ask to be put on the do-not-call list, or ask for the calls to stop, then they would be recycled through the list of people to call. I'm sure he was able to infer when the people he called did not want to be called back, but if they did not explicitly say so, then they got called back...sounds to me like that was the policy he had to follow.

Try boning up on your reading comprehension skills before you start name-calling.

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glevkoff

@oblivious87: @oblivious87: @oblivious87: If I had my way about it, telemarketing would be banned, period. It's invasive, the person did not ask to have you contact them, and for some (my elderly mom who has rheumatic arthritis which makes it very difficult for her to run to the phone whenever it rings, but who won't ignore a ringing phone springs to mind) it's more than just a minor inconvenience. I make it a point that I will NEVER do business with any entity who engages in the practice; and your attitude makes me feel the more justified in that. Sorry if I don't give a s*** that you don't care for that, but maybe you should give a little more thought to just who it might be on the other end that you're pestering with your calls and callbacks.

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pecan 3.14159265

@oblivious87: My university is guilty of calling many, many times. I sympathize with the people calling because they're generally all college students put there by their student work program, so they don't deserve the abuse just because they need to pay for college. I did get three calls in one day, however, and I was very firm on them not calling me again. I didn't yell or anything - all you really need is to be firm.

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katstermonster

@pecan 3.14159265: I love when they make small talk with me and ask what I'm doing now. I reply, \"Actually, I'm working for UConn as a Ph.D. student, so I'm already giving back to the university as an underpaid lab rat. Try again in 4 years, I might have money at that point.\"

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floraposte

@katstermonster: I get called by the grad school that promised financial aid and never delivered it. I'm always tempted to tell them that I've already given them 50k, and where's my wall plaque?

Then there are my colleagues who graduated from a school the university since closed down, despite its success and prestige. They're not real rewarding to call.

November 13, 2009 4:37 PM

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BridgetPentheus

@floraposte: My favorite answer to my alumni fund is the same answer they gave me when I needed financial aid, yes you need aid but there are people who need aid more than you. But I'm successfully off their list now. And my favorite was the alumni fund calling for money when I was STILL in school, sorry you couldn't help me how in the world am I supposed to help you.

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Homerjay is utterly alone.

Switching from stodgy old Verizon to swanky new Ooma has solved all my telemarketing problems. Not only am I served by my own personal blacklist but they have a universal blacklist as well. I haven't received a telemarketing call of any type since I switched in August- and we just went through an election season!
I couldn't recommend Ooma enough.

3 replies

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PAConsumerist

@Homerjay is utterly alone.: To paraphrase Cosmo Kramer: \"Ooma, Jerry...OOMA!\"

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@Homerjay is utterly alone.: What is an Ooma? And where can I get one?

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Homerjay is utterly alone.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Ooma.com!

It's a VOIP service. They sell it everywhere now. I was skeptical and waited a month or so before porting my numbers over but have been happy as a clam ever since.

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morganlh85

I agree with the infomercials thing. Wait two weeks and buy it at Target in the As Seen on TV section...you'll save the shipping charges AND avoid being signed up for a monthly supply of Enzyte.

4 replies

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Groovymarlin

@morganlh85: I swear, Bed Bath & Beyond is THE \"buy infomercial stuff here\" store. If you've seen it in a commercial that featured the Snuggie/Crosslight Cutter lady or Billy Mays shouting - they have it.

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RandomZero

@Groovymarlin: Around here, there's actually a store called \"Showcase\". As Seen On TV is literally all they do. I've never seen anybody in there for any reason other than to gawk at the stupid overpriced crap, but they're still in business.

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HippoSwampAss

@Groovymarlin: Bed Bath & Beyond is where my wife bought me the giant cupcake mold! Which, by the way, is awesome. Yeah Fat America!!

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Jesse

@Groovymarlin:

Costco's up there as well. They have both a pallet of Snuggies and ShamWows.

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Jesse

@Jesse:

At the location in my town at least.

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Blueskylaw

\"Out of the shadows steps a dark figure, sporting wrinkled khakis\"
Chino pants/trousers, or simply chinos, are a type of lightweight cotton trousers made from chino cloth in a twill weave. Though they are sometimes confused with khakis, as they are usually khaki in color.

Now that my pet peeve is out of the way.

1.Don't immediately hang up
2.Don't get pissed off at the rep
3.If you don't want the product, don't just decline.
4.Try not to get mad when a rep rebuttals a refusal

I find my life goes much smoother when I do the opposite of the four things listed above.

As for no Rebuttal and Permission to Continue, I have never had had any telemarketer ask permission to continue, they just ignore the I'm not interested and continue with their spiel. In that situation I just continue to do the opposite of the four things listed above.

2 replies

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dragonfire81

@Blueskylaw: \"They mark it as an early hang-up and since no pitch was made, you're put right back on the list to be called again.\" Yeah the lack of common sense in that logic astounds me.

If someone is hanging up on you as soon as you tell them who you are and why you are calling, that's probably a pretty clear sign that the person doesn't want to talk to you. Hang ups should be an automatic removal from the list IMO.

The only one on the list I don't go against usually is to get pissy at the rep, usually because I hang up before I have the chance to get upset.

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Blueskylaw

@dragonfire81:

You're right about getting pissy at the rep, I usually hang up before I get too upset, although sometimes when I'm in a playful mood I like to see just how much the rep on the line can take before he/she calls it quits.

When pressure tactics, no means yes and forced phone conversations are part of your sales tactics, you should consider a different business model or leave the industry altogether.

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curmudgeon5

I'm wondering about the defensive edits at the bottom of the post, since they were there when there were only two comments posted (neither of which would have prompted those edits).

In any case ... When I've asked a telemarketer for a supervisor, they've hung up on me. Every single time.

Also, I hate the whole \"try not to get mad when a rep rebuts a refusal because they're required to rebut several times\" advice. And that shouldn't piss us off because why exactly?

4 replies

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mizike

@curmudgeon5: \"And that shouldn't piss us off because why exactly?\"

Well
1) They're just doing their shitty, shitty, jobs. While you have every right to be pissed off it may be worth it to consider that they don't want to be asking you any more than you want to hear it.

2) As the OP mentions several times, if you treat them like shit they're much more likely to put you on the call back list. Freak out on them as much as you want, just know that the frequency of calls is likely to increase not decrease.

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@mizike: Yes, but ...

The companies that put these sorts of harassments in place rely on the fact that we have too much human feeling towards the representative in question to be rude about it and that we'll feel guilt because they'll get FIRED if we let our annoyance show. I'm not into being rude or getting people fired, but that shit's still not okay.

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floraposte

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Yeah, I don't get why \"I'm just telling you how it is\" is perceived as valid for the call center droids and not for the call recipients. There is actually no obligation for us to tolerate what their job requires them to do.

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dragonfire81

@curmudgeon5: The OP is basically saying \"don't get upset with us for doing our job\". It'd be like a cashier not wanting you to get upset because he or she has to pitch the store credit card to you.

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curmudgeon5

@dragonfire81: That makes sense, but on the other hand, if you knowingly take a job that is famous for revolving around annoying and harassing people, you're sort of signing up for people to be getting angry with you. I mean, if someone paid me to walk around tripping people, I'd still be a bit at fault even though I was just the employee.

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lalaland13

Anything I can do to get people to stop calling me and asking for Ashley because she signed up for some \"business opportunity?\" I've told them I'm not her and no I am not interested in this \"opportunity\" and please take me off this list and do not call again. I keep getting calls, but not nearly as often.

I had a few friends who worked at a call center in our college town. It was hell on earth with horrible turnover. One of my favorite stories was when a friend called a guy who was watching a porno and the guy started describing the porn or something.

3 replies

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RandomZero

@lalaland13: My in-laws get a lot of these calls; I deal with them. My usual counter-script is \"X does not live here or own this number. Remove us from your contact list. You have no business relationship with this number. We are on the DNC list. Next time I call the CRTC.\"

Substitute FCC/FTA for CRTC and it should work for you.

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dragonfire81

@lalaland13: A lot of telemarketers get their information from contest or sweepstakes entries. If someone else put your phone number on one of those forms, it could explain why you are getting calls for someone you are not.

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@lalaland13: Report to the state AG. Once I even got a check in settlement for like $50 for a place that called me repeatedly and wouldn't take me off the list.

My state AG has an easy form you can fill out online or print and mail.

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Oranges w/ Cheese hates what Christmas has become

It is bad enough even when you have a legit reason to call people. I worked in an in bound call center, but occasionally we would set up appointments to contact customers to ensure an issue was resolved or to gather more information.

Sometimes, you'd get someone completely unfamiliar with the callers problem and they'd think it was telemarketing and hang up. That always made me sad because \"technically\" I was supposed to mark off that I tried to contact the customer back, but they'd inevitably call in wondering why I didn't call.

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LeChiffre

\"how you can resist and even fight back\". What does this mean? It means that us American's have to quit feeling guilty saying \"no\", and move on. There is no fighting back. Just say no or hang up. Good grief it's a phone call and if they call again don't answer it. It's a business call and my business strategy is to say no. period. Done.

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itrek

I have no pity for those that say telemarketing is the only job available to them. If nobody would take those jobs maybe telemarketing would stop. I don't think that would be a bad thing. I would support a law in a second that would eliminate telemarketing altogether including those that have business relationships with you, charities, and political calls. Telemarketing is someone using my paid resource (my phone) in a way I don't want them to with no benefit to me. There should be an easy way to stop it completely. At least not for those that don't want it. It's already not allowed for cell phones. Why can't we have that for land lines too?

8 replies

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Scarlet_Begonias_and_a_touch_of_the_Blues

@itrek: And what jobs do you suggest people who have limited skill sets get? Just because you don't agree with someone's job does not make it any less of a job. What kind of jobs were you able to get when you had no work skills to speak of and you were just starting out? I know there are professional telemarketers out there, but there are also plenty of people who take these jobs because they can't get anything else.

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NatalieErin

@itrek: Wait, you want other people to be unemployed so you won't be bothered? WTF?

Ferchrissake, chill out. Yes, telemarketers are annoying. But why should the people who are desperate enough to take that job have to suffer to save you 10 minutes of annoyance? And no, telemarketing is not morally equivalent to killing cats or people, or theft, or any of the other actual crimes people in this thread want to equate it to. Get some perspective, people.

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StanTheManDean

@itrek:

Don't worry, there are changes coming with regards to cell phones to allow scum bags to call you.

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Orv

@StanTheManDean: They call my cell phone anyway. Which ticks me off because it's costing me money.

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Oranges w/ Cheese hates what Christmas has become

@itrek: Hey, I took a call center job because I had to because they hired anything that breathed and I had just gotten laid off. It paid more than unemployment. I didn't like it, but its a living for hundreds of thousands of people.

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lmarconi

@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.: I really respect you for that. It's a sucky job, and there are a lot of people who would be happier to sit on their couch and collect the unemployment check. Don't let people spouting shit on here make you feel like you're a bad person for making a choice a lot of intelligent, good people make.

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h3llc4t, breaker of office dress codes

@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.: I worked tech support out of college because I desperately needed to support myself. I understand what you went through, and I don't begrudge you for making that choice.

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Jerry Vandesic

@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.: Hey, I took a job killing cats because I had to because they hired anything that breathed and I had just gotten laid off. It paid more than unemployment. I didn't like it, but its a living for hundreds of thousands of people.

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lehrdude

My worst nightmare was AT&T calling to collect a bill from the person who had my number before me.

Finally, I just gave up and sent in my identifaction so they would just stop calling me.

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grimdeath9740

All the more reason not to have a landline. Me and my wife have been cell phone only for well over 6 years with almost none of these. There have been a few and I will make sure to promptly let them know they are violating the law if they call again :)

2 replies

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Orv

@grimdeath9740: I have a cell phone and I still get telemarketing calls, just fewer of them. And now I get the privilege of paying for them.

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StanTheManDean

@grimdeath9740:

Read the info. The scum of the world don't really care about your meaningless threats

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SarcasticDwarf

\"and are forced to try to sell to customers all day even if they don't want to\" - These kind of statement piss me off. A person ALWAYS has a choice, though they may not like the options available to them. Playing it off in this way does not excuse the actions of the individual.

2 replies

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treimel

@SarcasticDwarf:
People who do things that they know are not okay tend to find ways to characterize their choice as not a choice at all.

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floraposte

@treimel: Okay, but I do think that we let our annoyance with telemarketing, which is legitimate, turn into a moral stand that I don't think is justifiable. \"Not okay\" sounds to me like an ethical condemnation, which I don't buy unless you're working for one of the companies that clearly doesn't obey the law. I think the notion that somebody should starve before they'd telemarket is stupid, and I think that especially in this economy, many people don't actually have a valid alternative to a job that annoys the crap out of people.

Not that that gives us any greater obligation to tolerate it (though I think people shouldn't be jackasses just on general principle). But there are considerably more morally questionable tasks than merely annoying people.

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Orv

@floraposte: I think it *is* immoral for someone to do something that directly costs me money and steals my personal time.

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Scarlet_Begonias_and_a_touch_of_the_Blues

@Orv: Immorality is also entirely subjective, so, sorry that you feel that way.

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floraposte

@Orv: \"Steals your personal time\" could apply to anything that makes your life go slower than you like, though--being slow at the checkout counter in front of you, for instance. That's not immoral, because your convenience isn't a moral good.

\"Directly costs you money\" is another matter, but for that they have to be calling your cell phone, which isn't legal, so that puts them into the \"companies that clearly don't obey the law.

Nobody has to listen to them or pet them or send them cookies, but being an asshole to somebody because you hate their job and because you can get away with it falls afoul of the \"be a fucking person\" imperative, and people who convince themselves that it's changing anything are looking for a loophole that isn't there.

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Orv

@floraposte: I suppose what it comes down to is I have no respect for people who take a job where they're being paid to break the law.

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Orv

@floraposte: They call my cell phone, yes. It's only illegal if they can't find some excuse to claim I have a \"pre-existing business relationship.\" Even in cases where it is illegal, it's not like the law is actually enforced. Look at junk faxes -- they're illegal for basically the same reason, but everywhere I've worked that had a fax machine still got dozens of them every day.

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oldgraygeek

\"...if you're making trouble for reps, you may be getting someone fired.\"

I read this as \"make as much trouble as possible for the reps, because f*** them for taking such an evil job anyway, and they deserve to end up homeless and living under a rusty railway bridge.\"

Thanks for the tip!

4 replies

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lmarconi

@oldgraygeek: Okay, you pay their unemployment. I'd rather take the phone call than contribute.

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Oranges w/ Cheese hates what Christmas has become

@oldgraygeek: Yes, because we should punish them for finding work and sticking with such a shitty job. Its people like you that make that job more miserable.

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justsomeotherguy

@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.: We should not reward people who are engaged in jobs that annoy use. If they have chosen that line of work they need to leave their feelings at home and butch up. Once they realize they arent going to make a sale they need to get off the phone and dial the next number.

The one group of humans you do not have to show any empathy or respect towards are telemarketers.

The day the headlines read \"mass murder at telemarketing call center\" will be one of the best days ever in human history.

The B Arc...

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oldgraygeek

@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.: Thanks for the encouragement. If I am making a telemarketer's job \"even more miserable,\" I'm performing a public service.

If we can torture them until they all quit, the silence would be deafening... and delightful.

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floraposte

@oldgraygeek: And this is where I have to be depressed with people on my side, because that's just a false moral justification for being a bully. It doesn't contribute to the lessening of telemarketing, it doesn't strike a blow for anything, it just is a loophole people create for themselves to permit genuine meanness to people with little recourse.

Telemarketing sucks, but being deliberately nasty sucks worse.

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Scarlet_Begonias_and_a_touch_of_the_Blues

@floraposte: TOTALLY agreed.

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bohemian

In practice most of that doesn't work. Both our cell and landlines are on the DNC list and your not supposed to telemarket to cell phones but they still do.

1)If it is a telemarketer that has their number show up in the caller ID. Flag it for next time and don't answer it. On my cell I put them as \"telemarketer\" or something and set the ringer to silent. On our landline if we get a known telemarketer we have button that stops the ringer for that call.

2) If you start talking to them you won't get a chance to ask to be taken off. Most just keep talking right over you. This is why we started doing what is in #1.

Problem solved and far less of your time wasted. None of us owe these telemarketers anything. Your not obligated to talk to them or listen to their pitch.

They need to just federally ban all telemarketing. I doubt the world would shed a tear if they did.

1 replies

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idip

@bohemian: I agree with them just talking over you. It sucks.

Or...

You say, \"Can you please take\" *CLICK*

They hang up before you can finish asking them to take you off their list so they can continue calling you. It's a bunch of BS.

*shakes head*

My first call on my TracFone was from a telemarketer. Apparently I won a vacation.

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Mr. Chip

Also remember that if you're making trouble for reps, you may be getting someone fired. They get minimum wage, and are forced to try to sell to customers all day even if they don't want to. I've seen reps fired because they were on the phone too long with someone playing a prank on them. In some areas, the only available jobs in a 40 mile radius are call centers and fast food, keep that in mind before you heckle someone.

Wah wah wah. Go get your GED.

3 replies

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pb5000

@Mr. Chip: I read that too and heard the violin playing. People relocate for a better job all the time. I understand that situations exists where it would be very difficult for someone to move, then I wonder who is eating at the fast food places? It can't be all those telemarketers who are making min-wage, they likely can't afford it?

There are always better options, go find them, we are fortunate enough to live in a country that allows us to create our own destiny. If you feel that fast food or telemarketing are your only options, I feel sorry for you.

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DoubleBaconVeggieBurger

@Mr. Chip: Or, ya know, move.

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nbs2

@Mr. Chip: I work 50 miles from my house and have a 4+ hour commute (r/t). If I can do it, they can do it.

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Groovymarlin

I wish there was some way to block calls from political causes and charities. I'm generous, and donate to various causes, but that seems to imply an \"opt-in\" to future contact. What I'd really like is if they assume \"opt-out\" and seek my permission to contact me again. It's gotten so bad, both in terms of calls AND email solicitations, that I've scaled my political donations way back.

3 replies

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webweazel

@Groovymarlin:
I can relate. I used to give donations to some of my favorite charities. Then, I would get mailings, notepads, pens, stickers, etc. from EACH ONE like 3 times a month begging for more money. I couldn't take it anymore and stopped giving. After all that mail, they probably spent my donation and more on printing and mailing that frequent junk. A newsletter a few times a year would be appreciated, letting me know what's going on with the charity, and keeping them in my mind, but give me a break with your begging junk!

Best bet would be to get a money order and anonymously mail them that, along with an explanation of WHY you don't want to reveal who or where you are. Maybe they'll get the hint. Someday.

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nbs2

@Groovymarlin: My company just had a bunch of charities come in for our charity funding campaign. According to one of them, you have to specify that you are making a one time donation if you want it to be a one-time, no follow up, thing.

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floraposte

@nbs2: Yes, there was a recent piece here (or linked here) that made that point, and I'd never heard of that possibility before. I really won't give more than the annual donation, and I'd just as soon superfluous mailings didn't sop up the funds provided.

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HannerHearse

@floraposte:
I would LOVE opt-in to be the default.
One of the non-profits I donated to will NOT stop sending me solicitations, usually packaged with breakable crap. They used to call me on my cell. I have a new number now that I will NOT give out to companies.

And who knows which non-profit(s) sold my info, but the bulk of paper mail I get now is solicitations, many from non-profits which I've never even heard of.

Lessons learned: donate anonymously. don't give out your cell #.

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GMFish

\"Don't immediately hang up when you find out it's a telemarketer!\"

I'll never forget the time I immediately hung up on a telemarketer. He immediately called me back and hung up on me. It was hilarious.

Now I keep them on the line as long as I can without saying anything of substance. It's the least I can do.

2 replies

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ninjatoddler

@GMFish: But then you're wasting everybody's time and keeping your line busy. I usually just ask them for a call back # and tell them I'd call back later.

Don't ask for their name and ID etc. That would make it personal which would mean that agent would then try to remember you. You don't want that to happen.

The way I see it is, put yourself in their shoes and think of the ways you would remove a person from the call list if you were the telemarketer yourself.

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justsomeotherguy

@GMFish: That is a tactic my grandfather used. He would keep a telemarketer on the line for as long as he could. If it was a recording he would let it play. After all it was their dime.

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FormerlyAnonymous

This list contains a lot of great advice, if you want to spend more time dealing with telemarketers than you ought. I'm not going to stop immediately hanging up on telemarketers unless they start actually harassing me (multiple calls in a week).

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Livre

This is very frustrating for me. A telemarketing group has been calling me for four years on behalf of Rogers and asking for someone who is not me. When I explain:

1. This is not their number
2. This is a cell phone
3. This is a Bell phone
4. I am on the DNC list
5. I have not done business with them in the past six months
6. Stop calling me

They promise they've put me on their do not call list and then call me a week later. If I don't pick up they'll call nearly every hour until I do pick up. I've even called them myself and added myself to their own Do Not Call list. I've reported them but nothing has happened and they still call. I just want them to leave me alone.

2 replies

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RandomZero

@Livre: I'd just keep firing the complaint letters, and politely inform each representative that it can cost their company $15000 and them personally $1500 per call. Tends to do the trick for me. Also: Do they have voicemail on their callback line? If so, good. There's a record that you've explicitly told them of all the violations they're committing.

For the record, they're also required to ID the individual representative AND the contact agency, and the \"no business relationship\" cutoff is actually 18 months.

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ninjatoddler

@Livre: Give them the # to someone you seriously dislike. Tell them this is the new # for John Doe.

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humphrmi

I have a service called \"Privacy Manager\", basically any call from an unresolvable number gets picked up first by this service, and a recorded message asks them to give their name. If they continue (and give their name) it rings my phone, plays back the name for me, and prompts me to accept or decline the call. If I decline, it plays them a recorded \"take my name off your list\" message. Most telemarketers don't get that far - they don't want to give their name because they know I'll just decline it, so they hang up. Problem solved.

1 replies

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erin_w (formerly femme_dork)

@humphrmi: Ever since I got that on my line, as well, the calls have pretty much stopped. The occasional one slips through, but compared to getting five telemarketing calls a night, it pretty much nips it in the bud.

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ThinkerTDM

How about if they talk in spanish? I had one the other night. I told them to fuck off in english- but I'm not sure if they understood.

1 replies

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Xerloq

@ThinkerTDM: Just add \"o\" to the end of the work and you'll be fine. Works for Portuguese, too.

Tô brincando, amigões!

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SG-Cleve

Why would they put you on the call-backlist if you yell or hang up on them?

If I was running a call center I would want it to be efficient and cost-effective. If I know that someone does not want us to call them, it is very inefficient and expensive to waste our time calling them again.

It might make the employees feel better to get revenge on a rude person, but the revenge costs the company money and I would fire anyone who does it.

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itrek

And wouldn't it be nice if those hundreds of thousands of people actually worked at a productive job rather than taking an annoy the piss out of the whole country job?

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imsnowbear

In general, if a product or service was worth buying they wouldn't have to sell it via telemarketing. Why on earth would anyone buy anything from a telemarketer? But apparently some fools do, otherwise there would be no such business as telemarketing.

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Xerloq

I've never understood these confessionals. Why is the first set of points ways they try to piss me off, and consumer and the second set is a plea for me to be nice to them.

Big piece of advice to all those writing confessionals - follow the golden rule.

Oh, and GV + blacklists = you hear a DTF tone when you call me. You get past that and a 1-party recording-consent state + call logs will kick your ass in court.

1 replies

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Xerloq

@Xerloq, we are all made of stars.: Nicely of course. ;)

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StanTheManDean

I always have fun with the rep.

Sex questions are not off limits, but should always be done slowly and discretely. What size bra does your wife wear should never be the first question.

Slavery questions. Always fun. Hey, the rep asked if he/she could speak to the owner. Somebody must assume a slave/master relationship exists.

Free products? I just love free products. Everything is free. The $ you are asking for only applies to other people. You are going to give me my products for free.

If I can get the rep to hang around for 15 minutes without completing a sale I figure I have done a job well done.

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shepd

For Canadians, your government complaint centre is the CRTC. They have no balls, though, so you won't get too far unless you really push them. They will always try to claim some sort of prior business relationship, so be ready to prove there isn't one.

If there is one, you can do what I did: I figured out the source company that had given out my information (MBNA) and sent them a letter telling them that if they don't tell all the people they sold their lists to to stop calling me, and remove my number from any future lists, they'll lose all of my business for life.

MBNA was happy to do as asked and the calls ended in about a week. :)

1 replies

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RandomZero

@shepd: The regs are different in some significant ways up here, too. for instance, they're required to have a local or toll-free number, and answer it live or respond to VM left on it within 3 days. They're also required to identify both the client company and the call center company (if any) as well as the rep.

Also, charities, while exempt from the DNC list, are required to comply with any request to remove you from their list, first time.

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MurKam

Pardon me, but two things make this supposedly \"insider\" posting smell bad to me. First, the grammar, profanity and slang seem peculiarly out-of-place and rough. Postings often have spelling mistakes and sometimes the grammar can be is clumbsy, too. But this piece is unusual on both accounts. Second, there are numerous mentions of the Bank of America and all of them are on the positive side. Oddly enough, no other companies receive the same level of endorsement in this posting. While the \"advice\" might be useful, I believe this posting has the promotion of the Bank of America as its goal.

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treimel

\"...if you're making trouble for reps, you may be getting someone fired.\"

I sincerely hope I do.

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laffmakr

Two easy ways to protect against telemarketers.

1. Get an answering machine for your land line and screen your calls.

2. Don't answer calls with numbers you don't recognize. If it's important, they'll leave a message. If it's not, they'll eventually stop calling.

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PsiCop

OK, so if I can't 1) hang up or 2) decline the product, does this mean I should burn up my time -- and the rep's -- listening to the spiel, then when asked if I'm interested, say nothing (because I'm not supposed to just say no, and I'm certainly not going to say \"yes\" and buy something from a telemarketer)? And by all means, don't 3) get mad because I have to do this?

Seriously? This is supposed to be good for the reps and for me? How so?

I must have missed something in here, because honestly, this makes no sense at all.

As for suing the bad telemarketers, I'm not clear as to how that's supposed to work. Most of them use \"spoofed\" phone numbers on caller ID. I can ask what company they're with, but what reason would I have to assume they'd give me a correct answer, if they've already spoofed their phone number and are already breaking the law? It sounds nice to be able to sue them, but effectively, this won't be an option except maybe in the small number of cases where you get an honest response and/or a correct phone number on caller ID.

2 replies

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SacraBos

@PsiCop: Weeding out the bad ones is hard, since if you ask the questions you need to sue them, they hang up. You have to act interested and coax is out slowly. If they think you are interested, they will start to reveal more. But the scummier they are, the more you have to be patient.

Also, the list of \"things to do\" only truly benefits the telemarketer. I don't want to benefit the telemarketer for calling me - it's my phone and for my benefit.

The worst thing you can do to a telemarketer is talk to them. Time is their worst enemy. The more time you take with them, the less time they have to sell/harrass someone else. Do be polite. Do be inquisitive. Never say the word \"Yes\". Resist saying the word \"No\". I've had the car warranty scammers on the line for 30 minutes trying to figure out which one of my cars the warranty was \"expiring\" on. Turn it into a game where you earn points for each minute you keep them on the line. Double points for those minute you side-track them into something besides their \"product\".

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Orv

@PsiCop: Yeah, I'd like to hear from someone who's actually been successful with one of these lawsuits. To me it sounds like a great way to waste money on court fees without getting anything in return.

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SkuldChan

I inherited a phone at work (community college) that gets all kinds of calls from debt collection companies. The phone number is listed on a college index so it can't be changed really.

None of them actually have humans, so during the robo call phase I just set the phone on the desk - come back 30-40 minutes later and they are gone. This HAS resulted in less unsolicited calls to my work phone (haven't had one all this week actually where it used to be daily around noon).

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Mr.Duke

I haven't had a problem with telemarketing calls in about 15 years now. See, I never pick up the phone. I monitor all calls via voice mail and caller ID. Done.

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MartaMyrrha

I had a problem with a telemarketer years ago.
They called for my roommate EVERY nite at 7 pm, 8, and 9. They would ask for him and I'd say he wasnt home (he was out of the country for 6 mns). Finally I spoke with a supervisor and told them to stop calling - it was beyond annoying b/c my roommate will NOT be home! Ever! They told me that legally they had the right to call \"the phone number\" 100 times a night if they wanted and ONLY the person they asked for could demand they stop calling (even though I owned the phone #). So...I am supposed to be nice to them? Even though I would 3x/night indefinitely is more of a harrassment.

All that for a $12 subscription renewal.

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JulesNoctambule

I'm always entertained by the foaming, frothing righteousness people display when the subject of telemarketing comes up. I don't like them any more than the next person, but that doesn't mean I feel it necessary to go out of my way to make their lives a little (or a lot) harder. Just like I don't freak out at every person who cuts me off in traffic -- there's no need to be a jerk just because someone else has problems.

1 replies

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floraposte

@JulesNoctambule: You have a heart from me for a reason.

Yes, I hate telemarketing. But I'm really depressed that our era seems to have become sufficiently self-centered that \"annoying me\" is apparently the height of moral turpitude. (I do have more latitude for the criminal deceiver folks, but even then, the person you're talking to often has less of a clue than you do about what they're involved in.)

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tpfannes

Really interesting article with some good resources and sound advice. Thanks,

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justsomeotherguy

I had some auto warranty and a refinance your credit company calling my cell phone for months. At first I tried being sweet and nice to get them to stop calling. Eventually I would ask for the manager immediately. Sometimes they would hang up right then, sometimes someone saying they were the manager would get on line... I would verbally abuse them until they hung up... Scream at them that i hope everyone they love are brutalized in gory detail... You would be surprised how long these people will stay on the phone. Had one guy telling me he was gonna pray to jesus for my soul. After a while it became therapeutic to treat these people like shit.

I tried to locate information on these people. I ran into afew forums of people looking for the same information I was... The best anyone could figure was they were coming out of Florida. They all seemed to stop when congress got involved.

As far as getting them fired... Seriously... I asked not to be called and was nice... If they and their families DIAF I'd go out of my way to piss on their graves.

What this list did btw was just prove to all of us what scum telemarketers can be. Someone's head explodes when you call? Put them on the list to be called again and again! This isnt only screwing the target over, but the person who has to call this person next. If you are certain you will never get a sale off the person stop wasting you/the companies time on that person.

In my experience it doesnt matter if you are nice or cruel to these POS. They will just call over and over again. So, might as well take the action that will give you the most joy... For me that abuse!

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parad0x360

Im sorry but if a telemarketer calls me im going to hang up, i dont care if they put me on a list. If I did by chance talk to them id try to be nice but no means no and if they keep going on and on after i say no thank you im hanging up.

Being nice wont get you removed from the lists. Sure maybe YOU removed someone but most people dont care enough to do it.

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itrek

You can do this for free using Googlevoice.

1 replies

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ninjatoddler

@itrek: GoogleVoice is awesome. I'd love to see a voice-to-text transcript of a message left by a telemarketer!

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JF

How is the fact that someone can't get any other job except as a telemarketer MY problem?

I don't want them to call me.
I don't want to talk to them.
I don't want to buy their junk.
I don't want their services.

Why do I have to be nice to them when they are violating basic civility by continually bugging me?

Not that I have a serious problem with it on my line, but good god, why do WE have to be the nice ones?

1 replies

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JF

I generally just don't ever pick up the phone unless I know the number or the caller ID identifies someone I know.

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VagrantRadio

\"Don't hang up because you might get put back on another list\" or \"don't yell because it gives the asshole on the other end the right to harass you\"?

Seriously? You people are trash and deserved to be burned at the stake. I'm sure it pays your bills and it's terrible for you, the telemarketer, but you can piss off.

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gabrewer

If you're quick thinking and capable of voice variations, you can always have some fun by going into your favorite \"odd\" character from the movies. Billy Bob Thorton's role from Slingblade is a great one.

1 replies

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Battlehork

@gabrewer: The Iron Sheik.

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midwestkel

Wait so I am supposed to waste my time and listen to them pitch me 2 or 3 times before I should hang up?

A lot of calls that I get if I ask for the company name they hang up.

Or I get calls from numbers and when I answer it hangs up, etc.

I hate telemarketers.

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ehejl

This entire list of \"confessions\" can be summed up as, \"we'll screw with you however we can\". Which I think most of us already knew.

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menty666

I've done the following in the past:
- politely telling them to put me on the do not call list
- collecting info and telling them I was calling the AG (a useless exercise in MA)
- sexually harassed them (mmm....tell me slower)
- kept them on the line as long as possible knowing they'd get in trouble for not making the sale
- And my current favorite, talking quietly so they have to turn up the headset then blowing a whistle into the phone before hanging up.

No, I don't feel bad for these folks. If telemarketing and fast food are the only jobs in your area, find a new area. No one chained you to the floor of your home.

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morningface

My favorite was always telling the window telemarketers that we'd just gotten new windows, and gosh did it really cut down on the heating bill, so we weren't really in the market to buy more.

1 replies

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menty666

@morningface: I kept getting wrong numbers from some siding company wanting to set up an appointment for an estimate. At the time they thought I lived in a house across town, and I was living in a rented townhouse.

So one day I took them up on the offer and scheduled an appointment. They weren't too pleased :)

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jpdanzig

As far as I know, \"rebuttal\" is a noun, not a verb. Unless you're a rebuttler, of course...

2 replies

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floraposte

@jpdanzig: I'm guessing it's an industry usage. Though now I want a rebuttler, for when just a butler isn't enough.

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jessedybka

@floraposte: It's industry usage, but it's still wrong. I used to telemarket, and for some reason English to English translations around that word abounded. \"Rebutting\" also became \"rebuttaling\" every single day. I can't figure it out.

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333 (only half evil)

Ask them if they know that the world is going to end in 2012 and start reading out loud from the Bible. Keep reading until they hang up.

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donovanr

Very good except for the part about telemarketers getting fired. Do you feel bad about the crack dealer getting busted and not being able to support his family? I have a phone to talk to friends, family, and business associates. I didn't get it for any group to phone me for their benefit. Telemarketers are a product of the MBA types who run today's corporations. I would be perfectly happy with a law that says that no organizations can phone me ever without my express permission. Ever!

1 replies

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Orv

@donovanr: At least crack dealers wait for you to call them. ;)

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cranke

I got called from a dirty telemarketer a few months ago. I asked for management and got the dial tone. *59 and was placed into their auto dial system. It was hilarious, every time they hung up on me another telemarketer would answer. I had so much fun goofing on them. Went through about 6 people. Too bad I didn't record it.

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MartaMyrrha

why would they re-list you to call when you are clearly not interested? Seems stupid and a waste of resources.

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delphi_ote

I've got a confession to make: I think whoever wrote this article is a liar.

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parrotuya

What a crock from a tele-stooge. Here are the real rules:

1. When you see unknown caller on the call ID. Hang up. Period

2. If there is a pause, it is an auto-dialer, hang up.

3. If you hear an accent or speak a foreign language, hang up.

4. Never buy anything from an infomercial. Don't even watch them.

5. Let them call all day long while your at work if they want, they never leave messages. (except for robo-calls)

DOWn, baby, DOWn!

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RedCatLinux

I am not happy with telemarketers. Mainly, I'm not happy with their employers. But the telemarketer has taken a job representing the company who is foisting an offer on me. They have volunteered to interact with customers by trying to get them to sign up with offers that are not in their best interest.

That's like complaining that you have to wear a hair net and handle food all day while working in the food industry.

When a telemarketer calls, and lies about being a telemarketer I do tend to take umbrage. Once I finally get the name of the company they are calling for out of them I ask to be added to the do not call list.

One time the tele-drone refused to confirm that I would be added. I hung up and called customer support of the parent company (I had a pre-existing customer relationship)and made my request directly to them. The person who took the call confirmed that I would be placed on the Do Not Call List.

She then ended the call by trying to upsell me on a service. It's not telemarketing if I call them to tell them to stop the telemarketing calls, right?

In truth, I have been a telemarketer when i was in college, too. It's true that if you don't do a rebuttal, you will be reprimanded and eventually fired - no matter what the customer says to refuse the item or service.

I was yelled at, lied to, cussed at and hung up on. This was all in the days prior to the do not call list.

I lasted 4 months at that job, and then found another one.

I still have absolutely no problem pissing off the telemarketer while telling them to put me on the DNC list.

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consumerd

I just tell them he's currently deployed in iraq and won't be back till next year in june. Call back then! Usually I never hear from them again for as least a year.

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incident_man

A family member of mine sent me a recording of a telemarketing call where the owner of the phone number played like the telemarketer called a policeman at the scene of a homicide. I've been so wanting to try that.

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Cycledoc

Caller ID is wonderful!!

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Crovie

It's good advice but smarmy as hell. Why does someone who bothers me by making an uninvited phone call expect me to be nice to them? They made me angry and if I want to be angry at them it's their own fault.

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Crovie

\"In some areas, the only available jobs in a 40 mile radius are call centers and fast food, keep that in mind before you heckle someone.\"

Then they should work fast food. If you decide to get a job annoying people all day, don't be surprised when those people snarl at you.

November 13, 2009 4:37 PM

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micmuk

I was called once and the caller ID showed no number so I asked the girl what her number was. It took some bickering with her to get the number.

I called it back to see who would answer and was given the \"Manager\" who said I had harassed the girl and he was going to personally break my legs.

I sent the number to the FCC.

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DrLumen

I am on the DNC and some still try to call. I will give them 3 chances.

I will ask them nicely to be removed.

Second call I will tell them I'm on the DNC and not to call me. Then I request their full company name and contact info at which time they usually hang up.

Third call is when all bets are off and I read them the riot act. Complete with a threat of a FTC complaint, an AG complaint and filing charges for harassment with the county sheriff. This usually does the trick.

This 'shadow' knew that the companies he was working for were 'sketchy' but he was still there getting paid by helping them in their scams. To hell with that clown! Maybe he should get a job as a baggage handler. I hear that is a lucrative job for a scumbag.

Oh no, please pity the hooker as the pimp is to blame. I call BS!

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m92348

\"Don't immediately hang up \"

Why not? Hanging up on these people 10 times is still less effort than listening to them for several minutes.

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Pacula

When I have the energy to pull it off, I try the 'waste as much of their time as possible' routine. Sometimes I'll listen to them for a while, then tell them I need to go dig out some the information they want or say I've got another call coming in, and then put them on hold until they finally give up. Other times, I'll string them along as long as possible, giving fake information until they ask something I can't fake or they otherwise clue in.

I've gone as far as to make a fake persona complete with name (\"Chuck U. Farley\"), address and phone number (the local Better Business Bureau), and a few different credit card 'system test' numbers that will pass verification checks until an actual charge is attempted. I once managed to keep a call from 'costa rica travel' (or something) going for close to an hour, going through several levels of caller screening, right to the end of the process. It didn't even stop when the charge they attempted to make on the false card came back as declined - they asked me to call my bank to have the charge allowed, and they would call me back in ten minutes or so to finish the transaction. *whistle* :)

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jgarfink

What's this Wisebread crap? I sent this out over a week ago!

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Juliedr

I had a telemarketer call me asking me to buy tickets to a local police dance fundraiser. I told him I wasn't interested and hung up. He called me back and screamed in the phone and hung up on me, he did this about 3 times. I called the police, he was arrested.

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Mariallena

What this d-bag \"insider\" doesn't tell you is that EVEN IF YOU HAVE A BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE COMPANY,

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Mariallena

What this d-bag \"insider\" doesn't tell you is that EVEN IF YOU HAVE A BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE COMPANY, they have to have a Do-not-call list and that they have to add your number to the list if you request it and never call you again.

If they don't, they are breaking the law and you can report them and the company will be fined an the rep will be (hopefully) fired.

Junkbusters.com, with whom I have no affiliation whatsoever, has great tips about how to deal with telemarketers and other pond scum.

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Covertghost

You know, I have a lot more fun just screwing with the telemarketers than taking any of the advice on this list :).

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happyandblue2

My son worked as a telemarketer for a week or so.
His advice was to hang up as soon as you knew it was a telemarketer.
Since telemarketers are trying to sell something it seems pointless to encourage them if you don't have any intention of buying something from them.
Plus, hanging up stops the anger that follows talking to them..

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SatisfriedCrustomer

Blowing a whistle into the phone is just cruel, but wasting their time for several minutes also wastes your time.

How about making a fake vomiting sound and then hanging up?

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brandmuffin

************I think this guy is full of it************

Anyone using auto dialers knows your lists must be scrubbed monthly with the do not call registry. We never had the ability to remove 1 person, there were millions of numbers in the system. We sell our lists to people and they sell thiers to us its the lists today making money not the actual sales. With that said I have an auto dialer expandable to 200 operators for sale.

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DrLumen

Man answers the phone: \"Hello?\"
(woman screaming in the background) \"Hold a second ok?
(somewhat muffled) \"Virgil? Jane has gotten out of the basement again!\"
(woman still screaming)
\"Jesus H! She's running around naked as a jaybird getting blood all over the place! I thought you said you killed her!\"
(woman still screaming)
(sound of a gunshot and then all is silent)
(back on the phone now) \"Sorry about that I had to take care of something. Now what were you saying? I sure would like you to come visit so we can talk about my extended car warranty in person!\"

OR

\"How much a month do you all spend on long distance. I can help you save up to 80% per month by using our long distance company...\"

Just some thoughts.

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corinthos

I worked for a Civic Development Group back in high school. We did reput the assholes right back into the list forget to remove people from the list if they forgot to ask for more detailed information when asking to put on the do not call list. This was o na rep by rep basis and just the rude people. Also we were supposed to be able to see their numbers but you could if you walked past the supervisors computer and jot it down and harrass them some more if they were real aholes. We used to go to ihop after work and call people that we kept their numbers in a notepad that were the horrible ones.
This one guy blew a whistle into the phone on a rep and we would call him randomly from prepaid phones we had at all hours of the night.

I used to and still answer the phone Carry out of deliery on blocked numbers. Brought the number of calls I got down considerably after I explain that I'm pizza hut.

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utp216

What I hate even more than the telemarketer calls are the calls from the fake printer toner companies that try to lure you in to giving your printer model name/number over the phone so they can ship your business overpriced supplies and then try to hook you with the bill!

We have an in-house support department that services our high speed printers at work and I know the guys personally.

I had one of these BS calls on Friday and some kid said to me, \"We are servicing your printers now right there in your office. Can you tell me the model number so I have put it into your file.\" I told the kid that he wasn't calling from the company that services our printers and he said to me, \"How do you know? I haven't even told you where I am calling from yet..\"

I told him to go try to hook another mark for his BS supplies and he hung up on me.

Those guys call and have a tone like they are a friend of yours calling and just want to talk and then ask for your information.

I can only imagine there are secretaries and other employees that just give the information out right over the phone without questioning the person on the other end of the call.

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BillyDee_CT

I purchased a box called the Digitone PrivacyCall that you program all the numbers you want to be able to ring through without a secret code. The only way I know I had telemarketers call is when I look at my caller ID as the phones don't ring in my house when they call now. Finally, a peaceful dinner hour!

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pot_roast

The last time I got a telemarketing call it was from someone in India. I mentioned the Do Not Call list and the guy laughed and flat out said \"We're outside of your laws and can call whoever we want.\"

We ditched the landline and have cell phones only. Occasional Skype use. Otherwise, I use Google Voice and the call screening feature is pretty slick.
If we went for a landline again, it would probably be an Ooma line. They're awesome.

February 16, 2010 4:32 PM

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SPGConsultants

It is a well known fact that dealing with telemarketing agents can sometimes be one of life's most stressful and stagnating experiences.

Harassing calls, threats and use of obscene language can pressurize you to the edge and moreover, a collector may embarrass you by contacting your employer or even be pursued to disburse for a debt that is not rightfully yours.

There are limits on how far telemarketers can go, that is why we provide information on how to put an end to telemarketer calls and more efficiently, how to correspond with them about your account and/or to dispute a collection action and can teach you what are your rights in terms of privacy.

You can find out more information on our website: www.spgconsultants.com

By informing each other, we protect each other.

Sincerely,