Share your favorite way to get back at telemarketers

[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

Yes, the thousands of fast food joints and other restaurants have certainly improved society. I hate how fat, lazy and unhealthy telemarketers have made Americans.

Yeah, it's McDonald's fault that North Americans are fat, lazy and unhealthy. Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to eat it.

Maybe we should go to a "pay per minute" phone system where the initiator of a phone call has to pay for the cost of the call. I would have no problem paying for every call I initiated. I also probably wouldn't be as hostile about telemarketing because I would know that they are paying for both the call and the time it takes to harass me.

[Raiders Army]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

Yeah, it's McDonald's fault that North Americans are fat, lazy and unhealthy. Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to eat it.

Maybe we should go to a "pay per minute" phone system where the initiator of a phone call has to pay for the cost of the call. I would have no problem paying for every call I initiated. I also probably wouldn't be as hostile about telemarketing because I would know that they are paying for both the call and the time it takes to harass me.

We do have a "pay per minute" phone system where the initiator of a phone call has to pay for the cost of the call. Most places use an unlimited long distance plan, but they still pay for every call. Maybe I'm wrong here, but that's the way I understand it.

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

Maybe we should go to a "pay per minute" phone system where the initiator of a phone call has to pay for the cost of the call. I would have no problem paying for every call I initiated. I also probably wouldn't be as hostile about telemarketing because I would know that they are paying for both the call and the time it takes to harass me.

Um, isn't that how it works?

[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

We do have a "pay per minute" phone system where the initiator of a phone call has to pay for the cost of the call. Most places use an unlimited long distance plan, but they still pay for every call. Maybe I'm wrong here, but that's the way I understand it.

My understanding is they pay a flat monthly rate. I know anywhere I've ever worked of any size paid a flat monthly rate.

[Synovia]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

There's a way to handle things without being an ass and then there is a rude way of handling things...

I agree, and the way to handle things without being an ass is not to make sales calls to people's homes.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

Yeah, it's McDonald's fault that North Americans are fat, lazy and unhealthy. Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to eat it.

Maybe we should go to a "pay per minute" phone system where the initiator of a phone call has to pay for the cost of the call. I would have no problem paying for every call I initiated. I also probably wouldn't be as hostile about telemarketing because I would know that they are paying for both the call and the time it takes to harass me.

Do you think the people on the phone are doing volunteer work (excluding the ones that are )? The companies are paying for each phone call they make.

[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

Do you think the people on the phone are doing volunteer work (excluding the ones that are )? The companies are paying for each phone call they make.

Obviously they aren't paying enough to deter them from continuing to harass people.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

Obviously they aren't paying enough to deter them from continuing to harass people.

Er.. they're paying them to harass people... I'm not sure of your point here?

[Rizon]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

see more crazy cat pics

QFT

[Pumpy Tudors]

so how did i get involved

[Crim]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

PUMPY, STOP BUYING SHIT.

There is a significant but manageable amount of diet cola on my monitor and keyboard now, asshole.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by Poli

I tell them their product sounds great but my wife doesn't allow me to have access to a credit card...

JimmyWint is that you?

[Castlerock]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Save me the bleeding heart crap. These people don't have to do this particular job. There are other jobs out there. I don't care about their sob story. They are a leech on society. When I want a service, I will go out an seek it. Do not disturb me in my home with a marketing pitch. I do not owe you anything.

It is rude to call my home when I did not ask you to, and in fact went to lengths to assure that you wouldn't call. Still doing so excuses me from having to be polite. The telemarketer is the one who started the interaction -- if I do something that annoys them at that point, too bad. I should not have the same company calling me day after day after day, especially after I specifically tell them not to.

The people saying that it is only 30 seconds ignore the fact that it is not an isolated incident. It is repeated daily until the end of time. Why should anyone have to put up with that? Maybe I don't like me son being woke up by the phone. Would you like it if a website hijacked your browser for 30 seconds every day? They have no right to barge into my personal time. They are not the victim. They are part of the problem.

Originally Posted by st.cronin

Actually, the problem is that telemarketing WORKS. If it wasn't a moneymaker, companies wouldn't hire people to do it.

People who quickly get off the phone ensure that it IS a moneymaker for telemarketing companies. The telemarketer can quickly annoy lots of uninterested people to get to the few that will buy their crap. If everyone wasted as much time as possible, then it wouldn't be profitable and it would go away. Sadly, that will never happen.

If you just say, "No thank you" and hang up, YOU are part of the problem.

Most of the time I just hang up because I don't want to waste my time but it is not because of any sympathy for the guy on the other end of the line.

[Grammaticus]

I've always wanted to try the Seinfeld thing, "Give me your home phone number and I will call you back later", etc.

But I either hang up at the click and pause (the tell it is an auto dialer) or just say no thanks, please don't call me for any future offers and hang up.

Every now and then I will let them spit out their script and then tell them no.

[Raiders Army]

FWIW, I hate getting calls from a machine..."Wait for an important call concerning your credit rating." I pick up the phone and it's a machine talking to me asking me to hold?

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Bobble

I've always wanted to copy down the phone numbers of telemarketers who call me and somehow give them to other telemarketers. Imagine a world where telemarketers are merely annoying EACH OTHER! "Speaking of free Florida vacations, you'll think your feet are on vacation when you're walking on carpets that have been vacuumed by the SUXME 4000!"

If someone could help me pull this off, you'd be my frickin' hero.

I work in phone sales (inbound, not outbound). a couple years back, it's a slowish night and we all start getting this odd calls - people calling about our products, but asking questions that were just a little off. and then they'd place an order, but back out at the last second. as we started comparing notes and doing some google searches, we figured out these folks all worked for one of our competitors. I think they were in a training class and were calling us on their cell phones I think just to see examples of calls. I don't believe they were trying to screw with us, but it was still very annoying.

When I got a couple of calls, I jotted down the number of the folks calling me. For the next few weeks, I would just randomly call the numbers whenever it was slow at work. I worked the overnight at the time, so I was able to call at a lot of inconvenient times.

[jeheinz72]

I'm typically pretty curtious on the phone...the first time from that phone number. If I get stuck on one of those "same number calling every night, etc." then I get pretty crude because I feel at that point, they should know not to call me.

[Aylmar]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Save me the bleeding heart crap. These people don't have to do this particular job. There are other jobs out there. I don't care about their sob story. They are a leech on society. When I want a service, I will go out an seek it. Do not disturb me in my home with a marketing pitch. I do not owe you anything.

It is rude to call my home when I did not ask you to, and in fact went to lengths to assure that you wouldn't call. Still doing so excuses me from having to be polite. The telemarketer is the one who started the interaction -- if I do something that annoys them at that point, too bad. I should not have the same company calling me day after day after day, especially after I specifically tell them not to.

The people saying that it is only 30 seconds ignore the fact that it is not an isolated incident. It is repeated daily until the end of time. Why should anyone have to put up with that? Maybe I don't like me son being woke up by the phone. Would you like it if a website hijacked your browser for 30 seconds every day? They have no right to barge into my personal time. They are not the victim. They are part of the problem.

When I did it in college, I loved people who were rude. There were several ways I could disposition a completed call. Things like "Not Interested, No Call Back", "No Answer", "Busy, Call Back In 1 Hour". If you were rude to me or screamed for no reason, guess which button I pushed? And those guys on the floor talk to each other. Our call center did a bunch of work for similar accounts and we'd alert each other to the people we were dumping back into the system. So I would know if this was the second call or even third you'd gotten that night and usually just do something else while I was getting screamed at on the other end of the line before I dumped you back into the queue when you finally hung up. That's what you get when you staff a bunch of college students in a telemarketing center. We didn't get paid on commission, so I didn't care how much time each call took or any of that. In fact, I loved it when people would just start talking for no reason and telling stories and all that. I could usually clear my quotas easily, so I had nothing but time.

My favorite thing to sell was ChargeGuard. The quota was exceptionally low (2 sales per hour) and our call center would let you get off the phones once you'd made your sales for that hour. It was a tough sell, but you could usually clear two of them in about 30-40 minutes...then hang out outside until the top of the hour.

[Kodos]

You are certainly a hero for continuing to harass people in their homes. Kudos.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Aylmar

When I did it in college, I loved people who were rude. There were several ways I could disposition a completed call. Things like "Not Interested, No Call Back", "No Answer", "Busy, Call Back In 1 Hour". If you were rude to me or screamed for no reason, guess which button I pushed? And those guys on the floor talk to each other. Our call center did a bunch of work for similar accounts and we'd alert each other to the people we were dumping back into the system. So I would know if this was the second call or even third you'd gotten that night and usually just do something else while I was getting screamed at on the other end of the line before I dumped you back into the queue when you finally hung up. That's what you get when you staff a bunch of college students in a telemarketing center. We didn't get paid on commission, so I didn't care how much time each call took or any of that. In fact, I loved it when people would just start talking for no reason and telling stories and all that. I could usually clear my quotas easily, so I had nothing but time.

My favorite thing to sell was ChargeGuard. The quota was exceptionally low (2 sales per hour) and our call center would let you get off the phones once you'd made your sales for that hour. It was a tough sell, but you could usually clear two of them in about 30-40 minutes...then hang out outside until the top of the hour.

Sounds interesting. How can I purchase this, ChargeGuard?

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Kodos

You are certainly a hero for continuing to harass people in their homes. Kudos.

Kudos from Kodos. Impressive.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

FWIW, I hate getting calls from a machine..."Wait for an important call concerning your credit rating." I pick up the phone and it's a machine talking to me asking me to hold?

Have you heard the ones that say, "this is an important call... please call us back at 1-800-eat-shit"? Seriously? You think I'm going to call you back?!

[Kodos]

I think telemarketing should be a jailable offense.

[larrymcg421]

On an episode of TV nation, Michael Moore called the CEO of a telemarketing company and tried to sell him something. The guy was obviously not very happy. It was pretty funny.

Whatever you do, don't hang up immediately (unless it's automated). If you do that, the agent will put you in as a callback. At least say "Not Interested" or "Do Not Call" before you hang up.

[Aylmar]

Originally Posted by Kodos

You are certainly a hero for continuing to harass people in their homes. Kudos.

I did my job. If you said "Not Interested", then that's what you got flagged for no follow-up call. If you asked to be removed from our list, I would take the steps to make sure it happened. If you were an ass for no reason, I would reciprocate.

[Kodos]

But the person who is being called can't by definition be an ass for no reason. Your call is the reason they are being an ass.

As a side note, I hope something semi-expensive of yours breaks in the near future.

[Aylmar]

Originally Posted by Kodos

But the person who is being called can't by definition be an ass for no reason. Your call is the reason they are being an ass.

As a side note, I hope something semi-expensive of yours breaks in the near future.

If it does, I'll just pick up some telemarketing work part-time until I can afford a new one.

[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by Aylmar

I did my job. If you said "Not Interested", then that's what you got flagged for no follow-up call. If you asked to be removed from our list, I would take the steps to make sure it happened. If you were an ass for no reason, I would reciprocate.

Wait a second, you called trying to sell something...you are the one being the ass for no reason.

[Kodos]

I'm afraid I must then wish you erectile dysfunction so that you can't reproduce and make more telemarketers.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Kodos

But the person who is being called can't by definition be an ass for no reason. Your call is the reason they are being an ass.

As a side note, I hope something semi-expensive of yours breaks in the near future.

So by your definition, if you talk to a random stranger on the street, he is allowed to be rude to you because you are bothering him for no reason. I don't get why you would have to be rude to a telemarketer unless they provoked you. By saying no thank you or not interested you get to the point quick.

You must get some sort of rise out of being rude to them. "Yeah Im a tough guy, i just told someone on the phone to fuck off. Look at me I am awesome for doing that."

These people don't have to do this particular job. There are other jobs out there. I don't care about their sob story. They are a leech on society. When I want a service, I will go out an seek it. Do not disturb me in my home with a marketing pitch. I do not owe you anything.

It is rude to call my home when I did not ask you to, and in fact went to lengths to assure that you wouldn't call. Still doing so excuses me from having to be polite. The telemarketer is the one who started the interaction -- if I do something that annoys them at that point, too bad. I should not have the same company calling me day after day after day, especially after I specifically tell them not to.

Way to be an elitest here. This person is trying to feed their family. Do you think they want to do this? I highly doubt it, but it is a way they make an honest wage and help support their family. Would you rather them not take a job, apply for welfare, and have that money come out of your pocket?

I don't know maybe I'm just off the rocker here, but I don't get the big rise out of making someone on the other end miserable by yelling at them. Their boss told them to do the job, if you have a problem with it, call back and talk to the boss. Don't take it out on this person.

[Aylmar]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

Wait a second, you called trying to sell something...you are the one being the ass for no reason.

It was my job. I didn't call you, the dialer did. I just had to make the best of what I got. You can just hang up if you don't want to be pitched. There is no need to be rude. There's just no excuse for it. I would always love the guys who would get on there and scream that I was interrupting dinner with their family. If you're at dinner with your family and a strange number calls your phone, do what I do...don't answer it! It was always kind of humorous just how irritated people got. I never liked my job and I've got a script to read. If I was being recorded that day, I needed three "No" answers in order to let you go. If I'm not being recorded (which was 90% of the time), I would settle for one. If you hang up, my instructions were to put you down for a call back in three days (depends on the account instructions, really). The only way to get anywhere is to just ask to be removed from their call list. Getting mad doesn't help. In fact, you'll never get the guy to take you off the list if you blister his ear with profanity first. You may get lucky and make someone cry on the other end, but that's not going to get you out of the system or do anything for you other than give you the satisfaction that you ruined someone's day because they interrupted your evening. In fact, you'll probably get a call back from that company in a few days.

Almost all telemarketers hate their jobs, but it pays the bills and allows some people to make ends meet. The attempted justification of being rude to those people because they got the short straw of having your number routed to their station by the relentless dialer really blows my mind.

[jeheinz72]

I just don't get why people default in situations like this to being rude. I'd imagine that's a sad way to go through life frankly.

[Raiders Army]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

Have you heard the ones that say, "this is an important call... please call us back at 1-800-eat-shit"? Seriously? You think I'm going to call you back?!

Yeah, those are funny. On a different note, we get automated messages from our kids' schools. I like those since they keep us informed...although it's certainly putting some guy out of work using a machine instead of a real person!

[Lorena]

If the phone rings while we're having dinner, we just let it ring.. there's no reason for us to get up and answer it. If whoever is on the other line wants to talk to us, then they can leave a message and we'll get back to them.

[Maple Leafs]

Those of you in the "this is my only family time" crowd... do you have some sort of magic phone that answers itself and switches to speakerphone on the third ring?

Guy, if you only get a few precious minutes with your family over dinner time, don't answer the phone. Get an answering machine and check messages later. I'm sure your family appreciates the undivided attention you give them, right up until the phone rings and you bolt from the table to lunge for it.

Like Troy says, you have a lot of say over what you get stressed about in life. You'll probably be a lot happier when you figure that out.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by bsak16

So by your definition, if you talk to a random stranger on the street, he is allowed to be rude to you because you are bothering him for no reason. I don't get why you would have to be rude to a telemarketer unless they provoked you. By saying no thank you or not interested you get to the point quick.

I would answer this with a "yes". There is no reason that a person would *have* to be rude, but there is no reason that a person would *have* to be nice either. I probably wouldn't fly off the handle just because some random person asked me how my day was going, but if he keeps trying to engage me when I've given subtle hints that I'm not interested, he may get some rudeness. I'm not a small-talk person and I don't feel the need to chat with some stranger to fill the silence in a 2-minute elevator ride.

You must get some sort of rise out of being rude to them. "Yeah Im a tough guy, i just told someone on the phone to fuck off. Look at me I am awesome for doing that."

It isn't about getting a rise out of being rude. It is about not feeling the need to censor yourself and pretend to be nice. It is kind of like sticking your hand out to a strange dog. He may let you pet him or he may snap at you. There is no reason he should snap at you, but that is a risk when you encroach on his space.

[jeheinz72]

Originally Posted by BrianD

It isn't about getting a rise out of being rude. It is about not feeling the need to censor yourself and pretend to be nice. It is kind of like sticking your hand out to a strange dog. He may let you pet him or he may snap at you. There is no reason he should snap at you, but that is a risk when you encroach on his space.

I don't feel like I'm sensoring myself when I'm extending common courtesy to a fellow human being.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Those of you in the "this is my only family time" crowd... do you have some sort of magic phone that answers itself and switches to speakerphone on the third ring?

Guy, if you only get a few precious minutes with your family over dinner time, don't answer the phone. Get an answering machine and check messages later. I'm sure your family appreciates the undivided attention you give them, right up until the phone rings and you bolt from the table to lunge for it.

Like Troy says, you have a lot of say over what you get stressed about in life. You'll probably be a lot happier when you figure that out.

It generally takes less time to answer and hang up than it does to sit and listen to 4 rings. This doesn't take into account people without answering machines who have to wait for the other side to hang up, but there probably aren't many people like that anymore.

Either way, getting up or just listening to the ring is an annoyance that people would prefer to be without. I haven't had to deal with this for many years since I went cell-phone only, but I still remember the annoyance from when I had a land-line.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by BrianD

It is about not feeling the need to censor yourself and pretend to be nice.

What a burden that must be.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by jeheinz72

I don't feel like I'm sensoring myself when I'm extending common courtesy to a fellow human being.

Then surely nobody else does either...

[Kodos]

For the record, I have NEVER yelled or cursed at these guys, so you're wrong there. Usually I just don't pick up at all. On occasion, I'll pick up and quickly say "I'm not interested. Please remove me from your list. Thank you. *click*" Nevertheless, it is annoying when they call day after day. I don't think it is unreasonable to want to retaliate for repeated, unwanted intrusions.

So by your definition, if you talk to a random stranger on the street, he is allowed to be rude to you because you are bothering him for no reason. I don't get why you would have to be rude to a telemarketer unless they provoked you. By saying no thank you or not interested you get to the point quick.

If I am trying to sell them something, then yes, they have a right to be rude to me. Especially if they don't take no for an answer the very first time.

Way to be an elitest here. This person is trying to feed their family. Do you think they want to do this? I highly doubt it, but it is a way they make an honest wage and help support their family. Would you rather them not take a job, apply for welfare, and have that money come out of your pocket?

Way to imply that the only thing keeping these people from starvation is a telemarketing job. There are plenty of comparable paying jobs out there that do no necessitate intruding into people's private lives.

It was my job. I didn't call you, the dialer did. I just had to make the best of what I got. You can just hang up if you don't want to be pitched. There is no need to be rude. There's just no excuse for it.

You've already shown that you get a certain glee out of repeatedly bothering people who clearly would like to simply be left alone. I guess we shouldn't blame hitmen either, because they are just doing their job.

[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by Aylmar

It was my job.

Exactly, it was your job to harass people in the privacy of their own home during supper time. Maybe you don't see anything wrong with it, but most people do. I don't care if you were doing what your boss told you to do...it doesn't make it right. If my boss told me to do something I don't agree with I wouldn't do it...plain and simple. If my job included doing something I don't agree with on a routine basis, I wouldn't have taken the job in the first place. Call me an elitist, call me whatever you want, I try to live my life by treating others like the way I would like to be treated...therefore, unless it's an emergency, I don't call people at supper time.

Originally Posted by Aylmar

You can just hang up if you don't want to be pitched. There is no need to be rude. There's just no excuse for it.

You are missing the point...there should be no call in the first. If I wanted to buy ChargeGuard I would pick up the phone and call them myself.

Originally Posted by Aylmar

I would always love the guys who would get on there and scream that I was interrupting dinner with their family. If you're at dinner with your family and a strange number calls your phone, do what I do...don't answer it!

Do you have kids? Any idea how most toddlers react to the telephone ringing? I'll tell you...it's like the ice cream truck just parked about 5 feet away from them and they want to sample each and every flavour imaginable. So, when I let the phone ring 5 times multiply the excitement by 10 and then spend the next 10 minutes trying to get them to focus on eating supper...already a tedious task in and of itself.

Here's another good example, what if you work the graveyard shift and sleep in the evening? My brother-in-law usually sleeps from 4pm until about 10 or 11pm during the week but can't unplug his phone because his wife is 8-months pregnant and may need to get a hold of him at any moment. So, a guy trying to make ends meet gets his sleep interrupted several times a week by telemarketers trying to sell him a vacation home in Portugal.

Yeah, good thing the guy on the other end is just doing his job.

Originally Posted by Aylmar

It was always kind of humorous just how irritated people got.

Nice.

Originally Posted by Aylmar

Almost all telemarketers hate their jobs, but it pays the bills and allows some people to make ends meet. The attempted justification of being rude to those people because they got the short straw of having your number routed to their station by the relentless dialer really blows my mind.

If you hate your job, quit.

[Julio Riddols]

There should be a telemarketing reality show featuring d-list celebrities.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

There should be a telemarketing reality show featuring d-list celebrities.

Y'know, that ain't the worst idea for a reality show I've ever heard.

[Bad-example]

1- Telemarketers are paid to harrass people in their homes.

2- Telemarketers know that many of those people will be pissed off. Some will use one of the two valid methods for combating the assholes that do telemarketing, either wasting their time to reduce their productivity or being rude to help them decide their job sucks so badly they should quit. (Helping create staffing problems for the company).

3- Some people would like us to feel bad about using that second method, even though we are completely justified.

[Aylmar]

Yes, I was an ass when I was a telemarketer fifteen years ago. I was nineteen. Comes with the territory. Yes, I obtained a certain amount of pleasure out of riding people who acted like their world was coming to an end because their phone rang at 7:15 on a Tuesday night. It's such a small thing to be so angry about and to elicit such a massive response and desire for retaliation. Because, in the grand scheme of things, your phone ringing when there is a telemarketer on the other end is a trivial event. No reason to get so excited.

Look, it sucks. If it didn't work so damn well, it would have probably gone away by now. The facts are, though, it DOES work. I can't tell you the number of times that you could turn a call after the first no. The number of times someone would start out not being interested and then sign up for whatever I was selling. Is it a marginally scummy tactic? Yes, and it makes those companies piles of money. I was just doing it to help pay room and board, so I got out once I finished college. I guess I should have sought out other employment. I was a phone tech support guy for a year for Creative Labs shortly after leaving that job and I think the constant battering of being a telemarketer helped prepare me for it. Am I too proud to go back to telemarketing? If it's a choice between that and bankruptcy, no. Guess that means I'm still an ass.

Kodos, I did not mean to imply that you cursed at people. Only that I had experienced it first-hand, several times. And no, most of them were not guys that I had routed back into the system. Most of them were pick up the phone, figure out that you were a telemarketer and go into full out assault types. You had to laugh at them a little in order to be able to do the job.

[rkmsuf]

So what if you are jackin to pron and the phone rings? You picking up?

If not, when the phone rings and it's dinner time just pretend you are jackin to pron.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

So what if you are jackin to pron and the phone rings? You picking up?

Probably not, but you'd figure it would have to ruin the flow.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

There should be a telemarketing reality show featuring d-list celebrities.

What happens the first time we watch Kathy Griffin get shouted at until she cries? Do we rejoice in a telemarketer getting what she deserves, or do we feel empathy for what Pumpy must be going through?

[Pumpy Tudors]

how did i get involved