Telemarketing Trick

[Jazzman]

I just see telemarketing as a rude enterprise in and of itself, and usually react to it as such. I do, of course, treat the caller with kindness and courtesy if I had signed up for or requested the call, as Morrigoon's clients do. But “cold calls” are different. I see my telephone as my own private means of communication. I bought the phone, pay for the service, pay a lot of fees and taxes for the service, etc. Therefore, I honestly believe that I have a right to have my phone kept private, for my own use and the use of those whom I give my number to. When an unsolicited caller uses it to try and bring their business into my home, I consider it a violation of my privacy, albeit a relatively minor one, and treat it as such. I do have sympathy for the people working the job and trying to pay their own bills, but I'm not going to justify their company's actions because of it. I usually, aside from the one ornery instance I cited, just say, "No thank you," and hang up. But I honestly do not feel any need to be overly tolerant of it.

[MouseWife]

I think that Morri, you are not an 'official' telemarketer.

I also try to be polite and respectful. I know they are doing their job {yes, I agree, a job that is quite questionable but they are only the worker bees, I can't even imagine what the companies get....}.

What kills me is when I answer, they give me their spiel without me being able to get a word in and then I calmly tell them 'No thanks' as polite as can be and they HANG UP ON ME. WTF? Can't they be polite in return? I agree with you, SacTown, this is when I get mad. They are calling me out of the blue, calling me away from whatever it is I am doing in my own personal life, and what are the times/dates that are illegal for them to call???

Another thing~now I have caller i.d. So, I don't have to answer but I do. To tell them to quit calling and remove me from their list. The problem is, some callers hang up when I pick up. What is up with that? I have a number that is coming up a bunch of times and twice when I've tried to answer it quickly to tell them to quit calling they hang up. Without saying a word.

Has anyone ever called one of these numbers back? Some do not even look like real phone numbers which really makes me wonder who they are.

And, what is sad, I know if it is a long distance call, which is what these calls usually are, by its' ring. So, in that p.o.'d mode I answer a long distance call...it was my niecie.

Anywho, anyone call? I have been toying with calling back some of these numbers.

[DisneyDaniel]

Here's another method that's non-confrontational for everyone:

If your answering machine has a speaker that lets you hear what's being said as the person is leaving a message, then just have your answering machine turned "on" 24 hours a day. Simply inform your closest friends or relatives that your answering macine is on 24/7 and they simply have to say, "Hello, this is [insert name], pick up if you're home."

Otherwise, if it's not someone you know, just ignore it. If it's important, then someone will leave a message--or maybe your close friends/family already have your cell phone number. Best of all, you don't have to speak with any telemarketers. It seems about bout 99% of telemarketers just hang up and do not leave messages--they want to talk to an actual person.

[MouseWife]

DisneyDaniel~ This is actually something our family has done for many years.
Recently, though, our machine was out. So, we got back into answering the phone. I guess it will just take some time getting back into not answering the phone.