Experience With Tele-Marketers

A bit sadistic but somewhat humorous

Sounds like you wasted his time and he became upset. I like the irony.

Oh, and congrats on being mortgage debt free!

Nice story.

Sometimes we'll ask non business questions like where are you from, how's the weather there, etc. Goes along the line of wasting their time too but keeping it friendly.

That what we have in Canada to stop telemarketings calls.

https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/index-eng

Yeah and it doesn't work worth a damn.

Ma Bell still calls

Tom Mabe started a small business several years ago, but instead of customers calling him, all he got were telemarketers. He started having fun with them, and it evolved into his becoming a comedian.

Some of his funnier recordings involved his desperate response to a carpet cleaning telemarketer's call where Tom needed the blood stains cleaned from his rugs - right away. A cemetery telemarketer found a suicidal Tom answering the phone to tell a depressing tale. A window sales telemarketer called to find Tom on home detention and needing some beer delivered.

His latest antics turned the tables where he called the telemarketers at their convention hotel in Washington at 3am to sell them stuff...

http://www.tommabe.com/

Not going to say I wish I got telemarketer calls, but the thought of calling telemarketers when they're asleep certainly is funny.

I'm not a telemarketer and I don't play on TV. I also don't like the calls any more than anyone else. We do have the no call list in the U.S. also, which I am on, but still get calls from charities, politicians, etc. which are exempt. But have a little sympathy. These are just people trying to do their job like anybody else. At least they were ambitious enough to get a job instead of just collecting welfare. If I don't recognize the number on caller I.D. I just don't answer. If it's important they can leave a message. If I do happen to answer, I just politely tell them, at the first opportunity because they rattle off the initial spiel so rapidly, that I'm not interested and hang up.

If I listen to it long enough there is usually an "Opt Out" by pressing a number. After a few of these it does not seem that I'm getting as many as I was for a few weeks. And this is on a cell phone.

Had one guy that actually kept insisting that I needed what he was selling. Opened the hood of the car and laid the phone by the horn, never heard from him again.

Also used to carry a police whistle with me. It got to the point that the first thing said was "Pleas do not blow that whistle in my ear", "What whistle, this whistle".

We were on vacation during the primaries. Upon our return, I had about 25 messages on my machine. I didn't know Mitt Romney liked me that much. Or Ron Paul, or Newt Gingrich.

As far as I'm concerned I would say that the telemarketing calls are down approximately 95%. A few slip by now and then but nothings perfect.

we are not on an any "do-not-call-list" and only get a few unsolicited calls. Perhaps it's my approach to the problem.

If it's a 1-800 or 1-888# I wait until the voice mail message clicks. But if I am not sure of the call, or I'm on the basement phone (not digital) I listen to the 1st sentence or so and when I am satisifed it's not an old friend playing a prank, I simply and politely interrupt the call and say (in an equally pleasant voice): "Could you hold the line please". Whereupon I lay the phone on the table or floor, or anywhere, and simply go about my business until I hear the phone click off, might take 5 or more minutes sometimes.

Funny, I don't seem to get repeat calls.

And still get the "Credit Dept" calls to "save us money". Telemarketers are scum and I treat them as such if I get a live one.

I look at it this way, if your product is good, you don't have to bother people on phone or knock on their doors to sell it!

I just say "Hold on a minute, please.", lay the phone down and walk away.

I'm on the US DNC list and it seems to work fairly well. However, as mentioned, politicians and charities are exempt. I know why they are but they shouldn't be.

Do Not Call is worthless...lining them up in front of a ditch and shooting them would be a good start.

I have no mortgages and they take me off their call list.

I think the calls have gone down after being added to the DNC List, but agree about the ditch. I've got plenty of 5.56 rounds on my desk

If you're on the DNC, you've blocked most of the "legitimate" soliciting calls. Charities, surveys, and political calls can still come through. Sometimes, they call you under the guise of a survey and then switch to sell you something. The worst caller(s) for years has been a variation of "credit card services" calling to say this is your last chance to lower your interest rate on your credit card. I've gotten calls on my home, cell, fax, and business line from one of those for years.

always call at dinner!

Got calls to ask me to support Police for a better protection?

Fact is, many residents pay Speed Camera/RLC fine regularly, and that seems not enough...

I'm on the DNC list but I still get those calls. Everyone I want to be calling me is in my contacts on my cell phone. I don't have a land line anymore. If the name doesn't come up on my cell phone, I don't answer it. If it is important they can leave a message.

Excellent story. My provider allows me to enforce strict call blocking, rarely get a spam call. Must have well over 200 blocked numbers that I've accumulated over the past couple years, some with wildcards to block certain exchanges/area codes etc.

I had a fellow selling car insurance call and offer me a free Rand-McNally road atlas sitting through his sales pitch. He want to know who our insurance was with and how much we paid which I answered. And then..surprise, surprise...he said he could save us money. He wanted to make an appointment and I said sure and for him to be sure to bring that road atlas because I really wanted it. I mentioned that road atlas several times during the call. I told him that I was completely happy with our car insurance company and wasn't going to sign with him but I wanted that atlas. That guy never did show up and we didn't get our road atlas either.

My daughter's number has a recorded message. "This number does not accept any solicitations. If you are a tele-marketer, hang up now. To all others, if you wish to leave a message, push 1."
Most telemarketers use a computer to dial the number and it does not understand the command, so the phone call never goes through.

If I am in a playful mood and have the time, I'll talk and play along with them.
Then, at the "buy" time, I'll ask them to come over to my house so I can sign the papers and pay them. You see, I only do business in person.
Every time, there is some reason why they can't actually show up.
Then they hang up.

...who really could mess with a telemarketers mind. He would answer the phone and then when the guy asked him how he was doing, he would answer fine and then add, "I sure love that tie you're wearing or I love the color of your shirt." The phone would at that time go silent and he said he could just hear the wheels turning in the guys head. (How does he know what I'm wearing?) This guy would then go on to talk about the color of trousers the guy had on. He said it didn't take long for the guy to hang up. He apparently thought my friend was totally bonkers and would move on down his call list.

We have the Ooma VOIP service instead of Ma Bell. Costs a one-time hardware fee of about $200 to buy in and just monthly taxes and fees of a few dollars after that. But if you add their Premier service for $120 a year, among other upgraded features you get their Blacklist service, which has been invaluable. I check unrecognized numbers (I don't answer--they go to voicemail) at whocallsme.com, and if it's a telemarketer/charity/political robocall etc., I blacklist the number. When they call back, Ooma gives them the old "This number has been disconnected" message. It never even rings here, and they can't leave a message, unless of course they call from or spoof another caller ID number.

"It's gold, Jerry, gold." Worth every penny to me.

Luckily we were away from home the night before the primaries.
10 calls within 1.5 hours from candidates.They want me to listen to them during supper time? I'm glad primaries are over.

I often do the same thing with obnoxious phone calls. I really enjoy stringing alone those scammers from India who try to get you to install remote control software on your machine. I kept one on the line for close to an hour once. Very satisfying expletives from him at the end!

I had a guy call me offering a "free" vacation with a time-share deal. I told him several times I wasn't really interested, but he insisted on pursuing it, so I just let him talk. When he asked me for a credit card number, I told him I really wasn't interested. He said something like, "I can't believe you let me talk for 10 minutes!" and slammed the phone down. That was a "first" for me - usually I'm the one doing the slamming! Made my day!

Yep, just got one of these today. The Caller ID just said "Woodburn OR" and it's a 503 area code call. A pre-recorded message that tarted by saying: "There is no problem with your credit card..." as an attention grabber.

Should have waited and told him "In that case there's no reason to call, is there?"

Received a call from a tele-marketer one night regarding better mortgage rates.
Heres what i did,
I told them that i can't talk right now but if you give me your home number i will call you later, he said i cant give you my home number so i told him now you know how i feel!. and hung up the phone!

Police Protection Fund or some other variation? Every cop will tell you they all are a scam. Plus, they try to intimidate people by strongly implying they are police officers calling.

My cordless phone have a caller block feature that I just keep on adding to the list.

can't agree more..
when I picked up the phone, the tone at the other end.. sounds like they are writing you a speeding ticket, so, they can feel you are getting your wallet...

Just ask the solicitor why these officers need special funds. One answer I received was "because they put their lives on the line." Well, so do a lot of other people but they don't go around asking for handouts either. Gee, maybe we ought to start a charity for our men and women in the military.

will you give her the address where she has to drive lots of off-road? That could well explain whey they could not show up at your front door.

Sounds like it works as well as it does here in the States.

You can also string them along for fun and say, "oh thank you, now can I have your private number so I can call you at home when you want to relax?" You get just about the same response as the original poster's.

First time they call I picked up the phone and told them I don't need their service/quote and ask them not to call me again.
If they keep calling my number I will pick up and leave it on so eventually they will hang up after few seconds. If I'm driving I will turn some music on to share with them.
They might call back couple more times but after that they won't be calling me again.

It's the automated ones that just leave a message that irk me. You can;lt even talk to someone, you need to call them, and they persist day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day after day ....

I am registered on the DNC list both for land line and cellphone, but still get one or two calls every evening between 6pm and 9pm. It's almost always the same caller every day. I usually pick up the phone and press "End Call" until it disconnects. Sometimes I'll let it go to my answering machine. Either way, I don't talk to anyone who's phone number I don't recognize on caller ID.

I have two weapons I use, with the cordless phones I have the first time I get a call I don't recognize on my caller ID I can put it on a block list and if they call again they will get a busy signal for a few seconds and then it hags up on them. As part of the package I got with my phone I have a privacy manager which will warn me if a call comes through that doesn't contain a name or number, and I can just not answer it or I have three other options that I can apply to the number. One thing is for sure the do not call state or federal doesn't work worth a damn.

I tried to ignore unwanted calls by not picking them up. But, they do keep calling back as they think I did not say "No, please do not call back"..

So, I begin to pick up these calls, and be as nice as possible to get someone to talk..
For people doing survey or need my personal data, I always tell them, I already gave information to someone in his/her office a few days ago when they called. You can ask that person to share.

Normally, they won't call again.

What kind of cordless phone do you have? How many numbers can you block on it? Is the blocking and busy signal a function of the phone or do you have a phone service that provides these features?
Thanks

I didn't read the entire thread, but here is my suggestion.

1) check the caller ID (There are a few people I will pick up and talk to)

2) Let the answering machine take the call: Usually telemarketers don't leave messages - they want to talk to a live person. So they hang up without leaving a message.

I ask them for a personal telephone number, and when they ask why I need it, my answer is that so I can call them and try to sell something they don't need when they are having dinner.

In my own case, I'm armed with a few things first off:

a) All my numbers (ALL of them) are on the federal and state do-not-call registries.
b) I happen to live in a state that (even before the federal DNC list) had VERY aggressive laws re telemarketing on the books (any telemarketer calling numbers in the state has to pay a bond to the Attorney-General, robocalling is flat out illegal, and violations are actually treated as FELONY offenses here--one of which is calling a number on the DNC registry).
c) I'm also aware of the more obscure laws on the books regulating telemarketing--including the fact that violators can be sued for up to $500 per offense in small claims court and the fact that forging caller ID info is now illegal (which means you can use Call Trace to find out who's actually responsible, heh heh).

So what I do:

a) On my answering machine, I actually have an explicit note to the effect of "If you are a telemarketer: Please be aware that this number is on the do-not-call registry and you have just committed a felony; this WILL be reported to the state Attorney-General's office for appropriate prosecution".

b) If I manage to catch a live telemarketer, I ask to speak to the supervisor of the call center IMMEDIATELY and break out my OWN script of their awareness of telemarketing laws--asking them if they're aware that they cannot call numbers on the DNC registry, that they are subject to FEDERAL fines of up to $11,000 and state FELONY charges for doing so, if they're aware that even charities MUST place your number on the do-not-call list on request and now must maintain this PERMANENTLY (used to be ten years but now it's permanent ), that to even call a number in this state that they have to pay a bond that is forfeited, and they must send me postal confirmation within ten business days that my number HAS been removed from their calling list (if they don't, that's pretty much instant grounds to sue).

I then ask to be placed on their do-not-call list and ask for postal confirmation within ten business days that I have been permanently removed from their list--if I get a call again, I do ask to speak to the supervisor and note that at this point I have grounds to sue under the ECPA of 1996 and that a third call WILL be followed by a small claims lawsuit for treble damages as allowed under the ECPA ($1500; once they call after a request to be placed on the do-not-call list this is considered a willful violation).

I have not YET had to sue a telemarketer over this, but I've come close (one being a VERY persistent "Home Security System" scam that I've been forwarding info to the Attorney-General's office over so they can subpoena ANI records and which is likely operating from a VoIP call center in India; the other being a scam for-profit "charity" falsely claiming to be soliciting funds for firefighters). Even in the second case they stopped after I had a VERY friendly "Come To Jesus Meeting" with their CEO about the matter.

c) In ALL cases, I submit a complaint to the do-not-call alert website my state Attorney-General manages (my state has more severe penalties than the federal penalties for violations of DNC laws, it's more likely to get attention if forwarded to the Attorney-General's office, and they also forward a copy to the FCC and FTC for their own enforcement efforts).

Other than the (expletive deleted) Indian "home security scam" phishers, I pretty much DON'T have issues with telemarketers...probably because the first time they try it I make SURE to put the fear of God (or at least of the state A/G and a very cranky Kusuriurikun) in them