BS: Beat telemarketers.....

Subject: RE: BS: Beat telemarketers.....
From: GUEST,petr
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 04:32 PM

we check the call display, and dont answer if its unknown or blocked or
looks like some 1800 marketing type #.

our friends know we have a baby daughter, and often cant answer anyway so they can always leave a msg.

but if they should happen to get me, if its a survey I just say no thanks I dont do surveys as I hang up, if its a charity I tell them I have specific charities and dont give ones who solicit by phone.
(often the charity hires telemarketing companies to raise money and only a small portion goes to the charity, so Id rather just give to the charity directly)

if its one of those telemarketers who goes into a spiel without giving you a chance to answer I put the phone down and see how long it takes before they realize theyre not talking to anyone.

years ago my mom was a pushover and the charities shared her number, so we screened her calls.
I could tell it was a charity if they couldnt pronounce the name
and would ask who it was, and from where, and once the telemarketer said it was john, john from vancouver and when I said shes busy, he said 'fuckyou you goof' and hung up.

so since then I didnt have any problem dealing with marketers.

Subject: RE: BS: Beat telemarketers.....
From: NH Dave
Date: 15 Jan 06 - 05:33 PM

At one time, before the "Do Not Call" list was introduced companies like Radio Shack in the US, sold a small tone generator that you could put between your phone and the wall jack. This little box generated a couple of tones whenever you picked up the handset just like the tones that precede the recording, "The number you have dialed . . . ", tones that the computer actually doing the dialing would understand to mean, "There's no one living at this number right now", and delete your number from its files. This worked fairly well for me, but with the No Call List it ceased to be a big help. As time has passed, more people are calling me to buy their various services, lso it may be time to hook this out-of-service tone box back to my phone again.

    Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Beat telemarketers.....
From: Folkiedave
Date: 15 Jan 06 - 08:14 PM

TPS member and real anti-telemarketing. Sweetly ask who they are once I have that established that, tell them that by continuing to talk they are agreeing to my charges of £45.00 per hour - minimum charge 3 hours.

They always put the telephone down.

Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Beat telemarketers.....
From: GUEST,Bruce Baillie
Date: 16 Jan 06 - 12:18 PM

...I had great fun with a few of them pretending to be Chinese with only a small grasp of English, eventually THEY put the phone down on ME! Try it, it works a treat!

Subject: RE: BS: Beat telemarketers.....
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Jan 06 - 01:49 PM

I never leave messages on answering machines. I do not do business with companies that do not have humans answering the phone. I do not have an answering machine and I seldom answer my phone....telemarketers haven't a chance .

Subject: RE: BS: Beat telemarketers.....
From: Firecat
Date: 16 Jan 06 - 01:51 PM

As I'm sure quite a few of you know, I used to work in a call centre, trying to promote kitchens. If the caller doesn't identify themselves immediately, they are breaking the Telemarketing Code Of Conduct (which has to be learned by heart or posted on each cubicle). Same goes for if they don't put you on the TPS if requested.

There is no call to be rude to them! As many people who I spoke to found out, you are much more likely to get the caller to go away if you are polite to them.

Subject: RE: BS: Beat telemarketers.....
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Jan 06 - 05:51 PM

I love telephone surveys.

My responses usually qualify me to be one of the 'outliers'... :-)

Last night I was rung back by someone who had previously given me a survey on motor oils (I had insisted on only buying the cheapest supermarket house brands!) - now they were asking a question and grading you on if you were the 'fanatic type of car owner'. Sensibly, I only scored the second highest, so now they will leave me alone.

Subject: RE: BS: Beat telemarketers.....
From: number 6
Date: 16 Jan 06 - 06:06 PM

How about those Seventh Day Adventist and Mormans that knock on your door on Saturday mornings soliciting their Spiritual Believes ... replying that your just not interested never worked, they'd show up next week right on schedule ... but I later found by telling them I''m Jewish, they never came around again.

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: Beat telemarketers.....
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Jan 06 - 06:23 PM

If you tell them you are already in a 'hard' religion, they will usually leave you alone.

Subject: RE: BS: Beat telemarketers.....
From: JennyO
Date: 16 Jan 06 - 11:11 PM

I've had varied experiences with those religious door knockers, depending on my mood at the time. The funniest was quite a few years ago when my kids were still living at home. One Sunday morning I was woken by a knock on the door, which was very close to my son's bedroom. I had been bothered a few times in the previous weeks, and was cranky at being woken up, so I was in no mood....

I opened the door, looked at them, and before they had time to say a word, I said the first thing that came into my head "Oh no, not this shit again!", and shut the door. Later on, my son told me he had heard it all, and was rolling around with mirth "That's the best reply I've heard yet, mum!" he said.

Even further back, in the early days of my marriage, my husband at the time invited them in on one occasion and engaged them in a lengthy discussion about religion and invited them to try and convince him why he should not be an atheist. It seemed to amuse him at the time - he obviously had a lot of time to kill!

More recently I've told them I worship the Goddess, and start to tell them all about it (they don't know that Pagans don't proselytise). That is a good way to get rid of them fast. But usually I just tell them I'm not interested and shut the door, especially the mormons who seem to be more "in your face" than the Seventh Day Adventists, who are usually happy if you take their magazines.

Yesterday I had a strange experience with someone who turned out to be trying to change my phone company to Optus. I was sitting out the back, and John, who was inside, heard a knock on the front door. Apparently this guy didn't make his intentions very clear, and John assumed he was someone I had asked to come and service my cable TV. So he invited him in and led him through the house to the kitchen. I came inside and tried to figure out what this stranger in my house was babbling about. Finally I heard him mention Optus, and he asked me if I was happy with my phone company. "Very happy", I said. Then he asked me who I was with and I told him. He seemed to think that was very funny and asked me what rates I was paying. "None of your business" I said as I very smartly led him towards the front door. He was still standing on the front doorstep chortling "You're with **** and you're happy with THEM?" as I shut the door on him. I was not at all pleased that he had been invited into the house. As I said to John - "It's not safe to invite people in like that, unless you yourself are expecting them. If I was expecting someone, I'd tell you!" So I guess that won't happen again. It really gave me the creeps to find someone I didn't want suddenly inside my house! Worse than the phone callers - you can at least hang up on them.

Jenny