Anyone have some good telemarketer stories? How do you deal with them? I got a call the other day from Southwestern Bell, advertising privacy manager. (BTW -- I have caller ID, and it was "unavailable.") After the second "no-thank you" the salesman asked, "Are you ever bothered by annoying sales calls disturbing you in the privacy of your home." I just laughed. The other one that really bothered me was DPSOA, which from what I understand is a worthy organization that benefits the families of deceased state police officers. The problem was, they use a computer. The caller ID lists an unidentified number calling every hour at almost exactly the same time. Then while I'm home, I get these calls, at the same interval, from a recorded message that says "I'm sorry, all representatives are busy, please stay on the line." -- which merits a hang up. The third time I wait, and ask them not to call me again, which they honored -- for a year. ------------------ Stay Cool...
dc: I have several good telemarketer stories to relate. However, most of them occured when I had been drinking and can't remember them now. But believe me, when I have been drinking and a telemarketer calls me, woo-boy, then fun is sure to follow! One that I do recall happened in July when the temp outside was about 104. Some lady was selling lakeside timeshares, doing her bit, when I asked her "How hot is it there?" She says "excuse me?" and I said "it's 104 degrees here, if I can cool off where you are at I will buy one". She says "well, sorry, but we are on Lake Conroe and it is currently 109" I said, "You know, you just lost a sale because of the heat" She just laughed.... ------------------ Save our children from the TAAS test: TAAS test report card TAAS test fact sheet
I work at home and both my business and home phone are here. I receive no less than a half dozen calls every day ON EACH PHONE! Usually, I just hang up. Sometimes, I ask them to take me off their call list. One guy calls up and says, "Is your home wood or brick?" I told him it was wood and he asked how old it was. I said it was built in 1930. "Are you in a historic district?" By this time, I had figured out the guy was trying to sell some type of siding. I said, "Yeah, but I wouldn't change the wood anyway. My wife and I like the way it looks." He asked, "Do you paint it yourself?" He obviously was trying to show the cost-saving angle. When I said I did, he obviously got frustrated and said in a very sarcastic tone, "Well, have fun painting," and hung up the phone in my ear. Nice. ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
I don't get much, fortunately, but I do get at least one a week from the Austin American Statesman. Everytime I say no, they ask me if I've ever had a problem with the paper, I say, "Yes, it sucks." They still call at least once a week. ------------------ Cheerleaders are just dancers who've gone r****ded. visit www.swirve.com
I have a similar story about door-to-door evangelists. My father-in-law was a Calvinist minister and a lawyer. He's an annoying person to argue with because he's very, very thorough with his argumentation. Whenever he'd get someone knocking at his door from Watchtower or the Moonies, or whatnot, he'd invite them in to talk. They'd start out happy that they managed to get someone they can talk to about God, and then soon realize what they got themselves into when my father-in-law started questioning them about all the inconsistencies he saw in their religion (which he was invariably more familiar with than they were). I don't know if he ever managed to convert anyone in this manner, but he sure can make people sweat. ------------------ Rockets Draft Obligations Summary http://www.gaffordstudios.cjb.net/
I have two ladies that visit our house at least once every couple of weeks from Jehovah's Witnesses. They are such sweet little ladies, I don't have the heart to tell them that I really don't agree with them on this issue. I just smile, nod and say, "Thank you" as they hand me "The Watchtower" or whatever. Juan: Calvinist? Ouch. I've been reading a little about Calvinists and Reconstructionists lately. Tough bunch. ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
Before caller ID and filtering out "unknowns", some of my conversations went like this: Ring. Ring. Telemarketer: Can I speak with so-and-so or the man of the house? Me: Umm....he's not here right now(trying not to LOL). The problem with that is they try to call back later and I have to pull out the same line . Did anybody hear about that scam where this telemarketing company did this: Telemarketer: We are selling revolutionary new golf clubs. (They then get into a whole spiel about the clubs and how great they are and how they will improve your golf swing). We will let you, sir, try the golf clubs out for 90 days. All we need is a deposit from a credit card in case you don't return the clubs. If you decide to return the clubs, we will give you back your deposit. If you keep the clubs, then we will keep your deposit. (It was some supposedly great price for the clubs) Guy on phone: Wow! Sounds cool. So, I can try them out for 90 days and return them and all you need is a credit card # for deposit. I get the money back if I decide they are not all they are cracked up to be, right? Telemarketer: Yes Guy gets the clubs, tries them out, finds out that they are just regular less than average golf clubs where all the claims of the clubs were wrong. Guy waits until near the deadline while still using the clubs. Then, into the third month, decides he wants his money back. Ummm....NO. Turns out all the scammees had 60 days to dispute the charge with their credit card company and, if they did not do this within that time frame, they lose their money to the scam. And, of course, they are not getting their refund and are stuck with lame golf clubs. Remember that....60 days is all you have to dispute a credit card transaction. After that, you are **** out of luck. Surf ------------------
I got a couple of calls from folks trying that golf club thing on me. I don't play golf, though, so I wasn't interested. I don't get a lot of telemarketing calls, and when I do, I just hang up. If I want something, I'll go find it, I don't need them to call my house and try to sell me something. The people I hate the most, though, are those kids who travel around the country selling magazine subscriptions. They're always talking about some contest that they are in and they'll get these points and a trip or scholarship if they sell so many magazines. They come by my apartment all the time (the "No Soliciting" sign the apartment people put up has had no effect. ) ------------------ Houston Sports Board DFW Sports Board
When I was in college...and sometimes now I will get the line "Is your mother home?" I have recently gotten out of the "Are you old enough to drive?" stage but I still get "are you old enough to vote?" I'm getting to the age, though, that I don't mind the genes that make me look so young any more. ------------------
mrpaige, I know what you mean. I used to get that crap all of the time. "Sir, I'm trying to win a trip to Colorado for a ski vacation(or trying to get enough money to go to college or something) and if I sell enough subscriptions, I can go. Will you help me? Here is a list". They make you feel bad if you don't. But, you feel really bad when you see that you could have just done a subscription straight with the magazine company for a lot cheaper. Usually, if there is a "No Soliciting" sign, I will just say....did you not see the sign? Of course, they always lie and say..duh..."what sign?". One time, I had a Greenpeace hippy looking dude trying to blame all of the problems of the world on people like me for not contributing my money to the cause. That really ticked me off. After a while, the peephole becomes an invaluable tool at making out who is knocking at your door and whether you should answer or not . ------------------
My wife has gotten two or three calls where they flat out ask for her credit card's expiration date and number... fortunately my wife is bright enough to not give that out and tell them where to go. But they come off as people from the credit card company .... it's like, "If you're from the credit card company, why are you asking me for the number?" My brother has this "Phone Effects" machine which plays loud sounds in to the phone.... alarm horns, cars, bells, lady screaming, cows, sheeps... when he gets the telemarketing call he usually lets the alarm horn sound go off real loud -- sounds like a nuclear attack warning. They ask, "You hear that?" He's always like, "Hear what?" ------------------ NOTHING BUT .NET CLUTCHCITY.NET
My friend work's for Victoria Secret in New Mexico, he calls me up to order, we talk for hours free of charge. Sweet! ------------------ humble, but hungry.
I was calling to try to get a prospective student to come to my school, the University of ... oh, you meant RECEIVING telemarketing calls, my bad. ------------------ David Stern calls me now and says, 'I apologize for all the things I said to you in the past. Dennis is a lot worse than you are.' -- Charles Barkley
When I was younger and fresh out of high school, I got lured into one of those mail-order contest things. They called me and said "Congratulations, you have won a car! ....but first you have to buy a historic coin from us to make everything official!" The coin was around $350 I think, and of course, the dummy that I was, I fell for it. So, I sent off $350 and got this stupid coin. Later on, they called again wanting me to send $2500 for "tax money" before I could get my car. I know in the states you have to pay taxes on prizes, but you don't in Canada, and this place was based out of Montreal. Anyway, I refused and they kept calling back, day after day, wanting the $2500. If this was a legit contest and I really did win a car, would they have kept pestering me for cash like this? No way. Eventually, they just called one day and said flat out, "Look, are you going to send us the money or not?" I said no, and the guys says, and I quote: "Okay then. I will go take a caca now" and hung up. Stupid, moronic scammers. I felt like such an idiot afterwards that they managed to cheat me out of $350 for some stupid coin that is probably only worth 20 bucks. I still have the damn thing on my bookshelf. ------------------ My dream job is to be a Houston Rockets towel-boy.
I like to "F" with the carpet cleaner sales people.... If they call, let them do their spiel, and then ask if it can remove goat blood from your recent sacrifice that got a little messy. You can go into detail about how your buddy sliced the goat's neck in the wrong place and all. Quite humorous. Then you can ask if it takes out human blood, or various other animals. Most telemarketers begin their sales pitch by asking for Mr. or Mrs. so and so, or the man of the house...something like that. Then they will ask you how you are doing.... I try to say, "Well, I am glad you asked..." and then proceed to tell them about the rape charges or the legal trouble I am in (not really), and then go into detail about some rash that won't go away in an intimate area. FUNNY! ------------------ There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Ya know, I was a telemarketer. First job I had, as a matter of fact. I only lasted a couple of weeks, cuz i didn't pull in any donations. I didn't lie like my co-workers, I just recited what was on the paper in front of me. Now that I look back on it, I don't think the place was on the level, but I milked that job for 500 bucks. And I gained quite a few funny experiences. One chick was talking to me just fine till she realized I was a telemarketer, then "No comprende ingles" and she put on a thick accent and promptly hung up. One old dude gave me a 15 minute speech on the evils of telemarketers. One chick was yelling at me cuz I made her pork chops cold. Some other dude said " hey, its party all the time over here come over and we'll get you all liquored up". lol Whenever I think its a telemarketer I answer "Hello, Dominos pizza, how may I help you?" Or try to think of some good way to pull their leg. Hoop-T, that's goat's blood made me crack up. ------------------ There are 3 kinds of lies: lies, lies, and heypeeisms. -DrofDunkingDonuts
I like to ask them irrelevant Questions like HOW TALL ARE YOU? They get really irratated when you interrupt their speech. sometimes I try to hold on to them for as long as possible. Rocket River ------------------
I like to say "Hold on for a minute, I need to turn off the stove." Then I can just leave them on hold and see how long they stick around. ------------------ Don't come in Bullard's house!
One of my old phone numbers now belongs to a Subway Sandwich shop. I wonder how many telemarketing calls they got for me over at the Subway (since it can take years for some of these firms to update their information. I still get calls for the people who had my current number before, and I have had the number for almost four years.) ------------------ Houston Sports Board DFW Sports Board
Most of the time, I don't answer the phone (caller ID) but on the rare occasion I do answer, first I listen after I say hello. If it take the person on the other end longer than a second or two to answer I just hang up. Those people use a computer to call and when they finally get a voice it takes them 2-3 seconds to react. If they answer right away, I sometimes let them do their whole shpiel, then I just say, "No thank you, and please accept this as your notice to remove this number from your phone list!" Now they have this little gadget you can hook up to your phone and when telemarketers call, you answer, then when they respond, you push a button and hang up and that message automatically is read to them! Most of the time, the folks are cool about it and say, "well it will probably take 30 days to do this and we may call again" and I say "fine, I'll just tell you again, till you get it" Sometimes I lie, if they ask for me. I say "he's not in, and please remove this number...." I usually try not to get angry, as sometimes these folks are students, just trying to make some side money. rockHEAD ------------------ *** THIS SPACE FOR LEASE ***
