damn telemarketers

[Pretender]

*ring*
*ring*
/me picking up phone
*waiting*
*waiting*
Him: "Hello, this is joe bloggs from ATT long distance..."
Me: "We're not interested."
Him: "Why not?"
Me: *click*


Sigh, they called last week, I told them I'm not in charge of the phone service, and told them that the person who is would be available at noon, when of cource, no one is home. I guess they finally caught on..

 

[konichiwa]

I ask them if I can have their home number so I can call them in the middle of dinner. That usually shuts them up. Sometimes I say "Oh, you're looking for blahblah? Hold on one second" and then I just leave the phone off the hook for about 5 minutes, they're usually gone by then.

 

[AdamDuritz99]

man i hate it when i pick the phone up and say
hello
(wait)
hello
(wait)
HELLO
(wait)
Fine bye
telemarketer: hello we are with....

that piss me off so bad. one day i asked them why they do that and they say they just connected. man my phone rings, i pick up and it takes 5-10 secs for their side to connect. that sux.


peace
sean

 

[Dually]

Go along with it and ask for his name so you can call him at home, then look it up in the phone book and then when you have it say if you ever call again I will call you 10x for everytime you call me.

 

[gittyup]

WHen they ask for the head of the house, I just tell them he is not available..

 

[daveman]

If I have to wait when they start talking I just stay silent. They usually hang up, try it.

 

[MichaelD]

HA-ha! I've got a good one for you. First off, I have caller ID and if I don't recognize the number I don't pick it up. Depending on the time of day, and when the last time I talked w/my Mom, I may pick it up if I think it's her. She's out of state and her number shows up as "unavailable".

On the rare occasion that I p/u the phone w/o looking at the ID and it's a telemarketer, here's what it sounds like. I've been doing this for the past two years at least.

**RING**
me: hello?
them: Hi, this is Tammy from XYZ communications, is Michael D**** available?
me: <slowly, in very somber voice> Oh my, you haven't heard, have you?
them: I'm sorry? Heard what?
me: Michael died last week. Bad car wreck...I'm his cousin...we're here packing up his things...*sniffles*
them: uh...er....uh....er...Um, I'm sorry..goodbye.


Works every time. I've tried being nice. Stupid, doesn't work, only encourages them to call back. I used to just hang up in their ear, which saves me time, but was no fun. Sometimes when my 5-year old son is there, I'll let him talk. I just tell him not to give names, addy's or other personal info. He tells them about Shamu and the zoo and his new Powerranger toy thingee. Sometimes if i'm bored I listen in on the extension.

I hope nobody has the stupidity to flame me for &quot;giving someone who is just doing their job a hard time.&quot; Tough! I have no mercy for telemarketers. At all. They are an interuption of my personal and family time. I can't wait for another one to call. I think I'll try a Swedish accent next time.....

 

[cchen]

I usually just hang up.

 

[bozo1]

I got that add-on from my phone company a year ago or so that blocks telemarketers. Haven't had one since, down from 2-3 a day! I don't care about the $5. a month I pay for it. If anyone calls me (unless I set them up to be excluded) during telemarketer hours, they get a message &quot;This number does not accept solicitations. If you are a solicitor, please hang up now and remove this number from your database. If you are not, press 1 or stay on the line.&quot; Kewl.

 

[Dually]

<< HA-ha! I've got a good one for you. First off, I have caller ID and if I don't recognize the number I don't pick it up. Depending on the time of day, and when the last time I talked w/my Mom, I may pick it up if I think it's her. She's out of state and her number shows up as &quot;unavailable&quot;.

On the rare occasion that I p/u the phone w/o looking at the ID and it's a telemarketer, here's what it sounds like. I've been doing this for the past two years at least.

**RING**
me: hello?
them: Hi, this is Tammy from XYZ communications, is Michael D**** available?
me: <slowly, in very somber voice> Oh my, you haven't heard, have you?
them: I'm sorry? Heard what?
me: Michael died last week. Bad car wreck...I'm his cousin...we're here packing up his things...*sniffles*
them: uh...er....uh....er...Um, I'm sorry..goodbye.


Works every time. I've tried being nice. Stupid, doesn't work, only encourages them to call back. I used to just hang up in their ear, which saves me time, but was no fun. Sometimes when my 5-year old son is there, I'll let him talk. I just tell him not to give names, addy's or other personal info. He tells them about Shamu and the zoo and his new Powerranger toy thingee. Sometimes if i'm bored I listen in on the extension.

I hope nobody has the stupidity to flame me for &quot;giving someone who is just doing their job a hard time.&quot; Tough! I have no mercy for telemarketers. At all. They are an interuption of my personal and family time. I can't wait for another one to call. I think I'll try a Swedish accent next time..... >>



thats soo funny, leting your 5 year old talk. If I was one of them though I would just keep on talking because its more interesting that repeating the same thing forever day after day.

 

[cipher00]

Yah. Usually, having an unlisted and unpublished number helps. With the 199x Communications bill, all telemarketers are required to keep a &quot;do not call&quot; list. If you ask to be put ON the list (not taken OFF it), they are required to do so and stop calling you. I've found the major telemarketers (AT&amp;T, for one) actually honor the request and stop bugging you. Others, well, I'll have to see.

 

[Optimus]

I just interrupt with:

&quot;NoThanksWe'reNotInterestedThanksGoodbye.&quot;

*click*

You have to say it really fast so that they can't get a word in edgewise then hangup in one swift motion.

 

[Deira]

I've got Caller ID and some service that blocks any phone numbers that come up anavailable, etc. I've got an unlisted phone number and somehow they found me. Family and friends that call in that do show up as unavailable, etc. have to log a password in to get through. It used to get me so mad especially when they'd call me at 7:30 in the morning (or earlier, depending on what time zone.) Ever since I got that service, no more telemarketing calls and I get to sleep without being disturbed.

Or at times my roomates will interrupt them and say, &quot; Please remove us from your list and never call us again. This phone call is being logged and if you call again we will seek legal action on you and your company.&quot; Click

 

[BooneRebel]

<< man i hate it when i pick the phone up and say
hello
(wait)
hello
(wait)
HELLO
(wait)
Fine bye
telemarketer: hello we are with....

that piss me off so bad. one day i asked them why they do that and they say they just connected. man my phone rings, i pick up and it takes 5-10 secs for their side to connect. that sux.


peace
sean >>



You've been had by an autodialer. The person talking to you didn't actually dial your number, it was pulled out of a database and dialed by the system. After you pick up the call is connected to the agent. That's why you get those great messages on the answering machine: &quot;Hello...hello...This is xyz calling for Mr. Smith. Is anyone there?&quot;

I love the idea of putting the 5-year old on. &quot;No, we don't have time to hear about your long distance plan, but I'd like to share a few thoughts with you regarding Shamu...&quot;

LOL

 

[BooneRebel]

Here's another one: Ask them personal information.

Hi, what's your name? What color hair do you have? What do you look like? What are you wearing right now?

(Bet you can't get to the 4th question without them hanging up!)

 

[lo5750ul]

How about trying to put off the telemarketing business?
Say you follow the approach of some of the people here and hang up within 5 seconds. That means that the telemarketer can call about 6 people per minute. That's 2880 per day. Now say you kept the person talking for as long as you could without buying or agreeing to anything. Say you are able to keep them on the phone for 10 minutes. That would reduce the number of people per day to 48! That is a reduction in their potential market of 98.43%!!! Surely this decrease would make telemarketing a very uneconomical sales method?

 

[NuclearNed]

Perhaps we can start a list of things to tell them:

&quot;I'm busy hacking up my wife's corpse. Can you call back in an hour?&quot;

&quot;You sure sound like you have a pretty mouth. Can you squeal like a pig?&quot;

&quot;I want pepperoni, mushrooms, and extra cheese.&quot;

&quot;Can I buy your product with my daddy's credit card?&quot;

&quot;Hello, <name of telemarketer>. I've been watching you. I know where you live. See you soon. Goodbye. <click>&quot;

&quot;Have you ever seen a grown man naked? Would you like to?&quot;

&quot;Hello? Hello... Hello? OK, guys this is creeping me out! Hello? I'm gonna call the police. <click>&quot;

&quot;The dropoff is in the usual place. Make sure you're not followed like last time.&quot;

 

[Jfur]

&quot;Shareen&quot; from Verizon long distance called last night and when my husband went to get me, she decided that it wasn't worth her wait and hung up!!! If that piece of crap ever calls hear again, she's getting the industrial strength whistle...

VERIZON LONG DISTANCE WILL NEVER HAVE MY BUSINESS AGAIN, AT WORK OR HOME

 

[BooneRebel]

Except that's it's their business to keep you on the phone, and you are just wasting your own personal time.

I hate telemarketing.

 

[goodoptics]

I hate them telemarketers! :|

 

[formulav8]

I get like 5 calls a day from some kind of Telemarketer. I have Caller ID now so I can see if it is or not.

 

[lo5750ul]

<< Except that's it's their business to keep you on the phone, and you are just wasting your own personal time.

BooneRebel, That is not their job. Their job is to SELL you something, otherwise they lose out too.

 

[woodly6]

Mama said telemaketers are the devil!

 

[tasslex]

Is there any way that anything you say to a telemarketer can come back to haunt you? Like if I start saying things like:

<< Hi, what's your name? What color hair do you have? What do you look like? What are you wearing right now? >>

or

<< &quot;I'm busy hacking up my wife's corpse. Can you call back in an hour?&quot; >>

can they sue me for sexual harassment? Can they send the cops to my address? I would LOVE to fsck with these people as much as possible, but can doing/saying certain things create a bad situation?

 

[Bryophyte]

If your phone company has the option, subscribe to &quot;blocked caller-id rejection&quot;. It makes people who call from phones with blocked caller-id dial a code before dialing your number that will allow their caller-id to come through. Telemarketers won't do this, so no more telemarketing calls.