I will never be polite to a telemarketer again

[Deja Q]

SO I answer the phone tonight. This guy from some "police" organization which lobbies at the capitol wanted me to renew - I'd given to them 3 years ago.

He was polite, so was I.

He gave me the spiel and asked if I could make a donation. I said I couldn't afford it, I overextended myself. He asked if I was sure and they had plans as low as $15. I said I was sure.

He then hung up.

Bastard.

I take the time to be Mr. Goody Consumer, taking a fair interest and then this.

I don't care how charitable or how seemingly benevolent the organization is in the future, if they announce they are telemarketers I'm sternly telling them to remove my phone # and hang up.

Several months ago, I listened to a telemarketer from a newspaper company. Same thing. I was polite, she was rude.

No more.

[wtmusic]

1. Or doncha just love

when you politely decline their offer, then they talk right over you and offer it again...

Last time I got him to shut up by saying, "You really want me to hang up on you, don't you?"

Then I did. Hee hee!

[KG]

2. quickly say, 'no thanks' and hang up.

you don't owe the buggers any more than that.

better yet, get caller ID and screen your calls. :)

[Deja Q]

6. Been there, done that, no good because

telemarketers, like my relatives in the boonies and rural areas or my few friends, either have their number shielded or the caller ID service isn't in their area yet.

Caller ID is a waste of money.

At this point, I'd rather be mean. It's a war out there. A war of words and impoliteness. And I'm tired of becoming the victim of their words and impoliteness.

[dofus]

10. Why do you think caller ID is a waste of money?

I got it on our phone some years back when we were getting harrassing phone calls to our son from former classmates of his. How nice to be able to call the parents and inform them. The calls ceased rather quickly. And then I discovered the benefit of being able to screen calls. If the caller ID couldn't capture the name of the caller, it was almost invariably a telemarketer, and we didn't answer.

It's been well worth the money for us.

[tsipple]

3. Dean Campaign Suggests You Telemarket Back...

Tell the telemarketer that he/she really needs to vote for Howard Dean, and why, etc.

By the way, you can get on the national do-not-call list by clicking here.

[dofus]

9. Just did it.

Thanks for the link.

[MercutioATC]

4. I ask how much of the money goes to the charity.

All of the police/sheriff/firefighter ones that have contacted me say that 30% goes to the charity. The last one I said "no" to asked me "You can't spare $15 to help the police?" I replied "Not when the police are only getting $5 of it" he actually muttered "cheap bastard" and hung up.

Now I just hang up on them. ALL of them.

[donco6]

5. I rarely answer the phone.

I let the service get it. If they really want to talk to me, they'll leave a message. My family has my cell number. If I didn't have broadband over my telephone line, I'd drop it completely.

[markbark]

7. Amen...

I wish I could get my spouseperson to believe that just because the phone is ringing doesn't mean you have to answer it.

I can happily ignore a ringing phone.... my spouse seems genetically incapable of doing so. :shrug:


--MAB

[dofus]

8. We now have some kind of service

on our phone line, which I cannot recall the name of, that won't accept calls if it cannot capture the phone number. Almost no telemarketers get through. I love it.

Caller ID is also useful. I can see which calls not to answer.

[MercutioATC]

11. My problem is that my work comes up as "unknown" on my caller ID

and a couple of my friends have unlisted numbers with caller ID blocking (as I do).

I don't understand why I can post a "no solicitors" sign on my lawn and people aren't allowed to knock on my door but there's no way (if these idiot judges have their way) to get the same protection on my telephone.

[Atlant]

15. "Call Blocking" will still work for you.

> My problem is that my work comes up as "unknown" on my caller ID and a couple
> of my friends have unlisted numbers with caller ID blocking (as I do).

"Call Blocking" will still work for you. Real humans have two ways to get
through the Call-Blocking. They can either:

• Answer the two questions posed as to who they are, and are they NOT
  a telemarketer, or
  
  
• You can give them your passcode and they can dial that, immediately
  being put through
  
  

My workplace usually comes in as "Unavailable" also, and I have
Call Blocking but can still call home using the passcode.

Atlant

[liberalnurse]

12. I learned that only a small %

of the donations actually go to the organization one donates to. I believe that the tele-marketer is part of a marketing firm that actually makes more off of the donations than the cause you would donate to.

:puke:

[TioDiego]

23. Hi Nurse!

How's the nerves this morning?

[scarlet_owl]

13. I had the same experience

This "police benevolence" group called me and asked me to send $20 and I said sure. I then experienced some financial troubles and was unable to fulfill my pledge. They started calling and harassing me that I never sent the money. I explained my situation and they got very rude to me. They kept calling and I just kept hanging up. I later found out that this whole thing was a racket anyway.

[ontheMark]

14. Have fun

Got a call from some firemans fund yesterday. My reply was, This Bush economic miracle has me out of work and behind on my house payment, can you help me out? The guy cracked up laughing.
Use to get AOL calling all the time to "come back". The last time a young gal was giving the pitch. I said I have only one question, what color panties you got on? Never heard from them again.
I have an unlisted #, so if they call me, I try to have fun.

[notadmblnd]

16. I agree...

talk dirty to them.. ask them what color pantys they have on.. tell them they have a sexy voice.. tell them if they talk dirty to you, you'll donate.. start moaning and breathing heavy. They'll hang up.

[newyawker99]

21. Congrats notadmblnd!! 200 posts

:toast:

[7th_Sephiroth]

17. I got the audio clip from Duke nukem 3d

and whenever a telemarketer calls i play it "i'm gonna tear off your head and s*it down your neck"

[Swede]

18. I wonder why we're such slaves to phone ringing?

Even with caller id i still get up to see who calls even when i don't feel like it.

[FloridaJudy]

19. Telemarketers - "Grrrrrr"

I'm painfully polite to these people. They have a lousy job. I usually interrupt in the middle of their spiel with "No, thanks. I'm not interested" before hanging up.

A few of them have cursed me "Eff you, you stuck-up C***". I'm sorry I interrupted them before taking down the name of product they were promoting; nothing would give me pleasure than reporting these creeps both to their employers AND the FCC.

Lately, the folks trying to sell me unwanted products are women whose accents are pure Bombay. They are even more scrupulously polite than I am.

I suspect that the "Out-Sourcers" have found that Hindu women are even cheaper than convicted American prisoners.

Telemarketers----Grrrrrr!

[OneBlueSky]

20. a lot of these police fund raisers are close to being scams . . .

if they farm their calling out to a telemarketing firm, the beneficiary gets very little of the take . . . sometimes as little as 20%, the lion's share going to the contracted firm . . . our police department's organization has decided to do their own fund raising via mailings that they do themselves, as volunteers . . . that way, they keep 100% of what they bring in . . . more work for them, but a much better payoff, and much better "customer" relations . . .

[Japhy_Ryder]

22. Help from my former employer

http://www.give.org/tips/policefire.asp