Don't Threaten To Kill Telemarketers

[Ian David]

We know how you feel; telemarketers suck. But no matter how much they're in the wrong, please don't threaten to burn down their place of business and then kill them and their families—even if they call you a jackass—because they may report you to the police. Then, if your police are anything like the ones in St. Louis, Missouri, you'll likely be arrested and charged for making terrorist threats, like poor Charles Papenfus.

Papenfus, a self-employed mechanic from Ohio, made the threats to an extended auto warranty telemarketer based in St. Louis on May 18. On June 27th, he was "was lured to a Fostoria, Ohio, police station with a false story about being suspected in a tavern fight there," according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He went into the station to clear his name, and has been held in jail ever since.

{His wife} Tracie Papenfus said she still can't understand why her husband is held 450 miles from home at the St. Louis workhouse on a $45,000 bond she can't afford to pay. (That amount could be lowered at bond-reduction hearing scheduled for Monday.)

"He shouldn't have mouthed off on the phone, but this is overkill," Tracie Papenfus said. "He just can't handle it in there. He's not a criminal. ... They make it sound like he's a terrorist, and he's far from it."

<snip>

...the business is located at 300 North Tucker Boulevard. The only firm in that building that sells service contracts - popularly known as "extended warranties" - is TXEN Partners, which does business as Service Protection Direct. The firm did not respond to requests for comment.

More:
http://consumerist.com/5319788/dont-threaten-to-kill-telemarketers


Hat-tip to: http://twitter.com/abba_ks/statuses/2777403570

[Warpy]

1. A simple "no thank you" works for most of them

After all, there are real people on the phone and they're doing a job they most likely despise because nothing else was available. It's not my job to abuse them.

However, the persistent jackasses who call back are fair game.

[Iggo]

12. Hanging up works on ALL of them, every time.

[Iggo]

15. delete...wrong place

[MinM]

31. President of US Fidelis: convicted felon/fundie

To answer Reader Rabbit's question below .. Yes, it is a racket!

Still no reason to threaten anyone though.

For more info and links - including a Today Show exposé - click on the link below:

http://dalyplanet.blogspot.com/2009/06/trouble-brewing-for-rusty-wallace-and.html

[carlyhippy]

2. I have caller ID, I simply just don't answer the phone

and if I do end up with a telemarketer, I listen to what they have to say and tell them no...he gets his job done and I only end up wasting 45 sec to a minute of my time and his/hers. Most of the time they hang up as soon as I answer the phone anyway.

[Burma Jones]

4. +1

[sammytko]

7. Yes, free yourself from running to the phone!

I also have caller ID, but never even make an attempt to see who is calling. Why get all upset about a phone call - make it work for you, not vice versa. You are in control of the phone - people!!

[sofa king]

18. I would like to see a "sandbox" program put to use.

As indifferent as some of you are to telemarketers, I happen to think they are both highly annoying and usually breaking the law themselves. They prey upon the elderly and the slower ships in our fleet.

The telemarketers in question here are probably scammers. They sell fake auto warranties, warranties which are designed to heavily overlap with manufacturers' warranties until many years down the road, when the telemarketers have closed shop and moved on with your money. I would not be surprised to find that bribery also plays a role in this case.

Such people do not need to be ignored. They need to be fucked with.

So if I ever get a chance to kill that industry, I'm going to take it. I'd like to see a "sandbox" program that answers "yes" or "no" in a human voice, asks dozens of stupid questions, provides fallacious personal information, phone numbers, and addresses, interrupts the telemarketer, puts them on call waiting, and so on, with the object of delaying the telemarketer for at least five to ten minutes per call. If this sounds familiar to you, it is. Companies that owe you money make you spend at least as much time navigating their byzantine phone systems. So why can't we do it back?

[Dulcinea]

30. Same here.

I LOVE Caller ID!

I was a telemarketer for a while during college, during the '80s. I was hung up on regularly, but thankfully never threatened! It baffles me how anyone could do that job for more than a copule of months. It's a monotonous, crappy job if there ever was one.

Telemarketers are people too, who probably do that job because they need to work. Don't make their lives any more miserable, OK?

[tridim]

3. Don't threaten to kill anybody.

:shrug:

[havocmom]

5. I don't threaten telemarketers, at least someone hired people to annoy me

But robo calls? I want a button on my phone that traces the call and blows up the damned machine at the other end. ;)

[Heidi]

6. I don't understand how a telemarketer could make a person angry enough to threaten violence.

When they call us, we politely say "No, thank you. We're not interested," and hang up the phone. I look at it like this: I've never met a person whose long-term career aspiration was to be a telemarketer, but I've known a few people who've lost their jobs and ended up doing telemarketing to make ends meet. So I don't engage them at all; their time is better spent talking with someone interested in buying what they're selling. :shrug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

29. Exactly

[Ewellian]

8. Read the news account...

he received a piece of junk mail from them and he called them to complain. This was not a case of an annoying telemarketer.

[noamnety]

13. It wasn't random junkmail - it was an illegal scam

"Papenfus received a fake warranty expiration notice from them"

"The Better Business Bureau recently accused the firm of sending mailers to consumers that incorrectly state factory warranties on their vehicles either have expired or will run out soon. Last year, then-Attorney General Jay Nixon sued the firm for misleading consumers, and a condition of that suit's settlement was that TXEN Partners would refer to consumers' expiring warranties only if the company believes "in good faith" that those claims are true."


I feel bad for him, but I also hope the case will give the company doing the scam wider bad publicity.

[Arkansas Granny]

9. If my caller ID says unknown name or data blocked, I just don't answer the phone.

Being on the do not call list helps some, but it doesn't stop all telemarketing calls. I figure that anyone I want to talk to will allow their name and/or phone # to display on my phone. Otherwise, they won't get answered.

If I do find myself on the line with a telemarketer, I just tell them "no, thank you" and hang up. There's no need to get abusive to the person on the other end of the line. It's just someone trying to get by doing one of the least appreciated jobs I can think of.

[dembotoz]

10. it is way easy to record voice conversations on a telphone these days

in my state, you do not have to notify the other party on the phone as long as one party is aware the conversation is being taped.

you start threatening people on the phone someone might take your seriously.

There are bozos out there with guns.
you have to take threats seriously.

[blueamy66]

11. This is ridiculous.

I think our cops have more important things to do.

We've taken care of telemarketers....we yanked the house phone cord years ago and only use the line to receive and send faxes. It works great!!!

[sofa king]

14. "But if you DO want to burn down the place of business, here's the address."

[Ian David]

23. Do not burn down 300 North Tucker Boulevard. n/t

[Iggo]

16. Why the hell are people still even talking to telemarketers?

Once you know it's a sales call, hang the fuck up!

I don't get it. Who's talking to these people?

[Berry Cool]

17. I would not advise threatening anyone with violence

but the "extended warranty" telemarketers are an especially nasty breed. They are lying to people to try to sell them something useless. Lately they've become downright rabid in the number of calls they have placed to cell phones and the frequency with which they have placed them. The anger at them is understandable, even if it's wrong to threaten violence on them.

Also, there is nothing wrong with hating on telemarketers. They are invading your time and privacy, even to the extent that you have to check your phone and see whether the call is from someone you know before answering. They are a nuisance and they are intruding on your life. You have no more obligation to hear them out than you do to invite strangers into your house if they knock on your door.

[sharesunited]

19. I tell them "Wait a moment I'll get him" then just put the receiver aside and laugh to myself.

[pipi_k]

27. I do the same thing...

Hey, is it my fault I'm getting older and FORGOT what I was going to do?


:evilgrin:

[slackmaster]

20. Tom Mabe knows how to deal with them properly...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un_PjRXV5l8

[cliffordu]

21. I ask them the most sexually explicit questions I can think of.

Which I gotta say is really something.

[Ian David]

22. Ever get lucky that way? n/t

[cliffordu]

24. No - but I have made a couple of them laugh so hard they had to hang up.

I used to do the same to collection agencies....they REALLY get upset over it.

[TheCoxwain]

25. I have been to a telemarketing call center for one of our businness programs...

These guys are among the saddest souls around and suffer from poor self esteem...


usually the job is located in a small town far away - this helps in retaining workers. Most of them are either dropouts/ students working for extra cash or oldies with a settled job ( usually the best performers)


since much of the job involves rejection or even being yelled at - it affects the younger crowd mentally and lot of them suffer from depression.


they are minimum wage earners ( save a dollar as an incentive for each sale) ....

many of these people dont have a hope in the world other than to stick with the lousy job .. not everyone is motivated to make the cut and be promoted ..

So save a thought for these guys before you mouth off an bunch of expletives the next time you get a call ...


better still register your phone at donotcall.gov

[Reader Rabbit]

26. St. Louis workhouse?

Are they forcing accused persons to work? That smacks of slavery. Maybe this is a racket?

[GreenPartyVoter]

28. Since I have had family members who have worked that job, I talk to

people who call me up nicely. A very firm no from the beginning usually works, but if not I just explain I have no money and that they would be better off calling someone who does. The conversation is over by then.