Fun with Telemarketers

I worked for a telemarketing company for 2 years and you are right...the more they sell the more they make...and they are trained to stay on the line until they get the sale or are hung up on.  If a customer hangs up, it won't solve the problem,,because they push a button to be on the call back list at a later time.  The best is to tell them you want to be put on "their" DO NOT CALL LIST and that you want it in writing.  They must do so within a certain time frame...and if they call you back there are big fines.  Don't blame the telemarketer...it's a job..blame the company that's training them to take 3 no's before they can hang up. No means no...however you look at it.

Trust me there are little wimpy T/m's out there and i myself occasionally indulge in some fun to test them but remember not all of us are there to harass you. I say if they suck at it and have no validity do it to 'em but sometimes your cutting your own nose off in spite of you're face. Whats 1 minute out of your life to if nothing else hear the voice of opportunity?

10 days from the time of last call in most states to remove the number. There are however exclusions and loopholes as in anything else. DNC DOES NOT count against written and signed contracts. i.e (phone Co.) we reserve the right after termination of service with (phone Co.) to have telephone mail and other contact with previous customer due to the fact that we own the phone lines. example only *cough* *cough* MC!, AT%T, Spr!nt-ers, ... *cough* and since we own the lines and the numbers we can sell them... MC!, AT%T, Spr!nt-ers, ...*sneeze*(in the distant past) I'm sure this type of stuff is still exist.  
Hint: Most leads now are generated from Credit bureaus , and Credit Checks. Listening and reasoning with us is actually the only way to make us go away. If we like you we can remove you from the list and were gone. If not.. we own your information... we can sell it we can call u we can eternally spam u and really there is little recourse to the actual person whom u spoke with (realize the company not the person takes the fall. Just think about who you really want to be nice to.

Before the 'do not call list' we got calls EVERYDAY, this is what WE would do. They would 'ask' for 'someone' so we gave the phone to my son. Then in the back ground we would start saying things like..'Steve would you please STOP taking yur clothes off, Why do you do 'THIS' everytime you get on the phone?'..'Dam you messed your underweare 'AGAIN', whats wrong wih you?'..'Steve  undressing is done in private, you know that'..ARE YOU PEEING IN THAT PLANT AGAIN?' The neighbors are 'looking' at you from the 'Windows'..AGAIN'
We would say what ever we could think of, he was 'trying' not to laugh & th 'Telemaketer' was trying to 'make his speach'.My Son went as far as 'promising' the 'Telemarker' a million dollers, for their charity, or to buy a 'Thousand' of what ever they were selling. Those were fun times for us & it 'SHUT-UP' many of the 'Teleamrkers'. oH IF ONLY WE COULD GO BACK TO 'THE GOOD OLD DAYS'...LOL.
Even with the 'Do not call list'...many still call, doesn't many people still get the 'Telemarketers' calls?

Telemarketers suck!!!!!!!!!

Good day y'all

I've been a real estate broker for 20 years in Canada.

I don't sell houses, only commercial leasing, commercial property sales, sales of business etc.

In 20 years I have not called anyone at home during dinnertime.

At one point during the late 80s, I was at the cutting edge of technology and had purchased a computer system that would dial people up and tell them our message -- that we could help them with their commercial real estate needs -- you know?  Move their office, upsize downsize, sell the business etc.?

These calls were directed to businesses only between the hours of nine and five.

The phone system, back in those days, cost me about $5,000.00

Shortly after, the CRTC (governing body of Canadian radio and television communications) set out a law that automatic dialers could not be used anymore -- or they could only be used to call people that were currently subscribed to our service -- not for cold calling or prospecting.

And -- even those subscribed calls could only be made between the hours of 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. (according to the law)

My entire system was scrapped immediately!

So here I was, never bugging anybody at home, and basically threw $5,000 in the garbage, yet I continue today, after all these years to still get bombarded with these automatic dialers!

Worst, in their case, they do direct them to call us at home, generally right around the dinner hour!

In spite of putting myself on both US and Canadian do not call lists, and also complaining to CRTC, the calls continue.

I don't see how others can get away with it, while a small-business man like me, trying to work within the parameters -- and going above and beyond that by not calling people at their residence, I seem to have been penalized yet others apparently can still use the service!?

The fines and policing are purely nonexistent!

Apparently companies get around it by employing foreign call centers -- that is call centers that are not subject to our local rules and regulations -- and also have no respect for our time zones!

Well we are not supposed to receive such calls outside of the hours of 9 a.m. and 8 p.m., I continually get calls at all hours!

I even purchased a "Telezapper" which is supposed to obliterate our phone number from these lists -- and whether it's actually working or whether it's just different companies calling I don't know, all I know is we still get these annoying phone calls.

As well as the phone calls, we also receive annoying faxes!  It's usually a water two-page fax saying that we won a vacation.

Now it would be simple enough to turn the fax machine off but it isn't in our case.  Our offices located in the suburbs of the major city. there are certain small pockets where different area codes just get a better bang for the buck!

But in order to get that area code I had to order a virtual phone number because our office isn't physically located in that area code.

The virtual phone number will also accept faxes and there is no way to turn that feature off.

So unfortunately, if we want to keep our virtual phone number, we have to put up with these junk faxes!  We don't even advertise our fax number so I don't know how everybody got it.

The good news is that the faxes are stored on a server, so it's not like we're wasting paper but every time a fax comes in, we are notified of it.

Since it's a virtual phone number, I have to have phone notifications as well as fax notifications sent to my home and cell phone as well -- therefore my cell phone rings even if it's a fax!  Which cost me money every time.

I complained to our phone carrier about this saying that I signed up for a virtual phone number not a spam fax number.

The simple way to fix it would be to install a pin code!  The programmers and there and would need to give subscribers a pin code that would have to be entered after the fax number!  This pin code could then be changed from month-to-month!  A very simple fix but they won't do it!

At this point, we have established the phone number, we have lots of advertising signage etc. with that phone number so in the meantime the faxes ring off the hook -- 99.9% of them junk!

The only way I can stop the faxes from coming in is I let the server fill itself up so that it has no more room for faxes!  But the problem there is that if anybody really wants to send us a fax, they cannot!

Something to consider if you are considering subscribing to Single Number Reach -- a Bell Canada "service"

Thank you Bell Canada

We pass the phone off to my son. He talks their ear off about everything under the sun, then asks for their home number, what time they get off work, and what time they eat dinner, and go to bed. Tells them he'll have someone call them back when they can, at their house. Hasn't gotten one of their numbers yet.. Hmmmm.

I don't know what the big deal is about telemarketers.  Get an answering machine and caller ID.  If you don't recognize the number or it comes up "No Name" then let the machine answer.  If they don't leave a message then it wasn't important anyway. I haven't actually spoken to a telemarketer in years. The phone is there for MY convenience not anyone else's.

Perhaps if, once we realize that we are conversing with a telemarketer, we could turn the conversation into the equivelant of a telephone sex call.  Imagine the variations on that theme that would be possible.  If the telemarketer is of your gender, pretend you are gay.  Keep them on the line as long as possible, as others have suggested.  Might as well have some fun with these pieces of human waste.

Here is the most fun I've had with a telemarketing call.  I answered and listened to the first call..."We will be in your neighborhood and want to give you a free soil test and evaluation...Do you own a dog?...Do you have a fence?...We would need you to leave the gate open and put the dog up on the day we will be in your neighborhood...We have a green grass guarantee...etc"   I noticed that their number displayed on the caller id so for fun, I tried calling it.  Turns out it was one of the auto callers and it answered and put me in queue for the next telemarketer who picked up thinking he had called me, not me calling him.  So I answered "Psychic Hot Line, wait!...before you say anything I'm getting an image, it is hmmm, something green?  And you want to know something about a fence or a gate...oh, and I'm getting an image of a dog standing in a yard of green grass...am I on the right track?"  The caller said in amazement, "Wow..I can't believe you know all that, it IS what I'm calling about..." etc.  So my husband and I took turns calling and getting different telemarketers for maybe hours, we were having too much fun to stop.  Each time we would try to get some new piece of the script to add to our psychic readings.  One telemarketer got totally spooked by it and we thought he was going to unravel.  We kept him going the longest because he kept asking us how we did it and he never believed in psychics but this was just amazing.  I could tell he was actually getting a little "mental" about it, so we decided our work was done and we should probably stop for the night.  We rarely get calls now (on DNC lists), esp. any with valid return numbers showing on caller id...but I highly recommend this if you ever have the opportunity.

www.phonetray.com

If you are on the do not call list, just go to this website and fill it out and report them - it will cost them $11,000 for each and every call they make to you.  Only takes 4 or 5 reports before they permanently take you off of all their call lists....

https://esupport.fcc.gov/form1088/consumer.do

I once received a series of calls from my cell phone carrier, trying to sell me on a promotion to add a second phone to my plan. They were legally allowed to call, since I used their cell phone service.

Since I am single, I would have no use for this promotion. Yet, they called me a few times per week for several months. My demands to stop the calls did not work. I called customer service to opt-out of all telemarketing calls. When that did not work, I called customer service again and threatened to cancel my plan. They gave me free minutes and money back, yet the calls continued.

Here is how I got them to stop. The next time a call came, before the telemarketer could even begin her pitch, I demanded (in a stern, yet polite voice) to speak to her supervisor. After a few minutes, another woman got on the phone. After verifying her name, I said, "I want your home phone number."

Puzzled, she immediately said, "huh?"

I said, "that's right, I want your home phone number. You people have been calling me for months. This is MY phone. I pay the bills. I use it for business, yet you think it is OK for you to use it to sell me something, on a phone I pay for. So I want your home number. And I am going to call you every day. I am going to call you when you are eating breakfast. I am going to call when you are eating dinner. I will call when you are watching a movie. I will call when you are in the bathroom. I will call when you are screwing your man. I will be unrelentless. When I am not calling you, I will be complaining to the FCC, the FTC, and my Congressman. I will file a lawsuit for every call you made. I will not only sue your company, I will also make you a party to the action. I will find anyone and everyone around the country that you have called to join the lawsuit. I will never stop. I will fu*kin' destroy you. I will make it my mission in life."

"Sir, I will remove you number immediately," she said.

They never called again. True story.

This would probably not work with the real scum of the earth, such as Versadebt and VP Marketing, the con artists behind the credit card interest and car warranty scams.

If I wanted to be shopping, I would be standing in the f**king mall, not siting at home with my family.

Leave it to all the thieves on this site to harass our men and women in uniform.

I have been receiving from debt collections agencies calls for over 4 years for a person that's name is very simular to mine and been able to confirm that the SS# for the person the agency is calling for does not match mine so they stop calling me then turn around and sell my phone number to another collection company so I continue to be harrassed month after month.  I've pulled my credit report there are no outstanding debts, changed my phone number twice, paid for an unlisted number, I can not seem to convince them, HELP!