Telemarketers, Solicitors, and Other Forms of Low Life

Yes, some police agencies are involved in charity functions. The money raised does not go to the police dept. itself, it goes to the charity. That is what I was told.

Just letting you know what I was told when I called and asked.

Phoenix, I had an identical experience when I was about that age and it soured me too. I never even got a copy of the magazine, but it was a valuable lesson. I don't buy anything on impulse from salespeople and I take time to do my research, even when making a charitable donation.

I once had a roommate who had impeccable manners and as a result couldn't bring himself to hang up on telemarketers. Whenever they called, he would patiently listen to their offer before nobly declining whatever they were selling. There was one time when he got a call from a credit card company offering him all sorts of goodies, unbeatable interest rates, and other fancy features. He politely listened to the whole shtick which ended with the telemarketer challenging him to find a credit card with better benefits. With complete modesty and honesty, my roommate informed the telemarketer that he did, in fact, get a better deal with his current credit card and proceeded to describe the benefits to the telemarketer. When he was done the telemarketer paused for a moment and said, "Wow, that is a good deal."

Other low lifes - in a similar vain is those kiosks stands in malls. Some are very aggressive like the telemarketers. I don't go to the mall to be accosted by high pressured sales.

I just sign them that I'm deaf. I'm not, but I good at pretending.

Awesome! I never thought of that!

When I get a phone call and look at my caller ID and know it is a phone solicitor, I answer the phone "this is (pizza chain), what would you like to order?" I will get silence and then usually an apology because they didn't intend to call a business.

One thing that I have learned is that it is cheaper to buy things like cellphones and computers on the net. When you go to these kiosks, they have their sales people to pay, and that adds a premium to the purchase.

another good thought - you guys are really creative.

Phoenix, I'm quite surprised that you put yourself on the do-not-call list. I always thought you were for less government intervention in the free market.

I guess Rand really was just a novelist.

Beth- What does believing in free choice and limited government have to do with adding my name on a "Do not Call" list? It is my choice.

Originally the list was handled by the Direct Marketing Association, which is a private organization. Because the government took it over does not change the fact that I only want to be contacted by people with whom I choose.

I ride on interstate highways, even though the roads are made and maintained by the government. How is this any different?

Most people here have tactics to get rid of telemarketers quickly-- in my younger days we took the opposite tack.

We had a contest to see who could keep a telemarketer on the line the longest (without buying anything of course). You would sound interested, but misunderstand everything that could be misunderstood, make them repeat their pitch several times while sounding fascinated by all of the options they would offer-- before changing your mind at the last second.

If you were good, you could keep them for over 10 minutes (and sometimes more),

This guy took matters seriously and held companies accountable.

"Seattle man has telemarketer's number: he gets apology and $500"
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/65795_collect09.shtml

Free market, not free choice.

I was a customer service rep for years while I was in college. It was hard. I hated it. People called me though - I didn't call them - but even then, they treated me like an emotionless voice...pointing all of their anger, confusion and whatever at me. Of course I understood that their insurance was important to them and they were pissed about it letting them down in some way, but there were many days I would go home crying.

I do not get many calls these days. But when I did - I kind of got that they were just trying to do a job. They hated what they were doing probably as much as I hated them doing it...most of them anyway. So, I tried to treat them with as much courtesy as possible. Some were persistent and quite annoying ...and if they were rude enough not to let me explain - I usually hung up on them. But it is a job they get paid to do. Surely people don't do that because they think it is a great way to make money - they do it because they have to. I feel sorry for them more than anything. Yuck - what a horrid way to make a living. If you can call that a living.

I pretty much feel the same. I got rid of my land line. No more telemarketing calls...now I don't have to feel guilty about cutting them off.

I have zilch compassion for telemarketers.

When I was in college and needed extra money, I did various telemarketing jobs.

When newly graduated and just getting on my feet financially, I also did some telemarketing jobs part time in the evening, and on/or on the weekend.

One place, that was only 5 hours on Saturday, and 4 hours on Sunday, I actually did every weekend for about a year. It paid for my first good living room set. This was back in the early 80's, and I can still remember what the pay was. I made $84 a week in base pay (righteous bucks back then) and anywhere from $20 to $50 in bonus money.
I didn't mind that job because I still had plenty of time for dates or other fun stuff, and it was nice having an extra $100 a week to pay off my furniture.

The more you sold, the more you made.

I'd over that time probably worked in over 7 or 8 different places, and I'll tell you right now, they absolutely do not have their feelings hurt when you are being "rude"

The phone room consists of a melange of college students, people needing to make a few extra dollars, and people who have various degrees of ethics and intelligence. I remember this one guy all strung out on drugs, slept on the beach, wore the same spandex pants with no underwear every day.....lovely.

The common denominator is $$$$, that's all. We don't look foward to going to work there, you turn your brain off and just dial numbers and talk. Hang up and dial again.

You sit there and chat with each other until someone picks up the line, and then you just start talking. If someone says something clever like "I'm deaf" or whatever, after you hang up we say to the person next to us, "another deaf asshole, 3rd one today"

One place I went to I only showed up 2 days, it was awful.

It was supposed to be calling business selling products made by the handicapped.
On my first day, an hour or so into my 4 hour shift, this guy walked in who walked with 2 canes. He sat down, threw some pencils into a box, and then sat around the rest of the time. Turns out he was our handicapped person, and putting a bunch of pencils in a box was his product.

On the 2nd day I showed up, but left after about an hour. I think I got up to go to the bathroom and just didn't go back.

don't worry one bit about offending them, they couldn't care less.

There is a big, big difference between telemarketing and customer service... just as you said.

I am very nice to, and patient with, customer service people (even when I am upset). Customer service is a productive job. People who do this job are providing something worthwhile and contributing to a larger society.

Unsolicited telemarketing is worse than doing nothing. Far from providing a service, they are wasting my valuable time-- often they get people to buy things of no value to them and sometimes they commit real fraud.

Telemarketing is worse than begging.... because at least panhandlers are honest about the value they are providing.

They are just another breed of squeegee man.

Maybe you want to try one of these tactics with your next call -

http://www.solicitorsnightmare.com/soundcli.htm

The car service warranty thing was a super scam. They called people on the do not call list, no problem, and called them by the millions, sometimes repeatedly. Some agency, maybe the FTC?, went after them. I think that was within the last year, and that situation was discussed on some a2k thread, maybe by me.