Telemarketing Yucks!
Posted by John Draper | Filed under Take Control
I get a lot of telemarketing calls. A lot. I have two phone lines and after I’m done hanging up one, the other rings with exactly the same company trying to get my attention. And it doesn’t seem to matter how often I tell them to take me off the list, which they’re legally required to do, I get another call just weeks later. Man, I must be on a lot of lists!
The computer generated calls really tick me off. They’re not even legal. According to the CRTC site on telemarketing, “The use of ADADs (Automatic Dialing and Announcing Devices) to make unsolicited calls for the purpose of solicitation is prohibited.” So when I get one of these calls – they’re easy to identify because they take a few seconds to recognize you’ve answered – I hang up. I don’t even wait for the telemarketer to say hello.
People who can’t say my name correctly are a big tip-off that I’m being telemarketed. If you’re going to try to use MY telephone for which I AM PAYING to sell me something, you should at the very least say my name correctly.
I don’t listen to telemarketers anymore. I just hang up. I’ve tried saying, “Sorry, she died,” but that didn’t slow ‘em down one little bit. It tried, “Do I know you, because if I don’t know you, why are you calling me?” But telemarketers have thick skins and that didn’t put them off their patter either. So then I took to yelling, “Go away” and hanging up. But the just kept coming.
I know telemarketers have jobs to do, and I’m sorry you have such a crappy job, but that doesn’t mean you get to tie me up on the phone when I’m trying to work, make dinner, have a conversation with my children, whatever it is you interrupted me doing. If I want to talk to your company, I’ll call.
This is such a huge problem that the Canadian government through the CRTC is creating a do-not-call list that will become operational later this year. The do-not-call list in the U.S. has over 100 million telephone numbers registered by people who do not want to be called anymore. (If you’re working as a telemarketer, this might be a good time to consider a career change.)
So we will, shortly, have a solution to inconvenient callers using our telephones to try and sell us stuff we don’t need or want. Or will we? It seems that there are over 100 organizations including political parties, survey companies, charities, newspapers, and any business with a prior relationship, which are exempt from the do-not-call list. Whazzup with that?
So a guy named Michael Geist has created a website of his own called iOptOut where you can go and register, sending the companies you do not want to hear from a an “opt-out request”. According to Geist, your request is enforceable through the complaint process under Canada’s national privacy law, which gives us the right to withdraw our concept to use our personal information, telephone numbers included, for telemarketing calls.
I signed up. I don’t know how much good it’ll do since the major marketing associations in Canada are telling their members to ignore Geist’s opt out requests. But it’s worth a try. Failing that, I’ll just keep hanging up. Maybe if enough of us do, the whole thing will become so unprofitable, the industry will die a timely death.
May 5, 2008 at 11:17 am
Having worked a call centre, and no I didn’t not do outbound sales calls. I heard why people get deadend calls. Your line rings, you answer, no one is there. They are using an automated dailer that dials based on call times, and sometimes, no one is available to speak to you when you answer the phone. There are also the totally automated calls, those are annoying and I have complained to the CRTC many times. Another annoying thing, is the spoofing of telephone #s using all 000-000-0000. I have started using Bell’s *60 to put numbers on a block listed, including bell’s telemarketers. And if I happen to be home and near my computer, I use a computer program to answer the telemarketers that their call is unwanted, but we should have to go to that extreme.
As for the do not call registry, it’s suppose to be coming in september, and run by Bell. Oh boy. Let’s hope things work. The US do not call registry allows a number to remain on it’s list for 5 yrs, then if you still have that number, you have rerequest to be on the list. I imagine #s have a high turnover in some areas and many americans have gone strictly cellphone, but even now they get telemarketing calls on those. Go figure!
May 5, 2008 at 11:52 am
There is a very funny phone call I heard about a while ago where a man, fed up with telemarketing calls, answered one as if he was a homicide investigator and pretended the telemarketer had called a fresh homicide scene, asked the telemarketer a lot of questions as if the telemarketer was a potential suspect , basically got his own back for all the calls. If you are tired of the calls and want a laugh you can find it on You Tube, just type in “telemarketer” and it is usually the first clip to come up.
On a note of caution re; Cynthias comment about blocking 0000000000 or “Blocked Numbers”, many hospitals and other such places have blocked numbers. Be aware that if you subscribe to this feature it could mean you miss an appointment call, a call about a loved one etc. as I understand the feature often does not even let you leave a message, just tells the caller that calls are not accepted from a blocked number.
Helen
May 5, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Telemarketers (and, I have to admit, my mother) were the reasons I got call display. If I didn’t recognise the phone number, I didn’t answer. (My mother would call 4 or 5 times a day sometimes…honest!). Granted, the ringing phone could get annoying, but that’s why there’s volume control and – sometimes! – ringer off. The phone still works, but you can choose who you want to speak with. I know this isn’t always possible or practical, but they are options.
When I would answer and get a telemarketer, it was often “Is Mr or Mrs Griffin there?”. I lived with my sister, so I always said “no, you have the wrong number”, because it was true. That seemed to work, at least for me. Going to cell seemed to stop the calls for some reason…
Anyway, that’s just my two cents.
May 5, 2008 at 1:29 pm
What has worked for me is I pass the phone on to my children – 2 and 5 – who absolutely LOVE to talk on the phone. This makes my children happy – they can talk on the phone as long as they want – and anyone who has tried to have a conversation with a 2 year old on the phone knows that this gets pretty old very quick!
May 5, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Hahahaha! Pat, that’s awesome…makes me wish I had kids!
May 5, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Primus.ca through their voip talkbroadband service offers a concierge service, where you can set up your phone so that a specific incoming number either goes directly to voicemail, or keeps ringing and ringing, or hears a ‘this line is not in service’ message while other numbers come through. Downside is that (a) they can’t be hiding from caller ID and (b) that first time they call, they get through. It has been very helpful though.
May 5, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Here’s a link for the youtube…it’s hilarious!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd4MKflsPtg
May 5, 2008 at 4:56 pm
It is for this reason that I don’t answer my phone. I tell anyone I give my phone number to leave a message otherwise I won’t get back to them.
Another thing to do is this – when you answer the phone, pretend that you’ve just woken up or are very ill (like you did when you skipped off school when you were a kid). The telemarketer is immediately embarrassed that he/she woke you up or disturbed you when you were sick and will say they will call you back. You say don’t.
May 5, 2008 at 7:16 pm
My tactic is very similar to Ciara’s, I sound very exhausted/worn out, and tell them it is a bad time. Sometimes repeating, what?what?what? in a distracted way. If it is for a good cause (that I still don’t want to participate in because they CALLED ME!!!! ) I am very polite, then say “oh no!” drop the phone, pick it back up and say… “sorry I have to go!” in a distressed voice. Since there is always some kids noises and maybe even the dog making a rucus in the background it is easy to have an emergency situation be believable!
It is an epidemic…. as a rule it doesn’t matter how good the cause, how good the offer, I WILL NOT SUPPORT PHONE SOLICITATION!!!!
May 5, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Hilarious Pat!
My 93 y/o great aunt before her passing was horribly annoyed by her daily interruption to ‘increase water pressure to the second floor bath using some fabulous plumbing invention’ or something along those lines. every day once she had finished making her dinner she sat down and sure enough, the phone. she’d get up and it would be them again. finally on day, she waited for the man to stop speaking and yelled into the phone at him “I live in a bungalow and I spit to wash” and hung up forcibly. No more calls….
May 5, 2008 at 7:47 pm
UNRELATED POST BUT IMPORTANT, SORRY
Due to the government of canada’s recent announcement regarding the safety of BPA in baby bottles, Zellers is taking returns made by Avent and Walmart is taking returns by Playtex, Gerber and Nuk.
No receipt or packaging is required. It does not matter how new or old your bottle is. FULL store credit is given in exchange. The nipples are NOT recalled, so don’t take them. Like a fool I did, then came home with my BPA-free bottles only to find the nipples would have fit the new ones and now I have to buy them. Silly me (mind you the cashier could have said something but whatever). Not sure about sippy cups, tomorrow is another day.
I’ve already hit Zellers with great success.
Please forward to moms and pops you know.
Take care
Kristin
May 5, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Oh, and best pumps too, they are returnable under the recall.
May 5, 2008 at 9:48 pm
We have an epidemic at the moment here in Australia where all of the telecentre callers are from India. It is bad enough that they want to annoy you with new phone plans, credit cards, etc but it drives me insane when they can’t speak very good English to start with !! And they are relentless – But you do need it, No I don’t, Yes you do, it will save you money, No I don’t !!! Arrrgghhh !! I have a private number so it is not as bad but my MIL must get at least 2-3 calls a day! Personally, I think it is just rude – if you want something you will go looking for it. And there are much less intrusive ways of advertising anyway.
Stepping down off my box now
Dawn
May 6, 2008 at 11:00 am
With Bell’s program, you can only block calls that display numbers, so unknown caller, blocked caller, 000-000-0000 can not be blocked by this program. You control the list, so you know what numbers end up there.
May 6, 2008 at 11:39 am
Here is another website that one can register to take their number off the telemarketing list – this will be in place in fall 2008.
https://cornerstonewebmedia.com/cma/submit.asp
Every evening, just as we are sitting down to dinner, the phone rings and majority of the calls are from India and I cannot understand the accent. They don’t understand the word – NO, NO, NO. Good idea with the call display, will get that.
Thanks!
May 6, 2008 at 12:18 pm
we got call display so we don’t have to answer telemarketer phone calls. they’re easy to recognize; area codes we don’t recognize, 1-800 numbers, all zero’s. we always say, ‘if it’s important they’ll leave a message’. they never do.
May 6, 2008 at 11:52 pm
My friend gave me a good strategy . . . . After you answer the phone, act as though you are interested for a few moments. And then when you have the telemarketer hooked, put down the phone and carry on with whatever you were doing. The telemarketer will carry on with the blah-blah-blahs for awhile. Of course, with call display I’ve shortened the process by just picking up the phone and then putting it down. That way, I don’t have to hear the phone ringing or listen to the sales pitch
May 7, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Before the telemarketer really gets into their script, I tell them I don’t have a single cent to spend. That usually ends the call pretty quickly when they realize they can’t profit off of me.
August 12, 2008 at 2:29 pm
This link shows how to easily stop computer geterated calls. It works, and it’s free.
http://aofra.com