Any telemarketers in here?

[kibbles]

i think you need to reread the post i was responding to.

MOD EDIT - Please edit quotes. We already read this post and don't really need to read it again.

Actually the post referred to having fun with the people who actively screamed, cursed, and threatened, big difference IMO then having fun with someone who is just tired of telemarketers, which Jewels never claimed to do.

And whether you care or not, telemarketers are just trying to do their job. There are a few, just as in everything, who make it bad for the group, but it's no reason to yell, scream or threaten IMO.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, way I see it is, I'm a bitch. I behave nicely to people in public, but I see no reason to adjust my attitude in the privacy of my home with anyone who either doesn't live there or I didn't invite.

On the exceedingly rare occasion one actually manages to reach me, no, I'm probably not going to scream or curse them out. That's someone's mom or daughter. But I can pretty much guarantee that they won't have warm fuzzy feelings after talking to me.

Cuz I am a bitch. Anyone not wanting to speak to a bitch would do well not to call me to the phone. My family and friends know how not to have to deal with bitches when they call. They just don't try to sell me anything when they ring me up. Seems to work for them.

(And if someone doesn't know me well enough to know how prickly I am, then they don't know me well enough to call my private home line. Enter at your own risk, and all that.)

[Seshat]

All they have to say is that they are not interested, and leave it at that. They can hang up if they don't wish to continue the conversation. There is no reason for the rude, obnoxious behavior of some, even if they didn't solicit the call. That's just stupidity talking, then. If I don't want to be bothered, I just don't bother answering the phone. Then again, I have caller ID on my cell phone, so I can pick which calls to accept and which calls to ignore. If it troubles them that much to be called, then they should sign up for the Do Not Call List or asked to be removed from the list if they keep getting calls repeatedly.

Sometimes not answering the phone is not an option - there's an important call you're waiting on. (And they may not have caller ID, or may not know the phone number of the place that's calling.)
Some people may answer the phone so the thing stops making noise - they have a sleeping baby, or a family member with a migraine, or some other circumstance.
Some people have physical difficulty getting to the phone, because of disability or illness.
Some people already are on the Do Not Call List, and/or have already asked to be removed from your company's list.

Some percentage - admittedly small - of the people your company dialler connects you to will be in one or more of those situations.

How would you feel?

[Gravekeeper]

It's an insidious job crafted by companies who's management/owners should be beaten with phone books. I can't think of any other form of marketing that pisses me off more then telemarketing. Its annoying, harassing, invasive and generally just a piss off all around.

All that being said I don't blame the telemarketer employee themselves, they're just another drone ( Albeit one that made a terrible employment choice ). Unfortunately, 99% of them erode my initial mercy by not accepting the word "no" as an answer. I know its your job and they tell you to push like that, but you're persisting when its obvious I'm not interested and you're just unnecessarily aggravating me. Does anyone really "break" and buy the product after saying no just because you shoved it further down their throats?

What ticks me off more is that 9 out of 10 telemarketers that call me are "charities" and to be honest they're the ones that really piss me off. They're more persistent and have guilt as a weapon which they use shamelessly. I don't even answer my phone anymore. Everyone who knows me knows they have to speak into the answering machine for me to pick up.

Canada doesn't have a DNC list really up and running yet last I heard. But even if we did it doesn't eliminate the charity calls which are the majority. Sadlyenough the other companies that try to call me only do so at 3-4 month intervals after I say no and they remember my answer last time so their follow up calls go much faster ( They give up after one no ). But charities call me all the time and if I say no to one they pass my info to another related but technically different charity that calls me instead.

Oh, and one more group of people that should be dangled from a rope by a low flying helicopter over a forest: People who actually BUY shit from telemarketers. These farkwits must exist somewhere because if it didn't work they wouldn't still be using this form of marketing.

The tide is turning against telemarketers though ( Did anyone else laugh when they were on TV whining about the DNC list cutting into their "business"? )

[Broomjockey]

You know, the ONE time I tried to help a charity, they basically boned me. It was the firemen trying to help kids go see a hockey game or something like that, and they wanted to send a packet with the donation information or whatever. I told them if they could get it to me that month, I could, but after that I wouldn't have spare cash anymore (heading back into the school year).

The thing turned up in October, I just laughed and said to my roommate "They lose." A few weeks later they tried sending me a BILL. I trashed that immediately, and if they'd called me asking what was up, I would have ripped into them good.

And on the topic of telemarketers in general, I usually try to be nice, refuse once quickly, then hang up so they can move on. The only time I was rude (and I still feel bad about it) was when my cell phone company decided to do a customer satisfaction survey on a Saturday morning. The last thing I needed was a call, on my cell, on a Saturday, before noon, when I'd worked until 1a.m. the night before. Once I found out what they wanted I told them "I WAS happy with the service until NOW!" Then hung up.

[Gravekeeper]

You know, the ONE time I tried to help a charity, they basically boned me. It was the firemen trying to help kids go see a hockey game or something like that, and they wanted to send a packet with the donation information or whatever. I told them if they could get it to me that month, I could, but after that I wouldn't have spare cash anymore (heading back into the school year).

Gah! The Firemen / Police help x kid go to x sporting event are the WORST ones. They're *relentless* and they're total guilt tripping passive aggressive pricks about it if you say no. How dare you not do what the cop wants you too! I sent them cash once because I was thinking "good cause" and it turned into a complete pain in the ass. They didn't accept credit card donations ( Which would have been the most convenient for me ) and their pledge form ( Which took like a month to get here ) didn't even have an addressed envelope with it. It was just a card asking me name, address and how many tickets I'd like to pledge for. All 3 questions I had answered when they first called. They may as well have just given me the damn address to mail the MO too over the phone to begin with.

But alas, they still keep harassing me. Usually for about a week once every month in spring/summer.

My phone kept ringing one morning, over and over. I had just gotten to sleep after calling in sick to work and I was deathly ill with the flu. I had no voice to speak of and trying to talk hurt. It was the first time I'd ever had to call in sick for work two days in a row. EVER. In my LIFE. But they kept calling and hanging up on the machine. Finally after 4 calls I got up thinking maybe its an emergency from work and they need me to come in anyway. I answer it....its Mr Policeman! He wants MORE money to send MORE kids to this friggan baseball game ( Which is just the cops playing baseball at a park, btw. Last I checked parks are FREE to enter. ).

I politely croak at him as best I can that I'm not interested and apologize for the way I sound ( Which is to say like death itself ). I explain I have no voice left and I'm seriously under the weather. He......persists! I tell him no again and politely tell him that I don't feel well, can't talk and could he please leave me alone as I'm not in the mood for this.......he of course sales pitches again and starts the guilt trip on me. Now I'm just pissed. I try one more time to decline, one more time he gives me the reconsider you're hurting the children spiel, so I hang up.

Jackasses. I mean its one thing if I'm refusing, but if I sound like I'm on the verge of death and I'm TELLING you please leave me alone I'm sick and you STILL give me the passive aggressive bullshit with the guilt tripping. Complete jackasses.

>< They sent me pledge forms anyway. For 4 months to be exact.

[Auto]

I behave nicely to people in public, but I see no reason to adjust my attitude in the privacy of my home with anyone who either doesn't live there or I didn't invite. <snip>

MOD EDIT - Please edit quotes. We already read this post and don't really need to read it again.

Thank you.

You said it better than I ever could.

With telemarketers, I didn't initiate the transaction. My time is valuable and I will be minimally polite when they call me about something I have absolutely no interest in purchasing or donating to. (I have never bought from a telemarketer and I'm pretty certain I never will.)

And the instant they persist after I have declined their offers is when I get increasingly nasty.

I don't care that telemarketers are just trying to do their jobs. Screw that. As far as I'm concerned, their job consists of harrassing people into buying some scammy product/service they would never purchase if the telemarketer weren't pressuring them.

I'd be happier if they didn't do their jobs. The world would be a better place without telemarketers to f*ck it up.

[kibbles]

No one is expecting anyone to be warm and fuzzy, just remember the person on the other line is a human being and shouldn't be yelled, cursed at, or threatened and a telemarketer is a job just like anything else.

And I don't care if you didn't initiate the transaction, that doesn't give anyone the right to get threatening with a person who has - up to this point - just done their job. People who persist, have to because the job demands it. So, like I said, whether you care or not, it doesn't give anyone the right to threaten or yell at someone who is properly doing their job.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I understand they persist because the job demands it. And they can persist until they are blue in the face.

They may not, however, persist TO ME. I am not being paid by the same person that they are being paid by. I'm not being paid to be the subject of this. Therefore, I prefer to be left out of the scenario entirely.

I am being paid nothing. I owe nothing to the telemarketer nor the company he works for. I AM, however, paying for my phone line, and the telemarketing company is not helping me with that bill. Therefore, I get to set the tone and subject matter of the conversation. I pay, I make the rules. That's the way of the world.

[kibbles]

You owe a telemarketer properly doing their job, the same thing you owe to any other fellow person. No one is saying that you don't have the right to be impatient, to hang up, or be short with someone. That's the nature of the job for all telemarketers. But whether you are being paid or not, whether you initiated the transaction or not, no one has a right to belittle, threaten, yell, or curse at a person doing their job.

[Sparky]

I try to be as polite to telemarketers as they are to me. I'll politely tell them I'm not interested -- if they let me get a word in edgewise. I usually don't just hang up -- unless they refuse to take no for an answer and go into hyperspiel. Last year one unfortunate telemarketer refused to take no for an answer when I was home recuperating from surgery. I had to get up and limp across the floor to answer, I had to stand there in pain trying to say no, and he just kept going on and on.... I did hang up on him but I shrieked at him first. Not his lucky day.

Sorry.

[Rapscallion]

Thread's about to be closed, folks. We have some members on here who used to work in telesales (far fewer syllables - why don't you adopt it across the pond?). Things are getting nasty, and I invested a chunk of cash to get Fratching up so you could yell and scream there.

Let's play nice or I point the party elsewhere

Rapscallion

[Mark Healey]

You owe a telemarketer properly doing their job, the same thing you owe to any other fellow person.
MOD EDIT - Please edit quotes. We already read this post and don't really need to read it again.

Are they chained to their desks?

Are they going to be beaten or shot for not making enough sales?

So what if it it their job. Being paid for odious behavior doesn't make it acceptable.

[Andara Bledin]

Does anyone really "break" and buy the product after saying no just because you shoved it further down their throats?

Oh, and one more group of people that should be dangled from a rope by a low flying helicopter over a forest: People who actually BUY shit from telemarketers. These farkwits must exist somewhere because if it didn't work they wouldn't still be using this form of marketing.

The answer to the first part is: Yes. People sometimes make huge purchases based on telemarketing calls. I wouldn't, even if I had the money, but there are people who do.

Um... and I guess you'd better sign me up for a harness, because I have purchased something from a telemarketer. Basically the company would hire ex-cons who nobody would hire, and have them pitch useful stuff. I bought some air freshener. I also reordered the stuff at least three separate times because it's just that good.

I've also sold printing supplies through cold call telemarketing, albeit I was calling businesses rather than homes.

....

For all of you who don't like telemarketers: 1) pay to have your number private, otherwise anyone can look you up and call you. 2) apply to any "do not call" registries that might be available. be proactive, don't be an SC. 3) if you get called, say no and hang up. It's just that easy.

Charities are the absolute worst about the calling for money. I have outright told one guy with the police fund that I couldn't even pay my rent, much less donate to charity and he continued trying to get money out of me.

^-.-^

[Rapscallion]

Thread closed. Continue it on Fratching if you're that bothered.

Rapscallion