Well, I was just the SC...

[Eric the Grey]

but damn, these guys are pissing me off.

I got my first credit card in several years a few months ago. One of those rebuild your credit at an incredible interest rate type of things. I've used it now and again, and kept it paid for, and have since gotten better card deals with other banks, one with no interest for the first year.

Anyway, they called me last month, just before Christmas and offered to increase my credit limit by $350 (from $500). I declined, figuring that the new card is a better deal, and the interest rate is too high. They called again the next night, and AGAIN the third night. I got pretty snippy with the CSR the third time.

They have since emailed me a couple of times with the same offer. In the email, I had more information, including the $100 fee to increase my credit limit Again, no thanks.

Tonight, I got another call from them with the same offer. I cut the guy short and told him very curtly (and a bit loudly) that I had no intention of increasing my credit limit at the cost of $100, and certainly not at the interest rate they charged...

Me: "NOW, I want you to put a note in my file that I'm not interested in any more offers for an increase, and to NOT TO CONTACT ME AGAIN ABOUT IT!!!"

Him: Ok sir...

Me: GOODBYE! *click*


While the whole thing is getting on my nerves, I do feel bad about it. I know it's not his fault. I'd just as soon cancel the card but I have a use for it coming up in August. I plan to have it paid down to nothing by then, and the two together will be used for World Con.

Anybody work for (or used to work for) credit card companies have any suggestions on how to get them to stop?



Eric the Grey

[marasbaras]

I had the thing happen to me with phone service years back. MCI called me three nights in a row. On the third night ...

CSR: Sir, you're invited to take adv...

ME: Why the FUCK are you calling me again?

CSR: (shocked) Wha?

ME: THis is the THIRD MOTHERFUCKING NIGHT IN A ROW. I know it's not your fault. But, you're the tard on the phone.

CSR: Sir, you can't treat me this way.

ME: You called ME, honey. I'll treat you the way I want to. If you don't like it, tell your FUCKING SUPERVISOR to fix my number so you don't call me nightly.

CSR: Sir, if you don't stop swearing, I'll have to hang up.

ME: Just stop fucking calling me you assholes.

CSR: *click*

Ten minutes later, I got a call from her supervisor.

SUP: (snipped initial intro ... snotty tone) Why are you swearing at my staff?

ME: (trying to resolve this now there's a supervisor) Because I'm tired of your sales calls. How about you stop calling me every night? This is the third night in a row. I just want it stopped. I politely said "no" the first two nights.

SUP: (still snotty) That's no reason to be rude.

ME: Listen, you piece of shit, it is. You interrupt me at dinner every night with your sales calls. You're taking up MY TIME here. Get that you twit?

SUP: (still snotty) And now you're rude to me?

ME: Fucking right I'm rude to you. I explained to you the problem I'm having and you ignored it like some fucking moron. You, like the twits who called me, just need to go away. I said I didn't want your fucking service. Just GO AWAY.

SUP: (still snotty) Sir, I'll have ...

ME: What to ask me to stop swearing? Fuck off. Give me your supervisor.

(round and round we went for another couple minutes ... finally I get Supervisor's Supervisor):

SUPSUP: What can I do for you?

ME: Just get me off your call list. The previous folks I've talked to have simply ignored this request. And, yes, I've sworn at them ... because I'm trying to eat my dinner the past three nights.

SUPSUP: I'll get right on that.

ME: Thanks. *click*

As a sidenote, I'm a little older now (15 years) and have since learned more efficient and civil ways of dealing with these issues. Still, I hate sales callers and refuse to be polite to them. They call at dinner time and are the spawn of Satan. I'm sorry, "just doing my job" is not an excuse here.

Don't want me to make you cry? Don't interrupt my family time so that you can try to make a living.

PS: I'm not proud of what I did. Just posting an example. I still don't think I, or the OP, were SCs here. While on the job, sales callers with "wonderful offers" are evil and should be treated as such.

All other CSRs should be treated with the care that one would give a kitten that had been run over by a Mack truck ... 'cause most others treat them the way one should treat a cold-caller.

[Bright_Star]

A lot of times you have to get nasty with those kind of calls before they take you seriously.

[Crazeyal]

There are people here, at CS, who have and ARE telemarketers. There is a right way and a wrong way to do business. Most telemarketers get abused wrongly. I feel for them. Some of them are inbred nitwits who give the entire industry an even WORSE reputation than it already had. Those people should be shot in the knees.

[tropicsgoddess]

ETG, I'm not sure if you live in the US or not, but I would suggest putting your phone number on the Do Not Call list and putting your mailing and email addresses on the Opt Out list so you won't have loads of junk mail or sales calls.

[Eric the Grey]

ETG, I'm not sure if you live in the US or not, but I would suggest putting your phone number on the Do Not Call list and putting your mailing and email addresses on the Opt Out list so you won't have loads of junk mail or sales calls.

I do have my numbers on the do not call list. One of the best things our government has done for the people in the past 2 decades.

The thing is, in this case, I have a card with this company, which gives them the right to call me for things like this.

Luckily, they didn't call me back again the next night like they did the last time.



Eric the Grey

[coolcuziknit]

I was getting one where they would always call for my bf when he was at work, and I would tell them specifically when to call back to speak to him (he works shift work) and they would call back the next day at the same time! At one point I just lost it and told them to stop calling.

[SpyOne]

ETG, I'm not sure if you live in the US or not, but I would suggest putting your phone number on the Do Not Call list and putting your mailing and email addresses on the Opt Out list so you won't have loads of junk mail or sales calls.

Sadly, that won't protect you from sales calls from companies you already do business with, just fro "cold calls".
And the problem here was persistant calls from a company he already did business with, but who would not take "no" for an answer to their "wonderful" offer.

[marasbaras]

A lot of times you have to get nasty with those kind of calls before they take you seriously.

Unfortunately, too true.

[MadMike]

I had a similar problem when I had a card for Montgomery Wards. Anyone remember them? They're gone now, and I wonder if this is part of the reason. I stopped shopping there are that, and I wonder how many other people did the same. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Back when I was still with the ex, and she was pregnant with my son, we decided to get a camcorder to record the birth. Unfortunately, she went six weeks early, so we rushed off to the hospital without it, not knowing that he was going to be born that day. But that's another story.

Anyway, money was really tight back then, and most of my cards were maxed, partly due to my own carelessness early on, but the fact that she liked to run up the bills and hated to work played a huge part. So we opened up another card with Montgomery Wards and used that to buy it.

A few months later, they started calling me, trying to get me to sign up for some insurance plan they had. I tried to politely get rid of them, but they were quite pushy. One time they called right after I put my son down for a nap, and ended up waking him up. I went off that time, not because they called when he was asleep. They had no way of knowing. But I tried to tell them I couldn't talk now, because the baby was asleep, and they still wouldn't let me go.

That was the end of the calls for a couple years, until shortly after the ex was out of the picture. For some reason, they started up again, and didn't ASK to put me in their insurance plan, they tried to TELL me they were putting me on it. I finally ripped into them good after they called me three times in the same week. As soon as I got my tax refund, I used it to pay off the card and then called in an cancelled it. Some companies ask you why you're cancelling, but this one didn't. I have a feeling they knew why.

I never set foot into any of their stores again, and I grinned an evil grin when they went out of business.

[friendofjimmyk]

You know what I do with folks that are lucky enough for me to even answer the phone - thank god for caller ID!!! - I say "no" and if they press or continue on in their sale pursuit, I say again, "No really, I'm not interested" and then hang up without waiting for a response. There's nothing that says I have to hear anything more they have to say beyond my "no, thank you."

[powerboy]

You know what I do with folks that are lucky enough for me to even answer the phone - thank god for caller ID!!! - I say "no" and if they press or continue on in their sale pursuit, I say again, "No really, I'm not interested" and then hang up without waiting for a response. There's nothing that says I have to hear anything more they have to say beyond my "no, thank you."

I do the same. I give about 2-3 times of saying "No", before I hang up.

[bellasaunty]

I'd been receiving these "great deal" calls from my cell phone carrier every morning last week at 7:45 a.m.

I sleep very late (my addiction to youtube should really stop), but anyway, I wake up at about 9:00 a.m. to work at my friends shop. So all the hours I can sleep is much appreciated.

I finally answer one of these calls and explain to the woman that my Grandfather is on his deathbed and everytime I receive these early morning calls, I freak out because I think it might be the hospital calling to say he has passed. (My Grandpa passed away 3 years ago, I miss him very much).

I used that excuse because I heard of people telling telemarketers about a death in the family, health problems, etc. and the telemarketers saying they would still like them to listen to the "great deal" program. I wanted to see if this would happen to me since I thought it was unbelieveable.

My representative told me "as much as I sympathize with you, I still need to know if you are happy with our service".

I am not kidding. She actually said that. I proceeded to tell her that the service sucks and that I'll be changing carriers soon so she doesn't have to bother with my answer.

She then said that since I am unhappy, could they offer me a more free minutes and other "great deals".

I hung up.

[Dips]

The thing is, in this case, I have a card with this company, which gives them the right to call me for things like this.

Almost. The have the right to call you until you tell them to stop.

By purchasing something from the company, you established a business relationship with the company. As a result, even if you put your number on the National Do Not Call Registry, that company may call you for up to 18 months after your last purchase or delivery from it, or your last payment to it, unless you ask the company not to call again. In that case, the company must honor your request not to call. If they subsequently call you again, they may be subject to a fine of up to $11,000.

emphasis mine

Source: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/cons...ts/alt107.shtm

I've noticed how much they love to quote that first bit at you when you object to being called, but fail to mention that last bit.

[powerboy]

Dips, it is amazing that they forget that part