gramofmany

My husband constantly told me to tell them that he has passed away. It took a long time for me to do it but believe me, when I did say it to a magazine salesperson, she offered her sympathy and never has called back.

baskets4moo

When my husband and I owned our business we would play dumb and ask them to hold. Then wait at least 10 minutes, pick the line back up and ask "who are your holding for?" and put them back on hold. Repeat until they give up and hang up. Worked great for us. One secretary we had used to mess with anybody selling anything saying that she had a brother who sold that very same thing, insurance, copy paper, printing, etc. She was good!

dljennings

we get call all the time from some telemarketer wanting to know what the model # is on the copier...we have a service agreement, and that company obviously knows the number... so i tell ask them to hold while i get it ....eventually, they get tired of the hold music and go away

several years ago, back when fax machines needed that really expensive thermal paper, some faxmarketer would fax her my mom's office every night & waste alot of paper... so right before she left work on a friday nite, she wrote on 1/2 dozen sheets of paper, do not fax this number anymore...taped them together & fed it thru... when the 1st one came out, she taped it to the last one making a loop...

she tied up that company's fax machine for an entire weekend. they never faxed her again.

Alondra

This happened to me one time years ago, when I was selling Mary Kay. So when this guy called me for about the umptieth time, I interrupted him and told him about all the nice things we had that he should buy for his wife. I went on and on, just praying for the words to come in a torrent (and they did!) :lol: He picked the wrong person to harrass. He finally hung up on me, and he never called back. As for now, I just check the Caller ID first, and if I don't recognize the number, I don't answer it. If someone really needs to get me, they'll leave me a message, so I can call back. Eventually, they get the message that you're "not home".

wraez

I have to agree that Caller ID on phones now is great.

I also never answer the phone when I don't recognize the number (sometimes it shows actual name, other times, unknown name unknown number) .... if it is important they leave a message. I have never had a telemarketer leave a message.

warm quilt hugs, sue in CA

BARES

One thing I have always done is to get their information, let them know that I DO NOT need their phone number (especially since they have gotten clever on hiding them since caller ID) and let them know that they are being reported to my State's Attorney General, the Better Business Bureau, and to the Federal Trade Commission as well as to the Department of Justice since I have the Do Not Call. I rarely get a second call. A cop told me to blow a whistle into the reciever WITH OUT warning. DON'T HAVE YOUR EAR TO THE RECIEVER AT THE SAME TIME THO. He said that if they don't get the message of "no thanks" then they need the gentle persuasion of the whistle. They get your name from the phone book, and from the county records of home sales.

I also tell them that my mommy and daddy are having sex, or taking a poop, and can't be disturbed.

BARES

One thing I have always done is to get their information, let them know that I DO NOT need their phone number (especially since they have gotten clever on hiding them since caller ID) and let them know that they are being reported to my State's Attorney General, the Better Business Bureau, and to the Federal Trade Commission as well as to the Department of Justice since I have the Do Not Call. I rarely get a second call. A cop told me to blow a whistle into the reciever WITH OUT warning. DON'T HAVE YOUR EAR TO THE RECIEVER AT THE SAME TIME THO. He said that if they don't get the message of "no thanks" then they need the gentle persuasion of the whistle. They get your name from the phone book, and from the county records of home sales.

I also tell them that my mommy and daddy are having sex, or taking a poop, and can't be disturbed.

MadQuilter

I had one poor gal on the line for a good 20 minutes. She had this rehearsed message and when she would get going I would interrupt and ask some stupid unrelated question. Then I'd stop and say something like - "but you didn't call to listen to me prattle on, now how can I help you?" As soon as she got going again, this time a little further, I'd repeat the interruption. Amazing how many stupid questions I can come up with.

Once I tried the "Hey Steve, I thought you'd never call back. WTF dude, are we on for Saturday or not? I refused to believe that the caller was not "Steve."

My most recent actually had me in a raging fit because the guy did not let up. I yelled my favorite phrase "WHICH PART OF NO DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND????"

Now I am a private person, so I don't know what a business owner can do that does not make them look bad. I would like to think that a stern "I am not interested in doing business with your company. Thank you and please do not call back" should do the trick. You can always threaten to turn them in to the BBB.

mayday

Yes!! my DH did similar,when they asked to speak to him he told them he was dead and they were talking to his brother!!!!!!!! they never called again!!

ilovequilts

We would always get telemarketers calling and since our last name is impossible to pronounce correctly we could always say "oh I'm sorry they don't live here.." but sometimes we'd have fun with it. We would answer, ask them to hold for the person they were calling for, then put it in the middle of the dinner table (don't they have the BEST timing?) and continue with our conversations and usually bring up something about poop because it would make them uncomfortable, they'd yell for my dad and then hang up...hahaaha

My cousin is the best at getting them off topic, once had a 30 minute conversation with a telemarketer about snowboarding...