Tips for Handling Telemarketers

Three Little Words That Work !!

(1) The three little words are: 'Hold On, Please...'

Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the phone company's 'beep-beep-beep' tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.

These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.

(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.

This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a 'real' sales person to call back and get someone at home.

What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible This confuses the machine that dialed the call and it kicks your number out of their system. Gosh, what a shame not to have your name in their system any longer !!!

(3) Junk Mail Help:
When you get 'ads' enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these 'ads' with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those 'pre-approved' letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope.

Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? It costs them more than the regular 41 cents postage 'IF' and when they receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before the last increase and it is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return
envelopes.

One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas.
Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!
If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them.

You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! It still costs them 41 cents.

The banks and credit card companies are currently getting a lot of their own junk back in the mail, but folks, we need to OVERWHELM them. Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all they're paying for it...Twice!

Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again You get the idea !

If enough people follow these tips, it will work ---- I have been doing this for years, and I get very little junk mail anymore.

THIS JUST MIGHT BE ONE E-MAIL THAT YOU WILL WANT TO FORWARD TO YOUR FRIENDS

LOL I love the part about sending them ads from other companys to them in their own envelopes!!! I love Andy Rooney!!!

Hubby has been sending stuff back to them in itty bitty pieces, for a couple years now, LOL! :lol:
I like the, "hold on"...isn't that what they want to do to us? Make us, sit captive, and listen to their spiel, wasting our time? I just hang up, but maybe once in while, I might let somebody just yack on :wink:

When I get that kind of phone calls I pass the phone to my six years old son. He can talk to them all he wants until they hang up.

Maria

maride, i love that! that must make their day! it would certainly make mine.

I have caller ID. If I don't recognize the number, I don't answer. If they leave a voice mail, I check it. And if I want to speak to them, I'll return their call.

just an FYI- at work we get recorded calls all the time. now if you listen to the whole thing they will say punch 2 for what ever or 3 to be removed. well i press 3 of course. but recently recordings come asking to press 9 to be removed. Do NOT do that. at my other job a fake phone company worker would call every year and say punch 999, which some of us did and they put long distance phone calls on our number to Ethopia and other Countries around there. very irritating. makes me wonder why they are asking to punch 9 now.
i held on and punched 2 to talk to a person and I told them to change that request.

I've been sending junk mail back to companies in their own envelopes for years! I used to work for Royal Mail and it was a great feeling to know I was helping to keep a postman in work!! lol!

Karen xx

I've been sending junk mail back to companies in their own envelopes for years! I used to work for Royal Mail and it was a great feeling to know I was helping to keep a postman in work!! lol!

Karen xx

i just love the idea of putting them on hold or as maride did, giving the phone to a small child.

according to law, if you ask them to remove your name, they are supposed to for 3 years (how do they come up with those numbers?). if they don't you should report them to the office of the att'y general in your state. it's easier than you think. they have to pay large fines if complaints are filed against them.

but, if they are bona fide charitable institutions, they can do whatever they please. don'cha love when they call at dinnertime? btw, if you bounce your phone on the floor one time too many, caller ID stops working. :mrgreen:
along with every other service i'm paying for.