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.

I felt like messing with the telemarketers a few times.

My favorite is to let them get to a point in their shtick and then interrupt and ask a totally unrelated question. I usually do this in a real - oh shucks, I don't know nothin bout nothin tone. Then when they answer me, I'll interrupt again and claim to have forgotten what they wanted from me in the first place. So far 20 Minutes is my record. I almost felt sorry for that poor gal. I don't think she'll make it in sales.

Another one is to pretend that it is a friend calling and talking to him/her in "code."

Of course I can answer in German - but I consider that cheating.

...well, that was before the QB - now I just let the answering machine pick up.

They used to call my dad all the time. Finally, one time I answered the phone and he told me to tell the person on the other end that we had buried him the day before. So I did and they never called back.

I am loving this thread. I want to try some of these tips. I hope they help.

actually, what i hate more is when you pick up the phone and no one answers. i always think someone is casing out my house.

I know they are doing their job - but I hate telemarketers. If you interupt them they have to start at the beginning again of their written speech. Some times I keep doing it just to mess with them.

Great ideas and I think I'll give some of them a try :twisted: Especially sending the junk mail back!

:twisted: I like this idea! I work from home and I answer the calls because it may be a customer...I think putting the phone down and continuing to work maybe a good answer to the annoying interuption. Especially if it is sewing while they wait........ :twisted:

I love those and the third one some lady did that to everything and now she gets no junk mail. hahahaha

Thanks for the ideas! I find the things that fall out of magazines most itrritating because I have to stop and pick them up! :lol:

Love it, love it, love it. I'm going to start doing this starting with today's mail.

I have signed up with Do Not Call. I still get calls, though most of them are the computer calls. Usually I screen them out with my caller ID, but now and then, when I'm expecting a call, I answer before checking it.

Oh, YEAH! It's one thing when it's an occasional call now and then. But when it happens regularly, it's scary.

You can block calls without ID, but then legitimate callers know you're blocking.

I've reported a few numbers to http://whocallsme.com/

telemarketers and other cranks don't give you telephone numbers so how does this work? you can't exactly ask for their number and expect an answer. until i buy a new phone ( i mentioned that i dropped my phone on it's head ) i don't know who's calling and not everyone has caller id.

also, if legitimate callers know you're blocking, so what? if they're legit, you'll answer. no? i'm so technologically impaired!

I don't know if this gets rid of them but it sure irritates them: my answering machine sounds like I've actually answered the phone-

Hello (pause, pause, pause) leave your message after the beep.

It's too funny because you can hear the callers start talking right after my "hello" and then they get interrupted with the rest of the message. They end up hanging up.

There's a lawn service that calls 2-3 times a day and this went on for weeks. What was so funny is that they got caught in it every time. Finally, one day, the guy that called said "I hate your answering machine".

My family doesn't like my message so when they call I have to say, "Hi - it's me" so they know I'm not the machine.

i just got one from a charitable institution that we already give money to in check form. i don't contribute to anything by computer. this is one that we have told many times to stop calling. today when they called, i hit # several times and the woman said "how rude!". then i hung up. so that doesn't work does it?

this is great----can't wait 2 use it---and will b passing it on---thanx !!!!

If you have caller ID (and these days if you want almost any extra service, it automatically comes in the same "package"), then the caller's phone number and identity automatically show on the little screen on your phone. I guess if your phone is so old it doesn't have a screen, you won't be able to see anything.

There are exceptions. Some numbers are part of a phone system where they show as Unavailable. Sometimes people deliberately block the number they're calling from, like a teen who's supposed to be studying math at Jessica's house but is really over at Ryan's working on her night moves. or telemarketers, stalkers, exes of all sorts, etc.

You can block your number by pressing *67 before dialing.
You can block reception of blocked calls by pressing *77. Callers will be given the option to unblock their numbers when calling you.
For more star codes: http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/tele...odes-guide.htm

If you block reception of calls from blocked numbers, you may miss calls from people in those business phone networks, if they can't unblock their calls. Sometimes you actually want to hear from a business, such as your insurance company when you've filed a claim.

Some people think you're paranoid if you block reception of blocked calls. I am job hunting right now, and one of the best recruiters I work with stopped working with me for a while because he works from home a lot and doesn't want his home number showing up. Good reason. I personally think he's paranoid, because he won't leave a message even when he's calling from the office. If I don't get to the phone in time, I can see by the number that he called from the office, but he will not talk on tape. So he's a fugitive from the FBI, but he's still a good recruiter.

I blocked my calls last year during the election. My, the peace and quiet after the campaign callers couldn't get through was wonderful!

No, I don't always answer if I see it's a legit caller. Sometimes I don't want to talk to someone. I don't even bother answering when I see it's the library's computer calling to say a book is in or the doctor's office computer calling to remind me of an appt. Waste of time. Sometimes I don't feel like chatting right then, so I'll call back later.

Anyone ever get a call from a collection agency for someone else's debts? I used to get so upset over these. You know, I'd answer and they'd ask for Joe Schmoe, and I'd say they have the wrong number. And they'd always insist that I was lying! That he really lived at my number and I'm covering for him. And I'd swear that it had been my number for a week, or five years, whatever it was and that I'd never heard of him 9the truth), and they wouldn't believe me. And there was no way I'd give them my own name and address to prove it.

So now I just have fun with them. Whatever strikes my fancy to say at the moment. Not that I get many of these calls, but I've had several over the years.

When we were in college, many years ago, our phone number was one off from a pizza delivery place. We'd get calls all night long from drunk kids, so we just got to where we took their order and told them we'd be there in 45 minutes. Most of the calls came in after the pizza place had closed. I did call the pizza place after the first call to tell them what I'd done, and the owner just laughed and said it wasn't hurting his business any and keep it up. They hated delivering to drunks anyway...bad tippers and usually rude to the delivery guys. After a few months, we gave up and had our number changed.

Your suggestions are hilarious and (I hate to admit it) something that I intend to do in the future. LMBO :) :)

Some great ideas - all those things really annoy me! But here in France; I often get telemarketing calls from a computerised voice!!!! That really hacks me off! If i get a human i just pretend i can't speak French and eventually they go away. My DH is really into it though and quizzes them about the 'offer' to the nth degree, all the terms and conditions etc, til in the end they just give up. :mrgreen:

does he speak to them in hollandish? that would get them going.

how was your vacation?

you reminded me of something that happened a long time ago that i had forgotten that was hilarious.

my daughter was away at college for her first year and she had a riotous roommate. they kept getting calls from some guy who thought it was very funny to say things to them that had to do with sniffing. ( i'm laughing even thinking about this. )

finally maria had enough. the next time he called, she very sternly said something like, "does your mother know what you're doing? she would be embarrassed to tears. how could she face her friends with a son like you? you should be ashamed of yourself!" needless to say, he never bothered them again.

I like that - 'hollandish'! :lol: But no, he speaks French to them - he can be annoying in at least 4 languages! :wink: :D

My holiday (vacation to you! :mrgreen: ) was great thanks. I've got some pics and will post when I get some time. Probably after I get the kids back to school on Thursday. :D

I am going to do this IMMEDIATELY!
Thank you for sharing it and sorry it took me so long to find it.

There's news! Computers will no longer be able to call people without a signature giving them permission. Currently, they even call people on the Do Not call list.

Beware, though. Electronic signatures count, and clicking the wrong thing can mean you just gave permission. Read more here: http://www.mouseprint.org/

more news.


starting sept 2, telemarketers will have access to your cell phone #.

call 1.888.382.1222 to opt out for 5 years, so don't lose the number.
this still won't stop the charities.

that link doesn't let you log in and subscribe. the box with the letters and numbers keeps saying "wrong number".

butterflywing, do you mean subscribe to the Mouseprint newsletter?

And are you SURE you're typing in the right letters?

You know you can click the little circle-shaped arrow to get another set of letters.

I'd test it for you, but I do not want "free" newsletters in my email boxes, not even from a blog I really like.

it wouldn't accept the letters a couple of times. i was not meant to get it. kharma.

We screen are calls with the answer machine. My outgoing message used to be, "Hello, we no longer answer the phone here because this is probably just a sales call. On the slim chance that we are wrong....you know what to do...thank you."
Some salesman who called, left me a message that said..." (laughing) your right...this is a sales call... you have a great day."
Now we just check the caller ID.
Christine