Turn telemarketers calls into CASH. Yep, it works.

[dixiegrrrrl]

Damn..I am so kicking myself for not thinking of this.

How one man turns annoying cold calls into cash

First, he registered a phone number with the area code 09, the equivalent of a 900 number here in the United States and Canada. Whenever a company he did business with asked for his home phone number, he gave them that one. They didn’t like it? Too bad. If they didn’t want to call it, they could contact him through email.

Then he waited for the marketing calls to come in. Only they don’t come as often as they used to: he used to up to 30 a month, and now gets maybe half as many. Working from home, he can keep them on the line chatting in order to rack up more fees. For every minute he keeps them on the phone, he gets about eleven cents. That adds up to $6.60 an hour…not a full-time job, but not bad either if he’s able to multi-task. He’s earned $465 from the scheme so far.

The entity that hands out premium numbers is discouraging other consumers from following his lead, though. Boo.

http://consumerist.com/2013/08/29/what-if-telemarketers-had-to-pay-you-to-annoy-you/

[monmouth3]

1. I have a doctor (taped) that calls every day asking me to join his arthritis ( I don't have

arthritis, thank goodness) group. Everyday. I'm going to try this along with the aluminum siding guy (I live in an apartment)... Who knows?

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Apparently many stores ask for your phone number at check out

and many people give it out, thinking it has to do with paying by credit card or something.
The numbers and names are then sold to marketing outfits.

I love the idea of having a 900 # to use.

[MADem]

3. Memorize, and give out, the non-emergency number of the Police Department....nt

[Butterbean]

4. Or your local GOP campaign headquarters #. n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Brilliant.

[pangaia]

7. Oohh you're on to someting there....

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. Hmmmm...

or....the Republican precinct person in town...

[SeattleVet]

8. If the number on the caller ID looks like a telemarketer

I turn on the scanner and answer "North Precinct; Telemarketing Fraud Division. Please clearly state your name and your company name for the record."

I get everything from "Sorry", to "Oh, fuck!", usually followed by a quick hangup

On the positive side, I *never* hear from those numbers again!


(Note that I *never* say that I'm the police, or any law enforcement agency. There are other entities that have precincts and divisions.)

[MADem]

13. I love it!!!!! Ingenious!!!!

You wouldn't be "Tom Mabe" by any chance, would you....?

[IDemo]

10. 8-6-7-5-3-0-9 n/t

[me b zola]

58. jenny jenny! n/t

[monmouth3]

17. I never give out my phone number to checkers, only George Clooney types...LOL..

[spin]

19. I just tell a store that I don't have a phone. ...

Last edited Sun Sep 1, 2013, 12:59 PM - Edit history (1)

It's great fun to watch the expression on the clerk's face. I can't remember one time that they refused to allow me to purchase my items.

[Mariana]

27. I just say, "No."

It goes something like this:

"May I have your phone number?"
"No."
"OK. Your total is $X."

[Fawke Em]

33. I tell them it's none of their business.

What's funny is that the clerks are so accustomed to people freely giving it out, they actually hesitate and aren't sure what to do next.

But, I don't give it out.

[valerief]

53. I'm amazed at people who give out that info. I've never given it out.

When I'm asked for ZIP code, I always give 90210. I live on the East coast. They don't like it? Don't ask me then!

[upi402]

9. dixiegrrrrl, still with the hot economic tips!

I'd pay $6.60/hr to keep those weasels on the hook, if it went to a good cause. lol

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. Can'think of a better cause than my poor thin pocket book!

10 years or so ago, it was illegal, might still be, to send spam via fax machines.
A few clever people took the fax telemarketers to small claims court, the faxed spam being the evidence.
A few smarter people contacted the telemarketer company direct, stating that Small Claims Court had been awarding judgment for faxed spam and suggesting that X number of dollars would keep the target of the spam from filing a court claim.
some folks were making good pocket change on that, legally.

I made about 300.00 myself, from the faxed spam sent to Mr. Dixie's office.

[Th1onein]

12. Yeah, they aren't REAL workers, are they?

People don't seem to realize that telemarketers are people, too. Most are doing an emotionally grueling job, and barely making a living at it. And, then, they have to put up with people demonizing them.

Oh well, I guess we all have to have SOMEBODY to look down on, don't we?

[trumad]

15. Good point

Never thought of it that way... but you are right. In today's economy, it may be the only job these people can find. I do know that they are treated pretty shabbily by the owners of these companies. Their pay is pretty awful.

I'm simply on the no call list and don't get the calls.

[Th1onein]

16. Telemarketers REQUIRE a good product that they believe in, to sell that product.

Most people don't understand that. Telemarketers are not people who are all out to screw you. I work with telemarketers every day, and the first question that they ask you, when you're interviewing them, is WHAT THEY WILL BE SELLING. You want to know why that question is paramount? Because they don't want to sell something that is a scam. They want to believe in their product. Because most people, even telemarketers, are basically decent people.

And, yeah, they call you at home, and they call during your dinner hour, and they can seem like pests, sometimes. But they call when YOU'RE HOME, because that's the most likely time to make contact with you. They don't know when you eat dinner; they don't have a crystal ball. They are people who are just trying to eek out a living, and they have a tough job.

Give them a fucking break.

[SeattleVet]

18. No, they need to give *US* a fucking break.

Sorry, but almost all of the calls I get here at home are illegal, with the exception for a few political, charity, or polling calls which are, unfortunately, exempt from the provisions of the TCPA ('Do Not Call') list.

By continually calling numbers on the Do Not Call list and not screening their numbers every 30 days (as required by law) they have already shown me that they have no problem at all with breaking the law. What other laws are they willing to break? I'm not going to give them a credit card number to find out.

I'm certainly NOT going to be trusting them with any personal or financial information any time soon, and I'm more than happy to tell them that. If they want to make a *legal* living I'll never hear from them. If they are already breaking the law my phone will ring.

I also report the vast majority of these calls to the FTC (donotcall.gov, which is somewhat of a waste of time) and the FCC (they at least follow up, and do investigate in the most blatant cases).

[Th1onein]

20. You are wrong in your assumptions.

It is not the telemarketers that are not screening your number out. The telemarketers are only doing their job. It is the company that is supposed to screen your number out. By taking it out on the telemarketer, you are victimizing them needlessly.

You need to victimize someone? Report their company, because that's who is not screening out your number. NOT THE WORKER.

[SeattleVet]

21. They are working for a company that is engaged in illegal activity.

'Only doing their job' is a cop-out. If a large percentage of the people that they reach tell them that they are on the DNC list and hang up on them or report them, the telemarketer has to begin to have *some* clue that they are supporting an illegal enterprise.

Perhaps instead of asking "What are we selling?", they should start to ask "Does this company obey all of the current consumer protection laws?" It matters very little if they 'believe' in their product; they should not be breaking the law trying to sell it. If the company is unethical, it reflects on the worker.

I had one guy plead with me to not report his illegally-calling company because he was 'just trying to make a living'. So was the guy that was selling drugs out of his mother's basement apartment down the block, but the neighbors managed to get enough complaints in the system that the police finally stopped him, and we don't have all those shady characters wandering up and down the alley at all hours of the day and night anymore.

I have nothing against anyone making an honest living. *Honest* being the key word. If they know the company is doing illegal things and they keep working for them, then it becomes their problem.

[Th1onein]

24. Your argument is full of holes.

Most telemarketers have nothing to do with the DNC list. And most don't know that their owners have no filtered anthing out. You know better than that. And, to compare them to a drug dealer, is absurd.

Your brush is very broad. And you are wrong. Why don't you just admit it?

[SeattleVet]

34. All telemarketers SHOULD have something to do with the DNC list,

even if it's telling their manager (over and over if necessary) that they are reaching numbers that are on the list. If people that answer the phone are constantly telling them that they are illegally calling them, you think they might get a clue that the company owners are NOT on the up-and-up after a short time. If they continue to work for them they are willingly supporting an illegal enterprise. How am I wrong?

If a company is more than willing to break the TCPA (Do Not Call) law, they have already shown a propensity to illegal activity. If they'll break that law, what others are they willing to break? How am I wrong?

If someone is illegally calling me I don't care at what level it is happening; I put my numbers on the Do Not Call list for a reason. If a company want to do business with me, an illegal phone call isn't the way to get that business. If the person that's being connected by the auto-dialer doesn't care how the company is doing business, I really don't care if I hurt their feelings. They interrupted my day with an illegal, useless call that I had taken specific steps to avoid.

I get an illegal telemarketing or robocall. I get the caller's name and company name (which is legally the first things that are supposed to come out of their mouths), and a callback number (if they will give it). I let the caller know that this number is on the DNC list, and that their company is subject to fines of up to $1500 per call for every number they have illegally called that is on the DNC list, and that I'm filing the reports.

I then report that information to both the FTC and the FCC. At some point enough complaints are received that hopefully some action is taken. If I wanted to take the time in most of these cases I could file locally in small-claims court and get default judgements on most of these (the right to private action is also a part of the TCPA).

Or, I do as I usually do if the number is an obvious telemarketing scam and answer, "North Precinct; Telemarketing Fraud Division" and ask for their name and company name. On these calls I *never* get the names, but I also seem to never be called again by that company. Someone knows that what they are doing is illegal, and they are betting that the suckers they get to send them money will outpace the fines that they could get if they got enough complaints to get prosecuted.

It's easy to avoid me reporting you - make sure that your company is operating legally. Since I obviously do not want these calls and will never buy anything based on a telephone cold-call, why waste my time AND the employee's time calling me? There is a law in place and a well-defined method of compliance. If you're suckering people into making illegal calls you *should* be prosecuted.

[Th1onein]

35. I guess everyone needs a reason to hate.

Telemarketers are not privy to the inner workings of their company. They are hooked up to a machine that makes call after call, after call, for them. Unlike you, many of them can't quit their jobs, simply because they SUSPECT that someone above them is not doing theirs.

But, you know what? You're obviously going to make every justification and rationale for abusing them, so you just go ahead. I know it feels sooo good to feel so righteous.

I don't have a company that calls residences, and the businesses that we call are exempt from being put on the telemarketing DNC list, as all businesses are.

[SeattleVet]

40. If you are operating legally, why are you sticking up for the companies that ARE breaking the law?

You should be pressuring the DMA and other 'industry' entities to help clean out the scammers, grifters, and other illegal operations. If the industry operated legally, far fewer people would be as irritated. If you got rid of the ones that ignore the DNC list the overall image of your enterprise would be vastly increased. Work towards that, and don't defend it because the exploited guy at the bottom of the food chain might not know that he's breaking the law.

And if some large percentage of those being called tell the guy that they are on the DNC list, at some point the guy sitting there is going to realize that what he's doing is illegal. At what point does he decide to become a part of the solution, instead of remaining a part of the problem?

Sorry if that's the only job he can find - but breaking the law is NOT an ethical way to make a living, and if you are involved in any part of this industry you should be doing whatever you possibly can to get these boiler-room lawbreakers shut down so as not to tarnish your own sterling image.

[Th1onein]

41. Why are you mischaracterizing my statements? I am clearly FOR THE WORKERS!

I worked in the telemarketing industry, AS A TELEMARKETER long before there was even a DNC registry. I see, often, how telemarketers are demonized, even BEFORE there was a DNC registry. (ZAP! that telemarketer! or so the commercial goes. Remember that?)

What you refuse to understand is that these WORKERS have no way of knowing if you are on the DNC list, or not, or if their managers/owners are obeying the law or not. Simply because they get a person on the other end that says that they are on the DNC list doesn't mean that they KNOW that their managers/owners are not processing the list correctly. They are simply doing their jobs, and they are NOT culpable for someone who is not.

I told you once, and now I'm telling you again: I do NOT work in an industry that calls residences. We do NOT have a DNC list for my industry. It simply does not exist for businesses. And it probably never will. I COULD, perhaps, work to get these "boiler room lawbreakers" shut down, but I'd much rather stand up for THE WORKERS, as I am doing now.

[IrishAyes]

51. You're not standing up for the workers (who incidentally are equally culpable at some point)

You're standing up for your ability to press the law to full advantage yourself, and for others to do so past the thin legal line. You're not talking to a bunch of hayseeds here. You don't have a single good leg to stand on!

[Th1onein]

56. You've got some real hate going on there, Irish.

I don't "press" the law to full advantage. But, then, I have no need to defend myself against someone who is completely ignorant of what I do for a living.

[IrishAyes]

65. Ah, the ignorant hubris you reveal

Trying to hang hate labels on someone who disagrees with you. Assuming/declaring my level of knowledge about something, when you don't have a rat's ass notion of what I know or don't. Bullying will get you nowhere. I'm not one of your under-paid sheep.

[SeattleVet]

60. Yes, I do remember how telemarketers were 'demonized'.

And the industry overall at that time damn well deserved it. It was the Wild West out there - there were WAY too may companies that were calling at all hours of the day and night, and calling after repeatedly being told to stop. The Do Not Call laws had a boatload of excellent reasons to be created, and they worked for a while, until the current crop of scammers decided that ignoring it and possibly being fined was a reasonable cost of doing 'business'. The attitude now seems to be 'ignore the law, get fined, close the business, and reopen under a new name'.

These are the people that are exploiting the workers you are supposedly supporting. If you really wanted to show support FOR THE WORKERS you'd be up on your soapbox, contacting your government representatives, contacting every trade association that you could find, and demanding that they crack down hard on the illegal telemarketers. As long as these scammers exist they are hurting the very WORKERS that you claim to be supporting.

I have nothing at all against legitimate telemarketing to residences. If they are really legitimate I'll never hear from them, as they will follow the law and delete my number from their dialers.

When people are using the various call blockers, or have placed them selves on the DNC list, or have taken other specific actions that say "Do Not Call Me", why would a telemarketing firm continue to call that number?

There are some 'number shops' out there now that make a fraction of a cent from every Caller ID lookup, and they sell these banks of numbers to the telemarketers. This is a pure scam - whether you answer the phone or not the bottom feeders are making money on the call. Their 'Terms of Service' for using their numbers (which the telemarketing firms are using to illegally mask their actual originating number) says that the numbers are not to be used in an illegal manner, but they really don't care - they make money on every call that rings a number with Caller ID. One company here in Seattle has several thousand numbers assigned to them, from multiple area codes. ANY call from any of those numbers is an illegal call.

I use a VOIP phone system now and am able to completely block our entire ranges of numbers, or any individual number that has been identified as a telemarketer or robocaller. When one of these numbers shows up on the Caller ID they just get a message that the call is blocked, and a hangup. If a new one comes in I add the number to the blacklist as soon as I have filed the complaint forms with the FTC and FCC.

Why do we have to spend the time and money to create these countermeasures?

If the feds would just get serious about collecting the fines from the telemarketers that violate the law and do not adhere to the DNC list we could probably do wonders for the budget, as well as bringing peace to the many thousands of people on the DNC who have to deal with this crap every day.

And, as an added bonus, all of the *legitimate* telemarketers would be able to conduct business as usual, and probably make a LOT more money, without pissing off their potential client base.

[pipi_k]

93. You are way nicer than I am...

I have nothing at all against legitimate telemarketing to residences. If they are really legitimate I'll never hear from them

IMO, there's no such thing as a legitimate telemarketer. I put them on the same level as door-to-door salespersons.

Anyway, one of the more amusing telemarketers I get calls from is the one from "Card Services" where someone warns me that it's my "last chance" to lower my interest rates. Um, yeah. They've given me about 20 last chances so far...

[dixiegrrrrl]

63. If you do not call residences, nor making illegal calls, why are you hi jacking this post

to lam bash people who are discussing residential illegal telemarketer calls??

[Th1onein]

75. I wasn't aware I was hijacking the post.

I'm simply taking up for a group of workers that everyone always seems to want to pile on.

[pnwmom]

72. These workers are getting repeated responses from people on the do-not-call registry, so they KNOW

their employers are breaking the law.

[SeattleVet]

95. You are clearly for the WORKERS??

Then I guess you are paying them a decent salary with benefits? Or are you also one of the ones exploiting them at minimum (or sub-minimum) wages with no benefits?

What are you paying these workers, and how much are you docking them for various infractions?

Come on - if they are going to be in an industry where they will be taking a lot of verbal abuse on the phone as a normal part of their day you MUST be paying them a lot of money to put up with it, right?

[IrishAyes]

45. I'll wager the businesses you do call WISH they could be on the DNC list.

The fact that other businesses are not offered any legal protection does not make it moral for you to earn your daily bread that way. "Just because you CAN" is no excuse.

[Th1onein]

57. What in the hell are you talking about?

Do you have ANY idea what I do for a living? Nope, you don't. But you assume that you do, for some reason.

Is it the telemarketers you hate, or simply anyone who dares to disagree with you?

Here's a clue: Businesses are in business to do business. That's why there is no DNC registry for them; because it's against public policy.

[IrishAyes]

66. A lot of bad things have been public policy in the past: slavery, segregation, etc etc

You've swaggered around in this thread loud and long enough announcing what you do for a living. Anybody who hasn't heard you yet must be deaf, and I'm not. The fact that you've encountered someone who won't let you bully them into silence does not mean I should wear a scarlet "H" on my forehead.

One consolation I have: every second you spend harrassing a little old retired lady is that much time you're wasting when you could be cracking the whip over terrified employees to make them do your dirty work for you. To put it bluntly, I'm only too happy to draw your fire and therefore spare others you can actually bother in some way such as interfering with another business's precious time.

Karma, can you dig it?

[SeattleVet]

59. Absolutely! The last 2 places I worked we were regularly interrupted by cold-callers.

I worked as an Assistant Vice President at a major financial institution in NYC in the IT department (9 years), then as a government contractor (network administration - 17 years).

Typically I'd get a call asking if I was the person in charge of (whatever), or if I made the purchase decisions (usually yes, or I was at least heavily involved in the decision process for equipment and services). I would tell them, "Yes I am. I'm sorry, but we *never* make any purchase decisions based on telephone cold calls, please do not call again, thank you, good bye" and hang up.

I didn't need to waste my time or my company's time with this unsolicited stuff. We had business to conduct, and we had a very short staff at the government site. Each of these calls interrupted whatever work was being done at the time. These were not the usual telemarketer consumer boiler-room operations; most of these were salespeople from otherwise highly respected companies, but the fact that they were doing all of this cold-calling actually became a liability on their part when we made our decisions on which companies to go with...we tended to NOT use the ones that had been bugging the heck out of us. We developed trusted sources that didn't bother us - we'd contact *them* when we needed something.

Every one of these calls was a time suck that we didn't want to have to deal with. If we were in the market for a specific type of product or service we'd research it ourselves and check with other users to see what worked for them. We'd make the decision and go with it.

[pnwmom]

71. Of course they know. They hear from angry non-customers every day who announce

that they're on the do-not-call registry. They know the lists they're working from are crap.

[dixiegrrrrl]

30. Who said anything about "victimizing" the worker????

Telemarketers who call in person are violating the law, I am on the Do NOt Call registery.
Teelmarketrs who call AGAIN after I tell them I am on the Do Not Call list are definetly breaking the law.

ROBOcalls are the new version of telemarketer hell. They call daily, every day, sometimes more than once a day.

[Th1onein]

42. I doubt the same telemarketer calls you again and again. And robots are NOT WORKERS.

[IrishAyes]

47. So if a machine interface is the means of abuse, that makes it okay? Not in any moral universe!

Hiding behind robot front lines doesn't make the humans any braver or nobler either.

Man, they'd chew you up in debate.

[pnwmom]

73. You doubt it? This is why people are so angry. It seems like a handful of telemarketers

are the worst offenders, but they do it over an over again.

[Th1onein]

76. Are you sure you're not talking about the same COMPANY?

[pnwmom]

78. How would I know? One call center can be calling for multiple companies.

And it doesn't matter. When we tell the call center that we're on the do-not-call list, they're required by law not to call us for any of their customers.

[Th1onein]

83. So you're ASSUMING that it's the same telemarketer calling you over and over again.

Yeah, right.

You know what? On second thought, you're absolutely right. They're just lowly ass telemarketers, and they should have access to everything necessary to make sure that they don't call you because you're on the registry. And if they don't, they need to quit their jobs, and get other ones, that they don't have the skills for, because they don't have homes, or children to feed, or cars to pay for, or lives. They just EXIST to call you and bother you at inconvenient times, which is all the time, in your case, because they're JUST telemarketers, and they're all pieces of shit.

[enlightenment]

81. Yep - the robocallers are the worst.

I can speak to a person - politely, as long as they extend that courtesy to me, and tell them not to call again. Robocalls? What the hell can you do with those?

There is a company - no one is quite sure who they are - that has been calling homes in Las Vegas for years now and nowbody can track them or, apparently, stop them. They present as the "Nevada green energy study group" and since they aren't selling anything - on the phone - they are not breaking the law.

The calls come in batches - once they start on a given day, they'll call four, five, six, eight times. Never after about 6pm, never before about 8am. Sometimes they'll skip a few days; I think when they're changing numbers - but they'll be right back at it before long. They call on weekdays and weekends.

If you stay on the line and try to connect to a human, you might get through - you might not. If you do, and tell the person at the end of the line to take your number off their list, they'll laugh at you and hang up. Or curse you out and hang up. But the calls don't stop.

They use mobile numbers - burn phones, literally - so you can never be sure if an unknown number is them. If you don't answer, the recording ties up your answering machine for about three minutes. Sometimes it doesn't disconnect immediately afterward, too. It is nightmarish.

They've been reported to the FCC, to the NV AG . . . hell, I'd report them to the Mob if I thought they could make them stop calling.

The worst thing is that its a scam. A few people have reported that, believing what they hear, they schedule an appointment for their "free" energy assessment . . . and that is a whole new kettle of very rotten fish.

[IrishAyes]

50. Reporting illegal activity is NOT victimizing anyone. Own your shit.

[pnwmom]

70. When the worker is told repeatedly that they're participating in illegal calls, they should quit.

Just as if they found themselves in any other illegal business.

[pnwmom]

69. But if they're calling people on the do-not-call registry they're breaking Federal law. nt

[pnwmom]

68. But if they're working at jobs that require them to illegally harass people --

which is what they're doing when they call people on the Federal do-not-call list -- then they should find another job.

[Th1onein]

85. Yeah, because it's so easy to find another job in this economy.

After all, these people are not REAL human beings, with children to feed, house payments to make, right?

They call hundreds and hundreds of people a day, do you really think that they are going to remember talking to you? Maybe they remember your particular phone number, huh?

Good grief.

[pnwmom]

94. They're breaking the law and they know it. Every day many people like me tell them

they're on the federal-do-not-call registry, so they know they're working with a lousy list -- they don't have to remember our names.

If the people doing the $10 an hour jobs signing fake bank foreclosure documents knew they were breaking the law, shouldn't they have quit their jobs, too?

Is every knowing lawbreaker justified in keeping such a job because it pays the bills?

[Th1onein]

96. They are not breaking the law. Their company is.

And they're probably told that the list has been filtered through the DNC registry list.

[jmowreader]

14. I looked into this yesterday, when the news the guy had done this had come out...

Turns out it's not nearly as cheap in the US as it is in England...the only place I could find that has prices posted online charges a $799 one-time fee to set up the line, $50 per month maintenance fee, and a per minute fee that varies depending on your rate structure. You're also required to record a preamble that says what the charge for the line is.

[tabbycat31]

22. My office gets a robocall daily about substance abuse

Among at least a dozen telemarketing calls.

It would be fun but i also work for a nonprofit.

[IrishAyes]

23. The feds

are getting increasingly fed up with companies illegally using the DoNotCall list. I saw a couple reports that suggested action may be in the works. I hope so.

Here's a good one for you. A woman called up last week with the usual opener of (my name)? I don't answer to anything but "Hello, my name is so-and-so from such-and-such. May I please speak to (my name)?" They're barging into my house uninvited and unwanted, so they'd damn well better be polite. Since they never are, I interrupt (w/o acknowledging my own name) with "Who's calling?" This woman last week did answer my question but I told her quite directly that she was violating the law and I wouldn't buy anything from her if it was free. She scolded ME then! I hung up on her.

No, I do not need to coddle people who barge into my house electronically and start expecting information beginning with my name. It's rather akin to a holdup. I'm not mean to them - not in my view anyway - but I set them straight quick, and if they still don't behave, I hang up.

I used to toy with some of them, saying if you want me to listen to your sales pitch, you have to listen to mine first. Then I'd start hawking whatever fool thing popped into my head. And believe me, there's never any shortage of that! They'd always hang up pretty quick. But now that I'm retired, I don't have time to do so very often so I just start trying to teach them common telephone courtesy.

BTW, I do that to anyone who calls me and fails to offer a greeting followed by their own name, I don't care who it is. I didn't retire to be tortured by jerks. If they get smart with me and start insisting that I identify myself, I ask if they forgot who they were calling, don't they know? If voice recognition is the only thing required to get a sweet reply, why haven't they recognized the voice of the person they were calling (or not)?

My number is listed in the phone book under my deceased brother's name, so he gets a lot of junk mail. On very rare occasions he gets a telemarketer too, and they can get quite testy when I refuse to let them speak to him. One even warned me of unspecified dire consequences if I refused to give him the phone.

This is only fun because I've managed to cut these electronic intrusions down to one or two a month at most. Until campaign seasons heat up. Then I really play hobbes with the GOP. I'm still writing to Mike Huckabee urging him to split from the stodgy old GOP and run for president as an independent. Not a word why I want him to do so, just that I do. He'd draw a lot of fundies off with him and wreck the mainline party's chances pretty well.

[Th1onein]

25. I don't know who is calling you, but why would anyone who wants to sell you something be rude?

Sorry, this story doesn't hold water.

[IrishAyes]

26. You're calling me a liar - when you weren't witness to the occasion(s)

So I consider you rather rude as well.

While it's true that people calling to sell you something don't start out intentionally rude, ignorance of decent phone manners is no excuse for actually BEING rude. When they encounter legitimate opposition, they know they're not getting a sale and sometimes they DO become knowingly quite rude.

Shame on you for calling me a liar! No, you didn't use that exact word but that's what your reply means. And it's beyond rude.

[Th1onein]

36. No one is calling you a liar. Sorry you choose to take it that way.

There are a lot of other options to put your story as false, besides calling you a liar.

[IrishAyes]

43. No there aren't, unless you suppose I was tripping or don't understand English perhaps?

Listen, I didn't 'choose to take it that way'. That's what you said. At least admit it. Only a coward hides behind thinly disguised slurs. When I go to insult somebody, I say it outright. Your methodology is cowardly.

[pipi_k]

31. They may not start out

being rude, but they sure as hell can get rude in the blink of an eye.

Like the person you responded to said...the telemarketer didn't get rude until refused access to the brother.

Something similar happened to my mom less than a year after my stepfather died. Someone called asking to speak to him...she said sure, he's in ______ Cemetery.

The woman on the other end got snippy (no condolences or anything) and then, just before hanging up on my mom she said, "Well if THAT'S the way you wanna be about it...!!!"

OK, so people don't know that someone they're trying to call may have passed away, but how about a little bit of human decency when they find out?

[Th1onein]

37. I agree with you. No one should be rude, period. But how do you know it wasn't a bill collector?

They are OFTEN rude.

[IrishAyes]

48. Your telemarketing business, intrusive, is therefore rude from the gitgo.

So you hold yourself above bill collectors? I'd differ.

Besides, people of extremely responsible financial habits (barring unavoidable tragedies) generally have nothing to fear from bill collectors. But you seem to have the whole damned world in your crosshairs. Surely there's a more morally acceptable way to earn a living.

[pipi_k]

86. It could very well

have been a bill collector...I don't know.

But the thing is, even if it was, these people aren't collecting debts owed to them personally, so there's even less reason for them to be rude.

I've heard Accounts Receivable workers in various offices I've worked in, and none of them ever got rude with the people they called.

[pnwmom]

74. When I ask who's calling, they usually either hang up or only give a first name.

Either response is rude.

[dixiegrrrrl]

32. The beauty of living in a small southern town

is legitamate phone calls to me are polite, and only call between 9 and 5 pm.
And introduce themselves.
And use "Ma'am".

I DO have fun with "push polls" that call me, around election time.

You are absolutely correct..electronic intrusion is as bad as ringing my door bell and making the dog go into an uproar.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

39. they didn't barge in... they knocked on the door

you answered and let them in.

i don't answer the phone unless i know who it is... if it is important they will leave me a message.

sP

[IrishAyes]

44. You're rashly assuming everyone has caller ID or a functioning phone recorder.

Telemarketers don't know that either. So yes, they are barging in since they know some people have no way of screening calls and are subject to grave concern perhaps about a dear one's wellbeing, so they're going to pick up. At the very least, it's barging in under false pretenses. AND IT'S STILL INTRUSIVE AND RUDE!

[ProdigalJunkMail]

46. i'm sorry... you answered the phone.

and how is it false pretenses? it is a phone call. a marketing call. now, some of the marketeers are shysters who hide there identity, but many of them don't. false pretenses? that's an incredible stretch of logic.

no one likes telemarketer calls... you can either push to have them outlawed or find a way to deal with them. most people have found a way to deal with them.

sP

[IrishAyes]

49. It's false pretenses because in essence they're being sneaky, hoping you have no viable choice

except to answer. Then they deliver a sucker punch. They know people don't like to be called, that's why there's a DNC list. And telemarketers are increasingly ignoring that. I hope the feds do kick their ass, every last one of them.

[fredamae]

28. Many, many Telemarketers

are Slave wage prison workers.
I blame the corporation(s) for exploiting them.

[Th1onein]

38. Absolutely, fredamae.

And people that are rude to them are just making their lives more difficult. There is NO sense in that. NONE. They are workers, too.

[IrishAyes]

52. No, they're illegal operators.

Or would you call a holdup guy an innocent worker who's just trying to earn a living the only way he can, so it's justifiable? Oh, but the poor sitting duck victims who object when confronted by unwanted illegal behavior, THEY'RE the bad guys, huh?

Listen, you can smear a whole tube of lipstick on a porker, and it's still a pig. Recognizable by all, defensible in no way.

[Th1onein]

55. I'm so sorry, IrishAyes! I don't think I was speaking to you, was I?

You've had your say. You hate telemarketers. You hate them no matter what. Good for you. Have fun with that.

Welcome to my Ignore list.

[Fumesucker]

61. Kind of ironic that you are putting Irish Ayes on your do not call list n/t

[pipi_k]

87. Ummm....

OK, now that was funny!

[IrishAyes]

64. Don't need your permission to speak in an open forum. Ignore me and you'll never be sure

quite what I might be up to next. That's why I never put anyone on ignore. Besides, I suspect that half the time people who threaten to do that are just saber rattling in an attempt to intimidate.

[blue neen]

77. .

How very true!

[pipi_k]

88. Might as well

add me to your ignore list as well.

I hate telemarketers too.

Sometimes I blow a really loud whistle into their ears when they call just because I'm in a fucking bad mood and they've made the huge mistake of calling at precisely the wrong time.


Know what's ironic? I'll bet that at the end of the day when they go home and get the telemarketing calls on their own phones, they are just as pissed off as many of the rest of us are.

Anyway. I have more respect for people who collect trash and garbage for a living. At least they're keeping our neighborhoods clean and free from disease-carrying vermin.

[pnwmom]

98. How does it make any difference to them? They aren't having their lives interrupted

and their phone lines taken over by the person they called. They just hang up and go on to the next target.

[gopiscrap]

29. thank you

[No Vested Interest]

54. Telemarketers can be especially difficult for disabled or elderly

who have to get up from their chair, walk across the room, only to hear "How are you today?" from someone they don't wish to talk with.

I happen to keep very late hours, and to sleep late, but I have been awakened before 9 a.m. by either telemarketers or solicitors, and needless to say, it's hard to get back to sleep for that last hour of needed deep sleep.
It's said that many seniors welcome the chance to talk with someone, but, thank goodness, I'm not that hard up for conversation.

[IrishAyes]

79. I'm not either.

Frankly my dogs are better company than a lot of people. Anyone who feels sorry for me is wasting their time. Funny, a lot of people envy my privacy and independence. Some even admit as much. A few volunteer the fact.

[B Calm]

62. I keep getting this call about credit card debt. I don't have

any credit card debt, so I hang up.

[No Vested Interest]

67. +1. nt

[ecstatic]

80. I only give out my Google Voice #, but this idea sounds better nt

[TlalocW]

82. Combining the fact that I'm always at my computer

With a smart phone that shows the number that is calling me, and a ringtone I really like listening to, telemarketing calls don't bother me as much as they used to.

*Humming along with ringtone* Let's put the number into Google aaaaand... Hm, it's someone wanting to talk to me about SEO info on my website. Oh, darn, I missed their call.

Right after the do not call list came out, and I signed up for it, I got a call from the same company and in fact the same guy two days in a row when I was leaving work. The first day I told him to put me on his do not call list. The second day I told him he had called the day before, I had requested to be put on his do not call list, and by federal law, he owed me $500. I heard an, "Oh, shit," and the fastest hang-up ever.

TlalocW

[Th1onein]

84. Ya think that might mean someone made a mistake and he didn't intend to call you again?

Ya think? Or maybe he just is evil and wants to bother you with repeated phone calls, even though he has no hope, whatsoever, of selling you anything?

"The second day I told him he had called the day before, I had requested to be put on his do not call list, and by federal law, he owed me $500. I heard an, "Oh, shit," and the fastest hang-up ever."

[Mariana]

89. If the caller made a mistake, TlalocW did him a favor.

Maybe he didn't know he was violating the law. Now he knows, and perhaps he'll be more careful in the future to avoid making illegal calls.

[Th1onein]

90. Right. He's got that DNC registry engraved in his brain, right?

And he can remember every single number he's ever dialed, right?

[Mariana]

91. The caller was inexcusably rude, too.

He should have apologized, since he was the one committing an illegal act, even if it was accidental. Instead, he swore and hung up in TlalocW's face.

[Th1onein]

97. Yes, he should have apologized. Of course.

And he's an idiot for not doing so. But he is a victim of the system, and of his employers. THEY should be filtering the DNC registry numbers out of the call list.

[pipi_k]

92. Here's how he could have

handled it...

"I'm so sorry. It was a mistake. I'll make a note to remove your number from our calling list. Have a good day."

Five lousy seconds to be a decent human being.

[pnwmom]

99. No. When someone tells him they're on the registry, it's his job to remove the number from the list.

And, no, he and his company don't get to hide behind computer dialing.