Why Telemarketing Is Evil - And How To Beat It
from the die-telemarketers-die dept
Telemarketing is certainly right up there with spam in making people's blood boil. I think I made a very smart move many years ago when I last moved, in asking that my phone number remain unlisted. That one spur of the moment decision has spared me from years of telemarketing calls. A few still get through, but it's not like the onslaught of spam I get. Wired Magazine has a short blurb about how telemarketing technology is getting even better and more efficient every day. Earlier this month we had an article about various technologies to fight telemarketing, but this Wired article also points out that you can simply download the "out-of-service" bells, and make the very first tone in the ever-popular out-of-service ascending tones as the first noise on your voice mail message - which will make telemarketing systems believe your line has been disconnected. However, that earlier article suggests that telemarketers have learned about this technique and are already fighting back. You would think (if you thought like a normal, rational person, and not a bad telemarketing person) that if someone went through all the trouble to set up a system to make telemarketers think their line had been disconnected, that they wouldn't be a very good prospect to call. You would think that you would want to take such a person off of your list. However, it appears telemarketers don't think that way. I still think the best method for dealing with a telemarketer is, the second they call, to say "hold on, please" and putting the phone down on the table/desk/whatever and just leaving it there until the telemarketer realizes he or she has been had. This way they can't be bothering other people. If you want to have more fun with them, then make use of the anti-telemarketing script instead.
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Even better...reverse crank phone calling...
I've come up with various scripts I use to social telemarketers, and it tends to work quite well. I am single, so whenever I get one of those "is the woman of the house there?" calls, I have fun...some of my favorite ones...
Me: Hello?
Telemarketer drone: Hello, is the woman of the house there?
M: No, shes not [crying], she died not too long ago.
T: I am very sorry to hear, [click].
No more calls from that company...or...
M: Hello?
T: Hello, is the woman of the house there?
M: I'm not married.
T: Oh...
M: However, you sound like you qualify...I know you are a telemarketer, but how do you look and where do you live?
T: [click]
No more calls from that one either...
Got the idea when I heard someone else got in trouble a few years back doing the same thing...cannot figure out why since they are calling you, and most of the time aren't very truthful about themselves, so why do you have to be truthful with them...
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Quiet time doesn't always work
These days I use my cell phone for everything, and luckily I don't get any telemarketers there (yet). Although I have gotten several SMS spams and a guy that calls at odd hours of the morning asking for "Jared" in a slurred voice. But I digress...
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Re: Quiet time doesn't always work
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My favorite line
You'll be surprised how quickly they'll hang up on you. It works best if you can not laugh while doing it.
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