January 14, 2009
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How Do You Deal With Telemarketers?
You're at home. You have just sat down to dinner or to watch your favorite television show or movie. Just then, the phone rings. So up you get to answer it.
"Hello Mr/Mrs [your surname]. How are you this evening?"
Like they really care. Umph. It's yet another in a long string of telemarketers, and I'm so fed up with this invasion of my privacy. Through the years, I've tried to be polite, but they keep pressing me. Finally, they stop long enough for me to quickly sneak in a, "I'm sorry, but I wouldn't be interested this evening," but before I can hang up they are right back with something like,
"Oh but we have a very special deal for you this evening. We can cut the price by 20%." I'm sure you can appreciate that we can not do this for everyone, but since you are a very intelligent customer, I'm certain that you can see what a tremendous savings this will add up to. Where may I send your order?"
Finally, in desperation, I say, "Thank you, but I'm really not interested." Then they ignore me and tell me that they will throw in free shipping, but I must act now.
And on it goes until I either have to yield to their pressure, or hang up on them and then feel bad for being rude.
Well, that's the old me. Lately, at the very first sign of a come on, I simply say, "Not interested," and immediately hang up, regardless of whether they are talking or not. Sometimes I just hang up without saying a word. And I don't feel one bit guilty for doing so. After all, it is they who are invading my private space, my private time, and taking up my private phone line.
How do you deal with telemarketers?
Comments (5)
I am very nice and polite with them and right in the middle of speaking, I press the little button that disconnects us. So it's like the call was dropped. A nicer way to hang up on someone.
I hang up.
I went through the same process; being nice, less nice, now I hang up. I tried saying, "I don't buy/give anything to telephone solicitation." But they are ready for that - they'll be happy to mail you their literature! So now I just say not interested or I do just hang up. I have actually had some call backs! They were assuming we got cut off, which, of course, they found out I really had hung up. Recently I had a man actually lose his temper because I said I wasn't interested. Oh, yes, my most pet peeve is solicitations from law enforcement groups. I used to feel intimidated because they were cops, after all. Then I discovered that these groups hire telemarketers and they only get something like 10% of the donation. So now I hang up on them too. You are right, they are invading my privacy and questioning my right to decide for or against their pitch. They deserve only a modicum of politeness.
I mess with them.
I once managed to flirt with one for 90 mins before she decided to end it. What most people don't understand, is that a lot of these telemarketers are paid on commission, they need to make a sale to get more than min wage. The company, also needs them to hurry and make a sale so that the next call can be made. By hanging up, you are letting them move on to the next caller.
So I keep them on the phone for as long as I possibly can, so that I waste thier time and they make fewer sales. One company I did this too, stopped calling me and has not called for over 5 years.
My sister kept one on the line for over an hour, flirting, chatting, talking about random stuff... I frequently ask them if they would please call me back when I'm not home... hanging up is fine, if they don't want to be hung up on they should learn how to take a hint when folks say no.
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