Dealing with telemarketers

[mr friendly guy]

Initially when telemarketers called I used to be polite and sometimes (rarely) I do buy stuff from them, so they aren't 100% nuisance.

However in the last 2 years, they have become a pain. They ring about the same things again even when you have asked them to take your number off the mailing list. I have already blocked my number so that no new marketers will get me, but still they come. What infuriates me is that

a. They lie and will not get to the point
I ask them what are they selling and if I am interested we can talk further so it saves both of us time. Instead I get the spiel they are not selling anything, then it turns out they are offering a financial product. But no, its not selling anything. This is frankly an insult to anyone's intelligence and a waste of time.

b. They reserve the right to ring you back

I once said, please take me off your ringing list. The man then said, "Ok I will ring you back at 5." That's when I lost it and started berating him over the phone and then he said "this is recorded message," thus further insulting our intelligence.

Its not like me to go off and verbally abuse someone on the other end of the phone. But these people really have no sympathy. Is there anyway to deal with them.

I am thinking of trying to troll them or just shout out over the phone.

Perhaps asking what are they selling, and when they inevitably say they are not, just say that I am not interested in talking to them unless they are selling something.

[Raw Shark]

Hi. My name is Raw Shark, and I have extensive experience as a telemarketer.

So, the first thing you need to remember with these guys is that they probably have rules that they need to rigidly follow. These rules may be utterly idiotic and / or include a very specific script. For example, at one place that I worked, we were not allowed to take somebody off the calling list without a manager speaking with them to verify it first, but every time I tried in good faith to explain that and get the client to hold for the manager, they would scream something like, "Just fucking do it!" And hang up. So, one of us, possibly me, would be queued to call them back automatically by the computer. At another place, I literally had no ability to hang up. I had to keep trying to pitch the client until they hung up, no matter what. I had one guy yell at me for like fifteen minutes one time while I kept trying to pitch him. About five minutes in, I noticed that the entire observation booth was looking at me with their headphones on and laughing their asses off.

Now, if they're just flat-out lying, there's nothing you can do about that except call them out on it or hang up, though claiming to only be interested in hearing a sales pitch might actually work.

[Starglider]

If they ring me on my landline, I say 'please hold, I'll get back to you in a moment' and then leave my phone off the hook. I pick it up again after ten minutes or so and so far none of them have waited that long. I consider this a public service in preventing them from spamming anyone else for a few minutes; I can do this because I don't actually use my landline for anything other than outbound teleconference calls. I wonder how long Raw Shark would have been stuck waiting for the customer to come back, had it been the job with no hang up button.

[mr friendly guy]

That's a good idea Starglider. I might try that next time. Since my landline is next to the computer, and if I just happen to be on the computer at that time, I could let them listen to me playing games. Wonder what they will make of it?

Although sometimes they ring on my mobile.

[Raw Shark]

In the case of just leaving the phone off the hook while I was at the job with no hang-up button, I would've been stuck there making $6.50/hour until I could attract the attention of a manager to kick me to the next call, which could've been a while if it was busy.

[Ziggy Stardust]

I honestly didn't know telemarketers were even still a thing. I haven't gotten a call from one in, like, eight years? How are they even getting your mobile numbers?

[Borgholio]

I honestly didn't know telemarketers were even still a thing. I haven't gotten a call from one in, like, eight years? How are they even getting your mobile numbers?

People buy and sell lists all the time. They also random robo-dial too as well. Most of the telemarketers I get these days are those automated robo-dialers (which are illegal in many states, but they don't give a shit).

[mr friendly guy]

I honestly didn't know telemarketers were even still a thing. I haven't gotten a call from one in, like, eight years? How are they even getting your mobile numbers?

Different countries I guess. As to how they got my number in the first place, I assume people sold them lists. Once they got it, they kept it if you ever display interest, ie let them say their spiel. Although for all I know, even if I told them to sod off the first time, they might try ringing again in a bid to "wear you down."

[FaxModem1]

As Raw Shark said, as I used to be one myself, have a rather strict script they go over several times. When I was a telemarketer, we weren't allowed to answer questions, or deviate, so we would have to go to a standard response if they asked a question.

It was also company policy to call a place or account five times before we gave up, the only delay being that each attempt was supposed to be spaced by about 5 to 8 hours or so. If that person wanted off the caller list, that was something they would have to do of their own accord, talking to a different phone number, as the only thing I could do was put that down as one of the notes for the file, while that person would still be called four more times.

As to how they got that number? If they ever did business with you in someway, you entered into a contest, signed a form somewhere with your contact info, or you're contact information is public record.

[Mr Bean]

Here's the thing, Telemarketers are either low paid Americans, well paid overseas workers or... ROBOTS.

So do everything you can to make yourself unattractive to telemarketers.
1. Don't sign up for things
2. Don't speak English to people who call you
3. Take up as much as time as possible on the call
or
4. Hang up instantly without speaking.
or
5. Pretend to be a fax number

[mr friendly guy]

The telemarketers who ring me sound Indian. Which isn't surprising considering India is well known for this.

[LaCroix]

I always demand to speak to their supervisor. Then I demand to be taken off the list, telling them that what they do is illegal in this country (Which it is).

I never get called twice.

Even without the illegal bit, they need to get the supervisior if you demand him, and that guy will strike you off the list, simply because it creates more work for him if he always gets called in.

[aerius]

I usually hang up on them right away, but sometimes I fuck with them if I'm bored. I've demanded to be paid by the minute for my time, worked my pick-up game and propositioned them for sex, mocked them with fake accents, and various other assholish shit like that. One thing I want to try is having them talk to a soundboard and seeing how long I can keep them going.

[General Zod]

I honestly didn't know telemarketers were even still a thing. I haven't gotten a call from one in, like, eight years? How are they even getting your mobile numbers?

So I have this number from Boost mobile. They're a prepaid service, so I assume they end up recycling a lot of their old numbers once a customer stops paying for their service.

As a result of this, I end up getting calls from Mexicans all the time. I don't speak Spanish so I have no idea what they're asking, but at least 25% of them are wrong numbers, 25% of these calls are robo-callers and about 25% are legitimate people working as Telemarketers. But since I don't speak Spanish there's not much I can do to get them to stop calling me short of changing my number which would be a huge pain in the ass at this point.

[Raw Shark]

It is one of my guilty pleasures that I also fuck with them. I put on my best bombastic authority voice (this is one of my finest natural talents, take my word here) and DEMAND to speak to their supervisor, with copious verbal abuse including informed criticism of their pitch, and then have a laugh with that guy over how I've been in the industry. Bonus points if I can make the actual caller laugh.

[Napoleon the Clown]

Last time I had a call from a telemarketer I simply asked "Are you a teller marketer?" and when they answered in the affirmative I said I wasn't interested and hung up. This was many, many years ago. I do not envy the people who get stuck in that job.

[Welf]

I always demand to speak to their supervisor. Then I demand to be taken off the list, telling them that what they do is illegal in this country (Which it is).

I never get called twice.

Even without the illegal bit, they need to get the supervisior if you demand him, and that guy will strike you off the list, simply because it creates more work for him if he always gets called in.

Yeah. Fucking nanny state taking away our freedom to be called all the time by telemarketers.

Also, if you really want to fuck with them ask for an overview of your personal data. You can, thanks to article 12 of the EU data protection directive. Since this is such a hassle most companies will rather delete your account that keep calling. And if they don't, you can complain to your national data protection agency. A company may be fined up to 50 K for breaches of the data protection laws.

[Vendetta]

Hang up the phone?


(On the other hand I don't have a phone plugged into my landline and I don't answer my mobile if I don't recognise the number)

[bilateralrope]

I always demand to speak to their supervisor. Then I demand to be taken off the list, telling them that what they do is illegal in this country (Which it is).

I never get called twice.

Even without the illegal bit, they need to get the supervisior if you demand him, and that guy will strike you off the list, simply because it creates more work for him if he always gets called in.

Yeah. Fucking nanny state taking away our freedom to be called all the time by telemarketers.

Also, if you really want to fuck with them ask for an overview of your personal data. You can, thanks to article 12 of the EU data protection directive. Since this is such a hassle most companies will rather delete your account that keep calling. And if they don't, you can complain to your national data protection agency. A company may be fined up to 50 K for breaches of the data protection laws.

That doesn't work when the telemarketers are already engaged in blatantly illegal stuff. The only telemarketers I get calling here are all doing the "Microsoft" tech support scam. Though it usually takes me a minute or two to figure that out because their combination of bad english and terrible line quality makes them really hard to understand.

I'd like to mess with them, but they have a knack for calling when I don't have time to do so. I just hang up on them every time.

[GuppyShark]

Its not like me to go off and verbally abuse someone on the other end of the phone. But these people really have no sympathy. Is there anyway to deal with them.

In Australia:

https://www.donotcall.gov.au/

[Jub]

I don't bother running a landline and I grabbed an app for my phone that automatically blocks calls from numbers listed as telemarketers, bill collectors, and the like. I used to get the occasional call, but now I might hear one ring and then the app hangs up the call for me.

[Borgholio]

My wife uses a program called Mr. Number which does what Jub is describing. People submit phone numbers to a central database if they are spammers, scammers, marketers, or whatever. If on the list, anything coming from that phone number goes straight to VM without a ring, or auto pickup / hangup.

[Jub]

My wife uses a program called Mr. Number which does what Jub is describing. People submit phone numbers to a central database if they are spammers, scammers, marketers, or whatever. If on the list, anything coming from that phone number goes straight to VM without a ring, or auto pickup / hangup.

Mine was built in CM Security, which is an antivirus program for android phones.

[Malagar]

That doesn't work when the telemarketers are already engaged in blatantly illegal stuff. The only telemarketers I get calling here are all doing the "Microsoft" tech support scam. Though it usually takes me a minute or two to figure that out because their combination of bad english and terrible line quality makes them really hard to understand.

I'd like to mess with them, but they have a knack for calling when I don't have time to do so. I just hang up on them every time.

I pulled a good one on one of them a few weeks ago: I told her that she had called my landline and needed to call my mobile, and then I gave her the number for the police's IT crime prevention centre.

For regular telemarketers I usually just tell them that I'm busy, that generally works for me.

[SpottedKitty]

I pulled a good one on one of them a few weeks ago: I told her that she had called my landline and needed to call my mobile, and then I gave her the number for the police's IT crime prevention centre.

That's evil and despicable — I love it!

I wonder, has anyone had any success pretending to be somewhere truly ridiculous, e.g. CIA HQ or Vladimir Putin's appointments secretary, or replying in Klingon?

FWIW, the only ones I get here are robo-calls. I know, because I never hear the beginning of their pitch on the answering machine, they always start the moment it picks up. PPI refunds, double glazing, loft insulation, new boiler deals, I think I've had the lot.

And yes, for the morbidly curious, a lot of them do have suspiciously Mumbai/Kolkata accents...