Best way to handle telemarketer's calls?

S

sandypoley

100+ Posts
What's the best way to handle unwanted telemarketer's calls. Like everyone, I get calls from out of state and out of my area code companies. Alot of them call several times each day.
I have been registered in the "Do Not Call" list for years. Is it better to just not answer or to answer and hangup without talking? Is there a better way? Suggestions?
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I pick up, immediately set phone down and leave them saying, "Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello?"
When I remember, I'll go back and hang the phone up. But the key is not to let your answer machine pick up because that does not deter.

Trust me, they soon give up and seek out a new victim.
 
Tell them you're busy right now, but if they'll give you their home phone numbers, you'll call them back later.
 
If you haven't recently re-uped your phone number on the "do not call" list, do so again. You can find it through Google. If the calls are polling questions, they are exempt from the "do not call" list because they are protected by the congress who are inquiring minds and want to know. When the pollsters call I just immediately hang up.
 
I have signed up for the "Do not call" and for the most part, don't get too many calls.

When I do though, this is how I handle them, and I wish others would do the same. I think, what kind of person would actually BE a telemarketer? Do they grow up wanting to get sworn at, hung-up on, rejected 99% of the time?

No, probably not. I look at most if not all telemarketers as PEOPLE, people that are probably desperate, so desperate and out of work that they are forced to take a job with so little quality of life, a job that just sucks! They are at least trying to have a job, pay a loan, feed a family...they aren't sitting on their *** thinking the government will bail them out, or are too proud to do what it takes.

So, I treat them with respect. I tell them, "I respect that you are working, and trying to earn a living, but I am not interested. Would you please remove me from your list?"

I actually had one woman start crying and told me I was the first person that had been kind to her in weeks. I'm not trying to brag, I used to hang-up on telemarketers, but as I have gotten older and the economy has gotten worse, I wonder how many of us would have the guts to "do what it takes" to make it.

I'm not naive, I know some prey on our elderly, hoarders etc., but I have found this method has kept my calls to very few.
 
I cut them off, saying politely but firmly, "I'm not interested. Thank you very much for calling. Have a nice day."

And then I hang up.
 
bedhead, you are so right and dammit, you have converted me.

I have pretended to be pleasuring myself to their voice, made squeaky noises, pretended to hit on them, try to sell them Herbalife or Amway or even magazine subscriptions. I ask them questions about them such as favorite color, favorite song, if they could fly, where to...etc.

But you are right. Their job sucks and they likely don't do it as a first choice option. It has to suck to be treated as a person, which they are, may be refreshing and they may just take your name off the list.

I am sold.
 
I say "I never buy anything from telemarketers. EVER." And I don't.
But they just keep on talking, which they are trained to do, so I hang up.
 
bedhead is spot on, and that is what I do for the same reasons. It only takes a few seconds to respond in a polite and respectful way, and ask them to please remove you from their list. They are people too and trying to make a living. They get enough ********, you don’t need to be one.

Also, we dropped our land line several years ago and just use mobile. I never get telemarketer calls.
 
I've received very few since signing up for the state and national do not call lists. However, when I do get one, I will usually get their details (company name, number), politely tell them I am on the DNC list, and that they will be reported. I then report them and hope against hope that something will actually happen.
 
I always let my 6 year old talk to them. He's got a hiatal hernia/gerd so he sounds like a 30 year old. I should have recorded some of those calls
 
Bedhead is dead on correct. So I try not to be an ***. But I do like to have a little fun. I keep my home phone strictly for 911 and/or backup. So nine times out of ten it either a telemarketer or someone trying to collect a debt from the person who had my number before me. (btw….Chris Caston, I hope your credit score and your sex life is zero by now). But I almost always answer with a fake business. Like Bubba’s Massage Parlor. Or Lucky’s Funeral Home. Then I just see where it goes. I had a girl call once from a matchmaking service who would not give up. So I finally told her she sounded cute and she would do just fine. End of conversation. Lots of ways to have fun and invariably the person on the other end gets the message and a little laugh out of it themselves.
 
Whenever they ask to speak to Mr. X (me), I ask "is this some kind of sick joke?" And they say "pardon me?" And I say "Is this some kind of sick joke?" And they say "what do you mean?" And I say "Mr X passed away after being attacked by piranhas in Lake Travis a few weeks ago" or make up some other gruesome death. They always apologize profusely and hang up.
 
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