Stompy

I never really got many telemarketer calls but signed up for the do not call list anyway.

Once the list took effect, all the telemarketing calls that I would occasionally get stopped completely.

Lately, I've been getting a ton of "survey" calls that come up as "Blocked Call". Each time I ask them to take me off their list, they say they cannot do it and it isn't a part of any list. I ask for their name and company and they hang up. Today I got a call where I told the guy to take me off the list because I'm on the do not call registry. He laughed (mocking me) and said "You might want to check with your list people. There's some peculiar things about it."

I replied (joking, of course, but with a dead serious tone), "Oh yeah? Well I'll find your family and kill them." and he quickly hung up, hehe. I'd always used to screw around with these people by keeping them on the phone and completely eating up their time by acting interested in what they were trying to sell. I'd do things like "Yes, I'll take 10 of them!" then 5 minutes later, "Wait.. how many did I order? Make that 4.". Then I'd quickly turn it around and start talking non-sense when it came time to close the sale which usually pissed them right off. It was great.

Anyway, isn't it illegal for them to be calling me? Also, isn't it illegal for them to not give me their name & company? At this point, I'm lookin to cash in on the $500 per incident thing I've been hearin about!

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Journeyman

Ok, if I recall correctly, any company that has done business with you in the past three months can call to sell shit. Any company that is not selling shit can call and ask to survey you. And political action company (like, pimping out for politicians) can call to pimp out. Pollsters can call.

The way to get around this is... I have no fucking clue about having them take you off their number list, but you can tell them to put your number on *their* do-not-call list (which every mass calling company should have) and then expect to never be called again. That's the way the survey callers worked out for me, anyway.

KellyC

My usual reply "no thanks! I'm not interested" then hang up....
They probably hate their fucking job too, so I don't need to give them a rough(er) time.

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Peetster

Political surveys and non profit organizations are exempt.

You signed up for a "call me and beg for my money" list.

timalkin

Somewhat related:

A telemarketer called my stepdad the other day. When my stepdad refused to buy whatever they were selling, the caller immediately started cursing him, using some of the most foul language he'd ever heard.

I've heard that some companies use convicts to make their calls.

pig

I'm not sure about this, but technically can't you get in some hot water for threatening assault over the phone like that? Not that I think anything will come of it, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that it could be trouble.

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Peryn

Another way they can get around it is to claim you signed up for it.

Recently, people have been calling and claiming we signed up for free groceries, or some equally stupid shit, and asked to be contacted. We NEVER sign up for anything, and it really pisses me off when they claim we did.

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warrrreagl

I read a Dear Abby last month where the telemarketers called this lady and said her son (we'll call him Bobby) had requested some info about their product. Turns out "Bobby" had died more than a year ago, and the old lady went berserk on the telemarketer. And then told Abby about it.

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H12

I've only fucked with a tele-marketer once, and it was simply because I couldn't understand her accent...at all. I played nice when I could make out what she was saying, but I played extra-dumb when I couldn't. An ass is I.

Generally, just saying "Sorry, I'm not interested" gets it done for everything except Visa for me.

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warrrreagl

I also read an article from Fark last week about employers who use sneaky tactics when interviewing and hiring prospective employees. It seems that one of their tricks is to call a job candidate at home in the evening and pretend to be a telemarketer. They want to see if their potential employee gets rude and abusive or handles the situation calmly and politely.

Something to think about. The Golden Rule is still out there.

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Living is easy with eyes closed.

denim

I got a call from a telemarketer last week. She started the call saying "I'm calling for a marketing survey company and"

I cut her off and told her "I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe you'll find a decent job soon." and hung up.

Kepage23

I got a call about a month or two ago on my cell phone that I have had for 2 years now. The person asked for me by name and told me that they were doing a followup to see if I had had one of their products serviced recently. When I dodn't know what she was talking about she said it would be a vaccum or air purifier I bought in 1991. I informed her that I never bought anything from them before and never to call again. I was very irritated that it was on my cell phone. it was only after I hung up that I realized I supposidly bought this crap WHEN I WAS 11!
When the telemarketers start calling cell phones I will be very pissed!!

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rainheart

You don't have your home phone number forwarded to your cellphone by any chance?

ForgottenKnight

Just to let you guys all know, in order to actually be taken off of their lists, you must speak with a manager! That means that you must REQUEST to speak with a manager. Then you must wait on the line while they signal the manager over. Then you must speak with the manager and ask him to take you off of their lists and put you on their do not call list. Then the manager will put in a code to allow the telemarketer to enter the termination code for putting you on the list. Without that manager's code, you cannot get put on their list due to the person calling you not being authorized to do so. Then some companies will continue to keep you on their do not call list as long as the name still matches the phone number, and both still match the address. That means that you have to make sure they have the right name and address on the number so that they can continue to keep you on their do not call list. Then some of them send out their lists to other telemarketing companies they're partnered with so that the other companies can put them on their do not call lists as well.
Now one thing you have to remember is the large number of telemarketing companies out there that all advertise the same products or take the same surveys. So while you get taken off the list for one company selling the local newspaper, you haven't been taken off the lists of the other six companies hired by that newspaper to call you.
I know this because I infiltrated them, got the information on how to defeat them, and then got the hell out of there. I took a telemarketing part time posision around my full time job three summers ago. I was there for a week so that I could get the extra cash I needed for a cpu for college and then quit. It was a shitty job, but there were a lot of cute and hot girls working there... You might want to remember I said that the next time you hear a female voice on the other end of that survey call... or not...

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Wax_off

I had a fun one the other day. Some guy called from AT&T. When I told him I wanted to be on the do not call list he said OK, then proceded with his sales pitch. I told him I would never buy anything from him and asked to talk to a manager. He refused and kept on with his sales pitch.

There's really not much you can do if a telemarketer refuses to be reasonable. What are you going to do? You can threaten lawsuit or something like that, but who is really going to go through with it? i have better things to do with my time (like post on the TFP.)

Astrocloud

Business to Business calls are exempt -so that if you operate a business out of your house and advertise in any way -You may be telemarked.

Also, some collection agencies pretend to call you up as a telemarketing company -this is also against the law but the fines are minimal.

Psycho Dad

My wife did social work for a time and one of her cases was working for a telemarketer. She put in a tape she made of one of her phone calls for my wife. this person gave out her credit card number, her mother's maiden name social security number and who knows what the hell else. I'd rather someone like that not have my shit.

choskins

I always get calls where they ask for "Jane Doe" or some fake name. When I tell them they have the wrong number, they tell me that she must have had the number in the past. Then they start their sales pitch.

Scumbag telemarketers will always find ways to get around the list.

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