My Time as a Telemarketer

[Andara Bledin]

Most of those scam calls are from off-shore, so it's really hard to get them stopped.

Also, the off-shore scammers tend to use dialers, and just go through the numbers, so it doesn't matter what your number is, it will eventually be hit. That's what that whole "stay on the line for a very important call" bullshit is about; the dialer called your number, and when you answered, it then switched over to the rep who will be trying to sell or scam you.

I actually started the policy at my work when I was still answering phones that if we ever got called by a machine, that we would summarily disconnect. If it was important, then a human could do the dialing.

^-.-^

[friendofjimmyk]

I got fired from a telemarketing job I had when I was 15. I sucked. I think the entire two months I worked there, I sold one thing to one customer. I was selling pizzas, cookies, and trash bags and the funds went to support the Juvenille Diabetes foundation...or whatever. I couldn't even sell to people who supported the fundraiser in previous years. If someone told me no, I would thank them and end the call...no pushing, no haggling.

Now, if a telemarketer happens to get lucky that I answer the phone - which is hardly ever - I mean, its even rarer than seeing a blue moon - thanks to caller ID....I will say, "no thank you, I'm not interested." politely, twice - if they keep pushing I again tell them, "no, thanks. I'm hanging up now. Have a good night".

I never really used to do that until I read some of the posts from those on here that are from those in this field...so, I changed my tune. But like I said, I rarely answer the phone if I don't recognize the number.

[BroSCFischer]

Former TM here. Anytime I get a call from a Telemarketer I try to keep the conversation brief.

TM: <spiel>
Me: Is this a solicitation call?
TM: What do you mean?
Me: Are you trying to get me to do something to receive this special offer?
TM: Well, yes.
Me: I'm sorry, but I don't appreciate these types of calls, please put me on your Do Not Call list.
TM: <end call spiel>

All of this is said in a polite, but firm manner. And in my life I have only received 3 TM calls.

SC

[Auto]

Anyone who goes off on a legitimate telemarketer is being an SC, end of story.

sorry, andara, but this time i have to disagree with you.

a legitimate telemarketer? yes, some are nicer than others but what's a legitimate telemarketer?

*MOD NOTE - Please edit your quotes down to relevant points only. We already read Andara's entire post and didn't need to read it again.

[kibbles]

FYI, a legitimate telemarketer is one who is working for a legal company selling a legitimate product or service.

[Broomjockey]

a legitimate telemarketer? yes, some are nicer than others but what's a legitimate telemarketer?

FYI, a legitimate telemarketer is one who is working for a legal company selling a legitimate product or service.

Exactly, and I'd like to again remind people not to smear the entire profession based on the shady portion. We DO have members who are telemarketers, who have been telemarketers, and members who may in the future have to be telemarketers.

[Kogarashi]

I used to dislike telemarketers, back before I had a real job (first year of college, all of my work experience amounted to babysitting various kids I knew, for less than minimum wage). My roommate and I would lie and say that Kogarashi or Anki wasn't there, even if we were the one asked for.

I've since gotten better about it, largely due to reading stories on this site and growing up, maturity-wise. I no longer see the telemarketer on the other end of the phone line as part of the greater faceless entity that I dislike so much.

Now I try to tell them I'm not interested and let that be the end of it. The ones that really bug me now are the auto-diallers that don't give any option for being removed from the list. Not only have we gotten the warranty call several times, we've gotten a "prize redemption" call in Spanish, a few calls when the local mayor was running for re-election, and recently a message that merely states, "Please listen to the entire message before making your decision," and then launches into some supposed survey facts about global warming or world hunger or the price of shampoo bottles or something. All of it automated, and the last of those without actually conveying any pertinent information. Bonus: all of these automated calls have been to our cell phones, which last I checked are automatically DNC for purposes of telemarketing. And no, we don't give out our phone numbers to less-than-legitimate businesses, which irritates me further.

At least the Spanish one's stopped.

You forgot collections agents.

These douchebags will continue to call a residence for years after the person they are looking for has moved out. Even if you call them and inform them that said person is no longer living there, you don't know who they are, and by continuing to call they are harassing you.

I suspect it's because they don't believe you when you say you don't know the person and they don't live there. We can thank the sleazebuckets who lie through their teeth to the collections agents to avoid paying.

[Andara Bledin]

Bonus: all of these automated calls have been to our cell phones, which last I checked are automatically DNC for purposes of telemarketing. And no, we don't give out our phone numbers to less-than-legitimate businesses, which irritates me further.

As I mentioned earlier, most of those are from off-shore and they use autodialers that just go through every single number combination possible.

They don't care about the DNC list and it doesn't apply to them, anyway. They aren't in this country. They're usually not eve on this continent.

^-.-^

[Dreamstalker]

I suspect it's because they don't believe you when you say you don't know the person and they don't live there. We can thank the sleazebuckets who lie through their teeth to the collections agents to avoid paying.

Yup. I find it strange that they don't even try to verify that the person on the other end is the one they're really looking for.

My case is doubly confusing as the calls started shortly after I began my phone service, so unless by some HUGE cosmic coincidence the previous tenant had not only the same telco but also the same number, I have no idea how the collections monsters got it.

Oddly, my CC company obeys the restriction on telemarketing cell phones. Only calls I've ever gotten from them were directly related to my account.

[MadMike]

Yup. I find it strange that they don't even try to verify that the person on the other end is the one they're really looking for.

I guess it depends on the company. My ex left a bunch of unpaid debts behind when she left, and when I told them she didn't live there anymore, the only other thing they asked was if I had any updated contact info for her. Never heard from them again after that.

My wife's old upstairs neighbor wasn't so lucky. Apparently he inherited a number from a deadbeat, and they refused to believe he wasn't the one they were looking for, or they accused him of hiding the person they were looking for. He was a third-shift truck driver, and most of those calls came during the day while he was trying to sleep. He ended up having to get his number changed.

[edible_hat]

I suspect it's because they don't believe you when you say you don't know the person and they don't live there. We can thank the sleazebuckets who lie through their teeth to the collections agents to avoid paying.

Reminds me of the hassle I had getting my power re-connected! When we moved I went to the power company's website and filled in a form to have it transferred into my name. Didn't think anything of it until about a month later when the power got cut off.

Calling the power company revealed that it was still in the previous tenant's name. He hadn't payed the last bill so it got cut off. I said I'd done the transfer online, the CNSR (that's Customer Non-Service Representative, since he provided no service) said "Since you CLAIM you did it online you have to give me the reciept number".

So I had to go through my email and find the reciept number, and call back. The second time I spoke to a different person (an actual CSR this time). Part of the conversation went:
me: "The reciept number is..."
CSR: "Oh I don't need that, I just looked it up by your name and address"

At the end of the call I made sure to mention that the first person I'd spoken to was unhelpful and obviously didn't want to do their job.

[Alpha Strike]

Anyone who goes off on a legitimate telemarketer is being an SC, end of story.

Not true. The problem with this particular job is that, even when it's a "legitimate telemarketer" selling a "legitimate" product, it requires those people to be extremely aggressive (pushy or rude at times) and invasive. While I appreciate that most telemarketers are just regular folks like us, that doesn't mean I have to like or even tolerate calls from folks I don't know selling products I've never expressed the slightest interest in during my down-time.

I'm still polite to most telemarketers but I definitely have less patience and tolerance with 'em.

As a telemarketer from Canada calling th States, I found out that Americans are sometimes prejudice to french people.

I'll admit it - I'm not particularly fond of the French, for both rational and irrational reasons. Not to say I'm rude or hostile to the rare Froggie I run across but all other things being equal I prefer the non-French product/item/etc to the French version.

[Jbball]

Sorry if I sounded like an ass before, it wasn't my intentions.

My latest is this collection agency calling my work phone (not sure how they got it) and always ask for Eric Brown. I'm in Texas and the only Eric Brown my company has is in Indiana or Illinois. I keep telling them there's no Eric Brown here and they always say thanks and hang up. They've even gotten to the point where they hang up when I repeat the name they give me.

I get these calls once a week, usually. The next time they call, I'm going to tell them to stop. I'll get authorization from my boss first, but I need to figure out if this is business related first or not.

Jerk monkeys.

[kibbles]

Not true. The problem with this particular job is that, even when it's a "legitimate telemarketer" selling a "legitimate" product, it requires those people to be extremely aggressive (pushy or rude at times) and invasive.

A telemarketer has to pitch the product at least twice, that does not require one to be aggressive or rude. Someone aggressive or rude would be the mark of a sucky employee, not due to the job itself IMO.

So, IMO..any person who is rude to an employee (no matter what their job) is a SC.

[Alpha Strike]

A telemarketer has to pitch the product at least twice, that does not require one to be aggressive or rude. Someone aggressive or rude would be the mark of a sucky employee, not due to the job itself IMO.

So, IMO..any person who is rude to an employee (no matter what their job) is a SC.

By its very nature telemarketing is a job that requires a person to be aggressive and willing to push boundaries. Where else can you get a job that includes cold-calling folks, doing it on weekends or during dinner, or pushing a product on a person who has expressed no previous interest in it?

For example, we all know that telemarketers work from a script. So when I say "No" to a telemarketer they usually have a quick response ready to go, and often times it takes multiple "No's" before they've finally run through the script and accept that they're not getting a sale. I've even had telemarketers acknowledge my "No," tell me they understood my concerns and then go right back to their script - all while being pleasant and polite, leaving me in the position of either listening to their spiel or hanging up on them and feeling like a jerk.

This is a very aggressive and pushy tactic to use on the phone - you wouldn't typically act this way in person - and yet this is a normal aspect of the telemarketing job.

No matter how nice "you" as a person are, you're still often going to have to employ tactics that are aggressive, pushy or sometimes downright rude.