Buzz off, dumbass!

[protege]

...is what I actually told a telemarketer today.

Seriously, this woman called up trying to get my boss on the phone. Naturally, she claimed that I couldn't help her, and that whatever info she was dispensing could only be told to him personally. Again, she wanted to talk to him, and since he usually doesn't want to deal with these people (who does?), I again tried to relay. She wasn't having any of that, and actually asked why I was refusing to help her. I replied that I wasn't, but unless she was going to tell me what she wanted, she wasn't going to talk to him. Of course, she muttered something, and I replied with the title of the thread

Seriously, you call up, waste my time, and then get upset when I'm doing *my* job? Fuck you.

[ravevolution]

I've had a few of those telemarketers calling my work and asking to speak to my manager.

Typically it's some company that wants to contract with us for clean up/disposal services i.e pick up our used oil and such.

The thing is 'were a flippin huge company!!!' We have contracts with companies that do that stuff for us. . . like heck my manager can approve something like that, it would have to go higher up. I typically tell them that and let them know that something of that nature would have to be taken care of via our corporate office, not us

[bhskittykatt]

Ditto here. I get these all the time. Usually CWs are good about filtering them out, but occasionally they get through to me when I'm MOD. I'm like "sorry, you need to go sell yourself to Corporate and land a contract with them; I can't help you buddy."

[Darkforge]

The problem here lies in that the telemarketer is also just trying to do their job, and there are at least a few of them on the boards so lets not rip into them too much.

That said its annoying when people don't get the hint or won't give you information. Especially when Its a telemarketer (I know pot calling kettle black) as apparently working in a telemarketing company doesn't make you immune ot getting telemarketers at work. If its' obvious they are selling something we tell them point blank exactly why we aren't interested but the worst are the ones that try and hide as non telemarketer calls as you have to try and find out what they are before you can put them through.

I occasionally end up taking incoming calls myself and I have to ask who it is they want and what the reason for talking to them is. When they just say that they want person x and that "it is a private matter" or "they know what its about" or "they're expecting my call" it annoys the hell out of me.

if its private or important, tell me as much as you can, if you're calling from the doctors about something I understand you can't tell me details, but you can say "Its Bob from the doctors" at least, that way when i put it through to Steve I can say "are you expecting a call from Bob at the doctors" and I knwo its not a telemarketer that I'm not supposed to put through. I mean I know schools have privacy policies but you can say "Its Jenny from school for dave" as I know Dave has kids of school age.

Also, sometimes, people really do have meetings or are away from their desks, or are on another call, so I will have to take a message so leave a bloody number!

Please for the love of all thats good don't just say "I need to speak to Debbie, its private and I can't discuss it with you" if you don't give me some details at least then if I phone Debbie she'll ask me what the call is about, who's calling and what company you are calling from. I can't just put you through on a name and nothing else (well except for the bosses husband or son, but I recognise their voices and am on first name terms with them both so we know whay that's an exception)

[bainsidhe]

We get a lot of the scammer calls asking for the model number of our copier or asking us to update the yellow pages. I may not be rude per se, but I'm sure not going out of my way to be friendly. I will gladly dump you into a random voicemail to be rid of you.

[houdini]

I worked at a small company last year, and the one benefit of it was that we could yell across the office to the boss. I think a lot of random telemarketers were a little suprised when they did their spiel, got the ever-so-polite secretary (me, in my dulcet phone voice) saying "Please hold for one moment" and then they heard me yell "Oi, John! Some bloke wants to talk to you about double glazing!". They then got even more of a shock when the boss would yell back "We don't want any of that crap, tell them to *insert surprisingly inventive obscenity here*". At least at that point it wasn't me trying to convince people that we really didn't need whatever they were selling...

I appreciate telemarketers doing their jobs (and I've actually had some helpful calls, mainly local stationary companies) but I hate people who will not take the hint. If my boss has said no calls, I WILL NOT put you through unless I recognise your name/company - and believe me, I recognise his doctor, dentist, local supplier of donuts and every single old friend. So

[technical.angel]

When we get telemarketers, we just send them through the voicemail backdoor.

It doesn't ring the phone of the person getting the call, just goes straight to voicemail. Then it can be deleted at leisure.

[Andara Bledin]

I used to love stonewalling the obnoxious types of cold-callers back when I was the receptionist here.

The girl doing it now has all the initiative of a drugged banana slug and just passes every single call on to whoever is being requested. >_<

I had one woman that asked for the old boss. She categorically refused to give her name or the reason for her call. I told her that without that information, she wasn't getting past me. Since she was so persistent we toyed with her a little; I passed her on to another co-worker who utterly stonewalled her and wasn't nearly as polite as I am.

^-.-^

[evillebee]

I get up to a dozen of these calls everyday, after day, after day. I am always polite, but they will never speak to hubby boss unless they let me know what thier business is. Most do not even give me a chance to ask because I get a dial tone as soon as they hear he is not in. The calls that do piss me off are the automated robot recorded calls and fax calls, especially if I am on another line and have to put a real customer on hold to pick up the non-stop ringing line.

[Taz]

We get a lot of the scammer calls asking for the model number of our copier or asking us to update the yellow pages. I may not be rude per se, but I'm sure not going out of my way to be friendly. I will gladly dump you into a random voicemail to be rid of you.

I get these calls at work also (I am the receptionist among other duties). I found with the copier people, if you ask what company they are with, they almost always hang up instead of answering.

[Mel]

I get these types of calls to the clothing boutique I work at. They normally ask for the owner. The problem is that we don't have an owner per se, we only have a corporate office, since we're a big corporate business with many different banners of clothing stores. We just direct them to corporate and hope for their sake that they speak French since it's based in Quebec. I know for a fact that most of the people employed there don't speak much English at all.

[IDontWorkHere]

I don't normally mind telemarketers much, as I've been one - I know how hard a job it can be. The people I can't stand are bill collectors. I realize they have a job to do, but honestly, I'm sick of them calling the phone at work. I work (normally alone) in a mid-sized mall shop, so when the phone rings, I have to stop whatever I'm doing and run to answer it. The manager I replaced apparently has some outstanding debt, as his collectors call the store NON-STOP. I don't know what else I can tell them; I've tried every possible version of, "He's no longer employed here," that I can think of without blowing up. Honestly, calling a place of business five times or more a day on personal business is ridiculous to begin with, but when you've been told that you absolutely cannot reach them there, maybe its time to stop calling.

[EricKei]

We get a lot of the scammer calls asking for the model number of our copier or asking us to update the yellow pages.

Aaaaack. We get these people all the freaking time >_< Next time I get the copier people I'm just gonna ask them what it means when the printer says "PC LOADLETTER"...Note that asking them to remove us from their lists doesn't work, either. I'm sorry, but why do their bosses want to waste so much time and money calling people who will never buy from you?

I get these calls at work also (I am the receptionist among other duties). I found with the copier people, if you ask what company they are with, they almost always hang up instead of answering.

Same here.

[Andara Bledin]

I don't know what else I can tell them; I've tried every possible version of, "He's no longer employed here," that I can think of without blowing up.

Get their call back number as if you plan to pass it on, then tell them to never call again or you will prosecute for harassment.

I had some hole of a collections agent calling me at work and threatening me with all sorts of stupid things. I told him if I ever heard from anyone at that agency again, that I would sue them. He railed at me and tried to claim that he could keep calling until the debt was paid. And yet, I never heard from them, ever again. The worst part is that the debt had been paid a year earlier, but Capital One has y record-keeping skills and had never informed the original agency that they'd sold the debt to that it had been collected, and then it got sold to another company entirely.

^-.-^

[Sleepwalker]

Once a debt has been sold, it's no longer the original company's. He is correct in that he can continue to contact you as long as there is an outstanding debt, but he stopped calling you because it is illegal to harass someone at their work. He can harass you elsewhere, but the rules on it are surprisingly restrictive, ie no contacting employers, neighbors, landlords, no having his agency's information printed on any envelopes to your address, only a certain number of calls in any given time period, you have the option to choose your mode of communication, etc.

I have a phone number that apparently was once used by an extremely indebted person, and every time that debt changes collection agencies I have the dubious pleasure of threatening some poor telephone monkey. because nothing short of threats gets them off my back. On the other hand, I try and be polite to my own collector, because I figure it is just a job, and a shitty one. God knows there are times in my life when I would have done it for a paycheck.