How do you get rid of pesky phone calls from telemarketers?
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Us Girls..Our Views 
You remember that person who phoned looking for the parents only to get the kid who was hiding from the police? I’ve done that a few times, specially the part about the police looking for me. the other one of course is to ask them in turn if they are really wanting to sponsor my bankruptcy further – generally that one works preeeeetty fast.
I say I’m not interested and then I hang up on them.
I used to hand the phone to Sophie, back when she would talk on the phone to anybody without pausing for air. Sometimes, I would speak in Russian to them, or say they had the wrong person if they pronounced my really-hard-to-say last name wrong. Now, I just hang up. We don’t get telemarketers, just charities and pollsters, but I have no desire to talk to them, so I simply hang up.
I put the phone next to the tv speaker and just wait until I hear the beeping of the phone once they have hung up.
“Oh, I am so glad you called. I was hoping someone would call this evening.
Before we get started let me ask you a question. Do you know Jesus?….” 🙂
So for all you people who just hang up on those hard working telemarketers, let me ask you a question.
What would you say if you saw that same person on the side of the road with a sign asking for money? I mean at least these people are trying to EARN A LIVING. 😉
I see what you mean there mssc54. But they’re earning a living is coming at my expense. They are calling my home. If your driving or walking by someone with a sign, your not in the privacy of your own home.
If Toby is here, he answers and he’s great at it. He talks like he’s 90 and deaf. He’s hilarious. He slurs his words and talks super loud. They end up hanging up on him! Jason will just answer “Domino’s Pizza!” That’s funny too.
If it’s me and I don’t recognize the caller, I just don’t answer the phone. Another thing, they seem to call right at suppertime and I’m not going to let my supper get cold talking to someone about chimney cleaning when I don’t need to. Do these “replacement” windows people think you wait for them to call and you think “oh yes, I do need new windows!” I mean really, when we need something we don’t wait for a salesman to call.
I always wanted to say to a telemarketer… “Lemme ask you a question, when you were a kid, is this what you dreamed of doing? I mean, do you want to be on your death bed and only have this to claim as your life’s work? What do you REALLY wanna do with your life, if you could do anything? And why aren’t you doing that?”
Just to mess with them. And who knows, maybe convert one to the world of humanity.
One of these days I’ll muster the gumption.
I rarely answer my home phone. It’s almost always a telemarketer, even though I signed up on the “don’t you dare call me” list.
If I do encounter a telemarketer, I do try to be polite. It’s true they are just trying to earn a living. But I do draw a line. I get irritated when they (a) lie and say this isn’t a sales call when it is, (b) won’t take no for an answer, and especially (c) call at an obviously inopportune time AND won’t take no for an answer. Once it was Sunday morning and I was reading my Bible. The telemarketer just refused to give up. I finally snapped at her that I was trying to read my Bible on a Sunday morning. I know I could just say “no thanks” and hang up, but they should realize it when they are being particularly obnoxious. Maybe it will decrease the likelihood that they will screw up another person’s peaceful meal or devotion or whatever.
I have to pay an extra $5 a month. When anyone calls me they have to push #1 to get through and it clearly says if you are NOT a telemarketer press one. So if they were to press one they can get to a heap of trouble. I was getting up to 7-8 a day so I had to do something. I’ll pay that extra $5!!!!!!
The do not call list has worked wonders for us! I still have a couple of calls, but they’re from the credit cards I have and I just don’t answer those!!!
If they don’t like getting hung up on, there are plenty of other jobs they could be doing. No pity for them at all. And funny enough, my MIL is one of those people that calls and harasses people – she works for the Red Cross, and her job is to get people to come in a donate by cold calling. It’s a good thing we’re not in the same area, because I’d treat her the same.
That being said, because I have caller ID, the only time I pick up is if I’m upstairs, where the phone doesn’t have the little screen. So hang-ups are pretty rare. I also figure if the person really needs to get through to me, they’ll call on my cell phone.
I hand the phone to my husband.
Caller ID viewer here! If I don’t know them or want to talk to them then I’m not likely to answer. They can talk to the answering machine but in my experience they hang up instead of doing that! Now who’s being rude?!
The only bad thing I’ve noticed with not answering is that they keep calling back until you talk to them. I had The March Of Dimes calling me for three weeks. Every day, even on Sunday’s (which I really can’t stand) right at suppertime so I never answered. One day last week they called during the afternoon and as soon as they identified themselves, I said I’m not interested and they haven’t called back. But Mimi is right, they never leave a message.
We’re on the Do Not Call List and that helps, but periodically we get calls. I usually say, “I’m not interested” or “No, thank you” and hang up. My husband was involved in an interesting telemarketing call once. A woman called just as he got out of the shower. He said, “No, thanks, not interested,” several times, but the woman just kept going on and on. Finally, he said, “You know, I’m not wearing any pants.” She hung up right quick.
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