Tips for Handling Telemarketers

I've swiped this from another forum, but I'm so going to be mailing junk mail!

Tips for Handling Telemarketers

Three Little Words That Work !
(1)The three little words are: "Hold On please..."

Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the phone company's "beep-beep-beep" tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.

These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.


(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.

This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a "real" sales person to call back and get someone at home.

What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible This confuses the machine that dialed the call and it kicks your number out of their system. Gosh, what a shame not to have your name in their system any longer !!!

(3) Junk Mail Help:
When you get "ads" enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these "ads" with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those "pre-approved" letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope.

Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? It costs them more than the regular 24p postage "IF" and when they receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 29p before the last increase and it is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in their postage-paid return envelopes.

For example; send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!
If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them. You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! It still costs them 24p.

The banks and credit card companies are currently getting a lot of their own junk back in the mail, but folks, we need to OVERWHELM them. Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all they're paying for it...Twice!

Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea ?

If enough people follow these tips, it will work !

i like it

[rictus01]

I have hold music on my phone (I say music, some default cr@p)

http://www.xs4all.nl/~egbg/counterscript.html

Very clever, but why not just get it stopped at the source - bit easier on the planet

There aren't that many genuine 'junk mailers' out there these days as it costs too much to spam people by post. Most direct mail comes from either a company with which you have done business, trying to get repeat business from you, or where that company has passed on your details to 'carefully selected 3rd parties'

So whenever you order something (especially on the web), make sure you find their communication options and opt out from any further communications, and especially that they don't pass on your details. If you're ordering over the phone, tell the operative that you don't want any further communications from them or anyone else.

Also register with the MPS and TPS services - this will stop most (but not all) junk mail and junk calls from slipping through the net

If you are registered with TPS and a company cold calls you, they can in theory be fined up to £5,000. I only get a couple of cold calls a year, and I love to point this out to them

I've heard something similar to telemarketing people ringing up.

If you have the patience allow them to do their sales pitch and speech, go along with it for a while and then comes the crunch when you need to pay............. Just say ' Hang on a mintue I'll get me credit card ' then put the phone on the table and see how long he/she waits before realising they've been sticthed up. 15 minutes I believe is a record.

put yourselves on the TPS

http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/

Since registering for that i have had NO cold callers, for they get a massive fine if they do ring you.

I cannot however protect you against organizations you yourselves have given permission to let you know about new offers, but if an when that call just ask to be removed from their list

.. did i mention its free too? (and government backed)

I get my daughter to play her recorder down the phone to them.

Originally Posted by Ed

I get my daughter to play her recorder down the phone to them.

Quality.

I'm about to buy a drum kit.

Originally Posted by Scoobs

Quality.

I'm about to buy a drum kit.

What happened to the bass guitar?