10 ways to stop those ANNOYING credit card sales,telemarketing calls..
By ArienKing
@ArienKing (4647)
India
June 6, 2007 12:53am CST
1. After the telemarketer finishes speaking, ask him/her to marry you.
2. Tell the telemarketer you are busy at the moment, and ask him/her if he/she will give you his/her home phone number so you can call him/her back.
3. Ask them to repeat everything they say, several times.
4. Tell them it is dinner time, BUT ask if they would please hold. Put them on your speaker phone while you continue to eat at your leisure. Smack your food loudly and continue with your dinner conversation.
5. Tell them that all business goes through your agent, and hand the phone to your five year old child.
6. Tell them you are hard of hearing and that they need to speak up...louder...louder...louder!
7. Tell them to speak very slowly because you want to write every word down.
8. If they start out with, "How are you today?", say "I'm so glad you asked, because no one these days seems to care, and I have all these problems............"
9. Cry out in surprise, "Helen, is that you? I've been hoping you'd call! How is the family?" When they insist they are not Helen, tell them to stop joking. This works especially well if the telemarketer is really MALE.
10. Tell the HSBC call center guy to call on your office number. - and give him the ICICI call center number.
2 people like this
12 responses
@lexus54 (3572)
• Singapore
6 Jun 07
LOL, you are funny ArienKing. Do you really practise all these ways when telemarketers call you? If I were a telemarketer, I will sure get hold of your name and telephone number, so that I will NOT call you by mistake!
Seriously, the job of a telemarketer is tough, and usually thankless, because people try to avoid them like the plague. So I don't envy their job really. I reckon more and more companies are using telemarketing methods to peddle their products and services. They are not only on the phone, they are also out on the streets, especially in the shopping areas. I find it difficult to enjoy my walk down the shopping streets these days without being harrassed by such people.
@ArienKing (4647)
• India
6 Jun 07
I know its a thankless job, one of my friend used to work for a bank in telemarketing division, he gave me call, and unknowingly got scoldings from me...since they are not allowed to disclose their identity, so later he called me up from home and told me that it was actually him..i did felt embarrassed but he told me thats very usual of getting abused on phone...he left that job after 1 month..
@ArienKing (4647)
• India
7 Jun 07
yeah...i apologized a lot...but yeah later he moved to a better job as a private assistant in a medical research field..
@Woodpigeon (3710)
• Ireland
6 Jun 07
Lol, I love it. I actually had a telemarketer call once who was clearly drunk. I would have loved to use any one of those on him because short of just slamming the phone down there was no getting rid of him, nd he was so busy slurring and saying wacked out stuff I kinda wanted to hear what he had to say next!
@ArienKing (4647)
• India
7 Jun 07
hmm....this is for sure that there will be no harm in using these tricks...go ahead and try them.....
@kimmer182 (24)
• Manassas, Virginia
6 Jun 07
Too funny! In our home if the credit card companies call, I first say no, as always they keep pressing, then I start talking about my credit rating. They tell me how much they can do for me all this credit and no annual fee and everything. I tell them that it would have a negative impact on my credit I have the right balance. They don't seem to understand the concept so they let me go. Another method we use is to speak Spanish. Since we don't speak Spanish I had my daughter write down different variations of "nobody's home right now". After we hello and determine its a telemarketer suddenly we are unable to speak English.
@ArienKing (4647)
• India
7 Jun 07
the hardest part is saying no...since we are human and if you are good hearted and polite...this becomes harder...but these sometimes go beyond are patience...so, we need to find one of the other way...to end this calls..
@bonbon50 (659)
• United States
7 Jun 07
I love it, love it, love it!!! I try to be nice but then I feel why? They are calling MY home to try to market something to me.... As if I don't have the intelligence to go look for windows if I need new ones? No one likes being bothered by a stranger while they're at home. I feel it's an invasion of my privacy.
@fuzzEbluebathrobe (378)
• United States
7 Jun 07
Some of the 50 US States and Federal Gov. have a Do Not Call Registry. You can log on to your state government's website and register your phone numbers. This is a list available to telemarketers . If they call you once you just inform them that you are on this list. If they call you again there is a method of reporting them. You have to do a little work and know the company they are calling for, log the call and fill out a report. The Federal Trade Comission is responsible for enforcement. Some telemarketers just stay away from numbers on this list. Maybe you could spearhead starting a website like this in your city in India.
@mykmari_08 (2464)
• Philippines
7 Jun 07
I really smiled at your list. And honestly, I have done number two already. But my way is this: I ask the call center agent to leave their number with me and their names. As he or she dictates the contact lines, I repeat these numbers as if I'm actually writing them. A game of make-believe. I make sure that I don't write them just in case I get tempted to avail of a credit card. It's better this way. Thanks for the list of advice, I'll keep them in mind. They may come in handy sometime.
@ibsnet (1268)
• India
9 Jun 07
You have really great ideas to get rid of telemarketers. I use to say, I have no time now, very busy call me day after tomorrow. When he calls again, just ignore and cut the phone twice. If he rings third time I say "Oh he is out of station will be back within a month. You can send a SMS in this mobile so that he can call back you". I never received any call after a month nor a SMS. It is really annoying to answer these telemarketing people every now and then.
@mcbigboy (16)
• United States
7 Jun 07
When the pest control companies call I tell them the only pest I have is them!
When a bill collector calls and ask for me I tell them Yes but that I ran away. The funny thing is most of time they tell me they will call back or just hang up. Now I did tell them I was me. It just goes to show that they don't listen.
AWESOME DAY
Michael
@psyche49f (2502)
• Philippines
6 Jun 07
Ha, ha, ha! You really have a great way of getting rid of credit card agents...I can very well relate to it because just recently, I receive calls from them from time to time, and really they are a nuisance. I think I'll take your suggestions seriously and have real fun instead of being annoyed by them...Really, the HSBC call representative is so insistent with her business that one time I had to shut off my phone to avoid her completely. But what a way to get rid of her...I also shut off my other friends as well...You're right. The situation calls for a lot of imagination to stop those really annoying telemarketing calls.
