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Sanslines
05-08-2009, 03:33 AM
> 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 41 cents postage 'IF' and when they receive
them back.
> It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50
cents 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 these cool
little, postage-paid return envelopes. Another one of Andy Rooney's (60
minutes) ideas. 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 41 cents. 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 have been doing this for years, and I get very
little junk mail anymore.

Skinview
05-08-2009, 06:56 AM
I once gave a telemarketer a resonse that I heard Jerry Seinfeld use:

"I'm a little busy right now. Can I have your home phone number so I can call you back at my convenience?"

It got a laugh from the telemarketer.

MoonShadow
05-08-2009, 07:18 AM
LOL

If your number is unpublished/unlisted, they do not call you. I love being free from them.

However, if you have a cell phone, look out as they are now able to use your cell phone numbers unless you go on a do not call list and then that is iffy!

Navigator
05-08-2009, 08:35 AM
However, if you have a cell phone, look out as they are now able to use your cell phone numbers unless you go on a do not call list and then that is iffy!

In the U.S., anyone can sign up for the National Do Not Call Registry here: https://www.donotcall.gov/

We signed up when the registry was first established and the amount of sales calls has dropped to almost zero. We get, maybe, 2 or 3 a year now.

When we do get one, I let them go through their intital speil and then I tell them: "This phone number is on the National Do Not Call List and you've commited a federal crime by making this sales call. We do prosecute so I'll need your full name and your boss's full name."

That's not true...but they ALWAYS hang up immediately. It's very satisfying.:D

The registry does not prevent calls from charity organizations.

Procrastinator
05-08-2009, 09:18 AM
LOL

If your number is unpublished/unlisted, they do not call you. I love being free from them.

However, if you have a cell phone, look out as they are now able to use your cell phone numbers unless you go on a do not call list and then that is iffy!

Not true: The Truth About Cell Phones And The Do Not Call Registry (http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/10/dnccellphones.shtm)

Joe

Fitz1980
05-08-2009, 01:54 PM
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/telemarket.asp


Origins: These supposed "tips" from Andy Rooney for reducing telemarketing calls and junk mail have three strikes against them:

1. We don't find any evidence that they originated with Andy Rooney. (As best we can tell, Mr. Rooney once mentioned the idea of returning junk mail to its senders in their own postage-paid envelopes during a 60 Minutes commentary; someone combined that notion with a couple of other suggestions for stopping telemarketing calls, with the result that the entire piece mistakenly became credited to him.)

2. Acting on the advice offered in the above-quoted piece will not bring about the desired results.

3. Far easier and more effective methods exist for eliminating unwanted telephone and mail solicitations.

Consumers who want to stop telemarketers from calling them at home can sign up with the National Do Not Call Registry managed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Once you list your phone number in the registry, telemarketers must stop calling you at that number within 31 days. If they fail to do so, you can file a complaint with the FCC. (Cell phone numbers can also be listed in the Do Not Call registry, but FCC regulations that block the bulk of telemarketing calls to cell phones are already in
place.)

Returning junk mail to direct mailers on their dime (by stuffing it back into their postage-paid return envelopes) may cost them some money and provide you with a bit of personal satisfaction, but it won't cut down on the amount of junk mail you receive. In fact, it may actually increase your junk mail load, since the primary metric used to gauge the effectiveness of many direct mail campaigns is the number of responses received (even if those responses are negative). The best way to decrease the amount of unsolicited mail you receive is to register with the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) Mail Preference Service (MPS). The DMA maintains a "do not mail" file of MPS registrants which they regularly update and send to their members, who are required to remove the listed entries from their rosters of prospective customers targeted for mailings. (The file is also made available to non-DMA members, but they are under no obligation to use it.)

Sanslines
05-08-2009, 04:08 PM
Returning junk mail to direct mailers on their dime (by stuffing it back into their postage-paid return envelopes) may cost them some money and provide you with a bit of personal satisfaction, but it won't cut down on the amount of junk mail you receive. In fact, it may actually increase your junk mail load, since the primary metric used to gauge the effectiveness of many direct mail campaigns is the number of responses received (even if those responses are negative). ..............

This, of course, assumes that a person is foolish enough to identify themselves when they return junk mail to the sender. Who on earth would be foolish enough to do so. So, to be completely accurate, "returning junk mail to direct mailers on their dime won't cut down on the amout of junk mail you recieve and MAY increase it" IF SOMEONE IS FOOLISH ENOUGH TO IDENTIFY THEMSELVES WHEN THEY RETURN THE JUNK MAIL.