Hello,
If anyone has any tips on how to handle telemarkers, pleeeease let me know. They call and I can't hang up on them because I feel rude doing so. But then when I tell them I am not interested, they go on and on and on and of course the kids are screaming and I'm sure they can hear it, yet they don't care! Is it appropriate to say "no thanks" and then if they start in, to hang up??
Thanks for any help!
Rachel

Ocean,

You have every right to hang up on a telemarketer...those people call at the most inconvenient times and all they wanna do is sell something. Yes they are just people like us who work for a living but...YOU have a life too. I say " I'm sorry I'm not interested" and if they keep going on...hang up LOL

Caller I.D. would definitely help ! We had to do that cause they call so much. If it says '' UNKNOWN CALLER '' or '' OUT OF AREA '' or anything else that you don't recognize, you know it's likely a soliciter. If you do find yourself on the line with one, nip it right in the bud by saying no thanks and HANG UP !!!! This is coming from a VERY VERY NICE person too I think they are taught to keep you on the line and not to take no for an answer. If you stay on the line with them, they will end up talking you into something, and I think they can be VERY SNEAKY. I once discovered a 70 dollar charge on my credit card. I called to see what it was for, and it turns out it was from a telemarketer who had called back along. They said something like '' When we asked you about such and such, we received a positive response.'' I was VERY ANGRY and told them that I would NEVER buy something from a solicitor. Needless to say, they removed the charge in which was so deceitfully put there in the first place. Hope that story helps some. Good luck !

Everyone has to make a living, this is true, but telemarketing would be at the bottom of my list! I know this sounds terrible, but my family (my husband and sons) are always thinking up creative ways to hang up on them and they aren't always very nice. I myself, just tell them very politely, right at the start, that I am not interested and hang up before they can reply. If you wait until they get a few words in then they will just keep badgering you. Its funny though, I have had telemarkers be really sweet with me until I tell them I already have whatever it is they're selling and then THEY HANG UP ON ME WITHOUT EVEN SAYING GOODBYE! My point is that there is no need to feel the slightess bit guilty about hanging up on people who don't feel the slightest bit guilty about hassling you when your clearly are not interested in their goods. Besides, maybe if enough people in the world hang up on them, they will come up with a less annoying and pushy form of marketing. Think of it as doing your part for mankind!

LOL ...

ChangingTimes, becbeliever, and kforpeace,
Thanks for your replies. I am going to have my husband read what you all wrote, as he has trouble with them too. It is so true that they really don't care if they interupt. Once, my grandfather was so sick of one telemarketer after they called twice in the same day, he told her to get a real job and hung up! The telemarketer called back and shouted "Damn you!" and hung up! Becbeliever, something similar happened to my husband, but it was MCI. He told them that he wasn't sure if he wanted a certain service. Then later called back and said that he didn't. So we got a different phone service. Well, the next month, we got a bill from the service we wanted (Ameritech) AND a $49.95 bill from MCI. We called them and tried to tell them what happened. They were SUPER RUDE to us and we still had to pay. We were infuriated! So, we always discourage people from buying things from MCI. Anyhow, sorry to get off on a tangent, I need to let that go I guess, huh!!

Thanks again everyone,
Telemarketers..... WATCH OUT!!!!!!!!!!!

Ocean,

There is no reason to feel guilty about hanging up on telemarketers, but the better thing to do is sign up for the Federal No-Call List. I think you can do it on line. Just google it. We haven't actually signed up for the federal one, because we had already signed up for the Texas one.

After you sign up, telemarketers can be fined for each call they make to you. The only way they can call you is if you have asked for the call, or you are doing business with them.

The only thing is, you still get political calls and calls from charitable organizations. We are givers, so we are on everyone's list. We get numerous calls/week from charitable orgs. I thought I'd feel guilty asking that we be placed on their Do-Not-Call list. But one called the other day, & I (even though there was no need to explain!!!) told them that I homeschool and it really interferes with the day to receive calls. She just thanked me for past support and said good-bye. I felt good about it.

So the alternative to getting on the Fed No-Call List is to just tell each of them to put you on their No-Call list (by law they can't continue to call you after you do this), but the problem with that is you will still receive tons of calls & have to tell each of them not to call. And, by the way, when I have asked to be put on their No-Call list (before I got on the TX one) I have never had them keep bugging me. They've always just said ok, bye.

Only one draw-back. About 8 years ago I bought light bulbs from some organization that puts disabled people to work. They were guaranteed to last for 5 years. One of them burned out after about 6 months, so I called & they sent me 2. Those light bulbs lasted longer than 5 years! But now they don't call me so I don't know how to buy more. We go through tons of light bulbs. You have to take the bad with the good!

Good luck with this!

MRT

MRT,

I'm interested in this NO CALL list. Does it cost ? If so, how much ? Thanks

BecBeliever

The federal No Call list is free & it is at this address:
www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx

MRT,
Thanks for the suggestion! We were on this list when we lived in Ohio (we just moved in May), but it took a month or so for it to start working. We are only going to be in Illinois for another 2 weeks as my husband will be finished with his internship, so I don't think it would take effect for our number by the time we leave. That is too funny about the lightbulbs though! What brand were they? Could you find the company on the internet?? One good thing is that we do have caller ID, but My husband is waiting for some companies to call him about another internship, so I was afraid that I may not answer the phone and it would be a company. Well, sure enough, last Friday, the phone rang and the caller ID said "out of area". I just stared at the phone, and then I said "I am going to be so assertive with this telemarketer." I picked up the phone and it turns out that it was a company for my husband! So it was a good thing that I answered it!
Take care!

Don't forget to take yourselves off of the Direct Marketing Association mailing lists as well!

http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglistdave

Jack