Handling Telemarketers

[jabe]

That was funny, I'll have to pass it on.

[scorrpio]

Heh, one of the best pranks on the telemarketer I heard of was: "Hold on please". And leave the phone off the hook for an hour.

But really, I don't remember any calls after putting all our numbers on do not call list. And we had them coming in 4-5 a day before that. I did get a few calls from my bank with some offers, but I told them I do not like to be called and they stopped at once. (IIRC, do not call law has a clause that companies you already have business with are exempt) I.E. my main credit card company always calls when they think a charge looks suspicious.

[jseklund]

Heh, one of the best pranks on the telemarketer I heard of was: "Hold on please". And leave the phone off the hook for an hour.

When I was in college I used to get these a lot. I had another version of this that worked pretty well. You don't say, "Hold on". Instead, you say hello, and they go into the script. Then, you very carefully put the phone down and walk away. Sometimes their script would go on for literally 10-15 minutes of them talking. My brother came up with this idea and I could not believe how long these guys would talk before they even realized no one was there. I rarely got call backs with this method- actually maybe never.

I thought this one was hilarious and it reminded me of a guy I used to work with selling software- especially the "if I wanted to mail you something- what would I have to write on the outside of that envelope to get it to you?" line. Great stuff.