The Telemarketers Are Back and Getting More Creative
You: Hello?
Perky-voiced person: Hi! Is (Butchered version of your name) there?
You: This is (Your real name).
Perky-voiced person: Hi, (Slightly different but still not correct version of your name)! How are you today?
You: Fine.
Perky-voiced person: That's great! I am calling to congratulate you for winning a $1,000 shopping spree! All you need to do is-
You: No, thanks. Please don't call again.
I must admit that I haven't listened to any more of the spiel than that. I don't know what strings are attached to this "shopping spree", but I haven't entered any contests in a long time. Somehow, my name has been added to a large number of lists of winners. These calls are coming almost every day, and each caller sounds even more excited than the last about my good fortune.
I try not to be rude to the callers. They're probably just trying to earn a living, and I do know the job market is tough. Slamming down the phone would do nothing to stop them from calling the other numbers on their lists, and it might mean having to replace the phone frequently. I have talked to people who say they tell the caller to hold on a minute, then put the phone in a drawer for awhile, but I'd forget to take it out until the obnoxious beeping started.
Another call that is coming almost every day is from a credit card company with which I have never done business. It comes when I'm not home, so I get the message on the answering machine. They are offering such low interest rates that they just had to tell everyone with a listed number about them. Now, this sure sounds like a sales pitch, but somehow it keeps coming, taking up space that was meant for legitimate calls.
Telemarketing is about 10% successful on the best day. That means there has to be a ridiculous number of calls made to people who are not interested in order to find the few who are.
The inventor of the No Call List is destined for sainthood, and I am looking forward to the new improved version of the list. I hope it makes it illegal to call people who vacationed in places ten years ago that they have had no desire to visit since then, telling them, "We miss you and I was just calling to tell you about all the new things we have to offer." Give me a break. You were probably in grade school when I was there, and you probably didn't even live there, nor do you live there now, as far as I know.
Published by Alicia Suenaga
So far, my life is a string of Honorable Mentions. View profile
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5 Comments
Post a CommentI have not had much trouble with telemarketers fortunately and now I can contact my credit card and bank directly on line and see what they have to offer. Before on the rare time I always said I do things in print and so it to me or forget it. Thanks for the information!
Hahaha this article is great! I used to try and be nice, but when you get the same company calling you multiple times in one day it's hard not to go off on them.
I tried telemarketing when I was younger. I was in tears after my first phone call because the person on the other end hung up in my face. Great article.
Telemarketers have tough jobs and take quite a beating, figuratively speaking. I hate getting these calls and have learned to be quite firm despite the empathy that I feel for some of these individuals. Imagine how frustrating it must be to have to recite the same script over and over again throughout your entire shift, only to get hung up on, cursed at or told "no" a zillion times. Nevertheless, if I'm not interested, there's no point in giving false hope...
I hate when they call about your insurance/credit card/bank account and make you think it's urgent when they're actually trying to up-sell you. It's a pretty low-down tactic- of course I'm going to call the bank back!