"This evening I received a phone call from someone identifying themselves as a club member and wanting to know if I would ""like to sit down for a few minutes."" What was this about? I asked, wondering if some serious club issue needed to be discussed in private. Oh, this individual was ""reaching out"" to offer financial services. No thanks!
I've been in the club a number of years, and this has never happened before. I know the economy is bad, but this is no way to get my business.
I hate being telemarketed at home so much that I am on all of the Direct Marketing Association's ""Do Not Call Do Not Mail"" lists. (Protect your privacy! Visit http://www.dmaconsumers.org/consumerassistance.html)
Also, my phone number has not been listed in the last two rosters, so this person had to make an effort to get it. Shouldn't that have conveyed that I didn't want to be phoned?
This person would do better to take out a cheap ad in the bulletin and let people who really want those services call for them. I hope this doesn't become a pattern.
"
Since when is the club roster a marketing device?
"I usually try to find the humor when I get bothered by a telemarketer
Here are some pointers on how to beat them in their own game:
-Keep saying “WHAT” all the time and pretend you are hard of hearing. This will make them repeat all their Marketing “intro” line and eventually frustrate them.
-“STUTTER” … That’s right “stutter” and speak really S-L-O-W. They usually hang up or pretend that they dialed a wrong number.
- And my favorite… I pretend to be a Chinese Order Taker w/ a very heavy Mandarin/Cantonese accent. “So ! one large fly lice!…2 egg woll!….1 large waton sup!….and 2 peksi!….and your adesss?!!!”"
">>Here are some pointers on how to beat them in their own game:....
Nah, just say, ""Hold on a second, I have something on the stove."" Then put the phone down and don't come back for about 10 minutes!"
WOW! Where have you been guy? This has to be a first.
Offensive remarks towards the hearing impaired, stutterers, the mentally challenge, and Chinese Americans all in the same post.
Do you do Black, Jewish, or trailer trash accents also?
Yo, yo, yo, word. B, that's wha I'm sayin. For real?
"Thanks for the advise about the Direct Market Association's 'Do Not Call' list.
In the meantime, I usually find the quickest way to despatch unwanted callers is to shout ""go away"" down the phone and hang up immediately. Oddly enough, they do not call back."
In this case, I would not have wanted to shout, in that it involved a) a fellow club member who b) may not have known this action was a violation of club policy. Maybe the person has poor judgment, or maybe they are being so driven by their employer. Times are tough right now. Just asking the person to stop should be enough.
In other cases, even when the New York Post calls trying to sell me a subscription, I simply ask them to tell their manager to take me off their call list. I believe they are required by law to do so.
Most telemarketers are just people unlucky enough to work a low-paid, highly stressful, sweatshop job. Better to yell at their insulated corporate managers. Or to opt out of the telemarketing system altogether to let the captains of industry know that our private lives are not for sale.
"Now that we know it is possible to be removed from lists, we will set about it. I appreciate that a lot of telemarketers are poorly paid people working in sweat shops and that shouting at a fellow club member in this case may well have been inappropriate.
I do find that some of these telemarketers are very pushy. Take for instance the people trying to pedal credit cards, who counter ""I'm not interested,"" with ""But you've already been pre-approved,"" which I then counter with hanging up. From now on, I will try asking to have our names removed from call-up lists.
On the other hand, if somebody cold called me and his/her opening gambit was ""Wouldn't you like to buy a brand new Pinarello Prince with Campag Record ........"""
If you know the name of the person, please post it. This is a violation by a member of the use of the roster
"I work out of my home, and I rarely get called by telemarketers. Let me give you some advice on how you can avoid these calls:
1. If you live in New York State, register with the New York State Consumer Protection Board (www.consumer.state.ny.us) on their ""Do Not Call"" Telemarketing Register (it's free). Under NY state law, once you've registered (after a 30-day waiting period to give telemarketers time to update their records), telemarketers are prohibited from calling you, and are subject to a fine of up to $5000 for each violation. Unfortunately, the law does not apply to charities or political organizations, but it does apply to businesses trying to sell you something.
2. Never, never!, buy anything or subscribe to anything from anybody who solicits you by phone. Once you do, you'll go into their computer database as a sucker that buys from telemarketers, and they sell that database to other telemarketers, and guess what?...
3. As soon as you realize you're being called by a telemarketer, immediately interrupt them and tell them that you never purchase anything from phone solicitors, and ask them to put you on their ""don't call"" list. Once they hear this, they almost invariably stop their sales pitch. I believe, if I'm not mistaken, that a federal law requires them to follow your request, and to not call you again, once you have told them to put you on their don't call list.
4. The Federal Trade Commission is working on starting up a national do-not-call list. Not surprisingly, telemarketers are opposed to this, but it looks like it is going to happen anyway. Of course, I plan to register with that when it is available.
If you take the above advice, regardless of whether you phone# is in the NYCC Roster, you should receive very few telemarketing calls in the future.
"
"Ed White wrote (about the Do Not Call List):
>> ""but it does apply to businesses trying to sell you something.""<<
Ah, but it DOESN'T apply to businesses trying to set up a face-to-face meeting with you. That's the HUGE loophole that they all use. ""Oh, we're not trying to sell you anything...""
Chainwheel
"
That's all the more reason to NEVER buy anything from telemarketers, and to tell them so. Over time, the computers of the telemarketers all over the country will figure out that you're not worth calling because you never buy anything from telemarketers.
"The following article was posted on Reuters this morning. It sounds likely that the FTC will succeed in getting its national do not call list started:
Telemarketers Lose Round in 'Do Not Call' Suit
Thu March 27, 2003 10:59 AM ET
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The telemarketing industry has suffered an early setback in its attempt to derail a national ""do not call"" list that could allow consumers to block many unwanted sales calls.
A federal judge in Oklahoma said late Wednesday that telemarketers must comply with new regulations drafted by the Federal Trade Commission, even as they sue to stop the rules, because they were not likely to win their case.
""The Court finds the plaintiffs have failed to show a substantial likelihood that they will prevail"" in their lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Lee West said in a written opinion.
Prompted by a wave of consumer complaints, the FTC announced last year that it would set up a list of households that do not want to receive telephone calls. Telemarketers who call numbers on the list after October could face fines of up to $11,000 per count.
Several telemarketing firms and an industry trade group have sued to stop the program, arguing it violates free-speech rights, in a federal circuit court that has issued several industry-friendly decisions in the past.
The telemarketers had asked West to suspend new rules that require them to reduce the number of hang-up calls and get explicit permission before putting charges on credit-card accounts.
West said that while the new regulations might hurt the industry, they would help the public as a whole.
""There is a strong public interest against abusive and invasive practices and acts by the telemarketing industry, and the Court finds that public interest is best served by the immediate enforcement of these two regulations,"" West said.
The Direct Marketing Association, a trade group that includes telemarketers, released a statement saying it was disappointed by the decision but would press on with its case.
An FTC official said she was happy with how the case was going so far.
""We're pleased with the court's order. It's consistent with the position the Federal Trade Commission has taken in this proceeding,"" said Eileen Harrington, associate director for marketing practices at the FTC.
Consumers will be able to put their phone numbers on the do-not-call list starting in July.
"
"I have had great success since signing up with New York State's ""Do Not Call"" Registry Web Site.
If memory serves me correctly, you can personally collect a $100 fine ffrom a telemarketer if you are on this list. Whether the time and effort to collect is worth a C note is another matter.
For other states (sorry no NJ), look here which may be of interest to family and friends.
"
"Good news! Signing up for the inaugural national ""Do Not Call"" telemarketing list should occur sometime around July 1st.
A summary of the details may be found in this MSN article
The FTC site's 411 is located here
"
It's official! Go to www.donotcall.gov to register for the federal do not call list.
