Telemarketing Should Be Illegal!

Cell Phone are not safe, i got 2 calls, its nothing compared to land line but damn, i still got it.

One was for a credit Card and other was from a car dealership.

reply to post by Nurelic


Yes...telemarketers are very, very annoying.

The way I deal with them is...I don't deal with them. I don't answer their calls; I just simply ignore them and get on with my life.

I don't allow them to overly upset me; I figure I can use that energy for something positive in my life.

I think we've found the OP... NOTE: NOT safe for work or children, swearing in abundance

All 'market research' calls are actually information phishing and 100 percent exempt from the National Do Not Call List in both Canada and the United States.

Telemarketing is but herein lies the problem, you have to prove they didn't respect your request to remove your name and/or prove they are a telemarketing company. I worked for a 'research' company and I quit when I found out they were as dishonest and deceptive as it gets. A short while doing 'surveys' you begin to realize the meat of what they want to know is hidden amidst a proverbial soup of questions primed to make you think they really want your opinion or input. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's all phishing for the best way to sell you something, sell you more, etc.

The problem with getting rid of telemarketers and research is it will never happen as long as the companies you deal with and everyone does, finds it profitable to trade your information amongest themselves. The companies, banks, utilities you deal with, sell YOUR number to other companies who sell it to another, then wipe their hands clean as you cannot prove they did so. If you think 'my company says they will never sell my information' don't be fooled, they have loopholes for that, trust me.

The reason government doesn't care and does nothing is because they are one of the biggest customers of getting your information, your opinions and your spending habits, preferences, etc. This is why market research and 'sub' market research is exempt.

The only way to make a positive change with regard to telemarketing and market research is simply this...refuse to participate and move on. Block their numbers if they do not take you off their list when requested and yes using that specific term is imperative as they are told by their handlers/supervisors NOT to remove anyone unless they say that.

All the people that depend all telemartketing\outbound campaigns, what should they do?

Roughly a 5 year section of my Telecom\UC engineer career was working for one of the top telemarketing\debt collection\CRM companies. Every so often you deal with dirty people but for the most part telemarketers and those that make those items work are just honest people trying to make an honest living.

Of course personally i don't get bothered by telemarketers or phone calls, I just hang up or dont answer. I know that other people get annoyed by that and I can't help them.

Do not call lists are great in theory and poor in execution as their are too many variables on how those lists are generated to be 100% accurate. Still it's an ok solution.

Originally posted by Thisbseth
Well I'm a telemarketer..after 1 1/2 years of job searching I finally find a good paying job..so I apologize in advance if I ever call you. I'm seth but I'm also known as; Luke, Han, obi wan, Bryan, jake , Napoleon, Frederick, Palmer, and or whatever clever name I can come up with next. It's not the greates job in the world, but I feel like a drug dealer. Always looking over my shoulder! Thanks for the laugh though. And again sorry to all I bug...I'm not doing it on purpose.

WHY do you guys always call in the evening when we sit down to dinner! Hum!

Has anyone ever sold something over the phone?

reply to post by Nurelic


In a sense, (at one point in my life I lost a lot of money and took and job I could get) I agree with you. After seeing the inside and out of the industry. Unfortunately, the whole part where trolling telemarketers to give them their dues, doesn't actually work most of the time.

When you make 80-150 calls a day, calling people, pushing a product you-yourself wouldn't buy, it gets tedious and boring. So those calls where they get trolled... They are usually the highlight of their day. Sometimes if they were funny enough, someone might pass that number to another person and say "Call it, it's hilarious..." or, if they don't like the person in the office, they might say, "Call it, this person has DEEP pockets and will buy anything..."

Remember though that government uses telemarketers for many things they do. Whether it be voting polls, or something involved with gov building projects... The best thing you can do is get an unlisted number.

Or, given that technology is so up to date, I'm sure someone has built something that will send unapproved phone numbers straight to voice mail.

If not, find a designer and make yourself some millions from the idea. You can always sell it using telemarketing...

This country can NOT AFFORD to lose another 1,000,000 Jobs, which is probably a conservative guess at how many telemarketing type positions are filled. Sure it may not be very courteous, but if you politely ask the telemarketer to "Please have a great a day, and also, kindly remove my name and number from your list" in most cases they will. We should all try to understand that the person on the other end of the phone might have a family, and bills to pay...just trying to do their jobs.

If you want to eradicate a few professions let take aim at lawyers & politicians

try this friend, im just getting it all sorted now, im plagued with religious groups, charities, sales callers, the lot its got advice for the telephone calls and theres printable signs for your door that tells them where to go

www.moneysavingexpert.com...

Originally posted by DaTroof
Or you could join the 21st Century and ditch the land line. I've had my same cell # for 10 years. ZERO telemarketers. I did get a few spam text messages in 2009, but those stopped almost as soon as they started.

I couldn't agree more! I have never had one call on my phone I didn't ask for! Now at work with my landline GUESS WHAT! Yep marketer heaven..I just hangup now with no voice contact at all...

And the worse thing is they found another way to sell it to ya.. f....g popping up banners .. soon you have to click off hundreds of banners before you can reach your main page..

Originally posted by honested3
reply to post by Nurelic

 

do you work? then whatever your job entails, is selling something to someone or funneling some sort of money from somewhere. maybe some people have no other ways of earning a living, whatever your job is i can find some way it is equally as immoral or annoying as a telemarketer.

yes i work as a telemarketer to some degree, and no its not my lifes passion, and yes i went to college and graduated with a degree and didnt plan on doing this as a career but i have to support my family somehow. so either i annoy you and call you each 'asking' for money through products im selling, or i dont work at all then your 'forced' to give me money through welfare.

telemarketers are people too, most of them if not all of the ones i know are just as annoyed by it as you are, were humans with feelings and dreams and failures just like you, have some compassion.

I realize there are real people behind the calls and all, but it's hard to have compasson when you're sick with cancer but can't ignore a phone call because your elderly mother might need a ride to the emergency room. I went through that. GRRRRRRR

No one appreciates being in the middle of something important and getting a call about something you have no interest in whatsoever. If we are interested, we'll callyou! It is especally difficult for sick people who desperately need their rest but for whatever reason can't ignore answering the phone. Any telemarketer has to understand that their call will not usually be met with pleasantries.

reply to post by Nurelic


Telemarketers are annoying, but believe you me,.... if you think receiving these calls is annoying, try to do telemarketing for a day. It's a horrible and stressful job. You know you're calling people who will hate on you all day long, but if you want to keep your job, you have to keep calling. To be honest I don't know how these companies survive, but if they're still around that means someone is buying enough to support that part of the economy.

As for marketing in general,..... sorry,.... but if you want to keep your job wherever it is you work, you're going to need marketers to inform the public of the existence and benefit of the product you are creating. Without marketing nobody would ever know that at least 70% of the products out there exist. For example if you work for a company that creates great toothpaste and you want to keep your job, it is the marketing that will keep the company alive. The marketing department will introduce the product to the public, demonstrate the product, push the product until people start buying it. The more they buy, the more likely it is that you get to keep your job and maybe even get that raise you wanted. Marketing actually helps keep millions of jobs around.

Am I annoyed by seeing ads everywhere? Do they sometimes go overboard? Yes.... but I also recognize that a lot of products I use, I know about them because I saw them in a commercial or in a blog or on a billboard. Without the advertising I'd be missing out on something that's making my life better. In some cases it's disappointing, but many times I'm happy I was introduced to it one way or another.

I take out a bible and start at chapter 1, page 1 and start reading until they hang up.

I like to have fun with these people and keep them on the phone all day. See, I have nothing much to do all day but sit there and find ways to entertain myself. These people NEVER want to call my phone number again when they finally find a way to hang up on me.

Edit: I think I will try the Bible today Beenie, sounds like a good idea!

Yes we should ban a whole entire industry solely because you don't like them.

SOME telemarketing is valid. I work in market research. How do you think Reuters gets their statistics? How do you think we get poling data for elections or opinions about the economy? People here sure love to use statistics for their arguments (at least the intelligent ones try) but how do you think these statistics are generated? A lot of them are through telemarketing/market research. Believe it or not companies really do want to improve services and products for their customers because it leads to increased profits. Phone surveys are still one of the best most accurate ways to get this data. I know because I DO it.

You can hate me all you want. I'll continue on making my phone calls, getting paid well above minimum wage with regular raises, a regular Mon-Fri schedule, and 401k... and the best part, I work from home in my pajamas every single day. Telecommuting is awesome. The stability of my job has allowed me to go back to school and pursue other avenues of interest such as starting my own small business, all with ZERO debt. Not even mad.

I fixed this problem completely about 6 months ago. Especially with elections here in the states, I was getting dozens of nuisance calls every day. Some days I'd hang up on one nuisance call just to have the phone immediately ring again, and then again.

Here's how I fixed it:

I ported my landline phone number to a internet SIP service that offers Interactive Voice Response (IVR). An IVR system provides the goofy recording you may get when you call some commercial establishment – "Dial 1 for Sales, 2 for Customer Service, 3 for ...". A little box (OBi) connects through my internet router to the SIP service and to my conventional landline phones, replacing the connection to the old phone company.

Then, I set up a single option voice response interaction. When someone calls my number, they hear "Your call will be completed immediately as soon as you press 1 to confirm that you are a human being. Please press 1 now." If "1" is pressed within 10 seconds, the call is immediately connected. If "1" is not pressed, after ten seconds another recording says "Sorry, you seem to be non-human. Good bye." and hangs up. Of course, telemarketing calls are initiated by auto-dialers and not too many auto-dialers immediately press "1", so telemarketing calls get the "non-human" recording and a hang up.

Telemarketing nuisance calls went to zero. Real humans get a chuckle out of it. And, my phone bill went from $50/mo to about $10/mo, even after adding a second phone number.

reply to post by Nurelic


Ok i don't usually jump in on such ridiculous threads. But since it applies to me i will put in my two cents.

I worked as telemarketer for many years. Although it was not the job i mentioned on career day or what i would have chosen for myself if i had a real choice, ( I originally wanted to be an astronaut or an architect) ..
But it was work... and a way for me to support myself and my family.
Believe me things could have gone different for me! One of my old friends went on to be a pimp, two of my old friends are and have been drug dealers for many years. Several of my old friends are alcoholics and bums who do nothing to support or be a father to their many children.

Ya see i grew up in Stockton, CA. One of the worst places in America as far as opportunities /jobs for young people. Although i sold drugs when i was younger i never really wanted to do it. But i had to survive... and for me.. Then... It was the only opportunity in my situation. From time to time i would get a job but nothing ever really worked out for me. After some years i graduated to white collar crime.
It was safer on a day to day basis and payed better. Again not something i am proud of but it was a way to survive and support my family.

I was lucky enough to eventually get out of there and move to Vegas. I ran into an old friend of mine who was able to get me my first good paying job as a telemarketer. I never really thought i would last because i had no prior sales experience ( other than selling drugs ). But i figured I'd stick it out as long as i could or until i figured something else out. After some time i started to really get into it. I mean when i sold someone it really felt good.
And the pay was really rewarding, i was told in my first year by my sales director that we were in the top 7% of earners in the US. Most months i made over 10k in commission. And compared to what i had to do before for this kind of money, this really felt good. I was off the streets and in a collared shirt!

I would come across guys like you from time to time. Trying to waste my time, or playing little immature pranks ( i even had a guy go buy a dam whistle) lol... Even had some that would scream at the top of their lungs! Instead of just being mature and saying no thanks! But for guys like you, who liked to waste my time when I'm just trying to feed my family. I would enter your phone number into the next dozen or so leads to increase your calls by 10x at least. I often would wonder what kind of man would let a simple call disrupt his whole day like that? A sad, unhappy man to say the least, i often wondered how someone with such a short temper and lack of patience treats his kids?

With so much going on in the world, wars, poverty, violence and abuses of all kinds, poisons in our food, water, medications, and our air. Politicians marching the world straight into hell.... And YOU take time out to vent your hatred towards telemarketers! It's sad, and shows the state of mind of too many Americans today. No patience or respect for your fellow American. I bet your a road-rager as well... lol

The moral of my story is.... You shouldn't be so quick to judge and condemn another person for how he supports himself and his family. You know nothing about us! You don't know our situation or what we've been through in our lives. You kill telemarketing jobs and you just might have guys like me coming through your window as opposed to your phone line. Ya see i learned alot working at these jobs. Now i own my own business and those dark days are behind me. But i can honestly say that it was the telemarketing jobs that transformed my life.

And that's all i have to say about that.....

Originally posted by Detergent
I fixed this problem completely about 6 months ago. Especially with elections here in the states, I was getting dozens of nuisance calls every day. Some days I'd hang up on one nuisance call just to have the phone immediately ring again, and then again.

Here's how I fixed it:

I ported my landline phone number to a internet SIP service that offers Interactive Voice Response (IVR). An IVR system provides the goofy recording you may get when you call some commercial establishment – "Dial 1 for Sales, 2 for Customer Service, 3 for ...". A little box (OBi) connects through my internet router to the SIP service and to my conventional landline phones, replacing the connection to the old phone company.

Then, I set up a single option voice response interaction. When someone calls my number, they hear "Your call will be completed immediately as soon as you press 1 to confirm that you are a human being. Please press 1 now." If "1" is pressed within 10 seconds, the call is immediately connected. If "1" is not pressed, after ten seconds another recording says "Sorry, you seem to be non-human. Good bye." and hangs up. Of course, telemarketing calls are initiated by auto-dialers and not too many auto-dialers immediately press "1", so telemarketing calls get the "non-human" recording and a hang up.

Telemarketing nuisance calls went to zero. Real humans get a chuckle out of it. And, my phone bill went from $50/mo to about $10/mo, even after adding a second phone number.

Wow that's fancy and it would take me all of about 5 seconds to get around it.

I could certainly break down how PBXs, SIP, IVRs, DTMF, predictive\non-predictive dialing , going back in time using Red boxes on COCOT's or really any other phone knowledge you think you have but what is the point.

If calls coming in really bothered you that much and you found a way to think you blocked it then great but just keep in mind all you are doing is wasting another persons time that that was trying to make an honest living.

You are asking for the government to violate the first amendment.