Now we just need the technology so the phone automatically does all the answering…

yes?

Yes!

I apologize. Telemarketers are no worse than pedophiles.

After all, after you interrupt thei dinner, ablutions, or coitus, at least you have the decency to ask if you’ve called at a convenient time. Sorry, that makes it all much less annoying.

And the argument about people who need the job is just laughable in my opinion. No job opportunity justifies annoying other people in that nasty way. And yes; I really don’t care at all about marketing companies and the people that work there. I’ve seen too many ads being forced down my throat against my will and will do ANYthing to sabotage them…

You are one opinionated long winded scumbag. “CLICK!”

Can you hear me now?

But a reasonable person would see that making an unsolicited call to someone is an unmitigated nuisance. Telling yourself (and us) that it’s ok because you’re calling your own customers, trying to keep them happy, doesn’t make it any better. In fact, if any company that does business with me calls me out of the blue, they’d better have a good reason for it or I will no longer be their customer.

– “It’s not a worthy mission, and it’s making you seem dense.”
—- Respectfully, that’s not for you to decide.

But she’s absolutely right, on both counts.

And now, MrP is apparently gone (we’ll see for how long; most telemarketers never are for very long), and we have Gunner Sykes to fill in for him.

That’s all there is to it.

Who said they do? No one. However many (notice how I don’t generalize there like you do) do appreciate being contacted, especially so since we ask if they have time and can return at a better time. Heck, that method is much better in the long run both for us and the customer.

“Telemarketers are lower on the scale than pedophiles – just learn to accept it, MrPumpernickel. Only then can you be truly at peace with yourself.”

Wow, I hope you never have children.

“I just realized, Mr. P, that you have roped us all into an online version of an endless, mind-numbing, unwelcome sell. Well played, sir.”

Unwelcome? Whoa whoa whoa! Don’t you pin that on me, it was (all) your own decision to come here, to read and to comment.

Either way, I’m done with this now, I’ve said pretty much all I wanted to say. Happy continuation of this discussion if you decide to do so. Ta ta!

I can’t believe people in Sweden love being interrupted during dinner, ablutions, or coitus to be informed of exciting new opportunities for their cell phone plan.

Telemarketers are lower on the scale than pedophiles – just learn to accept it, MrPumpernickel. Only then can you be truly at peace with yourself.

I do not tolerate telemarketing calls. Again, I am not one to tell off the poor sod that has to work there and make the call, but I will have fun with them because it’s the nicest I can be when someone is calling me with a useless phone call.

When I lived in the US, I was one of the first on the do not call list, and any abuses of that were reported. Why? Because I only give out my phone number to people I want to hear from. My home is my sanctuary. I don’t want anyone to disrupt the peaceful, personal world I have carved out for myself unless that person is a welcome disruption, such as a friend or family member.

Telemarketing is rude by its very concept. Of all the things a person can do on a phone, next to hanging up on someone, it is the rudest thing you can do. Calling someone to sell them something, push for donations, or take surveys is akin to walking into a stranger’s bathroom while they are on the toilet and striking up a conversation. This is why I make it a point to never buy from, or give to a charity that uses these tactics.

“You have made the mistaken assumption that I as a consumer welcome calls from people I don’t know who are interested in transacting business with me while I am in my own home. I do not.”

Yes, YOU do not, you’re one person though. I cannot go into a call assuming that the person either wants or do not want to “transact business” while at home. That’s why you ask them if they have time and perhaps say quickly what it’s about. Hence it’s up to anyone to make the decision. If people who call you don’t do that then yes, they are rude. To repeat, you CANNOT assume either or. But yes, I’d wager that you’re correct that all telemarketers know quite well the stigma their profession entails and that they can be seen as rude regardless of how well they carry themselves.

Much of telemarketing in Sweden anyway is done to keep customers more than it is to get new ones. A customer which you can make happy and keep is worth 10 new customers, easily. Let’s make a hypotethical situation: I call a customer and say that their current cellphone plan is old, outdated and expensive and that they can switch over to a new cheaper one. If we hadn’t done that the customer might have found a cheaper deal at another company. Because of our call the customer is happy and stays with our company, it’s a win win situation.

nobody, to you it’s wasted to me it’s well spent. I enjoy discussing these things. I’m sure to many people all the time spent doing anything that they don’t agree with is a waste of time as well.

“And you will simply never win the argument about whether it’s okay to call people in their homes.”

I don’t think I will either, but that’s not the point. The point is trying to get people to see that there are more than one side to the coin. They see, for the most case, only their own side and fail to see the other person as well. Hence why so many people with such ease can call telemarketers such horrible and insulting things.

“The fact is that telemarketers are, to the American mind, the absolute lowest form of human life.”

Wow! I might’ve saved that comment for murderers, or rapists, but hey!

“It’s not a worthy mission, and it’s making you seem dense.”

Respectfully, that’s not for you to decide.

It’s great that you seem to live in some telemarketing eden where everything is respectful and there are candy canes growing on trees.

But it is basically irrelevant to this discussion. What you describe as your job, your tactics, your ethic, is not the case in the U.S., not the climate here. Unless you understand the American climate of telemarketing, you are really wasting your energy.

And you will simply never win the argument about whether it’s okay to call people in their homes. The people in those homes are the authority on whether that feels okay to them, and they have spoken. Get over it.

The fact is that telemarketers are, to the American mind, the absolute lowest form of human life. I can understand how that fact would bother you, but you are better off carrying on with your life rather than behaving as if it is somehow your special calling to change the way telemarketers are perceived and treated. It’s not a worthy mission, and it’s making you seem dense. Move on.

I used to actually answer to telemarketers and said “no thanks” and opted out of everything under the sun.

My reward for being so polite? I was removed from THEIR list and promptly added to every associate under the sun’s list.

Nothing like being able to confirm you have a live person on the end of the line. I now get telemarketing calls from morning to night. My answering machine (max of 35 message) will fill completely in 3 days if I don’t answer the phone. All telemarketing/soliciting calls. I don’t really blame the telemarketers though. Who I really blame is Bank of America, who sold my contact information out in the first place and it continues to spread from there.

The telemarketer, to not think of himself as rude, must assume that all those who are not on such a list have in effect let it be known beforehand that they do not mind interruptions of their homelife. Obviously this is not the case. So telemarketers, on some level, know they are being potentially rude. What percentage of callers does a telemarketer think he has irritated by his calls? Surely a lower percentage than those who are actually irritated; after all, many people can hide their feelings, even from telemarketers. But call it 50%; a telemarketer irritates 50% of those he calls. Does a telmarketer balance the realization that he’s been rude to 50% of the people he’s called by believing that he’s done a real service (or at least hasn’t irritated) the other 50%?

Or does it have to even be 50%? Surely if 10%, or 5%, or even 1% of those I the telemarketer call realize some kind of benefit (and by that I mean end up giving the my company money), surely that’s worth the rudeness the other 90 or 99% of those cold-called have to live through. By giving this 1% a valuable service, the frustration that all the other people who did not want the valuable service (who did not even want to *know* about the valuable service) go through is worth it.

And it’s not like the irritation and frustration amount to much, anyway. Several seconds in a day, at most. Unless one counts all the *other* calls by other telemarketers that eat up time, and the amount of time after calls that people spend trying to push that irritated feeling into the background. But I am not my brother’s keeper, so I can’t really be concerned about the additive irritation my call creates. It’s just not my problem.

And if I didn’t call, if telemarketing didn’t exist, how would potential customers know about my product? How would potential customers even know they have a *need* for the product? Is it even ethical to allow a rube, I mean a potential customer, to walk around, carefree, completely ignorant of the fact that there’s this great product out there that would help him greatly in some way that he hasn’t even thought about?
Because traditional advertising of products in the media just doesn’t flush out the rubes, I mean potential customers, nearly as effectively as it used to. And it’s so much cheaper to have a machine interrupt homelife in a zillion homes, looking for those who didn’t even know they were lost, than it is to use traditional advertising; so much cheaper. And those lowered costs can eventually be potentially passed to the ignorant customers that we find over the phone. So you can see that any supposed rudeness derived from my unwanted interruption of people’s lives, while regrettable, is vital to the overall economy. Also world peace. So it’s win-win!

And that’s how cognitive dissonance works.

I happen to be a bagger, and I get in trouble with my manager if i happen to do something as ridiculous as putting something like cans of soup on the eggs. Grocery stores offer bagging as a courtesy, and you can choose not to have someone bag if you want. And what the hell does being a stranger have to do with anything? Of course he/she is a stranger, it’s not like you’re best buds with all the employees at the grocery store, or at most places with which you do your business.

Way to be a Hypocrite. And, really, don’t try to change it around to make it seem like that wasn’t the message you put out, because it most certainly was, there’s no other way one could interpret that.

Not trying to pick a fight here, but evidently you cared enough to sit down and make a reply. You sort of made my defense for me, thank you.

No one cares what you think or do. Telemarketing is just plain OBNOXIOUS, no matter how much you want to try to defend it. That’s why there’s a nationwide “do not call” registry & it’s enormously popular. I’m not going to be on this site long enough to read your windy, overblown replies (much like your telemarketing spiel, I’m sure) so why don’t you go piss up a rope, or, better yet, a phone line?

If the caller is unknown or has ID blocked then the phone does not ring at all and the call gets sent straight to your answering machine.

If the caller is a known friend then the phone rings (custom rings?) and, after a few rings, goes to answering machine. It could even be a custom tailored message for that person.

If the caller is a known enemy (telemarketer, psycho ex…) then the call goes to evil message. Mebbe even customized evil message.

This is not rocket science. Alot of this stuff is already on cellphones I think. Could this simple advancement in phone tech destroy telemarketing?

I guess the telemarketers could always escalate- random phone #s or spoofing.

Telemarketing does not fit this day and age and needs to go the way of the Dodo.

Also I noticed a few of you said you would piss them off THEN ask to be taken off the list… I will tell you now… They don’t… You just again get marked as “not home”. I understand if you don’t want the product being sold. But how hard is it to calmly say “Excuse me, I am not interested in this offer and please remove me from your list” we will just as nicely reply “Sure Ma’am/Sir.” read you the little dialog we’re supposed to say and mark you as request for un-list. Which can take up to 30 days to have your number removed. So if you again get a call.. Calmly say you requested an un-list and they will mark it again.

I did the job during college because it was a good chance to earn money while getting my degree. It was a shitty job but you will be surprised how many people actually want a credit card and willing to give me very private information. (Which I cannot record btw… We are not allowed pens/paper or any form of electronic device and the computers are restricted from all programs except the phone dialer).

Yes I found this funny because even when it was done to me I would laugh… Didn’t keep me from getting paid and it made the day more interesting than a bunch of “No.. *click*”s. But still.. No reason to be assholes. Just makes you look stupid.

If that possibility is not avaliable to you then unplugging the phone would be the next course of action. However, is it that bothersome to stand up, get the phone, answer, say “no thank you” hang up and go back to whatever you were doing? Sheesh, some people act like that’s the end of the world.

I don’t want your money though, keep your money, I want my own money. I don’t get any personal gain if my call becomes an order or not.

Let’s say, hypothetically, that people don’t enjoy being hassled by telemarketers. Is there any way that we can, you know, live in peace? Is there any way we can enjoy our dinners without being called by strangers who only want our money?

Sincerely yours,
Everyone else.

Me: “Would you like to take a survey?”
Them: “Ummmm”
Me: “Do you like beans?”
Them: “What kind of beans?”
Me: “Do you like George Went?”
Them: “Who?”
Me: “Would you like to see a movie with George Went eating beans?”
Them: “I don’t know who that is”
Me: “That’s all right, I don’t know either. Is this a commercial call?”
Them: “No, may I speak with [roommate's name]?”
Me: “Sure, here you go!”
Roommate (after listening): “No, I would not like to take a survey!”
*Click*

It’s from Animaniacs and needs a better ending but was thoroughly enjoyable to do!

We’re definitely not trying to sell something that they’re not in need of nor are we trying to make the customers do something against their will. As I said, if they’re happy we send them on their way with well wishes, if they not happy we try to change it for the better, and that can often entail selling something. We don’t go into the call with a “sales” attitude though nor do we get extra pay if we manage to sell anything.

“The one I worked for had a 5 week attrition average. In the US, call centers are like burger joints, they’re beginner jobs, and only a rare few people last to be promoted off the call floor.”

Just like in Sweden, it’s a job where you go nowhere fast.

Sure thing, but as said above if I’m not already a customer at you (which I’m sure I’m not) you’re going to have to get my info from a third party company that deals in contact info databases. I would be a hypocrite if I just gave out my contact info to you here, I’m however not a hypocrite if you have to find it out yourself. However, I’ll make it easy for you, my name is Daniel Jansson and the rest I’m sure you can get hold of through my website. Happy hunting, I’m expecting your call shortly!

“The unfortunate fact is that it’s the bad apples that ruin it for the rest of you”

You thoroughly hit the nail on the head there. It’s something that the company I work for as well as many others in Sweden are working towards, to weed out the bad apples so only more serious companies can stay in business. I’d definitely welcome stronger legislation around this, for instance.

“is parting me from my money or getting their hands on my credit card number or other personal information.”

Oh definitely, that’s a surefire way to know it’s a scam. That’s like lesson one, you never give out your personal information over the phone, regardless who’s calling.

“If through some miracle telemarketing suddenly ceased to exist, those who employ telemarketers could easily make up for the loss in some other way, and the world would go merrily on it’s way with nary a blip.”

Indeed, they would pass the additional costs onto you: the customer. In the end of the day it’s about 1/10 as expensive to have me call a customer versus sending the customer written information. The companies will definitely want to continue to get their information out, but they don’t want to lose money. Who will pay for that in the end? (not to mention that TM is a hell of a lot more environmentally friendly )

“What’s obvious is that you take yourself and your job all too seriously. Bully for you that it pays the bills and you enjoy it, but if you go through life expecting people to respect your profession, prepare to be sorely disappointed.”

Of course I take it seriously, I do that with any profession. It’s called work-ethic.

I don’t expect people to do much of anything, however I hope at the very least that they can respect me as a person after the call I’ve made.

What’s been missing here in the midst of all the people who answer with hateful comments when you call is the actual myriad of people who are happy to be contacted that way as well. Sure we call at inopportune times, that’s why we always (always!) ask if the person has time and if not when it is more appropriate for us to return. I realize though that that’s not the business standard, and that’s somewhat sad.

When I called the number, all I got was hang ups …

Do you cold call anyone? Or has everyone that you call signed up to be contacted by your company about the product that you are offering? From you posts about negative responses, I’m thinking you’re a cold caller.

Now in real sales, cold calling is appropriate for on business trying to offer it’s services to another business. The sales director at the construction company I work for does it about twice a week.

But, when you’re computer system dials a random person at their home/work/mobile, and you try to sell them some trash that only an idiot would buy, ($8000 water softeners, credit card protection, insurance at 500% the normal rates)and you don’t feel even slightly guilty for doing it, then yeah, the people on the other end have a right to hate you.

My home phone number is known to 3 people, my mother, my mother-in-law, and my employer, yet I still get telemarketing calls. They are scum, and it’s why I quit working for a call center as soon as I found out they were using auto-dialers to contact our “customers”. In the US, call centers, whether they be tech support, customer service, or telemarketing, are in nearly every city of 50,000 people or more. Usually in large numbers. There are 9 in the city I live in here in Florida, and our population is only 65,000. Call centers are entry level jobs, they hire people with no experience, pay them 10$ an hour, and they expect them to leave within a year. The one I worked for had a 5 week attrition average. In the US, call centers are like burger joints, they’re beginner jobs, and only a rare few people last to be promoted off the call floor. I will admit however that not all people that work in call centers are unfortunate scumbags. Both my in-laws work for a bank call center and provide a needed service. But we’re not talking about call centers that we call needing information. We’re talking about the a-holes that call us to sell us something. It’s bad enough that we’re under a 24 hour nonstop assault by commercials on TV and radio, inundated by spam email, and junk mail in our post box, but no we have to be berated by people calling us at purposefully inconvenient times so they can catch us at home, trying to sell us garbage we don’t need or want.

If you don’t cold call anyone then take heart knowing that you’re not the scum that we are referring to. If you do, well, then yeah, that makes you a dirt bag, especially since you seem so proud of your job.

My opinion remains that telemarketing is the real world equivalent to spam — they call me unannounced and unsolicited, and usually at inconvenient times, trying to sound like my friend and like they care about my well being, when all they’re interested in is parting me from my money or getting their hands on my credit card number or other personal information. If through some miracle telemarketing suddenly ceased to exist, those who employ telemarketers could easily make up for the loss in some other way, and the world would go merrily on it’s way with nary a blip. For the vast majority of the world’s population, telemarketers serve absolutely no useful purpose.

What’s obvious is that you take yourself and your job all too seriously. Bully for you that it pays the bills and you enjoy it, but if you go through life expecting people to respect your profession, prepare to be sorely disappointed.