Phone Solicitors

[Matrix Blade]

I'm surprised that no one else has made a thread on this yet, but anyways. Must people think it's so annoying when phone soliciting machines call their phone. Even more annoying when a person tries calling. It's the most annoying when they try to argue with you.

Don't get me wrong, I've never argued with one( I politely say no thanks to what they're offering and hang up). And I know somebody has to be one,so I mean no disrespect.

What I'm trying to ask is what do you do when a phone solicitor calls you. Do you hang up politely, yell at them, ignore the phone, or reverse the tables and pull a prank on them. Explain your stories.

 

[Kovy]

If I answer, I say my parents aren't there and hang up. But in future, if I am near my computer, I am sooo going to RickRoll one!

 

[Fire2box]

I hang up as soon as I see its a computer and sometimes if I am feeling hyper I say "Blockbuster Video." or "Pizza Hut wat you want!"

I only due that since I have Caller I.D.


Oh oh.. another great thing to do is pretend your REALLY interested in their offers and then say you got to look for something and you will be right back. Then you walk out of the room with the phone on mute and go about your day. Come back 15 mins later and hang up.

 

[CarKid]

I'm soooooooo doing that firebox...... lol

 

[ChouChou]

i annoy them and act like a 15 year old cali girl whos hyped up and just got home from a giant choping spree. they never last long enough...

 

[kite]

for comcast customer support i used my mexienglish slurred speech and for a business inquiry phone call i got at my old job i just lied about the questions and they took the answers as fact until they asked how we send and recieved messages and i said messenger pigions and she just broke down and laughed.

 

[Secret]

I put them on hold and leave the phone on to never be picked back up.

Soundboards are fun to, especially with the 1/2 input jack that I installed on my home phone so that the boards come in clear. Shwarzneger and Chris Hansen are my two favorites right now, but the Jack Black one is growing on me hahahah.

http://www.realmofdarkness.net/sounds/arnold/arnold-soundboard-6.htm
http://www.realmofdarkness.net/sounds/hansen/chrishansen-soundboard-2.htm
http://www.2flashgames.com/f/f-157.htm

 

[chevre]

Simple. I don't have a land line phone and they aren't allowed to solicit on cell phones. Thus, I never get solicitations.

However, when I lived in a college dorm we used to get them. My roommate used to turn it into a prank. He'd do stuff like give out fake information and then when they'd ask for his SS# for billing he'd give out the wrong number of digits or something stupid. That or he'd have to go suddenly. He'd always give some excuse.. like one time he yelled "Holy crap, I have to go. My room mate is packing fudge like no other!" and hung up. Or he'd say he'd have to talk it over with his people who handle these things, etc. It'd always end in something where he'd pretend to be interested but had to go, so they'd call back another time. He used to have a pretty good following -- he'd have the neighbors all down in our room cracking up at him.

 

[BromeTeks]

Well, seeing as I am on the state no call list, they are not legally allowed to bug me. So in the event that they do, I simply hang up mid sentence, with maybe a little fun first.

"Hello, could I interest you in side panelings?"

"Maybe, could you descri--HOLY SHI-*hang up*"

This is usually followed by me laughing my ass off.

 

[rushfan]

What I do is when the call I start talking to them in spanish then they transfer me to the spanish speaking person . When they start talking to me I start speaking english so the transfer me back I do this 3-4 times then I hang up. I'm usualy :lol: :rofl: :lamo:

 

[Charlie]

They always ask for 'Mr. F' which would be my dad, but it's also me so I take the call. Then they ask questions that I can't answer about bills or whatever, and then I just tell them I don't know. They usually get fed up.
That's if I'm in a good mood.

Otherwise I'll just say "Not interested in anyway" and hang up.

That was when I lived at home, now I just have mobile so I don't have that problem.

 

[July]

It depends on my mood and who's calling... Sometimes, if I get someone that has never called before... like oh we wanted to know if you are interested in saving money on your boat insurance... no one has ever called for this because we don't have a boat, so I give them the benefit of the doubt, I tell them I am not interested and please take me off their call list.

However, habitual offenders, and we get lots of these, that call every single day even after I have said we are not interested and please do not call back, get different treatment...

Everything from just flat out getting hung up on, to getting cussed at for interrupting my dinner or some other said 'adult' activity, to getting some steamy 'adult' phone conversation, such as 'what are you wearing', 'would you mind taking it off', etc. etc.

Sometimes, again if it's a habitual caller, I will play into what they are selling. One we get alot is that the warranty on our vehicle is about to expire... so in my thickest redneck voice (because we are pretty deep in the south of Texas) I tell them, that 'Well sh*t! That ol' thing... it got reposesed and Bubba had to go to jail because when they showed up to take it he pulled out his shotgun... now all I have to get to work is this bicycle with one wheel. But I don't have insurance on that... you people insure bicycles? Do I get a discount since I'm missing a wheel?' And after that they don't know what to say and hang up the phone.

I don't blame them for doing there job because everybody has to do something but if we get 8 calls a day, 7 are telemarketers and I get sick of being harassed by the same companies after I've already asked them not to call back.

 

[Takashi]

If I don't recognize the number I don't answer but there was this one time were I was over at a friends house and some company called to talk to his mom and she wasn't home at the time so we pranked them and told them that they called in the middle of a murder investagation. It was so much fun.

 

[ayanna]

I don't have a land-line now...but when I did...it would depend on a couple of different factors...mostly if it was a computer or a real person.

Computer - hang up

Real Person - listen to the pitch 'n then ask "What's the catch?" to which they reply "There is no catch" 'n you say "So, you're tellin' me I've just won an all expenses paid Caribbean Cruise?" 'n they say "Yes" 'n then I say "So, what's the catch?" they reply "There is no catch, ma'am, you just pay X number of dollars to...." interrupt them "So, there IS a catch...you want me to pay for this all expenses paid Caribbean Cruise!" and it goes back and forth that way for several minutes, with them tryin' to say there is no 'catch' and my insisting that there is...'til I get bored 'n say..."Never mind, I'm not interested anyway." and hang up.

 

[cylenrii]

YouTube - The Greatest Prank Call Ever

ive done this MANY times.

personally i love when solicetors call. its so fun

 

[Fire2box]

YouTube - The Greatest Prank Call Ever

ive done this MANY times.

personally i love when solicetors call. its so fun

You got to be careful about that since if you say your a officer you can be held for impersonating a police officer.

 

[krebstar]

Well i guess i have a different take on all this from you guys. I work as a "telephone interviewer," which actually is different from a telemarketer, believe it or not. It's basically a center at my school where we conduct academic surveys and such over the telephone, and are contracted out by various companies or organizations to do these surveys for them. When you see some article in the newspaper, for example X% of this state approves gay marriage, chances are someone like us did that survey. We've heard almost every dumb excuse/prank in the book, although generally people are pleasant. Mayb the response is better because we aren't asking for anyone's money? Sometimes though, you just get a person that's a huge prick and can mess with them a bit (i had one guy trying to tell me that his time was worth more than mine... its great getting guys like that all worked up).

here's a tip if you don't want to be called back: make it very clear. a lot of times people say something like "oh im busy now," "he/she's not available," or "this is a bad time." they will get called back the next day or even the same day, every time. you have to say something to the effect of "look im just not interested, please stop calling me/take me off the call list." or if you hang up on them enough they'll probably stop calling you eventually.

 

[Fire2box]

Well i guess i have a different take on all this from you guys. I work as a "telephone interviewer," which actually is different from a telemarketer, believe it or not.

That are indeed different yet people with your job still irritate the hell out of me. I did a interview on the telephone once about the local college here and it was worse then ANY telemarketer call I ever had. So don't feel bad if you call me and I either hang up or prank you to some extent.

 

[krebstar]

That are indeed different yet people with your job still irritate the hell out of me. I did a interview on the telephone once about the local college here and it was worse then ANY telemarketer call I ever had. So don't feel bad if you call me and I either hang up or prank you to some extent.

Why would I feel bad for bothering you? I deal with that junk day in day out. I'm just trying to earn some money to able to afford food.

edit: i think i came off here as kind of a jerk when i didn't mean to. it's not enjoyable by any means calling people up who don't want to talk to you, for several hours, but i can't let myself feel bad for getting some guy irritated for 5 minutes. otherwise i'd be depressed all day!

 

[Fire2box]

Why would I feel bad for bothering you? I deal with that junk day in day out. I'm just trying to earn some money to able to afford food.

edit: i think i came off here as kind of a jerk when i didn't mean to. it's not enjoyable by any means calling people up who don't want to talk to you, for several hours, but i can't let myself feel bad for getting some guy irritated for 5 minutes. otherwise i'd be depressed all day!

I said don't feel bad when I and others hang up with out saying anything or in the middle of the call. It's just the fastest way of saying "I don't care, goodbye."

I never said you should feel bad for calling people.