That’s the beauty of having an unlisted number, number on the Do Not Call List and a Caller ID- I hardly ever get telemarketer calls and I generally don’t answer the phone if I don’t recognize the number.

The best trick I heard is when you answer and they say, "Is [so-and-so] there?" just say, "yeah, just a minute" and set the phone down and walk away. Who knows how long they’ll wait before hanging up. This way, you don’t have to deal with them and it slows them down. If everyone did that, the person would only get a few calls out in a shift!

I heard of someone who would keep an air horn near the phone and set it off in the person’s ear- that’s too extreme- you could seriously f-up someone’s hearing. Maybe they only used it when the telemarketer got aggressive, but still….

quote:

Originally posted by Tony Bad

I just tell them I am on another call on call waiting and then hang up.

Tell them to hold on a minuite and then put the phone down and walk away for a bit.

joe

quote:

Originally posted by abe_froeman

That’s the beauty of having an unlisted number, number on the Do Not Call List and a Caller ID- I hardly ever get telemarketer calls and I generally don’t answer the phone if I don’t recognize the number.

I think signing this list is a No No .. You dont know if the list will be hacked somehow or if they someone will offer them 10000s of dollars for the list…….

Not a good idea really……

Oh,

I like watching your movie Abe!! [:D] (1 of the best movies of the 80s)

Yes, they will, Ashphalt. I asked one of them how much the police charity actually gets. He had to get his supervisor, of course. She told me 15%, the rest is "administrative costs." If you want to give to your hometown heroes, do it direct. Don’t ever give through one of these telemarketing organizations, most of your money goes to them.

I signed up for the do-not-call list as soon as it was available (and Massachusetts initiated it before the feds). It cut down a lot of calls. Once in a while a local service (roofer, etc.) will call and say they’re going to be in the neighborhood and I remind them that there is a list and they can’t call.

BUT, since the list we’re getting some oddball charity calls. For example, we gave to the police relief fund in our old town over five years ago. Apparently that put us on a list and we now get calls from police funds from towns 30 miles away thanking us for our previous support and assuming we’ll contribute again. I’m guessing these are services the charity hires, but I’m annoyed they’ll try to shill us to give money to every department in the state.

I have an unlisted # and use an answering machine. As I understand it, those calls are mechanically generated with many numbers being dialed at once. Whoever answers first will get the spiel, the others will be aborted. I’ve found they give up by the 5th ring, apparently programmed to do so, so I have my answering machine set to not answer until the 5th ring. Most telemarketers will abort the call before the answering machine responds and most will not leave a message with a call-back number even if they do reach the machine; I’ve even been told it’s illegal for them to. I get an average of one telemarketing spiel on my machine every 2 months. I even have the ringer turned down so I don’t even know when one of them is calling.

I have a cell phone for personal calls and my friends have that #.

I haven’t talked to a telemarketer live in about 6 years.

Getting on the no-call list solved almost all of that for us. Now we only get calls from charities we already support and political polls, etc. Which by now, are GOING TO DRIVE ME NUTS!!! However, we voted absentee ballot last week, so now I just tell them I already voted and hang up.

God, will I be glad when this election is over.

I’m lucky, as I just have a cell phone, so I don’t seem to get those calls….

I just hang up. If I want to know about their business, I’ll make it MY business to find THEM.

I just tell them I am on another call on call waiting and then hang up.

I’m on the "do not call register" however even before I added my phone number, I never found it difficult to say "not interested" and then hang up. What’s so difficult about that?