Telemarketers. Profit and non-Profit.

[Dingo Jellybean]

Okay, I'm sure many of you get telemarketers who call the hell out of you, but I know some of you are on the national do not call list (in the US anyways), but I have to admit, the non-profit calls are even more annoying than the profit ones.

I get calls 10x a week and over 100x the last 2 months from RTI, apparently a charity group. My question is, if these charity groups are non-profit, why do they keep spending all this money making calls no one will answer? I have caller ID and I can see who calls, but this is absurd. And also, if they are really charity calls, why do they not accept items other than cash? I offer old clothing in almost new condition, appliances, and they still say they accept cash only because they can't...gasp..."buy" any medicine with it. Like hell they can't. Not only that, I get calls from ROTC, police academies, and other these other so called "non-profit" things. And here's another thing, they ask for your personal information...yet how the hell did they get it in the first place? You wouldn't be calling me by "Mr.(last name here)" and asking "..of 1 Hi. Street?" It's so much bull...I can sympathize for people who have to do this for a living, but I wonder if all these telemarketing non-profit calls are actually fake because they make it so obvious that it's not non-profit.

[Erdrick Holmes]

I knew you'd make a thread about this, I was gonna do it.

I think telemarketers and spam emails are a disturbance of the peace. I know a caller ID can tell you who's calling and stuff (a telemarketer would be labeled as "Unknown call") but for people who are waiting for a phonecall from some high office for a job interview or the descision on a mortgage or something you'd have to answer the phone reguardless what the ID says. I mean say your scanning in your email inbox for an email that your wanting to read and suddenly you see something like "Want bigger breasts?" or "Use hypnosis to get the IRS to give you money!" oh yeah that can really make my day special.

Telemarketers must love me so much. Every saturday I wanna sleep in but at about 8 am telemarketers call withing 10 minute intervals. I usually say "let me sleep, damnitall!" but I'm to energetic running from my room to the living room to go back to sleep that I have to get up and bear my tiredness.

[fire_of_avalon]

If they're real non-profit organizations, ask them take you off their lists. If not, well, there's not much you can do. Telemarketers must be the most confident on earth to deal with what they must have to deal with.

[Kirobaito]

I have fun with them. They always ask, "May I please speak to the man or woman of the house?" and I say "Oh, they're in the bathroom taking a massive s***!" It's fun, because they always laugh.

[Dr Unne]

Yet another good reason never to answer the phone unless you're expecting a call and know when it's coming.

[edczxcvbnm]

Why can't I be like the computer dorks on the simpsons and come home after like 3 months and have 0 messages on my machine. I HATE answering the phone and talking on it. Such a pain in the AAAAAASS!

[Lindy]

"Hello, can I speak to the houseowner please?"

"*sniff* I'm sorry...but...my parents, they just died in a car crash, it was so horrible...the blood and mess...*break down crying*"

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, but is there any one else in the house over 18 I can talk to?"

Oh. My. God. The insensitivity.

You can guess where I told him to put his new windows and free installation.

[Del Murder]

They're bothersome, but I don't see any reason not to just hang up right away. Why waste either person's time.

[EternalBahamut]

You are right too Joel, you have the right to be removed from a calling list and if they do not then you can go to the better business board and they can get in a lot of trouble

[Dr Unne]

<i>Their bothersome, but I don't see any reason not to just hang up right away. Why waste either person's time.</i> --Del Murder

Some places will call you back until you specifically say you're not interested. Sometimes they require you to say it twice even. If you keep getting calls from the same people, listen to them once and then tell them you aren't interested until they hang up themselves and they'll likely not call you back. Or then again they probably will anyways because they're all a bunch of shysters, but they shouldn't.

[Peegee]

It's a source for entertainment if you have the time of day, much like Jehova's Witnesses.

[Thunday Man]

www.donotcall.gov

If you live in the States that is. I haven't gotten a single one yet this year.

[Dingo Jellybean]

Yeah, I've already signed up for the donotcall list...but it's the "non-profit" agencies that seem to be hypocritical of what they do. They call and call and call at the most inconvenient time. I got calls from early in the morning from agencies in Hawaii because they're too dumb to recognize time zones.

Generally, you don't pick up, but when someone calls 100x the past 2 months, it becomes an annoyance.

[RSL]

I've gotten to where I just hang up the second I figure out what the call is. Today I had one that went exactly like this:

*ring ring* *ring ring* (I don't remember how many times it rang, to be honest. Also, my phone doesn't go *ring ring* it maybe goes *riiiiiiiiing* once then *riiiiiiiing* again until I answer. Anyway, this isn't important. Let's just say that the phone rang).

ME: "hel" (I was cut off. I was attempting to say "hello.")
TELEMARKETER (We'll call her Sue, though I have no way of actually determining her name): "I'm calling from A and S research and we're conducting..."
ME: *hangs up*

[Spuuky]

There's always a gap of silence if it's a recorded voice and not a real person, and so you can tell and hang up.

If it's a real person, I feel sorry for the poor college student because he's probably just trying to pay for his 3rd year and he can't afford it so he works extra hours calling people who hate him for calling them and has to deal with all the asses who yell at him even though he feels sorry for the poor people for having to answer his calls. And then I hang up.