[Hildy]

Be careful of a charity called the "DISABLED FIREFIGHTERS FUND" it's a scam.

[rightisright]

If I'm not mistaken, many telemarketing companies use prisoners to handle their call volume. This woman is right to be worried.

[Feiny]

I tell telemarketers that I am sooo happy they called as no one ever calls me....I start to talk about the weather, my dog, made up health problems....I tell them I am under house arrest or I am drunk...they can't hang up fast enough!

[rmmcdaniell]

I don't bother saying no. As soon as I realize its a tele-marketer I just push the off button. Its really not worth your breath.

[Mamzelle]

And I'll bet her caller ID said "unknown caller"--the Bell outfits play a game of footsie. First they sell you the Caller ID, then they sell the telemarketer the means to override your Caller ID. I get calls at 2:30 and 5:00 AM from a telemarketer's fax line. My Bell company won't tell me who is calling me without my getting a subpoena...

[JLS]

Well:

1. The person should NOT have written that letter.

2. I am happy to hear from telemarketers as I prefer people working rathter than stealing or taking government payments. Of course I rarely buy their products, but I certainly do NOT begrudge someone attempting to earn a living. There are afterall both unlisted numbers and no call lists.

3. I suspect again while a threatening letter was NOT right, that the woman probably was rude to the person on the call.

[ChefKeith]

Easily solved.

Get one of those canned compressed air horns, keep near the phone w/ear plugs. When they call ask them to hold for a moment, install plugs and blast 'em!

Hang up phone.

[ASA Vet]

Same story from Dec 7th thread

[smoothsailing]

Telemarketing is just a job for many people.

I see nothing wrong in it.

We all make choices.

No one can force us to answer the phone.

[Hildy]

You know what's even worse than telemarketers? SURVEY TAKERS! When did this become an accepted practice. A stranger calls you on the phone and expects you to take time out of your life to answer questions about a product or service you truly don't give a rat's ass about? I mean it. The last one I took was about fast food restaurants. I made the mistake of thinking, ok, I go to some, I'll do it. What the heck. 20 minutes later I said to the woman, "is this almost done" she said, (I'm not kidding) "probably another 15 minutes. I said, no, we're done now. Who in their right mind spends 1/2 hour answering questions about fast food? What do I get out of it?

I don't even take political surveys anymore.

Today they called up and said they had some questions about Health Clubs. I wanted to give them a piece of my mind, but I was tired. I just told them I wasn't interested. 1/2 hour later another person called me and I lost it. I literally screamed, LEAVE ME ALONE. What happened to the "do not call" list. ARRRGGGHHHH

[martin_fierro]

Beyer (pictured, left) said the man refused to take no for an answer so she hung up the phone.

And now they know what she looks like.

[Cobra64]

I tell these morons that I'm having sex and would like to have an orgasm; then we'll call them back later. "What's your home number? And we'll get back to you."

[Cableguy]

Don't give money over the phone. Only a small % of the funds go to the charity. If you want to make a donation, get the name, look them up and confirm that they are legitimate, and call the charity directly.