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How to Deal With Telephone Solicitors
Artful Dilettante ^ | February 6, 2018 | Artful Dilettante

Posted on 02/06/2018 1:18:28 PM PST by huckfillary

Let's face it, nobody but my mother-in-law likes phone solicitors. She'll talk to them for hours and the Jehovah's Witnesses that knock on her door every Saturday morning. She once hung up on my wife because the Jehovah's witnesses were knocking on the door.

But this is mostly about handling phone solicitors. The phone rings. You know immediately it's a solicitor.

Homeowner: This is Chief Inspector Flanagan from Homicide. You've called in the middle of a crime scene investigation. The homeowner was found dead a short while ago. But while you're on the phone, let me ask you some questions about your relationship with the deceased.

In no time at all, the solicitor will have hung up.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Political Humor/Cartoons; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: bloggers; blogpimp; phonesolicitors
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To: huckfillary

At a time in my life I managed outbound telemarketing for a broadband company. When you hear the voice of a solicitor just hang up. You don’t need to listen to them, you don’t need to talk to them. Hang up and they will move on.

The best thing to do is not answer the phone.


101 posted on 02/06/2018 2:31:18 PM PST by Vermont Lt (Burn. It. Down.)
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To: huckfillary

Years ago, my friend told me how she dealt with a phone call selling treatments to keep one’s basement dry.

She answered the phone, the guy asked “Does your basement ever get wet?”, to which she replied “Only when we pee down there.” The guy hung up and never called back.


102 posted on 02/06/2018 2:35:35 PM PST by Kalamata (Meat hooks for Tyrants)
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To: null and void

Lol.


103 posted on 02/06/2018 2:37:21 PM PST by Beagle8U (Wake up and smell the Covfef)
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To: huckfillary

IF I answer an unknown number, and find out they are soliciting...I just tell them “Thanks, you’re blocked now,” and hang up.


104 posted on 02/06/2018 2:43:05 PM PST by goodnesswins (There were 1.41 MILLION NON Profit orgs in 2013 with $1.73 TRILLION in REVENUE)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Clearly English is not your first language.

You’ll have to do better if you think you’re turning that back on some one. It failed.


105 posted on 02/06/2018 2:47:47 PM PST by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
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To: Beagle8U

Try this message.
Hello.......?
Hello .......?
You have to speak up I can’t hear you
They scream their message into the phone


106 posted on 02/06/2018 2:48:55 PM PST by Keyhopper (Indians had bad immigration laws)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
”If that’s your conviction, then why not get the details and forward them to appropriate authority with a description of the unethical deal that was proposed?”

They’re located in INDIA. Contacting the police would be pointless. And they’re not proposing “unethical deals”, they’re trying to cheat and defraud you, period. They’re criminals, not business people.

Common examples include falsely claiming to be “Microsoft support”, claiming to represent a company that can lower your credit card interest rates, and even claiming to be the IRS, threatening to prosecute you unless you send them money. Their scams are endless. Regardless of whatever false pretense they use, in every case their end goal is to fool you into giving them money and if possible even steal your identity.

They’re nothing but common criminals, are beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement, and will steal every penny you have if given the chance. They deserve zero sympathy and those who try to waste their time to keep them from stealing from someone else are performing a service.

I don’t understand the concern you exhibit for these vermin.

107 posted on 02/06/2018 2:52:31 PM PST by noiseman (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.)
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To: chesley

I got collection calls for someone who used to own my phone number years before we got it.

One day I inadvertently learned how to deal with them.

I said, *So and so isn’t home right now. Can I take a message and have them call you back?*

She said it was some finance company and I asked, “Is this a collection agency?” and she answered yes.

Then I told her that I’d been getting these calls for years and kept telling them that the person they were looking for no longer owned the phone number. I told her (knowing that they could do this) to look up the phone number and see who owns it now and they would find that it was not the person they were looking for.

She was pretty pissed for having fallen for that, but that did end the calls. I’m guessing she could have gotten in trouble for it.


108 posted on 02/06/2018 2:54:03 PM PST by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
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To: huckfillary
Seinfeld telemarketer call...
109 posted on 02/06/2018 2:58:02 PM PST by Intolerant in NJ
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To: Mr Rogers
”A salesman jumps through your window, starts his sales pitch - and it is rude to throw him out?”

One crucial difference here: These aren’t salesmen, they’re criminals trying to scam people out of their money. Virtually 100% of the “telemarketing” calls I receive these days are just scam attempts from people located in India. They’ve even figured out how to spoof local phone numbers so that caller ID makes them appear to be calling from local numbers, but rest assured they are definitely in India.

I think all of the call centers American companies set up over there just provided them with the technical knowledge to turn around and perpetrate telephone scams against Americans.

110 posted on 02/06/2018 2:58:55 PM PST by noiseman (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.)
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To: tuffydoodle

Someone called me once and left a message.

If I had called them, they were returning my call and to call back.

If I hadn’t, don’t bother.

That’s when I learned they were spoofing MY number to others, just like they do to me.

I ***NEVER*** answer my phone if I don’t know the number.

I have my default ringtone as one ring and all the people in my contact list as another ring. So I can tell just by the ring if it’s someone I know and should bother even checking to see if I ought to answer it.


111 posted on 02/06/2018 3:00:31 PM PST by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
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To: Bryanw92
it might be a older person who doesn’t have full mental acuity

Amen!

My mother fell for three or four of these folks a day. Finally my liberal sister agreed it was a problem and hid her credit card. Now my mother still talks to these folks and agrees to contribute but when they ask for a credit card number, she goes looking for her card only to come back to tell the caller that she cannot find her card. (She never remembers that she couldn't find it a few hours before.) It probably wastes 20 minutes of the caller's time.

ML/NJ

112 posted on 02/06/2018 3:04:16 PM PST by ml/nj
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To: HiTech RedNeck
"reputation of being assholes"

But then at least we save the best for each other!
113 posted on 02/06/2018 3:05:36 PM PST by Kartographer ("We mutually pledge to each other opleoour lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.")
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To: HiTech RedNeck

You are not going to get any support on this at all.

Calling into my home via unsolicited sales pitches is crap.

I have a universal call blocker. If they get through, I just let it hang. Then block it.

If i’m in a good mood I will hold them forever then hang up.

I don’t need insurance on a damn thing.


114 posted on 02/06/2018 3:06:37 PM PST by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west))
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To: napscoordinator

I just hang up on any call that does not respond to my hello in three seconds. The delay is the time it takes for the boiler room operator to switch over to the phone that is flashing that it has been picked up. I waste a hell of a lot less time that way.


115 posted on 02/06/2018 3:07:01 PM PST by arthurus (fh)
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To: zeugma
"Are tactical nuclear weapons off the table?"
NO!!

116 posted on 02/06/2018 3:09:33 PM PST by Kartographer ("We mutually pledge to each other opleoour lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.")
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To: huckfillary

This came out ages ago. But I loved it so much, I once used it on a caller.

But today, most calls are computer-generated, and there is a long pause or a recording before you get a person.

I don’t have time to wait to spoof a caller - too much stuff to do......


117 posted on 02/06/2018 3:10:00 PM PST by Arlis
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To: HiTech RedNeck

You used to be a telemarketer. What were your worst experiences?


118 posted on 02/06/2018 3:13:43 PM PST by SamAdams76
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To: huckfillary

My wife speaks Tagalog .... “For you, honey .... “


119 posted on 02/06/2018 3:16:33 PM PST by knarf (I say things that are true, I have no proof, but they're true)
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To: Afterguard
If they do that on my cell phone I block them

I blocked so many numbers on my cell phone that it apparently got confused and started blocking everything. Calls didn't resume until I released all of the blocked numbers.

ML/NJ

120 posted on 02/06/2018 3:22:39 PM PST by ml/nj
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