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Off topic: how to ward off telemarketing callers!! Thread poster: Jarnail Gill
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Jarnail Gill 
India
Local time: 20:34
Member (2006)
English to Punjabi
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Dear all,
I found out few novel methods (published in a newspaper) to ward off telemarketing callers. If you have got any, please share them here.
1. Whenever you get such a call, tell them you are hard of hearing so they must speak more and more loudly. Repeat the above formula for 3-4 times till they cant speak any more louder. You will see the same person will not call you again in his/her lifetime.
2. If someone offers you easy loans, tell them that all... See more Dear all,
I found out few novel methods (published in a newspaper) to ward off telemarketing callers. If you have got any, please share them here.
1. Whenever you get such a call, tell them you are hard of hearing so they must speak more and more loudly. Repeat the above formula for 3-4 times till they cant speak any more louder. You will see the same person will not call you again in his/her lifetime.
2. If someone offers you easy loans, tell them that all your financial dealings are done by your personal chartered accountant and ask them to talk to him and then give your phone to your five year old son. He will fix everything for you.
3. If you listen a sweet talking girl trying to sell something, just say, "Hey sweety... what about having dinner at Mcdonalds today? You know I love your sweet voice so much."
Interesting? Please share your novel methods, if you have any. ▲ Collapse
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| How about just a firm no if you're not interested | Aug 9, 2007 |
They're doing a honest job - in most cases - and although we all get irritated from time to time with the calls, I think it's a job where you have to take a lot of abuse.
We have our fair share of that in this profession, I don't think I'd be very happy to see a site offering ways to mess around translators, would you?
Just an alternative view
Keep well
Deborah
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In the UK you can register your phone number so that you do not receive cold calls.
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Jan Willem van Dormolen (X)
Netherlands
Local time: 17:04
English to Dutch
+ ...
| Opt out and be civil | Aug 9, 2007 |
In many countries, you can opt out. Not just UK, NL as well, and others.
And I concur with the opinion that these people are just trying to do a job. If you get such a call, just tell them "Sorry, but I'm not interested" and hang up. No need to add to the mass of abuse these people already get.
Did you know that the average telemarketeer holds his/her job for less than a year? After a few months of frustratingly insuccesful work, you would quit too.
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Graziano Scaldaferri (X)
Local time: 17:04
English to Italian
| off the top of my head | Aug 9, 2007 |
Lawyer-linguist wrote:
They're doing a honest job - in most cases - and although we all get irritated from time to time with the calls, I think it's a job where you have to take a lot of abuse.
You're absolutely right, but this topic is just for fun
Off the top of my head, a good method would be to tell them you're a telemarketer too, and start selling them something. Let them taste their own medicine
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in this country. But they still keep calling. I just say no thanks and hang up.
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Jim Tucker (X)
United States
Hungarian to English
+ ...
| Use the Seinfeld technique | Aug 9, 2007 |
Just say this:
"Oh I'm sorry, I'm a little busy right now and can't talk, but if you give me your home phone number, I'd be happy to call you back this evening."
It works.
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Erik Freitag
Germany
Local time: 17:04
Member (2006)
Dutch to German
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| Difference between telephone marketing and translation | Aug 9, 2007 |
Lawyer-Linguist wrote:
I think it's a job where you have to take a lot of abuse.
But this also works the other way: I really feel annoyed by those telephone calls. That's a big difference when comparing these people to translators: Translators usually do not annoy people and take their time.
I usually do what Deborah suggests (just a firm "no, thank you, not interested" as soon as I realize what kind of call this is, and hang up immediately afterwards).
However, if it's a particularly annoying company (like telephone companies calling againg and again, although I've told them a hundred times I don't want them to), I've got a new strategy: I just say: "yes, one moment, please"), put the phone on the table, go on with whatever I was doing. Maybe I take up the phone later just to say that I'm not interested and don't want to be called again, sometimes the caller hangs up before.
This may seem rude, but I only do it, if the caller calls me repeatedly in an annoying way. I think that this is a good way to educate those companies: It makes the phone call extremely long, with no positive result for the caller. Thus the caller might learn that it's not worth calling me. He might establish a system of keeping track of who wants to be called and who doesn't.
By the way: If I'm in a rush, I have a comparatively quick way of checking whether a call is an unsolicited marketing call: I confess I'm one of those people having a habit that most non-Germans find strange, while it is perfectly common here in Germany: Answering the phone not with "hello" or the like, but with my last name. Unsolicited calls coming from big call centers usually start with a pause: The reason is that computers dial the connections, and only when a victim picks up the phone, the call is transferred to whichever call center agent is idle. This pause is already treacherous. When the call center agent asks "Do I speak to Mrs XXX" (which is perfectly acceptable in Germany) immediately after I answered the phone with my last name YYY and my reasonably male voice: Bingo! Unsolicited call, hang up.
My 2 cents,
Erik
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Jarnail Gill
India
Local time: 20:34
Member (2006)
English to Punjabi
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | unsolicited calls are an abuse to the receiver too | Aug 9, 2007 |
After reading so many views, I would like to add few more points.
1. There exist other methods of marketing which dont offend the consumers. For example TV ads. If we dont like them, we switch the channels. Here the user is in full control. Imagine how will you feel if you lose your family member in a road accident and the same day some telemarketer calls you to sell a new sex toy. Unsolicited calls are really a nuisance.
2. At times, when I am roaming, my incoming call... See more After reading so many views, I would like to add few more points.
1. There exist other methods of marketing which dont offend the consumers. For example TV ads. If we dont like them, we switch the channels. Here the user is in full control. Imagine how will you feel if you lose your family member in a road accident and the same day some telemarketer calls you to sell a new sex toy. Unsolicited calls are really a nuisance.
2. At times, when I am roaming, my incoming calls are also charged. In this case, I am being charged for attending calls I didnt want to entertain.
In my opinion, telemarketing calls should be banned, because there exist other methods of selling products. ▲ Collapse
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| If they are professional ... | Aug 9, 2007 |
there is no problem and I absolutely agree with politely and strictly telling them "no thanks but have a nice day".
But there seem to be so many telemarketing callers who think you are unfair or take it personally if you do do spoil their dream of easy money by not hearing them out and they become unfriendly and bitchy on the phone for no reason at all except you refusing to listen to their story.
They waste your and their time.
And some have the wonderful... See more there is no problem and I absolutely agree with politely and strictly telling them "no thanks but have a nice day".
But there seem to be so many telemarketing callers who think you are unfair or take it personally if you do do spoil their dream of easy money by not hearing them out and they become unfriendly and bitchy on the phone for no reason at all except you refusing to listen to their story.
They waste your and their time.
And some have the wonderful idea that it is a good strategy to call on Saturday and Sunday morning before nine a.m.
So I can understand why people think about how to ward them off. Or at least have fantasies about doing this to let off steam.
Personally, I absolutely love the "bad hearing" thing (though I would not use it)
[Bearbeitet am 2007-08-09 10:28] ▲ Collapse
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Marijke wrote:
In the UK you can register your phone number so that you do not receive cold calls.
I used to work for 2 weeks (at early stage of my studies) for a Warsaw-based company. We were calling people in the UK to offer them a free mortgage checkup.
Each day I was provided with a list of names and telephone numbers (several pages). We were informed that some of the numbers were registered...
Anyways, I was no good at the job - got no clients or leads:)
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Irene N
United States
Local time: 10:04
English to Russian
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Drop the landline for good and pretty soon you'll need to open the dictionary to learn what "telemarketing" is:-).
In the US this is a rapidly growing trend.
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| I did that but it doesn't work | Aug 9, 2007 |
Marijke wrote:
In the UK you can register your phone number so that you do not receive cold calls.
I did register, but I still get those calls sometimes. I usually politely say no quite quickly. Sometimes I ask for their number to call them back. They never give it.
Regards,
Jenny.
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Jim Tucker wrote:
Just say this:
"Oh I'm sorry, I'm a little busy right now and can't talk, but if you give me your home phone number, I'd be happy to call you back this evening."
It works.
... that's clever if they don't take the hint and will probably evoke a smile on their side too, i.e. you've injected humour into the whole thing, not belittled them to get a kick out of it yourself.
Maybe they can't get other jobs and it's far better doing this than something dishonest or illegal, so cut them a bit of slack.
And yes, I know the posting was meant to be a bit of fun and thank you too for the enlightening insight into the differences between telemarketing and our job, but fact remains it's a job and best to treat them firmly and politely or with a bit of humour that can brighten up both days.
What's that saying? Do onto others ......
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Lawyer-Linguist wrote:
And yes, I know the posting was meant to be a bit of fun and thank you too for the enlightening insight into the differences between telemarketing and our job, but fact remains it's a job and best to treat them firmly and politely or with a bit of humour that can brighten up both days.
What's that saying? Do onto others ......
I was a bad telemarketer since I never pushed people - "No" means no to me:) I tried to be very polite and most of the people were really nice. Frustration and irritation came from those with registered numbers, but I could perfectly understand their feelings.
Two weeks was more than enough for me in that line of business. That's why I am polite, they're just doing their jobs.
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