Great 'Best Cold Caller Rebukes' Hunt

Dr.Shoe_2

wildthing01 wrote: »

the thing is, the 'hunt' was about rebuking SALES calls - these are NOT public funded services, they are private companies trying to sell you stuff. reputable survey companies like ipsos mori usually only call people who have signed up for phone surveys and have provided their number for that purpose. i would have no prob with that. but, if someone is going to invade my family time uninvited, to try and sell me something that i don't want or need, then i think they're proably fair game.

The problemis that there are a lot of smart !!!!!! in this thread who don't give the caller time to tell them. They just go ahead and play their stupid childish games which to the caller who has heard it all before just makes them look stupid. It is far better to just listen patiently to their first few lines of dialogue before either saying "no thankyou" or "I do not need your product, I am fine as I am.". You will find tat over time your calls will diminish. Play games and your calls will increase because these callers see you as a challenge.

i'm not saying you have to be rude - in fact while i was reading this the other day, a bloke from npower called - as soon as he said where he was calling from, i politely said 'i'm afraid i'm not interested,thanks'. he immediately said, 'no problem, so to have bothered you', and hung up. now, that has left me with a far better impression of npower, than if he had been pushy or aggressive and therefore makes me more likely to consider them as a potential energy supplier in the future. the companies with really aggressive/pushy tactics don;t realise that they're doing themselves a disservice...

Indeed.

Dr.Shoe_2

bestyman wrote: »

If you are TPS registered and these criminals call you then they deserve no politeness. I treat them as I would treat someone stealing my car or nicking my wallet - they are simply breaking the law and are nothing more than a common thief.

Would all those who post suggesting that we are nice to them also suggest that we should be nice to burglars and car thieves.
I incurr financial losses of hundreds of pounds a year due to call divert charges that I pay from my landline to mobile, not to mention many hours lost working.

The thing is though that they are not like burglars at all. Would you consider a blind ex soldier shaking a collecting tin outside of Tesco a criminal? What about people raising money for cancer research? Most of the well known charities use cold calling to raise awareness and many companies may offer you products that may be of benefit to you. You need not lose any working time at all with a polite no thankyou.

I agree that they are a pain in the !!!! at times but there must be some people who disagree because billions of pounds per year are made from sales leads generated by telephone canvassing just as billions are made by door to door sales. If this was not the case then these forms would not be employing armies of staff to work them.

The_Prodigy

typos1 wrote: »

Yeah, The Prodigy I work in market research cold calling (often for charities or for government departments, trying to find out what the public thinks and what they want) and have to deal with impolite, incompetant idiots every day, although most people are polite. Cold calling is the most efficient way for companies to make sales/get opinions thats why they do it, they get most of their sales/surveys done that way, so people obviously do trust companies who call, otherwise they simply wouldnt do it.

I dont like paying taxes, but I dont prank call the tax office. Grow up and get a life and maybe some lessons in articulating yourself properly. I agree about prize draw calls, though they are scams.

I'll tell you one thing the public wants and that is for people like you to stop calling them.

Cold calling is the most efficient way for companies to make sales is it? Who are these fools who buy anything from Cold Callers? They must exist or Cold Calling wouldn't. Hassling old, vulnerable people in to parting with their pensions and life savings I imagine.

I would doubt the results of any survey based on the findings of people who are happy to respond to a cold caller. That ignores the opinions of 99.9% of the population who don't want a call from a stranger asking them questions.

I find the fact that Charities use cold calling deplorable. What a disgusting way to misspend people's donations.

"Grow up and get a life and maybe some lessons in articulating yourself properly."
I've got a life which is why I don't like it when a cold caller interrupts it. You might not value your time but I value mine. As for articulating myself, I've got two words for you. I'll give you a clue. The second one is "off".

Skintslimmer

gropinginthedark wrote: »

Then they try the sympathy angle. "I'm just some poor hard working guy trying to earn an honest crust" - No you're not, you are one of life's failures unable to get a proper job so you are willing to throw ethics out the window. You are a beggar. You phone me expecting me to give you some of my time which will result in you getting paid. You place zero value on my time. Solicitors in my home city charge 3 pounds a minute, at statutory minimum your pay is a tiny fraction of that. Rather than call him at home you'd both be better off if you just sold him a copy of The Big Issue instead. For most of us our hourly rate is a million miles short of what a lawyer charges but the same principle applies.

It is not acceptable that I should need to adapt my lifestyle to screen calls by answerphone or spending £70 on an electronic gizmo. If the marketing lobby would care to offer to buy me the electronic gizmo so I can block their calls (rather than them make the effort to respect my TPS registered preference) then they might gain a shred of credibility.

What kind of moron, knowing there's a list like TPS of people who don't want anything to do with your scams, would choose to disregard it? You have the arrogance to believe that your particular variety of snake oil represents such a benefit to us that we'll gladly forget about or TPS preference and buy. You are an idiot.

What an arrogant post, rather stupid assumptions, too. I can see you would rather use MY (and everyone else's) hard earned money paid in tax to fund yourself to live on JSA if the choice were between that and telemarketing. Big slow handclap for you.

Telemarketing isn't fun. It has a huge turnover rate of staff because people only use it as a stop gap or desperate measure for good reason. The person on the other end of your phone absolutely is NOT responsible for your TPS registered call getting through the sytem. it is the management's fault for the system's failure. No need to shoot the messenger.

Regardless of your opinion, the guy who just cold called you isn't one of life's failures. He is doing his best to earn a living.

georgemcghie

When I receive unwanted telesales calls I usually say that I would be very interested in their product/service and then follow by saying 'do you know that I am Bankrupt?'

That generally ends the call - usually works for me unless the call is from Abroad in which case I put my 3 year old niece on the phone, which definiely works.

snugglepet20

As a poor student I worked in telesales cold-calling and it is the worst job ever! You have to learn to be thick skinned and to rapidly be able to tell if someone is interested or not. Surprisingly about one in twenty people I spoke to signed up so it is a tactic that works.

The person who is ringing you is just doing a job they don't need to be sworn at, mostly they are under 25 and broke. Admittedly I did work with a few who just wouldn't take no for an answer but they just wasted their time and got less commission because of it so take solace in the fact that the annoying ones are making less money than the polite ones!

Mary_Hartnell

klarapie wrote: »

Hi,

I've been reading this post with interest, as I've done cold calling for jobs in the past.
Let me just say that charities are not put off by TPS, they get through on a technicality. And numbers are taken from internet surveys and the like.

As an ex caller, I know a lot of the tricks people use. What I just want to say to all of you is that do you know that cold calling sales jobs are some of the only fast, available jobs in the market at the minute? They are paid low amounts when they're desperate for work, and have axes above their heads for not meeting targets, or sufficiently pushing customers who say they have no money. We are trained not to take rebukes at face value, if you want to think about it, you often lie that you couldn't spare 2 pounds a month. I'm unemployed and struggling, but even I could spare that. If you argue with them, they're trained to objection handle.

What used to really really annoy me, is when customers hang up on you/make an excuse/say you're busy.... because company policy means we have to call them back!
If you don't want callbacks, SAY you don't want callbacks, and to come off the database. I got to the stage where I was even telling this to customers... I got reprimanded for it by the company though...
After you call them back after they were busy the first time, they say 'oh, you already called me', expecting you to apologise and ring off, but I used to ask questions regarding what I was calling about, and watch them stutter answers.
I'm not proud of cold calling, but I've worked a lot in customer service, and I am one of the far less pressurising, sympathetic callers, and I am always polite and expect people to be polite back, and it's infuriating when people are rude.

I think that the people who don't deal well with cold calling have assertiveness problems themselves. It doesn't take much to calmly and politely ask to be taken off the database. How hard is that? No tactics needed.
Cold callers often hate their jobs, and need to do it to stay afloat, so give them a break and just be polite and grown up about it, and you can be just as effective.

Rubbish - you are an intruder, you have dragged me dripping out of the shower because I was waiting for an urgent call about my sick father - when I do a 1471 I get "we do not have the caller's number" or "The caller had with held the number".

bestyman

Dr.Shoe wrote: »

The thing is though that they are not like burglars at all. Would you consider a blind ex soldier shaking a collecting tin outside of Tesco a criminal? .

As soon as I answer my mobile to a cold caller I have lost 18 pence and a few minutes of my working day.

When the blind man is shaking a collection tin I have the option to walk on by.

The cold caller is breaking the law by making a sales call to one who has elected not to receive any, the blind man is a law abiding citizen.

Quoted from OFCOM website
If you don’t want to get calls from sales and marketing firms, you can add your details to a list, run by the Telephone Preference Service, which makes it illegal for a company to call you for marketing purposes in the future.

Again, why would anyone would suggest that we are polite to criminals, when the fact is that they should be treated like criminals.

theloft

typos1 wrote: »

theloft, using a siren down the phone could seriously injure someone, that is tantamount to assault-I m surprised the moderators havent removed your post. These people are clearly trying to earn a living.

You must be one of the sanctimonious, self-important, "we have a right to call you" people, who do not realise how much these calls interfere with ones private life. You may be involved in DIY, watching a favourite programme on TV, writing an important letter, trying to make a living, or a hundred and one things that are more important to you than a cold call. If the telephone rings it is the most natural thing to answer it, as it could be an urgent call from a relative, or someone you want to hear from etc. But having tried everything in my power to stop these infernal calls, perhaps you could suggest a normal way to stop them, as I have tried everything I know. Please don't say the TPS as this does not work for overseas calls. Don't worry, I ensure that the siren is not that close to the phone to cause any damage. But you have only to see how many people have replied to this thread to realise how irritating they are - and as for not saving money, anything that wastes my time as much as these calls, is preventing me from pursuing my normal routine. Have you heard the saying "time costs money" !!

nzseries1

I cannot believe there are people here defending these cold callers.

And I cannot believe they think that all I need to do is to say "please don't call me again" and that will be the end of it. IF ONLY!

How naive can one be??? Typos1, I'm looking in your direction!