No More Phone Soliciting?! (I wish)

Has anyone here stopped getting phone solicitations? Recently it occured to me that I haven't had any for months. That doesn't hurt my feelings one bit. I work at home 5 days a week, so I know. Over the last couple of years I've even tried to get creative and amuse myself with these annoying calls. Sometimes I'd keep saying hello intermitently so that they'd think I couldn't hear them. It worked a lot... Here's a sample: "Hello?... hello?... helllll-o-oh... hello?... ummmmm... hello?..." click. Sometimes I'd quietly hand the phone over to "Melamine" and let them jabber away to her until they figured it out. (That's the surface of my desk, not a kitty ) Sometimes I would immdiately interrupt with "Take me off the list please... thanks..." click. The best time was when a solicitor was delightedly convinced that I was re-enacting a Seinfeld skit from some episode I never saw. I suppose I must have said something similar. I had politely, but firmly asked her name and number so I could call her at HER home. It's hard to remember what else I said. It made her day though. Oh well, all that fun is over I guess. Seriously now... I don't miss them in the least. Maybe I just pissed them all off. What are your best solicitor stories?

I used to say, Can you hold a moment please? then when they started saying, Hello??? again, I'd say, Just a sec, etc and see how long I could keep them hanging on. But I haven't gotten any for quite awhile either. I did get Privacy Manager, though, so that is probably it. Becky

That's a good way to get the message across.

There were several times before Ken and I got married that a solicator would call and want to speak to the Mrs. I would tell that them that she wasn't here right now and we had to hurry and finish before she got back. They would stutter a lot and then hang up:lol

We haven't been getting a lot of those calls either THANK GOD! I hate those things. Thank you "Donot Call List"

Cathi i love that line you gave them!

I'm on the telephone preference list so the only people who ring me are the ones that have my number.

We were getting a lot of calls that were a recorded computer-generated speech, saying 'You have won a prize!' The trouble with those is that even when you have hung up the speech goes on, and your line is then busy until the computer has finished. But we registered with 'call preference' or whatever it's called and now the calls do seem to have stopped. Apparently there is a similar thing you can do to stop junk mail coming your way, but I don't know who organises that.

Sue

Originally Posted by blondiecat

There were several times before Ken and I got married that a solicator would call and want to speak to the Mrs. I would tell that them that she wasn't here right now and we had to hurry and finish before she got back. They would stutter a lot and then hang up:lol

We haven't been getting a lot of those calls either THANK GOD! I hate those things. Thank you "Donot Call List"

Click to expand...

That's hilarious! I never thought of saying something like that.

We've had a "do not call list" in my state for at least a couple of years and it's wonderful. I never get calls anymore. If one does sneak through, I promptly remind them that the penalty is $10,000

This one time I told them to hold and left my phone on the counter. They can't hang up on you. I wasn't expecting any calls so I left that tellemarketer inthe line for 5 hours, when my phone went dead. They havn't called back since....

For some reason, telemarketers seem to have a hard time pronouncing my last name. It's not that hard: o-key-ff. I get o-keith, keith, keyf, keff, keffee, etc. If they mis-pronounce my name, I say "wrong number" and hang up.

Actually we haven't had one ring for a couple of months as well. Thank goodness!

When they ring I blast my stero and leave the phone there.

Originally Posted by eburgess

This one time I told them to hold and left my phone on the counter. They can't hang up on you. I wasn't expecting any calls so I left that tellemarketer inthe line for 5 hours, when my phone went dead. They havn't called back since....

Click to expand...

How come they can't hang up?

Originally Posted by okeefecl

For some reason, telemarketers seem to have a hard time pronouncing my last name. It's not that hard: o-key-ff. I get o-keith, keith, keyf, keff, keffee, etc. If they mis-pronounce my name, I say "wrong number" and hang up.

Click to expand...

Looks easy to pronounce to me too. I've also had plain stupid pronunciations of my last name. How hard is it to say k-a-r-d-a-s-h... car........ dash!!!... two common english words combined to stump the masses Krusty put the K in Komedy. I put the K in Kar!!! I think the extra silence is due to the do not call laws though, not my juvenille pranks with the solicitors. Big thumbs up for that!

Yup, we've done the "do not call" list thing, and it's made a big difference. When one slips through, we just tell them we do not accept telephone solicitations and please add this number to their "do not call" list. Also, we have call display and mostly don't answer numbers we don't recognize -- and our outgoing message says as much, and points out that if the caller leaves a message it just might get them a quick callback if we're around.

They used to be a real nuisance, but I can't say I ever got really creative with my handling of them.

The only ones I get anymore are the blooming charity ones. I gave just one time and now they don't stop calling. I haven't gotten one of those in a while though so maybe they've figured out that I refuse to give over the phone anymore.