March 4, 2013
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How To Get Telemarketers To Hang Up On You: 1
Actual conversation that just transpired at work:
Me: “Thank you for calling ____, this is Meg.”
Telemarketer: “May I please speak to the man of the house?”
Me: “Pardon?”
Telemarketer: “May I please speak to the decision maker or the man of the house?”
Me: “I’m sorry, this is an equal opportunity business and I’ve decided that we don’t want whatever services you are trying to sell.”
Telemarketer: *hangs up*
That, my friends, is how you get it done.
Comments (22)
i like your response, but I just never answer my house phone haha
@IcECaT123 - This was my office line. I work at the front desk so all calls come to me first. I decided against asking the CFO if he was okay with me handling this one since techinally he’s the man of the house haha.
Bahah. We don’t have a house phone. Thank God!
The caller obviously did not listen to your greeting stating the company. At home I let the machine answer all calls and I screen and pick up or call back as needed. It really bugs my mom when she calls. Lol
@forever_musing – that should be your line for all calls like that. or something like “I’m the decision maker of this house !”
This trick I learned from a friend:
Telemarketer: “Hi, I’m ___________ from ______________. May I spea…”
Me: “I DON’T WANT A VACUUM CLEANER.”
Telemarketer: “Um, I’m actually not selling a vacuum cleaner.”
Me: “Well, maybe you should. Because I need to clean and my current one’s broken.” *hangs up*
Ha, that was a good one. At my house, telemarketers never get an answer.
That’s a good one. LOL! I get so mad when these telemarketers call that I let it go to the answering machine.
YESSSSSS Master, *awkward breathing* I like it, yesssss.
LOL Great job girl!!!
@jennylovve - Ditto here Jenny!
“I’m calling on behalf of the Brand X company…”
Me: “Great! But I’m busy, give me your home phone number and I’ll call you.”
“Um, I can’t do that.”
Me: “Why not? Don’t you like getting unasked for calls at home?” “Give me your home number!”
Click. And they never call back.
@Bricker59 - That’s a great one. I’ll have to remember that! Thankfully, I don’t have a house number and my cell has only gotten those automated calls and that is only once in a very great while.
I am the queen of telemarketer hang ups…I interrupt after the first sentence of the sales pitch and say I have no money and no hope of getting any =/
I answer phones at the office too… I love trying new things on them. The best time, I just didn’t say anything. They went on with their spiel for a full three minutes, then spent another two saying, “Ma’am? You with me?…. Ma’am?”. It was awesome.
Now THAT is a unique way of dealing with telemarketers.
“Man of the house?” Did they really say that? What is this, the 1920s? Jeezaloo!
@Unstoppable_Inner_Strength - Yes, he really did say that. I was sort of flabbergasted for a moment which is why I asked him to repeat himself, I didn’t quite believe what I was hearing!
@WaitingToShrug - I am getting so many good ideas to try next time. We get telemarketer calls all the time where I work. Can’t wait to have some more fun with them.
I want to say that this is awesome, and that if you ever want to go to go pro, here are some tips : ) (link).
i’m a supervisor at a call center, and none of these suggestions would work with any halfway decent telemarketer. we’re utterly vicious, and we’re paid to be. we’re simply doing our jobs, and there’s no need to be an asshole to us.
your best bet is to politely answer the phone and asked to be removed from the call list.
Unfortunately, I occasionally have to do cold calls for work. I’ve had some funny responses and some unfriendly responses, sometimes I just want to mess with people as much as they mess with me.
@flapper_femme_fatale - I’m not an asshole to telemarketers, most of the time I do ask to be taken off the call list. This particular call ruffled my feathers a bit because it was so sexist and chauvinistic. If he wants to be successful, he might want to change up his opening line.