3 Effective Ways to Handle Unwanted Telemarketing Calls

We have no problems with telemarketers. My wife and I let the answering machine pickup EVERY phone call, if it is a relative or friend we will answer. If it is a telemarketer they just hang up.

It should be noted that the FTC or FCC are not allowed to sue a telemarketer on behalf of any individual, so if you report the telemarketer to them, it won't benefit you directly. But if they receive a number of complaints about a particular telemarketer, they will take action against that telemarketer, and usually the telemarketer will end up signing a consent decree that prevents him from continuing his telemarketing harrassment.

When I get a sales call I go through the old, "Have we an established business relationship, and what is it?

If they persist I tell them what law they [personally are breakaing and the penalities and point out what a bunch of sleasey people they work for who would put them into the position of breaking the law and how time for court appearances will probably not be paid by their employer and so on. I can keep a phone line tied up for fifteem minutes!
As a former telemarketer, I enjoy this greatly, if the time permits.

Other times, I will ask at the outset if they are hourly or commission If hourly, I will tell them that I am a former telemarketer and start shooting the breeze, but avoiding the subject of their call, discussing automatic dialers and so on. In case of commission, I will tell them that I will waste their time until they hang up.

KDH, Former telemarketer.

re: telemarketers...
I have begun to leave the phone and simply walk away to continue whatever I was doing before the interruption.
After a few minutes when I pick up my phone again, they have hung up.
I'm no longer flustered, annoyed or rude. I just enjoy it!

The comments that are published are just as bad as the actual telemarketer call! Two bads don't make it right!
Not answering your phone and going to voice mail is very rude and can become a very bad habit. The taking up the telemarkers time is just as rude., you can tell them nicely to remove your number from their calling list and hang up. If the calls continue what you want to do is: Make like you are interested in the call so you can get their phone number and name of company. If you ask them this right up front they will normally hang up. So, once you get the phone number and company name advise them to remove your number from the list and make a complaint to your states attorney general, if you can only use the Federal Do Not Call list, send a complaint to the Federal Attorney General. This does get them to stop calling your number.

You can put yourself on the Do Not Call List. That took care of more than 90% of telemarketing calls.

I like to put the phone down and walk away. When caller finally hangs up, a loud tone is provided by the phone company to indicate an open line and you can now hang up.

Another amusing way to handle an Unwanted Telemarketing Call and annoy the caller: Just tell the caller "I have to go turn the stove off and I'll be right back" - then, leave your phone off the hook while you cook, watch TV or whatever for about 15 minutes. By the time you check back with him/her, (s)he'll be gone and will have wasted some of his/her company's valuable time. (Most telemarketing firms do not allow the caller to hang up on a customer without getting supervisor approval first).
I know - I'm evil! - but it's soooo satisfying to get back at these turkeys!

PS Having said all that...I must admit I could use a couple of those ideas when my mother in law calls...(ooooh)

To Gen who claims it's rude to take up the telemarketer's time. If you don't stand up for your right to do something to stop them, they will continue to harrass you with more phone calls. And hanging up, being rude, or wasting their time is an accepted and time-proven way to stop their harrassment. Being rude or taking some action against the turkeys is the only way that you can get them to flag your phone number as a "problem customer" so that they will know beforehand and discontinue making calls to you. The scammers keep and trade sucker lists of "good marks", customers who fall for their sales pitches. These methods are guaranteed keep your phone number off the sucker lists. So your statment about customers being rude is just plain bad advice.

I learned some very interesting things lately! When you get calls and no one is on the line but you hear a clicking, it is an automatic dialer for a telemarketer or collection agency, who takes the call that answers first. The dialer notes the calls that were answered and the time so the telemarketer knows when you are at home. When you answer your telephone and no one is there and after a pause you hear that tell-tale click, immediately start hitting the "pound" (or "number") key repeatedly, as fast as you can, for about a minute, and that will confuse the computer and it will throw your telephone number out of the system. It works! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA I love it. Don't forget to do it every time you get one of these calls.