[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Here's the worst thing I ever did when a fast talking telemarketer called selling aluminum siding for the home. He began with a spiel that lasted about a minute, during which I couldn't get a word in edgewise. Then he finally took a break to ask me, not if I was interested, but, "Are you the homeowner?"

I replied, "No, but he's out in the side yard right now, and if you hold on a minute, I'll get him to the phone."

I then set the phone down without hanging it up and returned to the TV show I was watching.

I checked on the phone 30 minutes later, and he was still standing by. When I checked 30 minutes after that, he'd finally given up and hung up.

Now, that's nasty! Need to remember that

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I don't answer the phone. Caller ID is worth the $7 per month in reduced stress.

That's not fool-proof, but it sure does help. Whenever it's an unknown number, unless I know my mother will be calling, I won't pick up.

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Ultimate telemarketer's revenge....

Stitchawl

Yes, I knew that one, it's awesome!

Originally Posted by HarryT

They do, but in nowhere near the same numbers that I used to get them.

Moving did the trick for us

I often simply say: not interested, while they're still talking. Or, when they ask for a Mr (my last name), he doesn't live here, or a Mrs (his last name), doesn't live here either (we both kept our own last names when we got married).

One, I just couldn't hang up nicely. She wanted me to switch telephone provider because I could make cheaper phone calls with them. I kept insisting nobody could offer me cheaper phone calls. I was at the cheapest subscription at the time, which meant I had a very low monthly fee, but a high fee per minute. She kept insisting it could be cheaper. Until I told her we paid about fl5,- per month (about €2.20 euro). At which point she became silent and finally admitted defeat that they wouldn't be cheaper for me... I hardly used the phone and if I called a total of 10 minutes the entire month, it was a lot (she didn't believe me when I said we hardly used the phone...)