http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/D14DE98D380D1B73862575FA0008F3A8?OpenDocument
An Ohio man, fed up with deceptive junk mail, made the mistake of losing his temper while on the phone with a St. Louis company pitching an extended auto-service contract. Now he finds himself behind bars
I read that part and thought WOW!! What's the world coming to? Screw those telemarketers, they're annoying!
But then I read further:
According to court documents, Charles W. Papenfus, 43, allegedly told a sales representative during a May 18 telephone call that he would burn down the building and kill the employees and their families.
Uh, yeah - That's a bit over the top. My wife just nicely says "no thanks" and hangs up. OR since we have caller ID, she'll just hit the 'talk' button, and then the 'end' button without even putting the reciever to her ear.
Im a little meaner - I just ask them to hold on for a second and set the reciever down, and hang it up later when it starts making that beeping noise that tells me they finally hung up.
How do you handle telemarketers?
I still get some of those annoying calls even though I have put our number on the do not call list.I will say it has been better than it was before the do not call list.When I do get a call like that, I just set the phone down and let them talk to themselves.I just don't respond.They think that I am listening to them.When they get tired of talking to themselves they usually just go away.
Who are you guys getting calls from? We're on the national Do Not Call list, but I still got one last week from a charter school, wanting me to send my kids there.
Damn charter schools. It's time they were all shut down, if they can spend our tax dollars on telemarketers.
Im on that list too, but I get tons of em around election time, I get em from the blade (who I have no qualms about being rude to), and from my old college looking for money.
other than that, the ones that block their caller ID's I dont know - we dont take those calls unless Im bored and wanna mess with someone
Oh man,is THAT funny! Thanks for giving me a good laugh to start the day!!!
If it's a computer call I put the receiver down and walk away. If It's one of those annoying credit card "We can lower your rate" calls I wait for a human to come on. In my desk drawer I have a police whistle.............
Why it is that even though every single phone number we have is on the Do NoT Call Registry we still get more and more calls?
I used to pretend I was different people. Sometimes I'd be the personal secretary of whomever, who was very wealthy and couldn't be disturbed. Other times I'd be a half in the bag drunk and argue with my wife, yelling over the volume of the TV and fighting over how many beers were left in the ice box. Sometimes I'd try engaging the telemarketer in a friendly, personal conversation involving their geographic location and local news and weather.
If I'm busy, I just explain that I'm not interested. The thing is, the telemarketer is making minimum wage at best, or is being paid by the call. Get the name of the company the telemarketer represents and call them to complain. Ask to speak to the president and complain about being disturbed.
I just politely ask them remove me from their list, listen for a second for a "thank you for your time" or whatever then hang up.
If it's a repeating call I tell them "I've written down your number and time and will report this call if I receive it one more time".
Read somewhere that if you ask to be removed from a list and you aren't you can sue them after the 3rd call.
Happy to say I haven't had a tele call in probably a year and I'm not even on the DNCL.
madjack: that is hilarious! I did that a couple times in college. I'd pick up "Yes this is Abu" or "No this is Juan" in the cheesiest accent possible.
Life is about turning lemons into lemonade
I wondered what Fostoria PD was told about the Missouri warrant for "terrorist threats." Not much I bet. Had they known the basis, they likely would not have helped dupe the guy into getting arrested and shipped out.
I hope anyway.
TAHL
Funny link, jbtaurus 98.
Another tip for dealing with telemarketing companies: with quite a few automated systems you can hit the # key and get removed from the list. If this is one of those types of systems, you will get a response like: "Thank you. You have been removed from our list."
No so with the credit card rate folks. I have asked to be removed and explained that we are on the Do Not Call List. Makes no difference. The calls just keep on coming.
We are on the Don't Call List too but still get pestered by the Ohio Troopers Coalition because we sent them $10 about ten years ago.
"I have asked to be removed and explained that we are on the Do Not Call List. Makes no difference. The calls just keep on coming."
They might be in another country. I know I was getting wierd calls from a online pharmacy, but have never ordered online. I asked to be removed 5 times, but they kept calling. Turns out they weren't even in the US, they were in canada.
I hear ya Flinty, it's enough to make you less "charitable" if you know what I mean.
Now I'm getting calls from Ohio Trooper Coalition, Police Athletic League, a couple of different Firefighters organizations, etc.
What ticks me off is, I always try to be polite on the phone, it just seems the civilized thing to do, but these folks don't take no for an answer.
So, sometimes you just have to be rude to them.
To charities, regardless of their credibility, my response is always this "I'm sorry, but we do not respond to telephone appeals. Have a good day" and I hang up very promptly. I give the caller absolutely no time to respond. It doesn't matter if they are asking for money or for my time or anything else. The only organizations that have repeat called are the American Lung Association and the aforementioned Ohio Trooper Coalition. I've never been involved with or donated to either organization. They are extremely persistant.
Poor bastard, I hope it gets thrown out of court. At least he'll have their name and address so he can start bothering them everyday.