Swearing at a Phone Solicitor

[Skywalker]

Do you ever swear at a phone solicitor? Yes, we're on the Do Not Call Registry, but that's a joke -- telemarketers just keep on calling.

DH's bro gets a fiendish delight in telling them to "get cancer and die" or other cheerful(?) comebacks. He brags when he makes a telemarketer cry. DH just swears at them and hangs up. I check Caller I.D. and if it's a name/number I don't recognize, I don't bother to answer.

What do you do?

Wow.
I once had a friend who did a telemarketing job for a couple years and she also battled cancer her last few months at the job.
I would hate to think she ever reached anyone as vile as your crappy brother in law.

 

[person]

I don’t pick up numbers I don’t recognize. Once in a great while I might be waiting for a call that could come from a number I am unfamiliar with and I pick up.

If it is a robocall, I just hang up. if a person I just say I am not interested. If it is outside of the hours they are supposed to be calling (not allowed between 9 pm and 8 am where I live), I also inform them of that. I have never called to report anyone, but others might, and some callers are from different time zones and might not be aware of the restrictions or what time it is by me. And of course some be aware but are calling anyway!

I do have a bit of a problem with any attitude which impies: "I do believe indeed in my freedom of expression, but not in other people's if they want to talk to me..."

 

[AurumPunzel]

I just let it go straight to voicemail.

 

[person]

I just let it go straight to voicemail.

Not a bad idea.

 

[barkley]

no. i usualy don't pick up if i don't reccognize the number but if i slip up i just hang up when i realize it.

i did get into a heated match with a collection agency on the phone once. a deadbeat relative had listed me as a reference on a credit application so when he defaulted they called me trying to find him (i had no idea how). they got nasty with me when i asked how come they were contacting me when i had nothing to do with the account (never knew about it) and they snapped that i WAS the person's listed reference to which i not so politely told them they should consider calling a reference BEFORE extending credit to a deadbeat with a (expletives) credit history vs. after they've been ripped off.

 

[person]

If I answer I might just say, Thank-you for your call; excuse me, I'm busy.

 

[Darcy03231]

I don't answer if I don't recognize the number. If it's something important the caller can leave a message.

I would swear at, demean, harass or antagonize the caller. They're just trying to make a living.

 

[Meriweather]

I don't answer if I don't know the person calling......everyone has their name that comes up
And I wouldn't swear anyway.....doesn't accomplish anything. I would just block the number and go back to not answering

 

[prairie_girl]

I typically don't answer, but if I start to get a lot of calls, i'll answer pretending like I'm law enforcement. Something along the lines of "(insert state here) State Police on a recorded line, how can I help you?" Surprisingly, I haven't gotten a final notice for my car's extended warranty in months.

Isn’t it illegal to impersonate a police officer?

 

[person]

They're just trying to make a living.

I think of FDR's aide Harry Hopkins, who summed up the aim of the New Deal during the Depression: 'taking the edge off human misery'. I guess, amidst my frustration at such callers, if I get contacted by someone who is in such miserable circumstances as to have to try to earn a pittance by such calls, the least I can to is to be either polite or else not rude when I tell them I am busy.

 

[MillauFr]

The phone has been completely unusable due to the number of junk calls I get. I get the Chinese ones all of the time.

 

[CdnCarrie]

If it's a scam call I just hang up.
But if it's a survey or selling I just say "no thanks" and hang up.
No need to be rude.

As for unknown numbers I do usually answer as I rarely get them. Few times in was a teacher from the kid's school or something like that.

 

[NotUrsula]

I don't curse at telemarketers and survey takers (I just say, "Goodbye, now." and hang up), but I *do* curse at phone trees that put me on hold for ridiculous lengths of time. If I hold more than 10 minutes without any movement through the tree and no option to get on a callback list, then yep, I'm pulling out the swear-word hack. Many phone trees are coded to put "irate" customers to the head of the queue, and the test for "irate" is a certain list of words. Say one of them, and you get transferred to an operator a lot faster.

Worst situation of this kind I've ever been in was calling ICE because I needed to know what forms I had to give to a new employee who was on a particular type of work visa. I'd been on hold for 90 minutes when I got fed up and started randomly cursing; I was miraculously forwarded to a human within 30 seconds.

With scammers, it's a lot more fun to keep them on the phone and waste their time than it is to yell at them. Best of all is tricking them into thinking they have a clueless elderly person on the line; they will jump through all kinds of hoops to try to keep a mark talking if they think he or she is falling for the scam. I do "dithery old lady with a hearing problem" very well. My record is about 40 minutes of stringing them along until I drop the conversational hammer. I figure that's at least 10 people I've saved from a phone call that day. There is just one rule for the game: never utter the word "Yes", because that can be edited to make it sound like you have verbally authorized a purchase.

 

[ford91exploder]

I typically don't answer, but if I start to get a lot of calls, i'll answer pretending like I'm law enforcement. Something along the lines of "(insert state here) State Police on a recorded line, how can I help you?" Surprisingly, I haven't gotten a final notice for my car's extended warranty in months.

that might get you in trouble. another nifty trick is either a recording or a box which makes the three tone 'no longer in service' message - that tone is so autodialers know there is no person behind the number.

 

[ford91exploder]

I've had people use my number for it. Eh. I don't get upset over it. I wouldn't get upset if they used my kids number. Why?

Because if they are ever sued for fraud they can implicate YOU as supplying the number, Now YOU have to get a lawyer and prove your innocence. or you may be arrested and/or sued for harrassment if someone keeps calling someone with YOUR number. Once again you get stuck with proving it was not you.

 

[tvguy]

Yes, we're on the Do Not Call Registry, but that's a joke -- telemarketers just keep on calling.

The do not call list is a joke because of the exemptions it allows. Political groups, charities all exempt. And my favorite, any business you have ever contacted AND ALL THEIR AFFILIATES are exempt.
I also feel like Called ID is a joke. My landline is my primary phone and I don't have caller ID on it, not worth the extra cost. I have it on my cell phone because it is a standard feature, but not much help because the of the 5 people that have my cell phone number, 4 have their ID's blocked. That is also a common telemarketer trick. If there IS a phone number displayed, it pretty much is a wrong number, spam or telemarketer call.

 

[sam_gordon]

Because if they are ever sued for fraud they can implicate YOU as supplying the number, Now YOU have to get a lawyer and prove your innocence. or you may be arrested and/or sued for harrassment if someone keeps calling someone with YOUR number. Once again you get stuck with proving it was not you.

I have a finite amount of room in brain to worry about things. This doesn't even come close to making the cut.

And I believe *I* don't have to prove ANYTHING. THEY would have to prove it WAS from my child's phone. "But it's from his number!" "It's common knowledge phone numbers can be spoofed. Do you have any records from HIS PHONE showing he made the call?"

 

[AurumPunzel]

Not a bad idea.

I try to avoid conflict as much as possible, since the last thing I want is to go all Schwarzenegger on them.

 

[aprilgail]

I just hang up on solicitors. But when the extended warranty, irs, microsoft or any of those scammed people call i do tell them what they should go do to themselves.

 

[Adelle Dazeem]

I am polite to actual telemarketers. I tell them no thank you, have a nice day/evening, etc., and then I hang up. I see no reason to be rude to someone who is trying to make an honest living.

If it's a scammer, sometimes I play along just to waste their time and frustrate them. I think the longest I have kept them occupied was about 40 minutes before they yelled at me and hung up. Sometimes I do scream at them first. Unfortunately, I do need to answer my phone - even if I don't recognize the number because my work calls are being forwarded from campus since I am working at home. The mother of one of my oldest friends feel for the "grandma scam" a few years ago and they got her for hundreds, if not in the thousand+ range. Those people can rot in hell. After that happened, I told my parents that if they ever get a call from DD that she is in jail and needs help, they sure as hell better leave her there and let me deal with it. LOL