Swearing at a Phone Solicitor

[yeahdisney]

Microsoft was calling back to back for days.
I picked it up the phone.
I said but you fixed it yesterday when you called.
Wow - he called me an unprintable name.

 

[kymom99]

Or when enough of them are sporting orange jumpsuits that say D.O.C on the back and wearing them for 10-20 years. Another favored trick of these criminals is to hack corporate PBX'es and use their outgoing lines to hawk their wares.

So the guy trying to sell subscriptions to the local newspaper is a criminal?

 

[dazedx3]

Coming from a family who has had three members diagnosed with cancer in the past year this makes me really sad. OP maybe you could show this thread to your family

 

[Figment of Speech]

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.

I'm struggling to imagine a scummier response than this.

Frankly, swearing briefly before hanging up is unnecessarily rude, too, but there is a substantial difference between spontaneously cursing out of annoyance versus making a deliberate effort to cause a random stranger emotional distress. The first is thoughtless and unkind, but the second meets the definition of abusiveness.

Bear in mind that telemarketers are often not allowed to hang up, no matter how awful a call recipient becomes. They don't have the liberty we have of just ending the call if it's not grabbing us. So when someone is a jerk to them, the jerk is essentially trapping them in a no-win situation. They hang up, their job is at risk. They stay on, they might have to put up with some truly terrible specimens of humanity. Don't be that jerk, and don't validate them. You don't have the moral high ground when you do.

 

[mikehn]

these days, telemarketers have me by the balls. I answer every one of the 100 calls I get a day. Simply because I dont want to miss that one call for a vaccine appointment.

 

[Skippy918]

I keep getting these calls from someplace called Group Pharmacy plan. I know it’s a scam cause I looked it up and I told them to take me off their list several times, but they said they can’t do that. I called them out on their bs. I already reported them to the FTC. They call several times a day.

 

[ronandannette]

If I pick up and hear nothing, I hang up. If I pick up and hear call centre noise, I just hold down any button on my phone until the call centre hangs up.

The less people who refuse to exploit themselves by working at call centres, the sooner this predatory industry can die out already.

I really don't understand why you feel this way - maybe I'm missing something? For example, I bought a KitchenAid dishwasher from the Brick. Disclosed at the time of sale is that the customer service is contracted out to an international firm and for KitchenAid appliances, the 1-800 number goes to a call centre in Barbados. I've had cause to deal with them twice in the past 3 years and while I'd much rather be talking to somebody at a desk in my local Brick store, I can't say the service wasn't fine. Many, many other Canadian businesses use off-shore call centres for various things as well.

 

[prairie_girl]

I really don't understand why you feel this way - maybe I'm missing something? For example, I bought a KitchenAid dishwasher from the Brick. Disclosed at the time of sale is that the customer service is contracted out to an international firm and for KitchenAid appliances, the 1-800 number goes to a call centre in Barbados. I've had cause to deal with them twice in the past 3 years and while I'd much rather be talking to somebody at a desk in my local Brick store, I can't say the service wasn't fine. Many, many other Canadian businesses use off-shore call centres for various things as well.

*this is not directed at you at all. I’m just quoting you because I know you won’t trash me lol*

Winnipeg is actually the call Center capital of Canada. Not sure why that is, but there you go.

People always assume they are talking to someone overseas when they speak to someone with an accent. And, if you ask where they are located, most are told to say they are somewhere else. When I took calls for Nintendo, I told everyone I was in Minneapolis when I was most certainly not. Americans get really mad when they find out an American job has been outsourced. At my current job, depending on what call I’m taking, I could be in one of three American cities because that’s where the headquarters are located.

I know I’m not a telemarketer, and the people are calling me, but I still get yelled at and sworn at and abused because someone is mad about a missing pickle on their burger.

 

[Timandalicia]

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?

I think there are much more creative ways. But if you want them off your back (and they are a legit company), tell them verbally not to call or you will pursue action. It is against federal law and you can sue for up to 20 grand a call. No really.

 

[ronandannette]

*this is not directed at you at all. I’m just quoting you because I know you won’t trash me lol*

Winnipeg is actually the call Center capital of Canada. Not sure why that is, but there you go.

People always assume they are talking to someone oversees when they speak to someone with an accent. And, if you ask where they are located, most are told to say they are somewhere else. When I took calls for Nintendo, I told everyone I was in Minneapolis when I was most certainly not. Americans get really mad when they find out an American job has been outsourced. At my current job, depending on what call I’m taking, I could be in one of three American cities because that’s where the headquarters are located.

I know I’m not a telemarketer, and the people are calling me, but I still get yelled at and sworn at and abused because someone is mad about a missing pickle on their burger.

That does bring up a good point about the various different kinds of call centres that are being discussed here and what exactly one thinks of when they hear/use the term. Out-sourced customer service, charity solicitors and telemarketers for furnace cleaning companies is what I think of. Others may immediately imagine shady sweat-box rooms full of fraudsters pretending to be grandchildren in distress or the “tax police”.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Given my disdain for bureaucracy, I'd be more inclined to assume it's a failure of the government agency overseeing the "Do Not Call Registry" than immediately assume companies are ignoring it.

I never thought of it that way, although maybe, I guess?

 

[person]

That does bring up a good point about the various different kinds of call centres that are being discussed here and what exactly one thinks of when they hear/use the term. Out-sourced customer service, charity solicitors and telemarketers for furnace cleaning companies is what I think of. Others may immediately imagine shady sweat-box rooms full of fraudsters pretending to be grandchildren in distress or the “tax police”.

It's usually ppl trying to earn a living...

 

[barkley]

i'm just amazed by the pandemic uptick in telemarketing calls to our landline asking for a family member who passed 11 years ago (and was never associated with the number)- 'sorry, yes there is a point when it is too late to plan and take steps for your later years in life'

 

[person]

i'm just amazed by the pandemic uptick in telemarketing calls to our landline asking for a family member who passed 11 years ago (and was never associated with the number)- 'sorry, yes there is a point when it is too late to plan and take steps for your later years in life'

Where do the callers get their database from...

 

[KayMichigan]

I'm struggling to imagine a scummier response than this.

Frankly, swearing briefly before hanging up is unnecessarily rude, too, but there is a substantial difference between spontaneously cursing out of annoyance versus making a deliberate effort to cause a random stranger emotional distress. The first is thoughtless and unkind, but the second meets the definition of abusiveness.

Honestly, this guy sounds like a monster to me. It's not normal for someone to get "fiendish delight" in causing others to suffer and be proud about driving another human being to tears. He sounds mentally ill and possibly dangerous. I sure hope he doesn't have kids.

 

[dez1978]

Solicitors no, scammers yes. The ones constantly calling about my student loans (never had one) needing to be paid immediately, or the "IRS" calling to say they have a warrant for my arrest as I haven't paid my taxes. My favorite recently was someone who left me several voice mails saying she had papers to serve me and went on to say if I did not call her she would have no choice but to show up at my parents employer ( I guess thinking I'd want to save them the hassle or embarrassment idk). Good luck lady... They've been dead for 20 plus years. Have fun with that. my bestie and her husband called one IRS scammer back after they'd left a message about arresting her and her husband offered them "favors" to get her out of it lol. And when they hung up on him, he called back several times.

 

[dez1978]

i'm just amazed by the pandemic uptick in telemarketing calls to our landline asking for a family member who passed 11 years ago (and was never associated with the number)- 'sorry, yes there is a point when it is too late to plan and take steps for your later years in life'

Several years ago a telemarketer called asking for my dad and I told them they'd need to get a Ouija board to do that. I have a dark sense of humor

 

[dez1978]

Due to the wonders of something called SS7 or 'Signalling System 7' it's not only possible to spoof the CSID (Calling Station ID or phone #) but also where the call originated from and which CO's it was routed through.

SS7 is the system which ties the phone system together it was created in the early 70's by Bell Labs and it HAS NO SECURITY because it was assumed at the time only 'Bell System' equipment would use it and at the time computers were either minicomputers or mainframes the idea that anyone would have a 'personal' computer was the stuff of science fiction.

Bringing it round to Telemarketing abuse of the SS7 system is what makes the entire industry possible.

I've rec'd calls from my own cell number on my cell numerous times lol

 

[GoingSince1990]

Where do the callers get their database from...

The thieving scammers (which account for at least 90% of the calls I get these days) don’t have a “database”. They have an autodial computer which calls huge numbers of randomly generated numbers, putting the call through to a live person only when someone answers one of those calls. And while they are at it they will often “spoof” the caller ID to make it look like a local call (this is why you may get a local call from a stranger saying “did you call me?”; this can happen when your own number has been used by a scammer to spoof the caller ID).

 

[person]

The thieving scammers (which account for at least 90% of the calls I get these days) don’t have a “database”. They have an autodial computer which calls huge numbers of randomly generated numbers, putting the call through to a live person only when someone answers one of those calls. And while they are at it they will often “spoof” the caller ID to make it look like a local call (this is why you may get a local call from a stranger saying “did you call me?”; this can happen when your own number has been used by a scammer to spoof the caller ID).

Interesting...