Have you ever actually bought anything from a telemarketer?
By coffeeshot
@coffeeshot (3783)
Australia
November 3, 2007 10:16pm CST
We all know how annoying telemarketers are, especially when they call you up in the middle of dinner. They've earned themselves such a bad reputation that I think most people don't even want to know what services/products they have to offer before they slam the phone down. A few months ago, I was present when my mother got a call from a telemarketer trying to make her upgrade her cable tv/phone line or whatever, to give her a better deal.
My mother actually said 'yes I'm interested' and proceeded to ask a some questions. I could actually hear this telemarketer on the phone because they were talking so loudly and they must have just gotten so excited that they were actually making a sale that they just talked over the top of mum and wouldn't shut up. My mother actually said 'can you please let me finish?' and the t/marketer kept going. Mum actually took the phone away from her ear and looked at me with a bewildered look on her face and shook her head. The t/marketer kept going for ages. Mum tried again to talk and eventually she said 'are you finished yet?' and they kept talking!! We couldn't believe it but mum persisted because she really was interested in the deal.
I want to know, have you actually given in to a telemarketer and agreed to buy/sign up to their services?
4 people like this
14 responses
@lalchetian (410)
• India
4 Nov 07
If telemarketing means by phone. We don't get such calls ever in here in india. But when tv(tele) marketing is considerd we recently bought a vaccum cleaner and we certainly lost money
2 people like this
@coffeeshot (3783)
• Australia
4 Nov 07
You never get telemarketing calls in India? How ironic! A lot of the call centres are based in India.
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
4 Nov 07
No, and actually I don't answer the phone when strangers call. When they leave messages on my voice mail I block the number. For that matter, I don't usually answer the phone when people who are not strangers call either, the difference being their numbers do not usually get blocked. The telemarketer you describe certainly needs to go back to marketing school. Sometimes when we buy one of those As Seen on TV things, the person will have a script they are told to read from about how you can buy something else at a reduced price if you give in to the pressure to buy then, and often these people are hard to silence as their pitch is being monitored or recorded and they are told to read the offer exactly from some script. Sometimes I kid around them them as in "Can't you read any faster" and sometimes they do and we both end up laughing, but you know I am still going to say "No thank you" most of the time. Did your mum buy anything from those people?
2 people like this
@coffeeshot (3783)
• Australia
4 Nov 07
Yeah she upgraded the phone/internet/cable tv plan or something. She is now paying the same price she was before and she has all the channels on cable tv. Usually she's very stern towards telemarketers but she realised that the person actually had something to offer that would benefit her.
@vokey9472 (1486)
• United States
4 Nov 07
I have bought books from the scholastic book club telemarketers before. I trust the company and grew up reading thier books so I figured I would join up for my son. The only problem is that they won't stop sending me books. I have cancelled my membership FOUR times and I still get books. I just send them back, but you would think that they would get the hint already.
1 person likes this
@Flight84 (3048)
• United States
4 Nov 07
I got suckered into buying magazines one time because they kept calling and sending me things in the mail. I called them with the intention of telling them to quit calling me, but I ended up with 5 magazines subscriptions! Ha ha. I got them at a great deal.:P
1 person likes this
@summer218 (197)
• United States
4 Nov 07
I have never in my live bought anything from a telemarketer. In my opionion, they should be BANNED. They are the most annoying people and I feel sorry for them to have to take on such a horrible job.
1 person likes this
@ersmommy1 (12588)
• United States
4 Nov 07
No I haven't. The hard push technique is a turn-off. Your mom must be really patient to have put up with that. I hope she got a good deal
2 people like this
@Jshean20 (14349)
• Canada
5 Nov 07
I've never gotten anything from a telemarketer nor was I even tempted. Not only are they annoying, but I wouldn't feel comfortable making a sale on the phone, I have too many trust issues. I often wonder how telemarketers even make a living, the people who actually give in to a sale are few and far inbetween I would think, could be wrong though!
@polachicago (18716)
• United States
4 Nov 07
I never did, most of them are too aggressive for my peaceful personality....I can not talk to aggressive people...
@GnosticGoddess (5626)
• United States
9 Nov 07
WOW! That's rude of them LOL!
No I don't believe I've ever actually bought anything from them.
@webeishere (36313)
• United States
5 Nov 07
I have. But they were a non profit organization. It was the Firemans Union and they were selling tickets to a 50's concert a few years back. I felt since the money raiased was for charity Id go ahead and do it. I gave them my credit info then the next day I went to pick up the tickets at my local FD. Now I guess as they called me selling something it was still a telemarketting call right? HAHAHA!!
HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~
@slickcut (8141)
• United States
5 Nov 07
I cannot ever remember buying anything from a telemarketer, and if i can i will NEVER by from them.They are the most abusive people in the world.Most people that work there are so desperate because they sit in one spot and recite the same speech over and over all day long,when they do find a person that they can convince to buy their product its like they are on speed..Usually people that work for those companies are desperate for work.I usually just hang up or just do not answer the phone...Collection Agentances are also very abusive with all their threats...The best thing is not to even answer the phone.You can usualy tell who they are because they use a 1-800 number mostly...
@alamode (3071)
• United States
4 Nov 07
Never! If I want something, I look for it... usually you end up paying for the 'convenience' of having them contact you... some charges they skim over, or hidden costs they neglect to mention. I'd rather do my own research and get what is truly the best deal.
1 person likes this
@acatantan (63)
• Philippines
22 Nov 07
Yes, I have bought from telemarketers a few times, but only for those products that really interest me.
