how do you get rid of telemarketers?

[arabookworm]

I have yet to find a way that works. what works for you?

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

sign up on the do not call list. i did, and i dont get calls anymore.

 

[Fay at Frizzled Feathers]

Tell them to remove your name from their list and dont call no more , worked for me.

 

[Beekissed]

There are ways they can still get past the do not call registry. I have found a lengthy, funny answering machine message does wonders!!! They call but they won't stay on the line to listen to all the idiocy! I enlisted my teenager's help for this little item and it even repels my boss's calls!!! Lovely!

 

[mtnhomechick]

I just tell them I'm on the other line and ask for their # so I can return the call. when they say NO......I ask them why not.....they call my #. Usually results in a quick hang up on their end. LOL

I had an email joke where a tm calls a man and the man impersonates a cop and says he's investigating a murder at the scene of the call and asks the tm how he knows the person etc and scares the tar outta the guy. It's too funny.

 

[miss_jayne]

i list our phone under my oldest daughter's first name and my maiden name. when they call, we give the phone to her and she listens to the whole kit and caboodle.

then she politely informs them that she only gets a few dollars for allowance or asks if they are allowed to be selling to minors.

it works wonders.

 

[arabookworm]

I once just gave the phone to my little brother, and he just chattered into the phone for several minutes. but he's just not always available, and I feel bad hanging up.


but speaking of answering machine messages, my brother used to have some rather interesting ones.

hello, this is the refridgerator speaking, the answering machine is currently on vacation, if you would like to leave a message, I will write it on a little piece of paper and stick it to me with a magnet. BEEP!

 

[Trollkiller]

Telemarketers that contact numbers in Florida are required to have a telemarketer sales license. [501.605 ]

I simply ask them for their sales license number, sometimes they tell me they don't need one and I start quoting the statute. Because they don't want any legal hassles they take me off the list.

For recorded sales calls that want you to leave them a message, I turn up the TV and place the phone next to it. Most of their recording devices keep recording as long as there is sound. I fill up their tapes so that they can't record the next person.

If you ever get one of the pre recorded calls and it hangs up on you when you go to leave a message, the tape is full.

When my son was little and I would get a sales call, I would tell the telemarketer to hang on for half a second, then I would hand Mikey the phone. Most of the time the telemarketer would think that the kid picked up the phone on his own so they would talk to him while they waited for my return. Of course I would never return. Most people hate to hang up on a kid so some of the calls were ten to twenty minutes long.

Edited for clarification.

 

[Linda in San Diego]

The No Call registry worked wonders for our phones - land line and mobile both. Recently we got the call about the car warrenty. I finally let one go all the way to the salesperson. I acted very concerned and asked what was wrong with my warrenty. He told me it had expired - then I totally shifted gears and said I was not surprised since it was a 1972 (no lie) Volkswagen Bug! Then I told him to not call my number again - we would never buy what they were selling.
He tried to keep me talking but I just laughed and told him he had a stupid job then hung up.

 

[speckledhen]

Unpublished number. It's cut them almost entirely out now. Just the random dialers get us most of the time.