People who telemarket for a living are trained not to stop talking with the first objection you give them. They could lose their job for not providing a rebuttal or trying to keep you interested. I've done one of these calls recently (not quite a cold-call, but it was close) and the lady kept saying "Not interested" and she was very polite but... she wouldn't get off the phone! I'm not ALLOWED to hang up or give up. I kept trying to send her mind waves telling her to hang up on me lol. But we both stayed very polite so it wasn't bad. Usually three objections is what it takes. less

The university I graduated from calls me regularly and I hate it.

I try to be polite, but I've asked them repeatedly not to call me and ask for money. They got LOTS of money from when when I went there, I couldn't afford to send my own kids there, as they raised their tuition several hundred percent, and I've told them so. They continue to call me and it really pisses me off. I answer the phone because we have our physicians at the same University and I always assume one of our doctors are calling. I feel bad that they convince students to do this, but when you've told someone NOT to call you repeatedly, it's gets really irritating when they call and just assume you have money to give them. I don't HAVE any extra money, if I did it would go into my children's college fund, not to a university I can't afford to send my own kids to.

My middle daughter hasn't even started paying back her student loans back (which are huge) as she is in grad school and the university she graduated from calls her repeatedly, even though she has asked them to stop.

Maybe the fact that many people feel they have ALREADY paid more than their education is worth (especially in this economy) they are probably short on money, and probably can't afford to pay for their own kids' educations is why they get so angry. People don't like to be reminded they are not doing as well as their university promised them they'd be doing with their education at this point in life.

There never a reason to threaten people, but I have been brought to TEARS trying to get my university to simply STOP asking me for money I don't have. I say, "I don't have any money" and they say, "Oh, only 3 or 4 hundred would be good." WHAT? What part of "I don't have any money!" do these kids NOT understand? Yes, it pisses me off that they won't stop and have even made me cry.

I wish colleges would STOP doing this to their alumni. less

WHY can't THEY stop when people say they are not interested? They don't want people yelling at them, yet they take a job where they are "not allowed" to end the call? Makes absolutely NO sense to me at all.

It's beyond irritating. They don't seem to care that the people they call have BETTER things to do than talk to them, they keep asking, if you hang up they call back again the next day.

I HATE IT!!!! They are infiltrating MY privacy and asking for MY money, repeatedly. Do the callers NOT understand they are seriously pissing people off?

Honestly, you can't win by being POLITE and yet the only way to get them to stop is to curse at them, right? If THEY can't hang up, then you must understand why people get mean. It's the ONLY way they can get these callers to STOP bugging the shit outta them. People HATE this! less

Oh it gets even worse P'Gell! When I had this job for a year in college, there were nights we were calling CURRENT students! All of us students who worked there for minimum wage were terrified of making those calls!

Us: "But they're not even graduated yet! They definitely don't have money! Can we call a different group tonight???"

Boss: "No! Now get on the phone and don't you dare give up with a single objection!"

Us:

People who answer the phone: @%#$!!!

Us: I hate my life... less

Trust me, the students who took this job all needed the money very badly. It's hard to find part-time jobs that work around a varying class schedule. If I didn't have this job in college, I would never have money for gas to put in my car to go home on winter breaks or to pay for my medication or for my school books. The callers usually DO care but they don't want to lose their job. The job market is not good enough to throw a job away.

Good callers will always remain polite though and WILL follow-through with removing you from the call list IF they have the authority to do so. I've removed people from the call list only for my boss to put them back in the next night to have someone different call them. It makes us all look bad... less

I have asked to be removed from the "list" at my Uni repeatedly, yet they still call and call.

I went to college too, I too was broke. I simply refused to do this. My work-study job was working in the onsite school for Autistic children. Paid more than minimum, too. (I was kicked, hit, bitten and attacked by many of my students.. it was still better than tele-marketing... ) I know, at least when I went to school, there was a job board. None of the jobs were "dream jobs" but there were more than just cold calling. I simply refused to do it. I wouldn't know about gas money because... I didn't HAVE a car in college. I couldn't afford it and neither could my parents. I had to take the El, a bus, bum a ride or not go...

I just wanted to say that in many cases there ISN'T a good way to get tele marketers off the phone. In some cases, NOTHING but resorting to cursing works. I tried to be nice with someone from my Uni and I ended up crying, I was sick and out of work at the time and he... just... wouldn't.. take.. no.. for an answer. I didn't want to hang up on the kid and I got VERY upset and ended up in tears and it ruined my entire evening. Sorry, but that isn't fair TO ME at all. The last thing on my mind, as I went to bed that night, bemoaning the fact that I had no money, no job and was sick, was this kid's need to make some pizza money. less

Jen, honey, I just wanted you to know, none of my complaints about telemarketing are against YOU as an individual person. I would never want to offend you or hurt your feelings. I like you a lot.

I'm looking at this as a discussion about the repercussions of telemarketing (and related work) on both the receiver and those who make these calls. It's not personal in anyway.

You rock. less

I'm so sorry to hear all that... That's horrible! I don't even have words for how bad all that is. Even at our worst, my school was not that bad.

I got a different job the following semester at the school. It was barely better than being a telemarketer. But other than those two jobs, I didn't qualify for anything else. Even though I was poor as all get out, I wasn't poor enough to qualify for work-study. It was horrible! Then again, I've had quite a few of those...

But what I was gonna say, before I went off on my sad-memory tangent, was that your experiences are out-of-this-world bad. But they're definitely not representative of the average telemarketer. In fact, I wish I could go back in time and tell you how to file a proper complaint against your university and their call center!!! Grrrrr!!! less

P'Gell, I have the same problem with my high school & college, but not nearly to the extreme that you do! They found my new address before I moved into the house & before I filed a forwarding request with the P.O.?!?! The letters requesting money are all I get now, not calls, but now they are trying to get my non-existent children to attend!

Usually, the best thing to do is not engage them, I say, "please don't call this number again" and hang up. But, with schools, this obviously doesn't work. I have had luck with, "There is no such person at this number." However, you said that your physicians are at the same university, so they know where you live. I told my college when they called, that I was my sister & then this, "I'm sorry, she doesn't live here anymore, she's in a long-term-care facility." I still get the mail, but the phone calls stopped.

Have you written a letter to the alumni office? A cease & desist letter doesn't have to be written by an attorney, (though it usually is). This is harassment! Tell them, not only can you not give them money you don't have, but after all the annoyance they have caused you, that you'd never consider donating so much as a penny! Tell them they need to think about all the alumni they are driving away with their high pressured tactics. less

I may write a letter to the alumni office. I don't want to make them think I don't live here, as my link to this University is part of my professional profile (blush , it's a pretty well known, respected, hard to get into Uni) and I am a member of the alumni association.

I do need to think about writing a letter to them, though. I'm really tired of it.

Sorry for the hijack. less

I used to hang up until I actually had a job as a telemarketer. I was the person who called back people who called in for As Seen On TV product but chose not to order. So here is some insight:

1. I don't call you personally. It's done by a computer. I never will hear you say hello the first or possibly second time. My phone rings after yours, so yelling.

2. They WILL call you back if you just don't answer. We HAVE to click "did not answer; call back".

3. There IS a Do Not Call list, but it goes for each product. So you called about 3 products but didn't order, you will have to ask not to be called 3 times.

4. We HAVE to follow a script. So if you buy the item, we ALWAYS have to ask if you want the add-ons. The calls really do get monitored. If we skip something, we get in big trouble.

5. I personally have never called you before. There are tons of us so being angry at me because John Doe was an asshole is unnecessary. I don't even know this person since we work from home 9 times out of 10.

6. If you ask us something, give us a minute to look. We have a script. There are times that we really don't have an answer. We can ask someone (there are chat rooms), but people don't always answer right away.

7. We get paid shit and most of us hate our job. So being nice is always appreciated. Don't want to talk to me? Sure, just say so NICELY!

If this affects even one of you, I will be happy. I no longer work as one. I did in college. I was broke and hurting badly. Getting screamed at over things we have no control over is ridiculous. I was brought to tears because of how rude some people are and even threatened numerous times. So, please, have a heart and at least have manners. less

I usually just tell them that I don't speak Chinese and that they might as well remove my number from their lists. Then I hang up.

It usually works for a few months.

My favourite is when I am in North America and I pick up the phone, realise it is a telemarketer and talk to them in my limited Klingon. less

@ All those who have worked as a telemarketer.:

I see a lot of you have had some bad experiences with rude to downright hateful calls. I am curious as to how many of your calls were like that & how many were polite? Did you have more hangups or more non-pick-ups? If a number doesn't pick up, how many times will they have you call it before it's marked as a non-responsive number, (or whatever they call those)? less