Do you get solicitation phone calls?

[Denise]

In Canada, by law the person calling is required to give you their phone number and the company they are calling from, especially if you are on the do not call registry. So now whenever "Michael" or "Rachel" call about our credit card interest rates, I immediately press 1 to talk to a real person, tell them that by law they need to give me this information and ask for it. They hang up, of course, because it is a scam and not a legitimate business. But they haven't bothered me quite as often since I started doing this.

[Johanna]

Two words: "Caller ID". My mom went to the fair and filled out every coupon for every drawing with my name and phone number because I am home to take the calls for when she would win. Bah! We never win anything except dozens of calls who have a legit reason to bypass the DNC list. I don't want to buy siding, an alarm system, a new mattress, be converted to a new religion, lease a car or get home water cooler delivery service. I would have loved to win the bicycle or the new roof, but oh well. If you call me with a "blocked number", I probably won't pick up the phone at all.

And if you do pick up one of those sales calls, a quick "No thanks!" and hang up. Don't let them talk, since it is a business line. My dad will always say, "let me go get my wife..." (he's not married) and then set the phone down and go back to whatever he is doing. He says it's an even trade- his time for theirs.

Johanna

[TwinOaks]

I guess perhaps the only thing that would top Johanna's dad's method would be to have some 'elevator music' on the Ipod and ready to go.....

[HorsehairBraider]

I don't have this problem (because most of my customers contact me via the internet) but a friend does. Don't know if this is true... but she always answers her phone with her business name. She says that some of them are not allowed to call a business, so they hang up. Some kind of rule about it, apparently.

As a warning, if they are calling to try and get you to sign up for a merchant account, it's most likely a scam. Someone was doing that to another friend and when she asked for a reference, they gave her a number at Chase. Turns out the person was a scammer, but knew the number for a legitimate company and gave that out as though that was their company. It was not. Chase collected the information from my friend about this scam and hopefully shut it down, but there will always be scams.

Now, if you want to have some *REAL* fun with these guys... do the counter-question form found here. You might even be able to find out what toothpaste they use!

[DigiTanha]

The secretaries at my day job just tell telemarketers they are an answering service and the telemarketers usually hang up.

[Ian]

In the days when I had a regular business number in the phone book, it was constant and relentless. My workshop area and retail area were seperate, so every call required me to drop what I was doing and go around to the store. Sure as sheets it was always when I had started stitching or glueing. Drove me up the freaking wall - that and walk-in salespeople.

[celticleather]

I usually ask them to hold for a moment, and then go back after 15 minutes . . . and they've gone! They waste my time - I waste theirs!