A TELEMARKETER NIGHTMARE – “Hello. This is Joe.”

We’ve all gotten the calls on our landlines. You know the ones. Those pesky great offers of free vacations that only cost you an arm and a leg, or the insurance you don’t want but you can’t live without – or so they say.

Enough is enough! We sign up, registering our phone numbers on the National ‘DO NOT CALL’ Registry, clap our hands together and say “Oh goody! No more of that!”

But…the buck doesn’t stop there. Those telemarketers are a tough and crafty bunch. They’ve gotten access to our cell phone numbers now and the calls continue. Lucky us! We are now able to register our cell phone numbers with National ‘DO NOT CALL’ Registry.

Still, no matter what, the calls continue on landlines and cell numbers, but you know you can file a complaint if they do – which they do. What does filing a complaint consist of? I’m not sure exactly, because I’ve never filed that complaint.  You may  need the name of the caller, the number of the caller, what time of day the call was made, and what the caller was wearing. I have no caller ID on my land line and that’s where most of those aggravating calls come from. I just don’t answer on my cell phone if I don’t recognize the number.

There is one call we get on our land line day after day. It’s from Joe, and he’s with a medical insurance group of some kind. It’s the kind I need – he thinks. Joe is only an automated voice on the other end of the line. He has no set time to call. He makes his own hours and will even leave a message (usually a partial message) on the answering machine if he’s missed me. I don’t return the call because he usually calls back anyway. He’s a hard one to shake! Monday our call went like this:

Me – “Hello”

Joe – “Hello. This is Joe”

Me – silence trying to wait Joe out

Joe – “Hello. Are you there?”

Me – “Yes, Joe. I’m here. Please take my name off your call list. We are not interested.” (I was trying to be nice though I was irritated because Joe calls at least five times a week.)

Joe – silence…

Me – “Are you there Joe? Please take this number off your calling list. We are not interested.”

Joe – With a little laugh, (Have you ever heard an automated laugh? If not, you’re in for a treat!) “That’s funny you asked that question. Is it because you don’t understand?”

Me – “I understand you want to sell me something I don’t want Joe. TAKE MY NUMBER OFF YOUR LIST!” (By now I had lost my temper which is something that happens when you try to have a conversation with an automated voice.)

Joe – “No.”

Me – “YES!”

Joe – “No.”

Me – “YES!”

Joe – “No.”

This “yes” and “no” dialog went on for a bit before my button had been pushed too far.

Me – “YES. Take my number off the list Joe!”

Joe – “No…No…No…blip”

Me – YES! YES! YES!”

Joe – “No…No…No…No… blip No…No…blip No…No…No…etc. etc. etc.”

Me – Frustrated I hang up.

Next day – Joe calls again. I hung up. I knew it was useless to argue with him. Joe doesn’t take directions well.

Another Joe story here.

~Elle

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