Cold Callers with attitudes

LizardKing

I work in a small office environment and we get daily phone calls from companies which are trying to sell us stuff. Most of the time I politely tell them we are not interested.

I got a call today and the guy started off his spiel ... hello how are you .. he then asked for the manager .. I asked what it was in relation to .. he said web services /professional services and highlighted its not a sales call , I said we're not interested and hung up ...

5 mins later the guy calls back and threathens me

"Don't ever hang up on me again ok !!"

He then hung up .... :rolleyes:


The number he rang from was blocked .. I was thinking of complaining to someone .. how would I find out who the call came from ?

TheZohanS

Why did you hang up on him?

Oh The Humanity

It will have been one of the following:
eircom
Perlico
TalkTalk
Clarity
IFA
Imagine
Gaelic
Pure

So ring them all (request their sales departments) and try to sell them something as revenge. Yellow snow or some such.

Gummy Panda

and i though this thread was about a rap band made up of call centre employees

Berty

TheZohan wrote: »

Why did you hang up on him?

You obviously dont get these calls.

BTW I cold call in person in field sales but the people I call on know my company and my products so its half the battle.

speedboatchase

I work in a call centre, don't use private numbers and never lose my cool like that, though we did have an employee that was a bit like that. Mostly its because underperforming employees put all their hopes behind certain calls and go a bit mad if they dont go through, it's a definite minority.

It's a pity you cant get their number as we had a similar incident at my work and I found out when I rang a business and they told me about it, I got the guy disciplined and shortly after that he was fired

AnonoBoy

Gummy Panda wrote: »

and i though this thread was about a rap band made up of call centre employees

Me too.

Their first album would be "Straight Outta Clapton"

speedboatchase

Our first single can be "I Just Called To Say I Love ....if you would buy our premium super duper priority web package kthxbye"

Femelade

i get them too.
i put them on hold and leave them there.

mickoneill30

Berty wrote: »

You obviously dont get these calls.

I get them too. I don't hang up on them but they're annoying. Our dept gets about 4 or 5 a day these days. You have to be blunt with them. If you're polite and say you might be interested they'll ring back again, and again and again.

chin_grin

Here's a tip for you free of charge. Next time you get a call from them repeatedly tap the mute button on the phone while talking away normally. Then hang up. I'm sure they'll call back but three calls with a "bad line" will just test their patience.

Dragan

Why not just contact ComReg and get yourself on the register of people who DON'T want to be cold called.

magic?
Nope!

dlofnep

You could of being a bit more courteous when hanging up on him in fairness.

Maybe a "We're ok for the moment, but thanks anyways.."

mickoneill30

Dragan wrote: »

Why not just contact ComReg and get yourself on the register of people who DON'T want to be cold called.

magic?
Nope!

Can companies do that? The number isn't in my name. Will ComReg listen to employees? Can it stop cold calling from companies you've bought from in the past? Companies also get check up calls from suppliers frequently to see if we need anything. What can Comreg do for that?

When my company is buying anything at the moment I've to get 3 quotes. I know that means for the next month or so I'm going to get 3 suppliers ringing me to see if I need evaluations, or people to come out or if the quote was OK.

mickoneill30

chin_grin wrote: »

I'm sure they'll call back but three calls with a "bad line" will just test their patience.

Have you dealt with sales people? Really. They're a lot more patient than that. Just tell them you're not interested. That'll keep them away for a month.

northwestguy27

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un_PjRXV5l8

this is a great one

banshee_bones

oooo im so glad i dont have a landline!!! :pac:

ToxicPaddy

We get a hell of a lot of cold calls mostly from Recruitment Agencies trying to get through to the HR manager. Our receptionist, a very polite mannerly lady gets dogs abuse from most of them when she informs them she cant put them through and is unable to provide them with a direct dial number for the HR manager..

Its unbelieveable, no matter how many times they ring and she informs them of company rules, they still abuse her and hang up..

Ok, I understand its a tough job cold calling and in the current economic climate very few people are buying anything, but being abusive to someone who is polite and mannerly and only following the company rules doesnt deserve that..

the_syco

Femmy wrote: »

i get them too.
i put them on hold and leave them there.

Me: Sure, do you minf if I put you on hold whilst I transfer?
Them: Thanks!
Me hangs up the call

They ring back in 2 minutes.

Them: Hi again, seems the line was cut off accide-
Me hangs up the call

They seem to get the message then

Dragan wrote: »

Why not just contact ComReg and get yourself on the register of people who DON'T want to be cold called.

magic?
Nope!

You mean get on the list of people not listed in the Golden Pages? They also get called. Esp those ringing from Scotland.

ToxicPaddy wrote: »

We get a hell of a lot of cold calls mostly from Recruitment Agencies trying to get through to the HR manager.

Usually gets calls asking for our secuity manager. Tell them either no, meow, or hang up.

consultech

Meh, be rude back I say. They're making twice the salary you are so they deserve it!

MagicMarker

I do a bit of cold calling myself, I don't really care if people put me on hold, it just adds to my ''call time''.

It works both ways to be honest, some cold callers are assholes and some of the people you call are assholes. I am as polite to someone as they are to me. I won't say what I do, but I am ''selling'' a genuine product that 90% of the time is guaranteed to save a company money at the end of the day, so it's your loss if you don't want to listen to me.

Like it or not though, some people are just ignorant, and choose to believe that they know best.

useful_contacts

the_syco wrote: »

Usually gets calls asking for our secuity manager. Tell them either no, meow, or hang up.

LOL:D:D:D

javaboy

MagicMarker wrote: »

I won't say what I do, but I am ''selling'' a genuine product that 90% of the time is guaranteed to save a company money at......

/SLAM

beep beep beep

rubadub

LizardKing wrote: »

I got a call today and the guy started off his spiel ... hello how are you .. he then asked for the manager .. I asked what it was in relation to .. he said web services /professional services and highlighted its not a sales call , I said we're not interested and hung up

dlofnep wrote: »

You could of being a bit more courteous when hanging up on him in fairness.

No courtesy for liars...

coillcam

I used to work for a very well known mobile operator.

We sourced all of our contacts from comreg.

Anyway the spiel was:

Me: Hi this is Richie calling from X.

At this point you could be told to feck off and if so then moved on.

Otherwise I'd say something like:

Just calling about your current phone contracts and to get to the boss - So they were with us or not. If not then if I could offer them free gear and cheaper bills would they switch..... Of course they'd have a look from time to time, other times you get gate.

It's a simple mindless job at times and if you have any charm or social skills at all you can work away to your hearts content.

People as described like the current OP are mind-boggling, they'd never be let near the team I worked with. Cold-callers are just a scourge of capitalism. OP I'd forget about it, don't let some moron take away your sanity.

mackeminexile

In fairness there is an awful lot of misguided resentment towards salespeople. At the end of the day it's a profession and in these times a job! I have sold and trained salespeople for 12 years now and wouldn't dream of letting anyone I managed start off with that line, its crap and American! In most cases if you're polite and let them know that you're happy with your current provider/supplier/contract etc then they will usually leave it at that. At the end of the day though, remember these people are just trying to pay the bills and get by, just like you and it's a tough bloody job with managers giving you crap all the time about targets and call time! To whoever it was that said they are on double the money, get real. Sales is comms based so usually the basic is sh*te. Rant over

consultech

mackeminexile wrote: »

In fairness there is an awful lot of misguided resentment towards salespeople. At the end of the day it's a profession and in these times a job! I have sold and trained salespeople for 12 years now and wouldn't dream of letting anyone I managed start off with that line, its crap and American! In most cases if you're polite and let them know that you're happy with your current provider/supplier/contract etc then they will usually leave it at that. At the end of the day though, remember these people are just trying to pay the bills and get by, just like you and it's a tough bloody job with managers giving you crap all the time about targets and call time! To whoever it was that said they are on double the money, get real. Sales is comms based so usually the basic is sh*te. Rant over

I said it.

If they aren't on double the money; then why aren't they phone-monkeying at the other end taking the call in an admin role? Personality is well-rewarded, which is why they are doing it to begin with. Basic is crap, commission usually at least doubles the basic.

mackeminexile

Commission only doubles a basic if sales are made! Believe me there's nothing cushy about a sales job. Phone monkeying aside (I am not, funnily enough, a fan of most if not all cold calling 'techniques') there can quite often be a genuine product and more importantly a genuine person at the other end of the phone. It's not usually that hard to have a quick listen and see if it could actually be of benefit! Remember, you always have the option to say no and despite the pyscho-babble bullsh*t that some sales people and trainers would have you believe, its not that easy to turn that around.

Ginny

Absolute bollocks, I'd been the face to face Sales person and currently I'm the person being sold to.
Bonus would never ever double your basic, and with all the extra hours doing quotes and reports and planning my territory I'd work solidly from 7am to 9/10 pm most days for crap.
Now I'm in the buying role, and funnnily enough had a Salesrep in with me today, I was nice and polite to him, he arranged to come back when the powers that be are here.
Sales people are grand on the most part, and usually will not have a problem with a "thanks but no thanks".

Abi

mackeminexile wrote: »

Commission only doubles a basic if sales are made!

Career change ftw. Sales people are akin to chuggers to me.

Fact of the matter is, if somebody wants to buy something or switch a service- we have the media to enlighten us, and we will do so in our own damn good time.

Well its my thoughts on the matter anyway. I have various 'techniques' of my my own depending on whether its by phone or at the door. I used to say 'nah you're alright thanks' and be totally pîssed off by the caller.

Ive turned this around purely for my own amusement, and enjoy faking orgasms, start talking about my day and problems like they are from the Samaritans that Im under financial strain and ask them for a donation to support my smack habit.

The ones at the door vary. *messes hair and starts dribbling*
/answers door

"Oh h.. Oh I see your busy there"

Bubbye.

Fabritzo

here's a classic one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vng3HwVzuJ0

Big Wave

speedboatchase wrote: »

Our first single can be "I Just Called To Say I Love ....if you would buy our premium super duper priority web package kthxbye"

FAIL.

speedboatchase

:mad:

stevenmu

mackeminexile wrote: »

Commission only doubles a basic if sales are made! Believe me there's nothing cushy about a sales job. Phone monkeying aside (I am not, funnily enough, a fan of most if not all cold calling 'techniques') there can quite often be a genuine product and more importantly a genuine person at the other end of the phone. It's not usually that hard to have a quick listen and see if it could actually be of benefit! Remember, you always have the option to say no and despite the pyscho-babble bullsh*t that some sales people and trainers would have you believe, its not that easy to turn that around.

There certainly can be very genuine callers with genuinely good offers, the problem is that there are so many out there that aren't and there's nothing limiting the number of calls. In my last job I could easily have gotten 20 cold calls a day, with 80% of them being pure bull****, another 18% being the same few providers call over and over to see if we'd switch and maybe 2% being decent salespeople. I had much more important things to be doing than spending half the day on cold calls ( mall company with no receptionist so we took turns answering the main line, it wasn't an integral part of my job), so by the time a decent salesperson would have rang I would already be so sick of cold calls I would either be automatically hanging up, forwarding them to our fax machine, or seeing how many times me and one of my coworkers could pass them back and forward without them hanging up.

If there was only a few decent calls a day I'm sure we would have gladly listened and been polite if we weren't interested.

Abi

speedboatchase wrote: »

:mad:

Was done for effect. Now, extend arm, erect index and middle finger to show your appreciation for the post

Sofiztikated

I did this for 6 months, selling ad space in a local rag.

I've never had a more soul sapping, hateful job!

100+ calls a day, to local businesses trying to get them to take ad space with us. The only thing was, many of the larger businesses were already on board, and had a dedicated package set with them, with account managers that they would only deal with.

Have you ever tried ringing the same businesses daily about different ad campaigns running?

I consider myself a fairly personable, decent enough sales person, face to face, and when I could be bothered, I could pull off the sales, but I HATED myself. Christ. And the regional TeleSales Manager was a fine young thing, same age as myself, liked her well enough, but Christ I hated when she'd get on a rant about call times etc.

There's only so many businesses in the county, and i could easily rip through them in a day. Then to get told I wasn't making enough calls? F**k off.

Most people were ok on the other side, built up a report with most, but some... Jesus, rude is not the word. I know, I was bothering you, but it was my job. A simple no is all that would take for me to stop.

Anyway. I hated that job. Never have I hated a job so much. 9-6 me bollicks. Give me hotels and drunks and junkies and stuff anyday!

mumhaabu

I regularly used to get cold calls from Smart Telecom looking to get me to change from Eircom so I would hear out their spiel before proceeding to a gargantuan wind-up wasting quite often 20 to 30mins of their time.

I would often get the question how much is your telephone bill Mr. X?

So I would respond oh on average 700 -800 a month.
Cue shock and how much I was being ripped off by Eircom, then my ignorance would proceed that I thought Eircom were the cheapest. Then several seconds of arguing that I could not have new telephone poles stood etc. presuming they were duplicating the infrastructure.

I would then proceed to ask how much it costs to call here and there with Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic as my top destination to my sweet heart GF who is out there on Charity Work (Tristan da Cunha is the worlds most remote Island and administered by St. Helena) cue minimum 5 mins of checking for a rate firstly scouring the maps to see where the hell the bloody place was, (I was usally asked where was it and what country is it in by the operator after 5 to 7mins).

I would then pretend to be fierce interested and go all about signing up to their service, I would then look for the bill to find the account no. as I am too stupid to know it, several mins of searching at my end only to discover my wife (I have a wife and GF I tell them to add to the hilarity) took it with her to work to pay the massive Eircom bill. But then I find the back itemised pages but after much searching and asking them where is the account no.

But then I tell them I wrote the lottery numbers on it for my neighbour and would they ring him there for it so I give them my grouchy old neighbours mobile and they ring him at work asking him for his neighbours (thats me) account number telling him I told them to ring, which leads to massive confusion and he basically gets angry and blasts them out of it. I stay as cool as a cucumber and promise to sign up in 2 hours when my wife returns and they ring back another rigamrole ensues and I pretend to be my own gay lover and in the finish they agree to call me back when I am at home and naturally they do to land an €700/month account only to be informed that this is the bank after repossessing the house and asking for my wherabouts, wherby they tell me (thinking I am the bank) he was on about some place called Tristan da Cunha and if the bank sees me to give Smart a Call.

I pulled this prank 3 times in a month and then Smart never again called me, I now do this with perlico and Gaelic Telecom now though and the best part I get to annoy and wind-up my neighbour in the process who is a real life Victor Meldrew hilarity ensues. Telemarketers beware when I am bored and looking to kill time. The US is a dream for receiving these calls not a day goes by but a Telemarketer calls over there,

Big Wave

mumhaabu wrote: »

I regularly used to get cold calls from Smart Telecom looking to get me to change from Eircom so I would hear out their spiel before proceeding to a gargantuan wind-up wasting quite often 20 to 30mins of their time.

I would often get the question how much is your telephone bill Mr. X?

So I would respond oh on average 700 -800 a month.
Cue shock and how much I was being ripped off by Eircom, then my ignorance would proceed that I thought Eircom were the cheapest. Then several seconds of arguing that I could not have new telephone poles stood etc. presuming they were duplicating the infrastructure.

I would then proceed to ask how much it costs to call here and there with Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic as my top destination to my sweet heart GF who is out there on Charity Work (Tristan da Cunha is the worlds most remote Island and administered by St. Helena) cue minimum 5 mins of checking for a rate firstly scouring the maps to see where the hell the bloody place was, (I was usally asked where was it and what country is it in by the operator after 5 to 7mins).

I would then pretend to be fierce interested and go all about signing up to their service, I would then look for the bill to find the account no. as I am too stupid to know it, several mins of searching at my end only to discover my wife (I have a wife and GF I tell them to add to the hilarity) took it with her to work to pay the massive Eircom bill. But then I find the back itemised pages but after much searching and asking them where is the account no.

But then I tell them I wrote the lottery numbers on it for my neighbour and would they ring him there for it so I give them my grouchy old neighbours mobile and they ring him at work asking him for his neighbours (thats me) account number telling him I told them to ring, which leads to massive confusion and he basically gets angry and blasts them out of it. I stay as cool as a cucumber and promise to sign up in 2 hours when my wife returns and they ring back another rigamrole ensues and I pretend to be my own gay lover and in the finish they agree to call me back when I am at home and naturally they do to land an €700/month account only to be informed that this is the bank after repossessing the house and asking for my wherabouts, wherby they tell me (thinking I am the bank) he was on about some place called Tristan da Cunha and if the bank sees me to give Smart a Call.

I pulled this prank 3 times in a month and then Smart never again called me, I now do this with perlico and Gaelic Telecom now though and the best part I get to annoy and wind-up my neighbour in the process who is a real life Victor Meldrew hilarity ensues. Telemarketers beware when I am bored and looking to kill time. The US is a dream for receiving these calls not a day goes by but a Telemarketer calls over there,

Lies.

MagicMarker

mumhaabu wrote: »

I regularly used to get cold calls from Smart Telecom looking to get me to change from Eircom so I would hear out their spiel before proceeding to a gargantuan wind-up wasting quite often 20 to 30mins of their time.

I would often get the question how much is your telephone bill Mr. X?

So I would respond oh on average 700 -800 a month.
Cue shock and how much I was being ripped off by Eircom, then my ignorance would proceed that I thought Eircom were the cheapest. Then several seconds of arguing that I could not have new telephone poles stood etc. presuming they were duplicating the infrastructure.

I would then proceed to ask how much it costs to call here and there with Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic as my top destination to my sweet heart GF who is out there on Charity Work (Tristan da Cunha is the worlds most remote Island and administered by St. Helena) cue minimum 5 mins of checking for a rate firstly scouring the maps to see where the hell the bloody place was, (I was usally asked where was it and what country is it in by the operator after 5 to 7mins).

I would then pretend to be fierce interested and go all about signing up to their service, I would then look for the bill to find the account no. as I am too stupid to know it, several mins of searching at my end only to discover my wife (I have a wife and GF I tell them to add to the hilarity) took it with her to work to pay the massive Eircom bill. But then I find the back itemised pages but after much searching and asking them where is the account no.

But then I tell them I wrote the lottery numbers on it for my neighbour and would they ring him there for it so I give them my grouchy old neighbours mobile and they ring him at work asking him for his neighbours (thats me) account number telling him I told them to ring, which leads to massive confusion and he basically gets angry and blasts them out of it. I stay as cool as a cucumber and promise to sign up in 2 hours when my wife returns and they ring back another rigamrole ensues and I pretend to be my own gay lover and in the finish they agree to call me back when I am at home and naturally they do to land an €700/month account only to be informed that this is the bank after repossessing the house and asking for my wherabouts, wherby they tell me (thinking I am the bank) he was on about some place called Tristan da Cunha and if the bank sees me to give Smart a Call.

I pulled this prank 3 times in a month and then Smart never again called me, I now do this with perlico and Gaelic Telecom now though and the best part I get to annoy and wind-up my neighbour in the process who is a real life Victor Meldrew hilarity ensues. Telemarketers beware when I am bored and looking to kill time. The US is a dream for receiving these calls not a day goes by but a Telemarketer calls over there,

Wow, you should actually get yourself a life. We have cookies.

consultech

mumhaabu wrote: »

I regularly used to get cold calls from Smart Telecom looking to get me to change from Eircom so I would hear out their spiel before proceeding to a gargantuan wind-up wasting quite often 20 to 30mins of their time.

I would often get the question how much is your telephone bill Mr. X?

So I would respond oh on average 700 -800 a month.
Cue shock and how much I was being ripped off by Eircom, then my ignorance would proceed that I thought Eircom were the cheapest. Then several seconds of arguing that I could not have new telephone poles stood etc. presuming they were duplicating the infrastructure.

I would then proceed to ask how much it costs to call here and there with Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic as my top destination to my sweet heart GF who is out there on Charity Work (Tristan da Cunha is the worlds most remote Island and administered by St. Helena) cue minimum 5 mins of checking for a rate firstly scouring the maps to see where the hell the bloody place was, (I was usally asked where was it and what country is it in by the operator after 5 to 7mins).

I would then pretend to be fierce interested and go all about signing up to their service, I would then look for the bill to find the account no. as I am too stupid to know it, several mins of searching at my end only to discover my wife (I have a wife and GF I tell them to add to the hilarity) took it with her to work to pay the massive Eircom bill. But then I find the back itemised pages but after much searching and asking them where is the account no.

But then I tell them I wrote the lottery numbers on it for my neighbour and would they ring him there for it so I give them my grouchy old neighbours mobile and they ring him at work asking him for his neighbours (thats me) account number telling him I told them to ring, which leads to massive confusion and he basically gets angry and blasts them out of it. I stay as cool as a cucumber and promise to sign up in 2 hours when my wife returns and they ring back another rigamrole ensues and I pretend to be my own gay lover and in the finish they agree to call me back when I am at home and naturally they do to land an €700/month account only to be informed that this is the bank after repossessing the house and asking for my wherabouts, wherby they tell me (thinking I am the bank) he was on about some place called Tristan da Cunha and if the bank sees me to give Smart a Call.

I pulled this prank 3 times in a month and then Smart never again called me, I now do this with perlico and Gaelic Telecom now though and the best part I get to annoy and wind-up my neighbour in the process who is a real life Victor Meldrew hilarity ensues. Telemarketers beware when I am bored and looking to kill time. The US is a dream for receiving these calls not a day goes by but a Telemarketer calls over there,

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/