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I thought about posting this at CS, but was afraid of it stirring up an argument over telemarketing.
Most of us don't like getting calls from telemarketers. A lot of us handle it by signing up for the Do Not Call list, where available. Others screen our calls via the answering machine and/or Caller ID, since politicians and charities are still allowed to harrass us.
Apparently since so many of us are avoiding telemarketers in some way or another, companies are now forcing sales pitches on us when we have to call in for something. It happened to me just recently when I got a Best Buy credit card. The accompanying letter told me I had to call in the get it activated, and when I did they tried to sell me some kind of insurance. When I politely said no, they tried a second time. I was so tempted to rudely point out that when I said "no" the first time, that meant "no", not "tell me more", or that I just wanted to activate the damn card and not listen to some stupid sales pitch, but I knew I'd be yelling at the wrong person. After the second time, they backed down, but I was quite annoyed.
Another time my wife's card expired, and she hadn't received the replacement. She feared the worst (i.e. it got misdirected and someone else was using it), and she frantically called in to report it lost and have a replacement issued. Before they did anything, they too tried to sell her some product or service that she didn't want.
It's bad enough when a telemarketer calls you, but at least you can hang up on them, refuse to talk to them, or even just not answer the call. But if I would have hung up on them or gotten rude, I wouldn't have got my card activated, and my wife wouldn't have had her replacement issued. They have you right where they want you, until they wear you down and sucker you into accepting the service or product they're trying to push on you, or you say no that magic number of times they're looking for.
Most of us don't like getting calls from telemarketers. A lot of us handle it by signing up for the Do Not Call list, where available. Others screen our calls via the answering machine and/or Caller ID, since politicians and charities are still allowed to harrass us.
Apparently since so many of us are avoiding telemarketers in some way or another, companies are now forcing sales pitches on us when we have to call in for something. It happened to me just recently when I got a Best Buy credit card. The accompanying letter told me I had to call in the get it activated, and when I did they tried to sell me some kind of insurance. When I politely said no, they tried a second time. I was so tempted to rudely point out that when I said "no" the first time, that meant "no", not "tell me more", or that I just wanted to activate the damn card and not listen to some stupid sales pitch, but I knew I'd be yelling at the wrong person. After the second time, they backed down, but I was quite annoyed.
Another time my wife's card expired, and she hadn't received the replacement. She feared the worst (i.e. it got misdirected and someone else was using it), and she frantically called in to report it lost and have a replacement issued. Before they did anything, they too tried to sell her some product or service that she didn't want.
It's bad enough when a telemarketer calls you, but at least you can hang up on them, refuse to talk to them, or even just not answer the call. But if I would have hung up on them or gotten rude, I wouldn't have got my card activated, and my wife wouldn't have had her replacement issued. They have you right where they want you, until they wear you down and sucker you into accepting the service or product they're trying to push on you, or you say no that magic number of times they're looking for.
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