we are never getting together

In my head I’m humming Taylor Swift’s ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ while I write this.

I hate telemarketers… I say hate because abhor doesn’t not cover it.  In fact I pay $8 a month to avoid speaking to them, which, the more I think about it, the angrier I get.

So in my real life I do inside sales, which is to say a large part of my job is to talk on the phone.  The other large part of it is to convince people to part with large sums of money - although not their own - but perhaps of their own budget.  So this should make me empathetic to the plight of the average telemarketer, but I’m not. 

Business to business solicitation is one thing.  Bugging me at home, during the precious time of a day that I’m not at work or asleep, is another thing.  Especially since I’ve signed up for the Do Not Call list for this exact reason.  And routinely do not answer your calls.  And now I’m upset again.

I’m not the only one.  Marketplace ran a segment on this subject recently.  In answer to the pleas of ‘leave me alone’ in this segment, it turns out that some companies use cheaper off shore companies to solicit for them and they fail to abide by the Do Not Call list.  In fact they are a large part of the problem.  Since we can’t complain to the mostly useless Better Business Bureau, we’re stuck with the ring, ring, ring every night.

Recently I purchased a mattress at Sears, as part of the transaction I agree to be phoned the day before and shortly prior to the delivery.  Sears called twice, both times from a blocked number.  The delivery service called just before they arrived, their business name and number showed up on my call display.  A prize to who can guess which call I took in person.  But it begged the question of why Sears, a huge North American general retailer, did not identify themselves when calling a customer, particularly when consent was given.

In my mind it comes down to this one simple issue.  Clearly this works, companies would not continue to spend advertising and marketing dollars on methods that don’t work, so who goes for it?  And why?

I strongly believe in voting with your dollars, and so now I’m in a pickle about a company that I just received decent service from, in large part because of a blocked number.

As an aside, as I was writing this evening, The Carrie Diaries was on, which, set in the 80’s, had a scene dealing with white lies using telemarketers as an example of when it might be OK to tell as LWL.  It reminded me of the days before call display.  How DID we manage?!

So since I only know the chorus to this pop song, I will end with a little ditty to all telemarketers who persist.  After calling me 20 or more times take the hint… we are never, ever, ever, getting together.