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$&% magazine sales calls
2

$&% magazine sales calls

$&% magazine sales calls

(OP)
I have gotten 4 calls from people asking for magazine subscriptions for someone that doesn't work here anymore and the day isn't even half over. This was a problem at the last I worked too. How bad is it for everyone else?

Can these calls really work? I'm so annoyed that I have canceled subscriptions for magazines they asked me to renew.

How can we stop this other than not answering the phone.
 

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

Simply tell them you are not interested and to remove your name from their calling list.  At least that's what has worked for me in the past.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

They never seem to remove my number.  I used www.donotcall.gov and it seemed to help.  Until recently I still got calls everyday from one particular number - I just lifted the receiver and immediately hung up.  That went on for about three weeks (up to a max of 8 times one day), but I haven't heard from them in a month now.

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

I was getting junk from The Learning Tree people every month for ages.

I sent them an email along the lines of:

"Every month I go through this process, where I get junk from you and I put it directly into the recycle without even looking at it.  It would save me time and probably save you money if we put an end to it.  By the way, does qwertyuiop1234567890 mean anything to you?"

(Obviously that wasn't my code, but it worked)

- Steve

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

I just tell them the person no longer works here the promptly hang up.
For the letters with return envelopes...I save them, then stuff them all in a prepaid return envelope and put it in the mail. Repeat the process for each prepaid return envelope.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated Apr 30, 2008)

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

I had this kind of problem home with "specialized" telemarketrs that got wind I am in the technical side of the O&G. Caller ID does wonders! My 3yr old is the one that was answering those calls. They have dropped significanlty. If I could just do the same with my e-mail

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying " Damn that was fun!" - Unknown>>

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

You couuld let your 3yr old type the responsewinky smile

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

I tried, but those are "ghost" e-mail addresses

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying " Damn that was fun!" - Unknown>>

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

Is it considered assault or similar if you blast an air horn or similar down the phone when they call?

Obviously an airhorn is a bit impractical in an office setting but I'd think there'd be a way to just send load white noise or something.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

I use to have a chunk of A2 that I would perch on the push button.  I'd lift the receiver, place the weight on a key and give the telemarketer an earful of tone.  Sometimes I would forget about it, and then I'd get emails from co-workers that were trying to call me.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

Pre-paid envelopes...  I'd almost forgotten about those.  You get such a kick about stuffing them full of crap and returning them.

- Steve

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

Would it be possible to send every spam you get daily back to each individual spammer?  For example with fifty spams a day, you send back the fifty to each of the fifty spammers.  Nah, dangerous thought - if everybody did it it would clog up the internet.

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

2
take the pre-paid envelopes and tape them to things you want to get rid of.  I sent hundreds of landscape bricks to the credit card compaines one at a time.  The post office will deliver them and charge the company more money for oversized items.  This also works well with old product catalogs, phonebooks, even used office chairs (don't ask, but they took it).

Since the post office charges more we could prevent the price of stamps from going up if we all did this.

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

BRGENG - Awesome.

What country by the way?  I wonder if this is legal everywhere or if some places have some kind of get out clause.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

We (as students) managed to get rid of an unwanted dressing gown (a.k.a. bath robe) belonging to an unwanted and much despised Summer "guest" who was paying the rent of an absent flatmate.

Getting one of these things into a Britsh post box (cylindrical, chest-high red thing with a small mouth) was a real challenge.  Eventually we folded it up into a long thin snake and wrapped it in newspaper.  No stamp of course, or sender ID, so there was no question of legality.  It belonged to the Royal Mail and had a valid recipient's address on it.

- Steve

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

I would love to send chairs pre-paid!

my one job I had women calling the desk and asking for the engineer which last worked their.  They would always hang up really fast....

I still to this day do not know why they would call.

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

Call them back and tell they that you are from the IRS and keep getting these phone calls you don't want.  If they continue, you'll have to recommend them for an audit.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

(OP)
DJV

  Technically they are exempt from the do not call list because someone gave them the number for something.

 

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

why worry about sales calls at the office? You're being paid.

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

What I don't care for is the calls for magazines that have absolutely nothing to do with my field. I barely have time to read the heat treat magazines, and I have no need for electronics evaluation stuff.

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

I get calls about electronic magazines, and no other. I don't work in electronics. They continue to convince me anyway why I should receive the free subscription while I hang up on them. Usually every 6 months.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated Apr 30, 2008)

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

I actually got taken off someones list the other day.  They called me about being on an email list for some camera/image recognition stuff.  I explained I'd worked on a related project a couple of years ago but it wasn't really my thing and they removed me from the list (at least they said they would).

They didn't even hassle me for the name of someone in software or systems to transfer the subscription too - amazing.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

I usually just say, "Thank you but I am not interested, have a nice day." If they keep talking then I just hang up. I know it's their job to get the sale but I just cannot handle these calls.  

Thank You
JSF SWISS

 

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

When I get cold-called, my unusual surname pronounced slowly and wrongly gives the game away immediately.  "Is that Mr .....?" they ask.  My reply is always "And you are?".

- Steve

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

Both the Republican and Demotratic National Commities have sent me requests for cash at the office.  as neatly as I could I lettered their respective address's on a 10 inch heavy weight CMU (one CMU for each commity) adding the proper postal meter number from the prepaid return envelope.  I then carefully wrapped each CMU and applied the prepaid envelope to them and left then by the post box.  The US postal Service picked them up an hour later...  No return address of course.

The best way to test something is to squeeze it, slowly, until it breaks!

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

One of the things I would do at home (if I did not have time to toy with them) is ask then go hold on a second, an put the phone by the TV where they can hear some drama going on.

I would leave it there until I would hear the loud BEEP BEEP BEEP after they have hung up.

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

BRGENG,

Genius.

 

Kevin

"It is a mathematical fact that fifty percent of all doctors graduate in the bottom half of their class." ~Author Unknown

"If two wrongs don't make a right, try three." ~Author Unknown
 

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

Lots of calls about the free technical magazines. I hate them. I rarely review any of them anymore. Even though I read alot, it's rare I read those anymore.

RE: $&% magazine sales calls

The summer after my freshman year in college I landed a job at a company (non-engineering company) in Washington as a "junior sales associate" and little did I know it ended up being a telemarketing job.  

Worst job ever.

But we were legally required to remove you from our list if you ask.  I would always honor that request and I knew very few people who wouldn't.  You could always tell the people that had asked to be removed and weren't, and nobody likes talking to them anyways so there is no real reason for them not to remove you.  My suggestion would be to simply say you are not interested and asked to be removed from their calling list like MadMango suggested.  Of course some places have more than one list (we acutally had sheets of paper with phone numbers on them that we blacked out manually) so they might not catch every occurrence.

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