Do Telemarketers Cause You Extreme Anxiety?

[WillThereBeCake]

I know that telemarketers drive everyone nuts, but does anyone else have extreme reactions when a stranger calls your house, acts like your friend, and then starts delving for personal info? It is probably due to having a stalker, but I just wondered if these calls send anyone else into a tailspin that takes a while to come down from? I always hang up on them right away, but it still gives me the heebie jeebies for the rest of the day. They cause me sincere panic.

 

[Hashi]

Can you get off their lists? In the UK we have the telephone preference service, which gets your number off any cold calling lists apart from the ones that are abroad. I still get a few calls from overseas, but not many. I hate marketing calls, it feels very intrusive.

 

[KP the nut]

In the UK we have the telephone preference service

I'm signed up to this and it is really good. Also if any come through I just tell them I'm on the telephone preference service log. Usually they back off.

For those that don't try the KP the nut never fail method. Ask then to hold and the put the reviever next to some music and leave them there. Believe me, they rarely bother you again :devilish:

 

[Kas_Can_Fly]

Yep, in fact I don't like it if the phone rings at all, it sends a jolt all the way through me and I feel suddenly like being violently sick I don't answer the home phone (Mum does) and I'll only answer my mobile if I recognise the number. People coming to the door freak me out too though - if you were wondering if it was limited to the phone. Especially if they won't stop knocking the door - if I answer they soon realise that I'm not OK to talk and seem to want to be gone as fast as possible.

Hashi, I'm surprised that worked, we are ex-directory and an additional service to protect us yet still receive calls. No where near as bad as my Nan though, who gets them every few half hour or so and even in the night. It's crazy, if I could go out of the house to visit her, I wouldn't because of the phone!

 

[Hashi]

we are ex-directory and an additional service to protect us yet still receive calls.

http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/number_type.html

You have to allow a few weeks for lists that have already been produced and sent out. Also, as KP says, you will get a few stragglers who aren't using up to date lists. However, they're breaking the law if they do ring you, so telling them that and asking for their name usually ensures no more calls.

All I get now is weird recorded messages from Malta or somewhere. Haven't had one of those for months, though.

 

[therapybankrupt]

When a telemarketer calls they better be ready for a whole can of whoop ass. Cause it gives me the chance to be assertive. I do not know them and I sign up every year for do not call list. Only wish I could use these boundaries and be this assertive with people I know. ha ha!

 

[safenow]

I have been on our do-not-call list for a few years, yet I still get calls. I just ask them for their name, and then hang up on them.

But, since that stalker last year, I did get rather nervous about the breather. Those who want personal information, I just start laughing hysterically after saying, "You've got to be kidding?"

 

[WillThereBeCake]

I have been on the Do Not Call List since it was introduced. Now, they either robo-call, or call saying they are doing a marketing project and then try to sell you something. They also call a lot and speak in Spanish or asking for someone by a certain name, and then claim they got a wrong number, but still try to sell you something.

I think it is the phone ringing that also startles me. Both the noise, and worrying that it's just someone that's going to cause me stress on the line. Although, only a few people have our number, and none of them are problem children, that thought still goes through my mind.

The robo-calls are the worst as they obviously don't care about time zones. Many come from overseas and I have received these calls in the middle of the night. That totally trashes any chance of getting back to sleep since you get woken up assuming someone has been hurt. That's hard on the Muggles, but for us folks, that is just a "screw it, I'll stay up and watch TV until day break" prescription.

As with so many things here, thank you all. I'm trying to gauge what things others experience, and what things might prove I'm actually an alien. Nano Nano :)

 

[Cornelia]

Unsolicited calls sure drive me nuts, they're harassing. But I realized I shouldn't let them get into my system. They're never gonna stop if I get mad anyway. So what I do is annoy them instead. I got a lot of prank tips and I never run out of ideas to keep them pissed off. :P

Besides, I have CALLERCENTER to post the phone numbers these callers use. With about 40 000 visitors on the website daily, let's see how they'd like getting anonymous calls, too. :D

 

[who am i kim]

I hate telemarketers with a passion. I just get short and abrupt with them and hang up. I do not pickup the phone without looking at who is calling first. If its important they will ring you back or leave a message the others callers. No offence to anyone from India but in Australia that's where our telemarketing calls come from.

 

[Orglethorp]

Ask then to hold and the put the reviever next to some music and leave them there.

Love it!

My problem with telemarketers is that they'll ask for "Mr [last name]" all the time. Thanks, stranger, for reminding me that he exists.

The worst, though, is wrong-number calls when the caller, expecting a man who has a daughter and figures that's why a young woman is answering, asks to speak to my father. The last time it happened (seriously, it has happened more than once) I spent probably 5 minutes convincing this man that no, my father did not give you this number, this is my personal cell phone and I haven't spoken to my father since 2003.

 

[Cris77]

I actually enjoy calls from telemarketers. Dealing with those people helped me get over my fear of answering the phone, and reminded me that I'm in control of what happens when I answer the phone.

A ringing phone still makes me jump though.