how to take revenge on nasty telemarketers?

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heh, i do that 3 tone phone number not active thing all the time..

Whenever my computer pops up an unknown number (my computer is my caller ID), I hook up my Yamaha DX7, load up a sine wave, and play those 3 tones (because im lazy to record one), and then proceed to answer the phone..

last one i got was saying I was preapproved for credit. i told them how this was possible, because i don't have a job, they said "you just are! be proud!", i told them "im proud i know how to hang up on you!" LOL

Sorry about that! There is something wrong with the website, though. I just tried to go there to find the script, and it was having problems, so I will type the list of questions here.

Ask each question as written. Be courteous but serious. Your call may be recorded, so speak clearly. If the telemarketer refuses to answer your questions or is confused, ask to speak to that person's supervisor. Write down each response on the blank line following the the question, or circle yes or no.

Today's date. Time
(Put yes or no after each question)

Can you please give me your full name?
(If you're speaking with a supervisor, ask for her full name:
You're calling on behalf of...?
Do you work for that organization, or did they just hire your company to do the telemarketing?
(If the person works for a telemarketer, ask: Can you tell me your company's name and address?)
In case we get disconnected, can I also get your company's phone number, area code first?
Does your organization keep a list of phone numbers that it has not been asked to call?
I want you to put my number on your do not call list. Can you do that now?
Does your company make telemarketing calls for any other organizations?
(If yes) Can you make sure that your company won't call me for any other organization?
Will your company keep my number on its do not call list for at least ten years?
Does your company have a written policy saying that on paper?
Will you please mail me a copy of that written policy?
Have I made it clear that I do not want telemarketing calls from anyone-ever?
Thank you for your cooperation. Good-bye.

That's the script. You might want to type it out or print it out in a script format, so that you can fill in their answers. Maybe the website will be up again and you can access the original from there. I've only had two calls in a year since I started using this.

The telemarketeers where I am are done on computer. When I hear the words this is a survey I hang up. No reason can't be bothered I might try one for a laugh one day. I wouldn't let something like that bother you to be honest sounds like that woman needs a holiday she's been behind that desk too long and is starting to stress out.

I just got a DX7 from a friend for tearing down her old decaying fence. It had lived the better part of it's life in her closet.
I have two of those cassettes/memory things, some cables and I downloaded the user's manual.
Someday... I'M GONNA ROCK! Cool that you did the three tones on it.


HAHAHAHA! I like that comeback!

Thanks for the advice folks. I really want to start avenging (whenever possible)my lost sleep from telemarketers waking me up at 9 in the morning...(we keep late hours)

It would also be good socialization practice for me I think

I soooooo especially hate the ones who try to sound as if they aren't really telemarketers, but personal friends of whoever they are trying to reach.


I wonder how many people this particular brat has called where she made the lady of the house worry that some sorta frantic girlfriend of her husband was trying to reach him or something....all for the sake of her fundraising scam.
That was sorta the tone of it. I have fallen for this approach in the past.
Some guy will call and say "Hey...howz it goin'? Is Flakey around?,,,and it will turn out to be some sorta crappy telemarketing thingy.

Anywhoo....um....keeping a script by the phone is a great idea.

Also....I am aware that I should not waste too much of my time on these people..

I would also like to mention that ironicly, I have been a telemarketer in the past. I did it for about a year and a half. I worked in a very nice office with a very friendly older lady for a boss and most of the people I worked with were interesting and intelligent. I was selling tickets for the Houston Grand Opera....and it wasn't that bad at all.....But we weren't wired into some sort of machine..or using some shifty fake tactics to get people to stay on the phone. We dealt with call lists of people who along the lines had expressed at least some remote interest in the opera (for the most part) Anywhoo...I tried to be as non-antagonistic as possible.

My DX7 has the floppy drive :p but my DX7 is in need os serious repair.. it starts to fail either from the start, or when it's warmed up.. a component died in it, and is stressing under heat I think...

If I could find the link to it, I'd post the audio of a guy freaking out a telemarketer by (a) telling him that he'd accidentally called a crime scene and that the person he'd called for had in fact just been murdered, and (b) insinuating that the telemarketer had been involved with the "death", and that he was in fact the "dead" man's gay lover. By the end of it, the telemarketer was the one desperate to hang up

Also, you could try saying "well, I don't know. Let me think about this, and then I'll call you back", and then asking them for their home phone number

Nice one! Sorta takes off the uncomfortableness when you're getting even huh?



My sister talked me into a job in Austin once. It was doing phone surveys in the evening for the Department of Agriculture.
I'd call up these farmes and ranchers and ask them about their crops and animals.

Never before have I met such a consistently distrusting and angry bunch of people!

I was getting an ear full for all sorts of wrongs the State or Federal government the person felt was done to them.

I didn't last long at that job... maybe a month or two? I can't remember. Didn't like it though, especially when I found out the person I was calling had passed away, they were eating dinner, etc.

He's taken down the full call for CD sales purposes, but the first few seconds of it are
here.

Once my mum got a call from a man asking about her underwear (but pretending that he was researching) so she said, "Hang on, I think you'd better speak to my husband." So he hung up.

We used to get calls from telemarketers every evening at around dinnertime. It was really annoying, and every time my mum requested they take us off the database, they'd agree but would call back the next day anyway. They also kept giving us different company names, but all were to do with phones, although if you answered and then asked, "Is this about a phone/mobile phone?" they'd say no, then continue to try to ask questions about our mobile phones!

One day my mum was in bed not feeling very well and they called again. Due to the fact I dislike using the phone (bit of a phone phobia) and resented having to answer it (because my mum was in bed) and also resented that they kept calling and may have woken up my mum... I got quite aggressive. I shouted at the man that they called us every day and we're not interested and that we'd asked them over and over again to take us off the database and to not call again. I told him that if they called again I'd report them. He then tried to say to me that, "We won't call you again but I can't promise that no one else will, other companies might continue to call you, that's nothing to do with me." Which sounded a bit dodgy to me, considering they'd been phoning us pretending to be different companies. And it was always him who phoned, so it would be easy to tell if it was him still phoning pretending to be from different companies. So I said, "I know you, I've heard your voice plenty of times, and you've given us different company names, so yeah if we do get calls from 'other' companies I'll be reporting you."

I did actually swear at him a bit as well, telling him to 'stop f***ing calling us' or something alone those lines.

My parents thought it was funny. Probably because it's very out of character for me.

And it worked. We never got calls from them again.

I forgot to mention this, but I'm also watching 'Fonejacker'. For anyone who doesn't know what this is, it's basically a television programme that uses animation as a visual for prank phone calls, all made by the same man who voices various characters. One of them is a mouse.

I actually find this really funny, although I would really hate for someone to call and wind me up.