how to take revenge on nasty telemarketers?

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I received a very rude phone call today.

The youngish sounding female on the line said "Is Flakey there? I need to talk to Flakey" in a sorta forceful/assertive tone that unnerved me...
i say "May I ask who's calling?"
she says "No, I just need to talk to Flakey"
I say...."OK....but I need to know who's calling"
She say's "Just someone who needs to talk to Flakey"
I say "Not until you tell me who you are"
(this goes on for a while kinda in the same pattern)
Then she says (in nasty tone) "I need to talk to Flakey..not you!"..and hangs up.
I try calling the number and the line is busy
I check the caller I.D...It says the "Free Spirit Group" (972) 403-1869
I try to research the place on the internet...the number is a land line based in Plano, TX..but I can't find any information about the company


I call back a little later...unfortunately i was not prepared with what I was gonna say...

The same girl answers...She gives her name, which I forgot..
I say "What kind of buisness is this?"
She says something about raising funds for a basketball team.
I clumsily ask to speak to her manager.
She says that she is the manager
So I clumsily proceed to chew her out for her nastyiness on the phone with me earlier, but she hung up after a few words.

But for the next hour or so, all I can think about is ways in which I coulda handled it it better..and ways in which I could take REVENGE on the evil nasty telemarketer.

I have a hunch she is some kinda scam artist anyway, and therefore deserves to be put into a position where she can't ruin anyone else's afternoons with her decietful obnoxious phone calls..

I know I should just drop it...but I can't help at least thinking about pursuing this just a little bit more....
Any suggestions?

Keep calling her from a payphone every day around dinner time!

What I did when I was getting a bunch of calls from telemarketers and others using automated phone dialers was this:

1. I dialed a made-up number so I could get the "beep, beep, BEEP, The number you are calling is disconnected or no longer in service!", recording.

2. I recorded the three beep tones.

3. I then recorded my answering machine's answer message starting with the beeps.

What happens is that when the telemarketers are calling (some of them anyway I guess), they are dialing with a machine that dials numbers for them.
As was explained to me, the machine listens for what you phone does when called...

- You pick up and answer - AHA, a working number AND a live person! Keep this number in the data bank!

- Your answering machine answers with your voice message or the digital one programmed into the machine, and again... AHA, a working number with an answering machine! Let's call this one back later!

- The auto dialer dials a number no longer working and gets the real, beep beep beep... this number is no longer inservice...

Oh CRAP! This number is no good. Scratch it off the list and move on to the next victim.

If you have your answering machine answer with the three beeps FIRST, then any message you want after, their machines register it as a non-working number and they won't call it again.

This only works when the telemarketers are working from an auto-dialing machine.

Anyway, that's all I know, and I do believe it worked for me!

The other thing you can do is to tell that lady that your phone number is on the national DO NOT CALL list (if you haven't done it yet, you can still do it) and they are breaking the law by calling you. You seriously can report them.

Good luck Pipi! err, poopi

I just hang up. As to those credit card appications everyone receives. I stuff expired grocery coupons in the return envelop and send it.

find where they live and work and strangle them with the phone cord

I do financial stuff to mess with them. If they are from the "fire benevolent league" they are usually a fundraising company that ends up giving 20-40% to the fire department project, and they keep 60-80%. I keep asking for exactly what their overhead is - if they won't tell me, then I say no contribution. When they do tell me, I say I was thinking about giving $20, but I will mail a check for 30% of that ($6) directly to the local firehouse.

If it is credit protection for a credit card company, I pretend to get out my calculator and tell them that their great offer for Only 89 cents per hundred dollars per month would increase my effective rate of interest by 22.7"%. Then I ask them to explain how it is better to have such a high interest rate for their insurance policy when I could use that money to reduce my debts.

I got a call offering me 'free' magazines - when I went through the math with them, it was clear that they wanted over $200 a year for the free magazines. Then I ask them why they want me to pay more than the subscription rate for a 'free' magazine?

If they have any shame, they are sorry that my phone number came up. But I don't get so many calls since the 'do not call' law went into effect.

Simply say, "Do not call here again. Because you have been asked not to, any further contact will be seen as harassment and reported as such to the appropriate authorities. We are also on a Do Not Call list, so make note of it."

I've never had anyone call me back after that.

I found an even better thing to do with telemarketers. I found that if you download and print out this form (I'll give the website in a sec), and go through the script on it with the next telemarketer, and they call you again after that, you can threaten to sue them. If you visit this website, they explain. People have collected anywhere from 500 and up for smart a**s telemarketers who fancy that they are clever. I have been keeping the script by the phone, and while I haven't gotten any money yet, I have scared them off from ever dialing my number again. Wouldn't it have been cool to get that snotty brat to hand you money, Poopy? I am registered with the Do Not Call list, but still they call. One of these days... www.internetprivacyfordummies.com

If you wish to be truely vindictive?

Waste their time.

That's why I like using this script. Suddenly, you are wasting their time, because you are asking the questions, and they are having to answer them. And the last thing on the script is, "Have I made it clear that I do not want telemarketing calls from anyone - ever?"
I love it.

Depends what sort of mood I'm in. Often I just put the phone down but sometimes after they've said "May I speak to Mister Whatever?" I say, "Yes, one moment please" and just leave the phone on the table until they decide not to wait any longer.

And yes, sometimes I just tell them to get a real job and hang up.

I take no credit for this, my mom came up with this one years ago.

Now this only works if you have a telephone with a hold button that lights up when you press it.

Pick up, say hello...and let the telemarketer start rattling on...now silently press the hold button and hang up...now you need a clock or stopwatch handy...or just start counting. The light on the hold button will stay on as long as the connection is active, time it to see how long it takes before they realize they are talking to themselves and hang up and the light goes out...if you want you can keep a notepad handy and keep score.

Put earplugs in then play this song at full volume into the phone.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkQtnIUT7eQ[/youtube]

YES, suggestion, I have.

I would not telephone back such people, as I would give what they bargain for the first time they called. One dis the mistake of calling our home 10 years ago. I kept him waiting for two hours on the phone, by blaberring utter nonsense...

Actually, s/he was not a telemarketer, but a prank caller probably. And, at that time, the pranker got pranked himself. He finally hung up after 2 hours. Moral of the story: if one lives like that, s/he can get into surprising situations...

NB: If the telemarketer/ pranker calls, (and pays the communication) the fact that we keep him(her) on the phone will be enough of a lesson not to repeat that again.

There is no need for revenge, just do it in a fun way... and these people, will, eventually get bored to the bone...

if these snakes are smart, they call collect, and we pay the bills, so keeping these gyus busy for two hours may not be a smart idea, if we're on a budget, but the one thing that's for sure is that, two hours (or as long as we keep them posted with our blabbering) listening to our nonsense will be reson enough to go crazy.