Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
oklamoni

Andy Rooney's good ideas

OklaMoni
15 years ago

Andy Rooney's good ideas

Tips for Handling Telemarketers

Three Little Words That Work !!

(1)The three little words are:

'Hold On, Please...'

Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking ! off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the phone company's 'beep-beep-beep' tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.

These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.

(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone

This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a 'real' sales person to call back and get someone at home.

What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible This confuses the machine that dialed the call and it kicks your number out of their system. Gosh, what a shame not to have your name in their system any longer !!!

(3) Junk Mail Help:

When you get 'ads' enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these 'ads' with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those 'pre-approved' letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope.

Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? It costs them more than the regular 41 cents postage 'IF' and when they receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before the last increase and it is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes.

One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas.

Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!

If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them.

You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! It still costs them 41 cents.

The banks and credit card companies are currently getting a lot of their own junk back in the mail, but folks, we need to OVERWHELM them. Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all they're paying for it...Twice!

Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again You get the idea !

If enough people follow these tips, it will work ---- I have been doing this for years, and I get very little junk mail anymore.

Comments (8)

  • sjarz
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    All excellent ideas! I am going to put that junk mail one into effect immediately as I get so much crap in my mailbox everyday.
    I wonder if Martha Stewart needs a chimney sweep...lol.
    Suzan J

  • lilliepad
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sounds good but wasn't written by Andy Rooney.LOL

    Here is a link that might be useful: Andy Rooney Telemarketer tips false

  • carla35
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The telemarkerer ideas seem ok, but the mail stuff???
    I would bet all it's going to do is push the extra costs back to the consumer. If I thought it would really stop junk mail, I would consider it. But it probably won't; it's just even another waste and cost that will be passed onto us.

  • OklaMoni
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, I got it in the mail, and liked it. :)

    Me, I take a sharpie pen, and write in BIG letters Please Remove Me From Your Mailing list. Of course, I leave my addy on there, so they know who wants to be removed, but I put everything they mail me in their postage paid envelope and mail it back.

    This has tremendously cut back on junk mail.

    Moni

  • kickypants
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    writing "deceased" on the envelope and returning it works too!

  • kayjones
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've been doing this for YEARS!

  • Kathsgrdn
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I went to a website, linked on Dave Ramsey's to opt out of those offers. I did it about a month ago and it's really cut back on the amount of offers I get in the mail, hasn't completely stopped them but it has really helped.

  • gwanny2three
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I do this all the time too...my 80 year old aunt (now deceased) told me she did for years, I loved the idea and do it now too.

Sponsored
Cabido Design & Build
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars34 Reviews
DC & Montgomery County's Best in Full Service, Custom Home Remodeling