Dear Charitable Phone Solicitor

[hrj]

Yes, I am on the national "do not call" list. Yes, you are legally exempt from the restrictions of the national "do not call" list. But why in the world would you want to waste your time trying to solicit money from someone who has already expressed hostility to phone solicitation? Just because you can? If the ethics don't bother you, at least pay attention to the economics!

No love,
HRJ

Comments

[madfilkentist]

The economics of phone solicitation are approaching those of spam. It's cheap, and if they can find just one sucker, it pays for it.

[cellio]

I sometimes wonder if the economics are "hey, third-world labor pool, we'll pay you pennies per taker". :-(

[julesjones]

I don't normally shout at the people doing the phoning, though I'd cheerfully pour hot lead down the gullets of the people employing them. The only time I have ever sworn at one was when I pointed out that I was on the Do Not Call register *and* had already told them at least twice before that I didn't want any more phone calls from them asking about my radio listening habits, and he said that that was all right, he wasn't trying to get money out of me, so the DNR didn't apply to him.

It was my tenth wedding anniversary and I was waiting for a phone call from my husband, who had had to go to a conference on the other side of the country. I was waiting on a number of other calls that were important to me. I'd also not long previously been in a situation where phone calls at that time of the evening were likely to be news about a sick relative. I was *not* happy about an arrogant jerk telling me that he had the right to repeatedly clog up my phone line and interrupt whatever I happened to be doing, regardless of my expressly stated wishes on the subject. And told him so, with the use of the FOAD phrase.

[madfilkentist]

Makes sense. When they're being paid to call and they're polite, that's one thing. But when they tell you you can't do a damn thing to stop them, they'e no longer entitled to any courtesy.

[julesjones]

It wasn't exactly telling me that I couldn't stop him. I got the feeling he genuinely thought that once I knew he wasn't trying to get money out of me, there wasn't any reason to be annoyed by the call. He didn't seem to grasp that the call itself is an intrusion and a significant nuisance regardless of whether it's an attempt to get money.

[anghara.livejournal.com]

My utterly beyond-the-pale story is the one time, back when I was an ACTIVE freelancer, I came home to a phone message which was just a request to phone this person back, a name, and a phone number. Well, like I said, I was freelancing - and this person might have been a client, might have been potential money in the bank. SO I phoned back, and the phone got picked up on the other end by someone identifying the place as some sort of heart research foundation. A little bit mystified - but hey, okay, they might need stuff written - I asked for the name on my message, and got passed on to this woman, and said, "You left a message for me to phoneyou back...?"

"Oh, yes," she said brightly. "We are soliciting donations for our very important research. You weren't home when I called, so I left a message for you to contact us..."

I'm afraid I lost it. It's bad enough having people phone me (usually at inconvenient or awkward hours, usually when I'm doiong something else that I consider to be important) and ask for money - but for them to ask me to call them back on my own nickel and in my own time so that they could ask me for money was just AAAARGH. Needless to say she got an earful and a promise that she would NEVER get any money from me no matter how noble her cause.

I HATE telemarketers. WIth a passion. And frankly, I don't care that they're doing a thankless job - or at least I don't care if they continue talking after I politely said no thanks. If their first words after I said "no" aren't "I'm sorry I bothered you, good night" they just get the phone put down on them midstream. Sorry. I have no time for this.

[madfilkentist]

There's even worse than that.

If you ever get a call from "CBCS", don't return the call. Think of it as the telephone equivalent of malware.

[scotica.livejournal.com]

At least they're actually calling you. I get to deal with all the charities my mom has given to -- and there are a fair number. (And I will note for the record that there is nothing so persistent as a charity that you have given money to in the past...)

I used to just tell them she wasn't available and could I take a message, but of course that just meant I would get called again another night (because of course they never let it go at a message, even if they actually leave one).

Then I started asking who was calling and if it was a charity telling them she did all of her charitable giving by mail, never by phone, and that they should just send her something in the mail, but of course they never connect the dots on that and I kept getting phone calls.

Now I say all that and then add that we would like to be taken off their phone list -- so far I've only had one explain they were exempt from the law (and you can bet that charity won't ever get anything from my family again) and another one not really know what to do with the request, but up to this point the rest have all been very nice and taken extra time on the phone to deal with the request to go off the phone list.

Perhaps this is falsely reassuring that they actually have a procedure to take people off the list though? Maybe I should start keeping a list of which charities have been told... (since no way can I remember with these numbers!)

[dame-cordelia.livejournal.com]

I once - years ago - made a small donation to one of the many Police Activities Leagues. Boy was that a mistake!

Now I get "thanks for last year's donation" from several PALs when I only made a donation to one.

Now I just say "no" and hang up the phone.