Thursday, August 2, 2012

Unwanted Phone Calls

We all receive many annoying and unwanted calls. From telemarketers. From people who do surveys. From scam artists. From fund raisers. From credit companies to give us their cards. From banks to give us loans.

What do we do when we receive such calls? Depend on our mood. Sometimes we just hang up. Sometimes we just ask a question for which they don’t have an answer in their script and they blink.

I have used some funny tricks. I will ask them if they can hold for a few seconds. Put the phone down. Don’t pick it up for 3 minutes. They are gone by then.

Sometimes, I would reply in Tamil as if I don’t know English. That used to work perfectly until many of these centers moved to India. Nowadays if I reply in Tamil, and if the call is from India, they bring a Tamil speaking guy or girl to talk to me. Ahaaaa. But they are no match for me. If a guy talks to me in Tamil, I will answer like this:

Yaendappa. Unakku kalyanam aacha? Un appa amma kitta solli un jadhagatha anuppu. (Hello young man. Are you married? Please ask your parents to send your horoscope.) That’s it. He hangs up thinking an illiterate man is answering the phone.

Recently had a strange but pleasant experience. I got a call (not from an Indian center) when we were about to go for a movie. The caller said she is doing a survey and want me to answer a few questions. I told her to get lost and not to waste my time. I then hung up. I thought that was the end of the story.

But no. A week later I received a letter. Picture of that letter with its attachment is posted here.


Since you cannot read from the above picture, I will type a few important sentences from this letter.

We’re sorry if we upset you with our recent telephone call. We only want to ask you about your opinion on Radio listening. Enclosed we have included a small gift to express our regret for having disturbed you. We want you to know your participation is very important. We will try calling again. Your opinion counts.

The letter came with a one dollar bill (gift).

I was pleasantly surprised. Will certainly respond to their survey next time they call. Not for their one dollar bill. Impressed with their unique tactic. We all would make a few dollars if every telemarketer follows this tactic.

19 comments:

  1. So What? Big Freaking Deal!

    I'm not impressed with their approach, their tactics, or their customer satisfaction methods.

    Regards,
    Timeshare Salesmen and TSA agents

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  2. Thanks for your comments Timeshare Salesmen. You are right. I don’t approve of their approach and tactics also. I love to sit through your 4 hour high pressure sales pitch and outrageous claims.

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  3. :D loved ur post..its really irritating..they really treat the customers as if we do not know anything..if they gonna pay us we will surely don't mind picking up their calls..nice post..

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  4. Thanks for your comments Ranita. Very rarely, we get a pleasant surprise like this.

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  5. It happens only in USA...In India its like u register for NDND but still ppl call n sell u things :(

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  6. Thanks for your comments Ekta. Even in USA, this is the first time I have expereinced some advertising firm express apology for intruding. May be a nice marketing approach.

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  7. Chithappa, this reminds me of your stories of trying to avoid the LDS Bible pushers in SLC... still this may be the firs time I've ever heard of anyone getting something out of "in your face" advertising--Bharat

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  8. Thanks for your comments Bharat. Yes, this is the first time something like this happened.

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  9. Ha, that dollar surprise was really a rewarding one. We get these disturbing calls all day and usually when we are most pressed for time!

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  10. Thanks for your comments Sanand. Yup, that surprised me too.

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  11. nice post
    In India anything is possible they can even call a judge and try to sell him.

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  12. Hi SG
    Long time..I got caught with my work. Very slow in blogging. Nice to see you. Ungalakum Janmashtami vazhthukkal.
    I also get these irritating calls from the insurance companies. I sometimes do not pick if I recognise the number. Sometimes I feel like scaring them as if they are talking to a dead person..That is the kind of irritation they give..and all these calls are scheduled in afternoon during my afternoon siesta..
    tc

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  13. Thanks for your comments sm. You are correct.

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  14. Thanks for your comments Chitra. Good to see you back here again. Afternoon siesta? That is called luxury and living in style.

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  15. LOL...That was surprising indeed..!
    I guess, in India, we are definitely not going to get such deals! I normally disconnect as soon as I realize it's one of those DO NOT DISTURB kind of calls..but,henceforth I won't mind taking them!! :)))
    LOL..Your tricks are awesome!

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  16. Thanks for your comments Panchali. Hope this saying sorry thru one dollar bill comes to India soon.

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  17. Ha ! Thanks for the tip. Since I know many languages, I am going to try this out when in good mood. In bad mood I will give lecture in English.:-)

    I think it is very nice of that company to send that letter. They could have kept quiet.

    One has to hear the kind of phone calls we get here from idiots!

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  18. Ha ! Thanks for the tip. Since I know many languages, I am going to try this out when in good mood. In bad mood I will give lecture in English.:-)

    I think it is very nice of that company to send that letter. They could have kept quiet.

    One has to hear the kind of phone calls we get here from idiots!

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  19. What an approach !!

    Really unique..makes one sit up and take notice.

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