The Global Association for Contact Center Best Practices & Networking

When it comes to outbound telemarketer calls, I'll say that I've never had a truly bad experience - just annoying. My secret: I keep the experiences short, and allow telemarketers to go on to their next call as quickly as possible.

I received a call at around 6:00 p.m. one evening, knowing that it was likely to be a telemarketer. I immediately heard that typical predictive-dialer pause and then a voice saying "Hello, may I please speak to Mr. or Mrs. Friesen?"

I immediately responded with a "Thank you, but I am not interested, goodbye." And before I attempted to hang up, the agent proceeded to ask if I was sure, because she had a very cost-savings offer to present to me."

Surprised with her arrogant persistence, I again responded with a no thank-you, goodbye, and the agent continued to go on about some great new offer that she wanted to sell to me, and how I would be very disappointed if I did not listen to what she had to say.

I don't like having my privacy disturbed by people calling to sell me something. Quite bluntly, I don't feel an obligation to listen. There's only a remote-to-vanishing chance that they'll be offering something I'm looking for right then and there. Listening to a presentation about something I don't want is a waste of my time.

All the money spent on training outbound callers, lists, equipment and other essentials of a call center are wasted on me. I explained to the agent that this was clearly an invasion of my privacy, and if I was indeed interested, why would I be trying to hang up the phone. She went on to say more about this offer that she had - I could not believe it!

I eventually had to hang up on the agent, and was expecting a call back. But no additional calls came through, and it left me with yet another bad telemarketing experience. I do buy stuff, really. I'm a living, breathing member of the consumer population. The point is that I buy when I choose to buy, and that's not going to be when I get a telemarketer's call.

I think that phone service is a great way to provide services at low cost, and I do buy stuff online and through the phone. But I've never bought anything off an outbound telemarketer, and I'm not going to start.

I'm all in favor of the do-not-call registry, and when this service is available where I live, I'll be among the first to sign up. I won't stop spending – you just have to get to me the way I want to be approached.