[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

I don't understand anyone being incessant, it is a waste of money. I set our dialer to make one call, if a no answer or answering machine we call just one more time the next day then bin the record. Kinda pointless after that.

Neither do we.

Look, I sold home heating oil via telemarketing many years ago in college. I get it. There is no sense wasting time on a call that will go nowhere but it is done over and over and over. The perception of telemarketing, which has never been great, has been destroyed by excess. There are too many calls, no respect for do not call lists, and international callers (often with robocall scams). Not all surveys are the same either. Sales calls can start as survey-sounding before the sales pitch. Surveys are also sometimes conducted by left or right leaning political groups who want a donation or a chance to attempt brainwashing. All these calls get lumped together by people who are tired of them as a whole.

[Mandi90TT]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

I don't understand anyone being incessant, it is a waste of money. I set our dialer to make one call, if a no answer or answering machine we call just one more time the next day then bin the record. Kinda pointless after that.

Oh, okay, two calls is okay?

No, bullshit. One call is not okay, and even if it were, that's one call from your company (or two calls, since you think two is okay), multiplied by the roughly 3,471,693 other telemarketing firms, scams, political calls, etc...

I honestly hope the entire industry dies in a fire. Not the people, of course, but the companies themselves, yes.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

Neither do we.

Look, I sold home heating oil via telemarketing many years ago in college. I get it. There is no sense wasting time on a call that will go nowhere but it is done over and over and over. The perception of telemarketing, which has never been great, has been destroyed by excess. There are too many calls, no respect for do not call lists, and international callers (often with robocall scams). Not all surveys are the same either. Sales calls can start as survey-sounding before the sales pitch. Surveys are also sometimes conducted by left or right leaning political groups who want a donation or a chance to attempt brainwashing. All these calls get lumped together by people who are tired of them as a whole.

You're talking about push polling, which is honestly, a massive headache for us. We have lost a lot of clients as they try and sneak in messaging which we 100pc will not run. It's becoming more prevalent too so we have to fine tooth comb every damn survey we run to make sure it's not a push poll. It's coming from both parties by the way, as bad as each other.

Anyone legit has to tell you where they are calling from and has to offer the option to be added to a DNC database, we have a one button press option for agents to hit when someone requests to not be called back, it's really easy to implement.

Sales disguised as research is issue number one for us as a business, we had places shut down that do this but they keep popping up and it drives us insane as the public is very suspicious of us when we are 100pc above board.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by Dave 90TT

Oh, okay, two calls is okay?

No, bullshit. One call is not okay, and even if it were, that's one call from your company (or two calls, since you think two is okay), multiplied by the roughly 3,471,693 other telemarketing firms, scams, political calls, etc...

I honestly hope the entire industry dies in a fire. Not the people, of course, but the companies themselves, yes.

I hear ya, i honestly do, but what options do we have as a legit organisation? The universe on the web is dreadful, absolutely dreadful, this is why so many public polls have been wrong. Our phone polling (not published publicly) has been bang on and web continues to see a heavy democrat skew on political work that we just do not see on phone. If we do not use phone, our industry becomes irrelevant and not just political work but FMCG, product testing, public policy sentiment etc all goes away. We also do a lot of CSAT for auto manufacturers, we do web first but the response is HEAVILY skewed female and the good people at Ford or GM or Enterprise etc don't want to just talk to older females. We did 80,000 phone surveys for Ford in 2015 just on the development of the new F150 alone and that demographic is not responding to a web invite, they just aren't.

[wcr3d]

Your DNC database then gets sold to become another’s hit list of valid numbers.
I agree with the post of the industry should die by fire!
The people should then be punished to endure a call every half hour for life!

[dreamingat30fps]

I don't see how web polls are bad and skewed, but obnoxious spam call polls are legit and fantastic? I mean.... I do not know a single person that would pickup the phone from a number they don't know and much less talk to a spammer if they did. Maybe some bored grandmas.... totally not a skewed system.

[vreihen16]

Do they give ticker tape parades (or have some other tradition of celebrating heroes) in Toronto?????

[smrtypants44]

I've been getting a lot of spam texts for the first time ever recently. Someone must have sold my number.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by wcr3d

Your DNC database then gets sold to become another’s hit list of valid numbers.
I agree with the post of the industry should die by fire!
The people should then be punished to endure a call every half hour for life!

If we sold our list we would be shut down by our governing body in about 5 minutes, you're referring to telemarketing scams.

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

I don't see how web polls are bad and skewed, but obnoxious spam call polls are legit and fantastic? I mean.... I do not know a single person that would pickup the phone from a number they don't know and much less talk to a spammer if they did. Maybe some bored grandmas.... totally not a skewed system.

Very simple. The universe on phone is much, much larger than web. Online, the same small group of people are participating and skewing results, we have seen dual methodology studies run side by side and for political jobs we see a clear democrat skew online. As a point of reference, an online sampled study, say 10 minutes long with a 90% qualifying incidence costs about $12 to per complete all in. A phone one costs about $51. Clients who can afford it go phone for a reason, it's simply a larger and broader universe of participants.

[wcr3d]

I’m referring to ALL of them, yours included.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by wcr3d

I’m referring to ALL of them, yours included.

Nope, we do not sell them, we do not sell sample period. Neither does anyone under the governance of the MRA.

[Mandi90TT]

It's pretty clear that everyone but you wants your industry to die in a fire. You should maybe find a new job. Unless you like getting less respect than a used car salesman.

[wcr3d]

That you know of!
I’m sure you recognize the hatred of all these types of businesses.
Ok /rant

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by Dave 90TT

It's pretty clear that everyone but you wants your industry to die in a fire. You should maybe find a new job. Unless you like getting less respect than a used car salesman.

Doesn't bother me in the slightest, been doing it 25 years, I am not going to stop now.

[Mandi90TT]

Ok, you're fine with being scum. Got it.

[Chihuahua]

Hello this is message social security office your social security number has been stolen if you do not take message serious local authorities will be contact press one to be connect to one of social security agent.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

I got their apps set up to alert me when a package is delivered. I hate it when they tip toe to drop off a package and don’t ring the bell as there is almost always someone here and sometimes perishables are delivered.

Just be glad your packages weren't delivered like one of mine was. The idiot left the package up against my garage door. The fool couldn't walk the extra 20 feet to leave it at my front door. And me not expecting the package and couldn't see it when I got in my car, proceed to run it over. Fortunately, I didn't pull out very fast and heard the noise of the box dragging across the ground. It was miraculous the item inside the box wasn't damaged.

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Just be glad your packages weren't delivered like one of mine was. The idiot left the package up against my garage door. The fool couldn't walk the extra 20 feet to leave it at my front door. And me not expecting the package and couldn't see it when I got in my car, proceed to run it over. Fortunately, I didn't pull out very fast and heard the noise of the box dragging across the ground. It was miraculous the item inside the box wasn't damaged.

Oh I’ve had dumbasses do that too, and also leave things in the bushes instead of the covered entry. Have also had boxes left dripping wet because whatever was inside opened, with no doorbell ring to ask if we wanted to decline delivery. The whole delivery industry has struggled to keep up with residential delivery.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

About 10 years ago, I sat on the stage in Washington, DC, as a panelist at an FTC event about email spam. I was seated next to the CEO of the Direct Marketing Association. I'm pretty sure that I've posted about the whole experience, and the moral dilemma of letting him live instead of strangling him on the spot as an example/warning for other spamming ilk. Despite being on stage in an auditorium full of lawyers with satellite TV feeds all over the country, there is no way that any court could pick a jury where none of the 12 jurists ever had their dinner interrupted by a telemarketer call and would vote guilty. Heck, I bet they'd sentence me to a ticker tape parade, but I digress.

The whole multi-day event was a lobbying $h-t show, with businesses large and small pitching their half-baked commercial solutions to email spam. On the last day, a few of the participants asked if I would be at a Boston anti-spam event in a few weeks. Yup, the whole thing was a traveling, lobbying $-t show!

Long story short, I left the event with the conclusion that the email spam problem would never be solved by legislation, and with an eye-opening view about how lobbyists run/ruin our country.....

Your experience was front and center with the recent push for Right to Repair. Just watch any of Louis Rossman's videos he did where he actually recorded the hearings at various state hearings. Totally disgusting how the lobbyists were acting along with how you can tell the politicians were on the take. Louis even mentioned that at some of the state hearings the lobbyists were granted private sessions separate from the public hearings. None of the supporters of Right to Repair were given that courtesy.

[UPSROD]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

That's the softest thing I have ever read ..."emotional distress". Spare me. It's a phone call.

That NOBODY wants...we all hate them!!! And therefor hate the caller (you!)

[Alfisti]

soft

[RickFLM4]

This has escalated so much for us over the past 2 weeks...