22 February 2011

OurTel - Aggressive Telemarketing

| Tim Kelly
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Got home from work today and heard the phone ringing. Before I could get to it my wife said I shouldn’t answer – it was just a guy calling trying to sell something, that she feared she may have agreed to.

I answered, and sure enough it was a telemarketer. I asked him to identify where he was calling from.

“South Melbourne”. Likely an accurate answer, but an evasive one.

He went on to say he was calling about my home phone service, and changes that were going to be made to it. He said that he would be able to discount my phone service. I said plainly, I do not want to switch from Telstra, I am happy with the service they are providing, thankyou.

He responds by trying to say “there is no need to change your Telstra service, we are working with Telstra and the service you recieve will remain the same…”

“Thankyou”, I say, “But I am happy with Telstra and I do not want to receive a wholesale Telstra product, I receive a single bill for my mobile, home phone and my wife’s phone and I do not wan…”.

“We are not Telstra wholesale, we work with Telstra and your network and connection will not change…”

I’m getting cranky now – “Where did you say you were calling from”

“South Melbourne”

“What company?”

“OurTel”

That one had to be repeated a few times as it sounded like “Alcatel” through the accent.

Once I’d established the company name (i.e. Not Telstra, a fact he’d managed to keep from my wife, in among the “discount” and “line rental waiver” on our “Telstra service”) I said I did not want to change my phone carrier, I was happy where I was, and I did not want what he was selling and wanted to be sure we had not been signed up to move from our current carrier.

“Well, that is your option sir”

“No, I don’t want an option, to be clear, I do not want to change my….”

*HANGUP*

Ladies and Gentlemen, I’ve just annoyed a Telemarketer to the point where he hung up on me.

But the question remains – am I going to recieve some paperwork in the mail now, welcoming me to my new provider and forcing me to exercise my cooling off rights before I can be sure I’m still with Telstra?

Anyone else had these guys push you around?

Their website says their mailing address is in Fyshwick. So is there any point complaining before mail arrives, since if this guy really WAS in South Melbourne, he’s likely just some Call Center flunkie?

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PBO said :

I myself am a fan of the questionable sounding gangbang going on in the background while talking to telemarketers and then flirting or arguing with them.

Before my parents changed and “silenced” their phone number due to excessive amounts of Telemarketing calls (pre-DoNotCall), my dad who was in his late 50’s at the time, used to proposition the callers with offers of sex, regardless of the gender.

They would hang up within two seconds, but our laughter would last a whole lot longer!

PBO said :

I myself am a fan of the questionable sounding gangbang going on in the background while talking to telemarketers and then flirting or arguing with them.

Everyone should always keep a pr0n DVD on hand for just such occasions.

Have some fun with it, make them think that they have stumbled onto something really awkward. If they ask for a particular person, tell them that they have died quite recently in a weird fashion. Or have some really messed up sounds in the background (canned soup poured into a toilet while having quiet, tearful yet painful moans sounds really wrong through the phone).

I myself am a fan of the questionable sounding gangbang going on in the background while talking to telemarketers and then flirting or arguing with them.

Eyl said :

Long ago i had a telemarketer call. And they asked for me, so i put on a fake cry and told them i had passed away only a week ago (pretenting to be someone else), they were very appologetic and the calls stopped for a good 6-7months. ^_^

This makes me laugh (and now majority of the office thinks I’m mad). Brilliant!!

Long ago i had a telemarketer call. And they asked for me, so i put on a fake cry and told them i had passed away only a week ago (pretenting to be someone else), they were very appologetic and the calls stopped for a good 6-7months. ^_^

My number is silent, and I never asked for it to be! It just never went into the phone book after I got it. I used to get the odd telemarketing call though (before going on the Register), and got heaps of those recorded “you have won a trip to the Caribbean” calls when they were going around.

Davo111 said :

Tooks said :

Why didn’t you just hang up?

if you read the start, the guy was using aggressive sales tactics, and had convinced his wife that she had agreed to something.

Think of it like this.
You walk into house. wife says theres a guy on the phone, and she may have agreed to changing phone companies. what are you going to do?

I’d teach my wife how to hang up.

Hercsie said :

Our home number is a silent number and we get telemarketing calls FFS!

What on earth makes people think that silent numbers are exempt from receiving telemarketing calls. It’s a complete non sequitor to even think of the two concepts (silent number vs telemarketing) in the same sentence.

All you get with a silent number is that it’s not listed in the white pages, and it won’t be provided if someone dials 1223 and asks for you by name.

Telemarketers will get your phone number from anywhere. They could be randomly dialing all numbers in a preset range (eg 6154 8001, 6154 8002 etc until they get to your number), or dialing random numbers within a preset range until they strike your number, or they could have obtained your number off a form that you submitted for some silly grocery discount or competition or your video club membership or anything really. They just need access to a database and/or an autodialer.

Once they have your number, they’re not going to dial 1223 to see if it’s silent or not. You’re lucky if they even check it against the DNCR before calling.

They do have a complaint handling policy listed on their website. If they claim they did sell your wife something, it would probably be covered under “misleading sale”.

Tooks said :

Why didn’t you just hang up?

if you read the start, the guy was using aggressive sales tactics, and had convinced his wife that she had agreed to something.

Think of it like this.
You walk into house. wife says theres a guy on the phone, and she may have agreed to changing phone companies. what are you going to do?

They often ring and ask for Mr ‘X’ – ‘X’ being my wifes maiden name – I put on my best sombre tone and tell them politely that “I’m sorry but Mr ‘X’ is no longer with us” – gets an apology and a hangup 100% of the time…and its gold to hear their reaction too 🙂

This is incomprehensible. Let me get this straight.

You want to stay with Telstra? Really? Truly ruly?

You’ve had adequate service from them? You’ve had clear explanations of billing issues? Not one of their call centre staff has treated you with cold arrogant disdain and effectively accused you of being a fraud and a criminal because of *their* ineptitude? You haven’t been told “No Fault Found” when your phone line crackles like a frying pan full of bacon and your ADSL constantly drops out? etc etc

A miracle. I will now get my binoculars and start searching the skies for the squadrons of pigs which must be sailing overhead.

““South Melbourne”.

He went on to say he was calling about my home phone service, and changes that were going to be made to it. He said that he would be able to discount my phone service. I said plainly, I do not want to switch from Telstra, I am happy with the service they are providing, thankyou.”

I’ve gotten the exact same thing several times. “this is x from south melbourne, is this Mr y, I’m calling about your telstra line” (I don’t have telstra?). I didn’t bother listening further so I said “tell me more!” and put the phone on the counter and went back to doing what I was doing.

basketcase said :

You are not on the “Don’t Call Register” https://www.donotcall.gov.au/

I registered about 1-2 weeks before I got the most recent call, so let’s see if it happens again…

Why didn’t you just hang up?

Do Not Call Register? Pffffffft

Mobiles in our house are all on the register and we still get telemarketing calls.

Our home number is a silent number and we get telemarketing calls FFS!

Yep, the Do Not Call register is your friend. And in my experience, it does actually work. Even if you’re not registered, the phrase ‘I’m sorry, I’m on the do not call register’ has been the fastest way I’ve ever had a telemarketer apologise and hang up, aside from hanging up on them myself.

In whose name is the telephone line? If it’s in your name, then your wife can’t sign up to another service. Regardless, unless she has handed over a whole lot of billing information, I’d say you’ll have plenty of opportunities to cut them off before your service has any chance to be switched over. And if you’re really worried, give Telstra a call, and ask them to ensure that your line is not switched to OurTel under any circumstances. I’m pretty sure that’s one request that they’d be more than happy to follow.

screaming banshee4:31 pm 22 Feb 11

Answer the phone with, I’d like to speak to your manager please, and they hang up straight away. At least I assume its the same mob.

You are not on the “Don’t Call Register” https://www.donotcall.gov.au/

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