Don't Leave Me Hanging!

(Warning: Rant Ahead)

Today, I got another one of those automated calls.

You know the ones "This is your last chance to lower the rate on your credit card. We've attempted to contact you previously..blah-blah-blah..."

In the past I would try to connect with a real person and ask to be removed from their call list. I would get hung up on. This has happened approximately five times.

So today, when I pushed the button for customer service, I played along.

"Hello. This is Kenneth in Guest Services. How can I help you today?"

"Um. I got a call from you guys saying I could lower the rate on my credit card."

"Why yes ma'am. That's true! I just need to verify your identity." He proceeds to tell me my name (Another rant for another time...WHO sends them my information????) and asks me to verify. I tell him "I don't have any credit cards." He says, "So that's your last name "Idonthavenaycreditcards?"

Can you believe he talked to a customer like that?

Because he got belligerent and smart-alecky I asked to speak with a manager. Here are his exact words:

"Well okay, but I can wait just as long as you can."

We'll see about that.

Ten minutes goes by. Fifteen. I tell him all I want to do is be removed from their call list and that I have been hung up on in the past and I am really irritated with their sales practices. He tells me that I have to verify my identity. I tell him I have no idea who THEY are and I won't, and is the manager still busy?

"I'm not going to hold my breath because I could die before the manager gets over here." He retorts.

((Click))

Wait, did he just hang up on me?!

I hope I obliterated his handle time.

(For those of you who haven't worked in a call center, the handle time is the length of time that you spend on a phone with a customer. In call centers you have to keep it low to meet performance expectations.)


I think the next time I am going to tell them that they haven't reached so-and-so but I would love see if I could lower the rate. I think I am going to think up a psuedonym and use up their precious handle time and resources. I am tired of getting bombarded by calls WHEN I DON'T EVEN HAVE A CREDIT CARD.

Oh and to just add to the extreme annoyance, those calls always come up "Unknown Number, Unknown Name" on my caller ID. So I can't even figure out who the company is!

One time when I was younger, telemarketers kept calling the house. My mom, sister and I were so tired of getting up to answer the phone and have it be a telemarketer trying to sell us something we didn't want or need. So I told my family that the next time I answered and it was a telemarketer, I was going to scream. (Most people mean it figuratively, I was so fed up I meant it literally!) The phone rang again, and you guessed it, it was a telemarketer. Well, this poor telemarketer heard the most blood-curdling scream on the line and then I hung up. We didn't get any more calls!

Maybe I should try that strategy again....

Perhaps, if the notation next to my name read : "Wacko. Don't waste your time!", I would have less annoying calls to deal with.

What would you do?