Confessions Of A Former Telemarketer

Yes. I used to be a telemarketer.
Please, before you burn me at the stake, let me help you.

Ok, repeat after me, "Please place me on your Do Not Call List."

I did not say, "Please take me off your list."
That's different.

The former requires them LEGALLY to stop calling. Within two months. So for two months they can call you, but after that, they HAVE to stop.
If they call you after that, take down their name, they're legally required to use their real one (if the call center is within the US). Ask for the number of the call center they are working at, not the number of the product headquarters.

You will often see advertised on TV a product called a "TeleZapper." This is a double rip off and here's why. All that machine does is recognize a computer generated call. (Call centers frequently use a program that calls numbers in it's database, and transfers to a telemarketer when it hears a voice respond. This is why you often have to say hello twice before you get a resonse when it's a telemarketer.) When the TeleZapper recognizes a computer generated call, it asks you to identify yourself, like a collect call. I would simply say my name, and every single time the person would be so curious, they'd pick up. EVERY SINGLE TIME. All the machine does is ask telemarketers to hang up.
The other thing is that ordering a product off the tv is the single best way to get your name sold to every telemarketing company in the country. They know you have disposable income, they know you have no fear of ordering over the phone, they know your name, phone number, address and YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER. (Although the telemarketer can only see the last four digits, to verify, the rest is encrypted in a computer.) The biggest business we'd do was call people who'd ordered something "to see how they liked it," and then sell them additional stuff. "Like it? Buy the bonus package. Don't like it? You need to bonus package to really appreciate it."

Lastly, there is almost nothing you can say that can make them stop trying to sell the product. Don't take it personal. It's what they're trained to do, and the truth is, as long as they have you on the line, they ARE winning. Their supervisor might be listening, and they have to sell until they hear a dial tone. Don't wait for a convient pause, don't wait for them to say goodbye. They won't give you one. Or at least a good one won't.

This is what you say, feel free to talk over them, you're saving your time as well as theirs, "No thank you, please put me on your do not call list and have a nice day."
Then hang up.