Unsolicited advertising / sales techniques

[Live R Perfect]

Which of the above forms of unsolicited advertising or sales annoys you the most?

When I am at work the phone / fax machine seems to ring every 20 minutes, waits for me to finish my standard phone-answering spiel, and then beeps to signify that a fax is coming through. The thing is, we very rarely get any useful faxes - its all advertising junk which we're not interested in. We've tried ringing the numbers they put on the bottom if you want to have your number taken off their database but it never seems to stop.

These days I never allow the faxes through - I just put the phone down again - but I still have to run from the other side of the building quite often when the phone rings JUST IN CASE its an actual phonecall. I think thats the thing that pisses me off most about it really, but I also hate the whole unsolicited junk mail / sales calls / door to door salepeople thing generally. I don't think anyone has EVER got any business from me using these techniques - if I want to buy something then I'LL contact THEM. I'm not going to give them my money just because they have the cheek to hassle me! Grrrrrr....

[Kensington]

The telephone people bug me the most. Usually all they hear is "Argh!! *click*"

[Shockwave]

Hmm... let's see...

Junk E-Mail: Easily detected and deleted.

Junk Mail: I like it. It gives me something to burn :twisted:

Junk Faxes: I don't have a fax machine.

Sales call via telephone (cold-calling): It's illegal to cold call me because my name is on the National Do Not Call List

Door-to-door salespeople: They don't come to my door.

Internet Pop-Up Windows: That's the one that bugs me, though my browser blocks most of them.

[junie99]

Internet pop-up windows definitely! :x

[silentcrow]

Junk emails, I can handle, because so few people email me, that I can easily tell what's spam and what's from people I actually know. We rarely get telemarketers calls. I don't think we've got a fax machine, and i don't pay attention to junk mail. But Internet pop-up ads...oh, I despise them :evil: Especially when I go to a site to find song lyrics, and 20 pop-ups appear. Those kind of sites thrive off of pop-ups. I sometimes miss and click on the ad instead of the little "x" that you're supposed to press to close the window, and it goes to a whole 'nother window. A lot of pop-ups are the ones where they tell you, "Hit the monkey/Paris Hilton/President/etc. and win a thousand dollars." I don't get those. I'm sometimes tempted to hit the monkey, and just see if it's that easy. But I haven't yet... :oops: And for some websites, so many pop-ups come up, that I'm forced to shut down my computer. I hate that so much

[anima]

Junk e-mail. I actually don't get much/any of it, but I've been working on making e-mail rules for my mum's e-mail so she'll stop getting spam, and it's taking forever.

Pop-up windows are irritating, but my browser blocks them.

Cold calls irritate me the most, but it's fun to string telemarketers along. Or tell them that it's terribly inconvienient a time but could you please get their home phone number so you can call them when it's convinient for you?

See, in my family, we don't do business over the phone unless we initiate it, and we have to have everything in writing. Yah.

[Cate Perfect]

Telephone cold calling. For sure.

Cate

[KAGU143]

Telephone cold calling.

All I do is make sure that I have the name of their company properly recorded. I make them repeat it to be sure, and then tell them that I am adding it to the list of companies that I will never do business with.

The list is real, and so is my personal policy of refusing to support any company that resorts to cold calling.

We hateses them.

-Greybird

[Abbey Normal]

Tough call between telemarketers and door-to-door salesmen. Don't get solicited in person much, but I do get a lot of telemarketer calls. Really should get myself on that list. What I hate is that the go into a schpiel right away which is impossible to interrupt, and you have to stand and wait for ten minutes for them to stop and say, sorry, no thanks. And then they argue with you, like that's going to get you to buy something. I hate just hanging up on people, but I make an exeption for those guys. I can't wait till they outlaw that stuff.

[Dargon]

Phone calls. I don't have a fax machine and I haven't seen a door-to-door salesman in years (except maby kids doing fundraisers, but thats different). I haven't seen a single pop-up since I switched from IE to Mozilla and you don't even have to look at e-mail. Phone calls are definately the most annoying because the phone still rings. Though it is fun to mess with the people, ya know "could you repeat that...Yeah, the whole thing."

[LonePiper]

I say phone calls too. Most of the others either don't apply to me, or are easily ignored or avoided. They can be deleted or gotten rid of somehow without fuss. But the phone calls just seem like such an invasion of privacy!

[Damien Day]

I used to have a HUGE problem with junk e-mails, getting endless stupid e-mails offering Viagra, Growth Hormone, Penis Enlargement, but since 2-3 years ago things have much improved - I get perhaps 1 or 2 a year. I also get phoned once every 6 months, usually by Barclays Bank, in a desperate attempt to grab more of my money for some useless financial scheme or other. The worst are the pop-up ads. I use Internet Cafes a great deal, and these ads really foul up the computers.

Sherlock

[CrazyCanuck]

I said internet pop ups because I was having SERIOUS problems with those a couple of months ago. Spyware, adware - evil, EVIL inventions! I was getting hard core porn pop ups and I've NEVER visited a site that could even remotely be considered "erotica"! And then of course, all the other pop ups for everything under sun. Every session on the 'net would end up with me screaming and cursing at my computer which was really bad for my stress levels. So I upgraded my security system, got the firewall and the whole nine yards, de-bugged my computer and now I'm not getting any pop-ups which is great.

I never had problems with junk email; don't have a fax machine so don't have problems with junk faxes either. I don't think there are any door to door salesperson here in Bermuda, no one's ever come to my door. No telemarketers either. I remember from back home though how irritating the telemarketers were - they inevitably ALWAYS managed to call at the most inconvenient times and then go straight off into some long spiel without even bothering to ask if you had time to listen. My response was usually: *click*

I like Greybird's policy of getting the name of the company and then boycotting them - I think I'll suggest that approach to my family and friends back home!

[Tanasha]

Definatly telemarketing. I get several calls a week, and every single one makes me want to get a blowhorn and put it to the reciever. :twisted:

Abbey Normal, don't wait for them to finish their sales pitch. As soon as they start it, interupt and say 'no thanks' or sorry, I can't help you' and put down the phone. It'll save you time and energy.

My friend's Dad gives telemarketers a talking to when they call. I almost feel sorry for them. Almost. :lol:

[Autumn]

As long as theres a way to block spam e mails i dont really care about them.

The calls are annoying, especially at the moment we have one company that rings us almost every night... but its a recorded message so we just hang up. We also get companies that call us alot at the moment asking for "mrs ...." well the only mrs we ever had in our family was my mum and she died several years ago... i tend to have a go at them when they do that- theres something quite enjoyable about being able to yell at the sales callers- though i know its not their fault they are just given a list of numbers to call.

The worst ones of all are the ones who come to your door and are really pushey, especially the charities that come around. I tell them i have no money and they keep going on and on and on and on until i either give in and give them my bank details or i start being rude to them. I hate being put in that situation and i hate feeling i have to explain every detail of my finances to them just to get them to go away.

[158Eyes]

I picked other because it's a tie between pop-ups, junk email, junk mail and telemarketers. There's too much of all of it. It's bad enough there's commercials on tv (which also annoy the hell out of me), but we have to get bombarded with it in all other media, err. I've been to sites too where there's so many pop ups that you have to pretty much shut down your computer to get rid of them, and now some sites are making smart popups that can override popup blockers. As for junk mail and email, it's just so annoying even though they can be easily deleted or recycled. And I don't get very many phone calls, and I get about one or two telemarketing calls each day when I'm at school. I've stopped answering my phone, it's gotten so bad.

[Silly Green Monkey]

I suggest getting Safari or a similar browser. It has an option to block popups, which means that I have never seen a single popup while using it.

[Kevin Wood]

A good rant, Karl, I'm into it. Hate spam, unsolicited posty type mail, and annoying calls. I must stop making them. No, I probably hate the calls the most: since they de-regulated the services facility companies, like gas, electricity et cetera, you tend to get all the different ones - NPower, PowerGen, and so on, ringing up trying to get you to change to their company.

And..in the uk we've had a spate of people ringing to say you've won a holiday. Gordon Bennet, I think - look mate, there's no way you'd like to go on a holiday with me, seriously. They're all total fakes, bogus things anyway.

There's another call I get - a voice says 'hello, and congratulations!'. Had that heaps of times, it's an automated message. At least I hope it is, I tell it to naff off.

But yeah, any amount of stuff proliferates. Still, worse things happen at sea. Although maybe they don't get much post.

Good rant though, even though I didn't ask you to post it....to me :D

[cijay]

Outgoing calling is about the only part of my job I loathe doing but I have to if the calls aren't coming in to me. I know I'm taking people away from their busy life. The only difference is, I sell advertising space and the people we phone are people who have ads in other venues so it's not like trying to sell a comb to a bald man. Still, I hate doing it,

I don't answer my phone at home. Anyone know knows me knows to shout through the answering machine or else I won't pick it up. When I do answer and it's a solicitor, I just take the first opportunity to say 'thank you for calling, I'm not interested' and bid them a good day. The only time I get pissy with them is if they push further than that. Otherwise I just look at it as ... they probably hate that aspect of their job, too and at least they're not hanging out at the mall.

The least favourite sales method, actually is when I'm in the store and tell them 'no thanks, I'm just looking' and they still hover around me.

[Nugan]

The telephone people bug me the most. Usually all they hear is "Argh!! *click*"

Same here, people trying to convince me to sign up for thier credit card call my dorm room a few times a week, usually when I'm in bed. As soon as I realize who it is, I just mumble "I'm not interested", and hang up.

[borrowedTime]

I don't really get that much spam, maybe a piece or two a day, and it's easily deleted.

I don't have a fax machine, nor do I work near one, so that's not a problem.

Nobody cold-calls me. I think no-one knows my phone number. Most likely I wouldn't speak the same language well enough to understand their sales pitch anyway.

I live in an apartment, so I don't get door-to-door salespeople.

I use Opera or Firefox, so I don't get pop-ups.

So I chose junk mail. It's a waste of paper. It wouldn't be so bad if they always sent me different things to read, but they persist on sending exactly the same things, each week... There are some advertisements of which I've been regularly getting (and chucking) identical copies for the past three years!

[cijay]

So I chose junk mail. It's a waste of paper. It wouldn't be so bad if they always sent me different things to read, but they persist on sending exactly the same things, each week... There are some advertisements of which I've been regularly getting (and chucking) identical copies for the past three years!

I agree. With the other means it can be just a 3 second investment of time (or longer if you wanna' waste time, stand there and tell them off - hell, I get paid by the hour, if someone wants to keep me on the line to illustrate their ignorance to me, I get paid regardless). Junk mail, you don't have the option to say 'no thanks'.

Another one I hate are the kiosks in the malls for credit cards or one guy who always wants to polish my jewelry.My most expensive piece of jewelry is a medic-alert tag.

[Alya]

Junk E-Mail: I never sign up for anything so I seldom get anything and I almost never give out my email address.

Junk Mail: never sign up for anything. My roomate cancelled the newspaper last week, only thing I miss is the grocery store sale flyers. I do keep getting stuff for previous occupants of the apartment, but I give it to management.

Junk Faxes: I don't have a fax machine.

Sales call via telephone (cold-calling): I only answer my cell phone. The land line we have to have for security reasons gets picked up by the answering machine.

Door-to-door salespeople: Secure building :twisted: :lol: they can't get in.

Internet Pop-Up Windows: Hate them. And spyware. I run yahoo toolbar, POW! popup blocker, Adaware, and Spysweeper.

[Dargon]

I know what it is that I absoluetly hate. Those advertisements that are like little flash games, 1) because sometimes they have sound, which may be repetative and annoying and always interupt my music and 2) because when you open 3 tabs with flash ads it devours your processor and makes the computer slow (I only have 1.6 GHz, but little flash adds shouldn't eat the whole thing).