Full of it today!!!!

I just hung up with the third publication today that wants to give me a three month free subscription. I also received 7 different bills from other publications none of which I ordered, one of them threatening collections (I took care of that instantly). What is going on, all of them claim to have the latest HR news and up dates. The only three I signed up for are New York Employment Law Letter, BLR Best Practice Compensation and Benefits and HR Managers Legal Reporter. Does anyone else have a problem with this?

I had one of the publications who has recently had a big push, invoice me. I called them and told them that we were not interested. Two weeks later they sent my co-worker an invoice, again I called and said I was not interested. Two weeks after that, they invoiced my accounts payable department. Finally after threatening legal action, they stopped trying to invoice us (at least for a month now)!

Comments

  • 21 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • I feel your pain. I get at least three phone calls a day from come company or another wanting to quote health insurance, send me a "free sample of their latest and greatest HR magazines" and other sales calls. I had the same person call me every day for weeks. How much rejection can a person handle? I'm glad I am not in sales.
  • Ah, with those sales calls - I just say "send it in writing", and cut the conversations real short. And they do send it by mail, which goes in the round file on the floor.

    Chari
  • Yes, I have had these "free" introductory orders that state if you decide you don't want the publication, "simply" write cancel on it and you have no further obligation. Often, they do not stop sending the publication or the invoices. I have just made it a policy not to accept these type offers, much to the annoyance of these telemarkers who assure me they are "different". Yeah, right.
  • Remember one other thing. Tell the person you are speaking to, to remove you AND your company from their telemarketing list. Usually works.
  • I always tell them that the company allows us to do nothing by phone including answering questions. They hang up quickly.
  • I was getting about one a day for awhile, then we got a new phone system and we have caller ID, so I won't answer unavailble calls, so I haven't had anyone to deal with for awhile now. Yea!
  • I also frequently get calls from some "EEOC" office asking if I want to reprint our equal employment statement in their publication. I always tell them to fax me what they currently have. Although I almost never hear from them because they are bogus companies, I did have one go so far as to fax me a statement which they had inserted our company name at the top of it. I checked, and their company was bogus also!!!
  • Oh, those bogus calls drive us crazy. Does anyone else get the ones asking about your copy machines? It is insane.
  • I constantly get calls about our copiers and have gotten them for years. I used to legitimately answer their questions. But now, I enjoy playing with them.
  • [font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-30-03 AT 03:53PM (CST)[/font][p][font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-30-03 AT 03:52 PM (CST)[/font]

    I'll tell you what - some of these outfits are getting even more persistent! When I get these calls for the annual "EEO" publications, I've been telling them that this is all handled out of our corporate office. This has usually ended the conversation, except for the one I got last week, where the guy first questioned me on why the corporate office in another state would handle this type of advertisement for our local area, and then asked me to give him the name and phone number of the person at corporate who handled it. My office, at the time, was being torn apart to remove mold from behind the walls (another story entirely), so I was in temporary quarters, my computer didn't work, and I couldn't find my corporate office phone directory, so I told the guy to call directory assistance for the number. I guess I wasn't my normal cheery self, because the guy then called MY boss, claiming he was from the EEOC and had been rude to him! Took me a while to convince bossman that we weren't about to be de
    decended upon by irate EEOC agents!
  • Maybe I'm just crude and need to be more socially aware, but I just do what I do when I get these calls at home -- hang up. No acknowledgement, no hello, no how are you, just !
  • I have done the same thing. At first I tried to be polite and say no thanks, but that simply does not work. I get 4-5 calls a day about the "BEST" HR publications! I have been invoiced by one company 3 times, and have had to threaten them with legal action. Now, they have taken to e-mailing me daily. Quite annoying! If anyone calls anymore, I just simply say not interested and hang up before I even hear the response!
  • It's so frustrating because these sales people think they are entitled to take your time just because you were nice enough to answer the phone. I try to be polite but tell them I have no money left in my budget. It's amazing the number who want to send out their product 'for 30 days free' anyway. They must be paid by the number of free trials they send out, not by the number of total sales.

    It's almost as bad as the employees who call and ask "Are you busy?" Why, No. I was just setting the beach chair up by the picture window so I could catch some rays!
  • I run our drug/alcohol testing program. Salesmen are constantly calling telling me how much money I could save if we; i.e. me; collected the samples ourselves. I tell them I'm perfectly happy with our consulting firm who does the collections, and they are totally state and federal compliant.

    The next day I get a self testing sample in the mail. I can see me at an unemployment hearing explaining how the little dot in the top of the cup turned blue and that's why I fired someone. (:|
  • Self-testing for drug screening reminds me of having to "monitor" (i.e., observe) the collection of the samples when I was in the military. No, thank you. Never again. x;-)
  • Thanks Beagle. Think I could get away with using that? Wouldn't be lying, just gaining from someone else's experience! x;-)
  • You've all given me an idea. I might try to discourage those bothersome telemarketer/promotional calls by suggestion an exchange of services: Our organization's for theirs. Of course, since I work in State Corrections, my offer would consist of free housing and benefits in exchange for their bogus and fraudulent representations from their company. Do you think they would bite?
  • Once a year I get a call from a "charity" that advises me that the company may be violation of whatever law, but they are willing for free come in and see if the company is incompliance with the various federal laws. Oh, by the way, they just happen to be selling pages in their annual book. On occasion, I am tempted to see the book, just to see who fell for this line.
  • I get calls from these charities, too. When I ask them how I can get a copy of *The Book*, they usually mumble something and thank me for my time.

    Or, I get calls from telemarketers that are raising money for local police benevolent associations. I swear I've heard the same guy call me using two different names. Then I found out the police receive only 25-35% of the revenue.

  • I tell the callers to put my name on a "do not call" list. I also signed on to the do-not-call registry on its first day of operation, June 27, . Caveat: Nonprofits such as religious and political organizations are exempt from abiding by FCC's do-not-call rules.

    Eva
  • Well, my error....
    I usually tell these people to buzz off, but every now and then, for what reason I don't know, I'll get the two free issues to check it out, then write cancel on the invoice they send and mail it back.

    Well, I just got a call from a collection agency this morning! So, I can relate to all of the problems you all are having.

    First off, she claims we've been mailed ten issues...um, I've received two. And she says that this company has mailed me not one, but several invoices for payment, and it has not been paid, so it's been turned over to them for collections! Uh, I think I would remember a few invoices being mailed to my attention!! Never even saw one, let alone several! So she says "Well maybe you should check with your mail department (ok, that's the accounts payable person, we don't have a mail department, we're not that big) and see what they say, because maybe somebody has been throwing the issues and the invoices away." Listen here lady, if something comes with my name on it, this person doesn't just pitch it in the garbage, they put the stuff in my mailbox!

    Gosh am I irritated!
    And I thank you all for letting ME vent now!!
    Stephanie
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