Don't You Just Love Telemarketers?
Paging Mr. Herman . . .
Don't you just love telemarketers? Ryan Swanberg sure does.
Ryan Swanberg claims that he makes $100,000 a year, thanks to telemarketing, and he doesn't call a single person.
Swanberg signs up for every silly contest and sweepstakes opportunity that comes by, and he's sure to give out his phone number. Since telemarketers snag their phone lists from these contests — ever signed up to win a car in the mall? — Ryan likely gets plenty of telemarketing calls. He records every call he receives, and on the first call, he tells the company that he wants to be added to their Do Not Call list. When he receives the second call from the company, he explains that he should be on their Do Not Call list. He then explains that he will be setting up a lawsuit against that company.
In typical form, the company usually settles out of court, sending Swanberg a nice check, and saving Swanberg all those legal fees in the process.
Swanberg has a website to promote his book titled Lawsuit: How I Turned the Tables On Telemarketers & Debt Collectors. I'm not sure about the $100k number that Swanberg throws out there, but it is confirmed by court records that he does earn "thousands" from his settlements.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, June 4th, 2005 at 21:33 by Novac and is filed under All, Economics, Fun, Interesting.
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June 5th, 2005 at 08:09
I was irritated yesterday…
I had to call this toll free number to activate a new credit card from Best Buy. After punching in the card number and some other information they asked for, I was asked to "stay on the line for further activation instructions." A fast-talking lady came on and asked me some more information and I was like, "ok, well good, I'm glad they're making sure I am who I say I am and making sure no one's getting frauded here."
Unfortunately, that was not the motive here. She tried to pitch some new offer or something to me. I couldn't tell them not to call me anymore because they MADE me call them. I felt like I couldn't just hang up, since there might be something necessary to activate the card.
The new and improved telemarketer - makes you call them…
June 5th, 2005 at 22:09
Every credit card activation goes like that. You call the number, enter in the necessary information, and listen to a sales pitch for something before they tell you that your card is activated. Sometimes the pitch is a recording, sometimes it's not.
I've always wondered whether the card is activated if you hang up before the sales pitch finishes.