Her: “Hello is that Mr. Simon?â€
Me: “Yes, who’s this?â€
Her: “Hi, Good morning, my name is Chia, calling from XXX Cards. How are you today?â€
Me: “Oh, no. Well my day was fanastic right until I picked up this call… What is this regarding?â€
Her: (showing no signs of understanding my slight at her company) “Mr. Simon, we are pleased to let you know you’ve been selected as one of the lucky few cardmembers to receive a special RM25,000 free insurance coverage.”
Me: (sotto voce) “Oh wow. A telemarketer AND free insurance? This IS my lucky day…!â€
Her: (again, no change in chirpy coffee-filled voice) “First of all, let me congratulate you on being selected…â€
Me: “Aw, shucks. I bet you say that to all the guys…â€
(Side note. I never get selected of the hundred of job interviews I applied for, nor do I get selected to win any one of those supermarket lucky draw offering RM100,000, BUT I get selected on these things… end of site note)
Her: “So, Mr. Simon, all I need is to confirm your mailing address and IC number for us to send the details to you…â€
Me: “Oh, wow, gee… I usually don’t put out until at least the third date, and this is only our phone call…â€
Her: “I’m sorry?â€
Me: (having enough already) “Look, I already cancelled my card with you guys four months ago.â€
Her: “But Mr. Simon, it says here on my computer system that you still have an active account with us…â€
Me: “I don’t care what our system says, I cancelled my card with you people, but you people refuse to process my cancellation, and its been 4 months, and let me be frank with you (although my name is still Simon), you guys are not doing your company’s PR with this kind of service!â€
Her: “Um, ah, OK… in that case, thanks. Bye.†*click*
Anybody else wants to call and congratulate me on winning a free subsidiary card or insurance cover or loan transfer or whatever?
7 Comments
Inevitable
I receive this kinds of call at least once a week, balance transfer lah, insurance lah, blah blah…
Normally I’ll tell them that I am on a meeting right now…
Ken
I get these kinds of stuff too, but mainly in the forms of email spam… and my house mailbox spam… ugh…
lilian
And I get people wanting to give me free cooking lessons (to sell their pots)…sheesh…I need to kill someone. Hope some sales people come by and tell me I win lucky draw.
mahagurusia
Hello Mr. Simon, Congratulation, you have just won yourself a home theater system worth 12 thousand ringgit. (50″ LCD screen, wow! just nice for world cup final!) And all you have to do is to buy this rice cooker.
.
.
.
And this fridge which is 50% off our normal selling price if you buy this (useless looking) air freshner at only 3000 ringgit.
Now can I have your credit card and personal details…
Adam
I just say “NO! THANK YOU!” and hang up. They usually don’t call back.
mama23beas
I hate myself for being too polite to say “no, thanks” and hung up. I just went “uh…ok,…yes, uh…” while doing my work without really listening. But i got the last line when that guy said I could claim the money back if I changed my mind. Then wasted my time to cash the check to get my money back!
Now I just make sure to take a deep breath and say “Stop calling me!”
Pat
Over the years I hardened my stance and began to stay “NO” more firmly.
Sometimes I recognize certain numbers and just press the Cancel button on my handphone!