Frustrating Telemarketers with a BOT named "Lenny"

[DavePEI]

My Son pointed out to me a really neat way to frustrate telemarketers...

It is a BOT named Lenny.

Just tell the caller that Lenny handles purchases and that they will have to talk to Lenny in Purchasing.

Refer him to the following number.

1-902-816-0376

Give the number a call and try it out! Talk to Lenny - he will respond in a manner of sorts!

Incredible!!!

If you want to listen to the calls Lenny is getting, go to:

http://www.itslenny.com

Dave

[twocvbloke]

Route the call through a phone system hooked up to a computer for MOH, press play on this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK9cpv2-znA

And put them on Hold...

[TelePlay]

If I have the time, I engage them by asking questions not related to where they are going in their sales pitch. Forces them to look up the proper response on their computer. Then I start complaining about something related to what fictitiously happened to me in a similar situation. They try to get me back on track but I keep deflecting their questions with red herrings and distractions. I keep this up as long as I can until they get frustrated with me for wasting their call time and hang up on me. It's a small investment of my time but very satisfying, and they never call back. It's cheap entertainment on their dime.

[LarryInMichigan]

I try to distinguish between the poor hapless people who took a bad job because they needed one and the crooks who are intentionally trying to cheat people and/or steal their information (like credit card numbers).  The latter group are worthless vermin IMO.

Larry

[DavePEI]

I try to distinguish between the poor hapless people who took a bad job because they needed one and the crooks who are intentionally trying to cheat people and/or steal their information (like credit card numbers).  The latter group are worthless vermin IMO.

Larry

Lenny is fun to talk to. He either is adjusting his hearing aid, can't hear you, chases after ducks, talks about his daughter Marissa graduating, or answers as if he can finally hear you, "Yes, Yes", and tells you someone called last week about the same thing and asks if that caller was you = a totally frustrating conversation which goes no-where.

Now for an admission. How did I find out about Lenny? Someone pranked me

Someone  placed an ad on Kijiji for an oak NE telephone for $20. The number to call was Lenny. Of course, I called Lenny and got totally frustrated trying to make Lenny understand me.

Dave

[DavePEI]

Please see the link above to hear my original call to Lenny about the phone...

After he started chasing after the ducks, I totally lost it

Please don't laugh too hard. I know who pranked me with this - he admitted it to me today! I feel like a fool  

Dave

[Babybearjs]

oh for heavens sake,.... just add their number to the call rejection service... I do!

[George Knighton]

oh for heavens sake,.... just add their number to the call rejection service... I do!

The Youmail service is great for that.  You can "DITCH" a particular caller ID, and/or unknown and blocked callers, and they'll get a recording saying they're not authorized to make a phone call to your number.

It works great for blocking abusers of a number that I have to keep generally listed for genuine emergencies, and for people who like to ignore the US no-call list.  :-)

I gotta tell ya, though....  It's tempting to give Lenny a try on my ol'e fashioned copper POTS line.  Leading up to the November election, I got so many solicitations for polls and contributions that it was almost maddening.

[teka-bb]

We also have a do not call list. However sometimes they do 'get through'. Usually the only thing I say is 'I'm not interested' one or two times and hang up. A while ago I had a girl on the phone that asked 'may I ask why you are not interested?'. I answered with 'yes you may + silence'. She repeated the question. I replied in the same manner. Then she cried out; 'that's not in my script'. I laughed and hung up...

[Greg G.]

oh for heavens sake,.... just add their number to the call rejection service... I do!

The Youmail service is great for that.  You can "DITCH" a particular caller ID, and/or unknown and blocked callers, and they'll get a recording saying they're not authorized to make a phone call to your number.

I love Youmail!  But it's only for cell phones.  I have call rejection service on my land line, but the max is 25 numbers.  I've had to give them all "amnesty" a couple of times when I reached my max and the calls were still coming.  Now I try to be more selective, I block the entire area code if it's a number that calls repeatedly, or if it's an area code that's close to me, I block the area code and prefix only.  I try not to block the entire number because I've found that the sneaky so-in-so's change the phone number when it's blocked.

[George Knighton]

oh for heavens sake,.... just add their number to the call rejection service... I do!

The Youmail service is great for that.  You can "DITCH" a particular caller ID, and/or unknown and blocked callers, and they'll get a recording saying they're not authorized to make a phone call to your number.

I love Youmail!  But it's only for cell phones.

If you subscribe to one of the Youmail services via your cell phone number, you will be allowed to add land line numbers to the service.

When you get to the point where it says that they're going to send an SMS to your number, say that you want to manually configure it. 

[Greg G.]

If you subscribe to one of the Youmail services via your cell phone number, you will be allowed to add land line numbers to the service.

When you get to the point where it says that they're going to send an SMS to your number, say that you want to manually configure it. 

I'll have to check that out.  I've always declined the paid version because I thought it was only for cell phones and was content with the free one.  My text message package is pay-as-you-go, I just recently learned that I could turn off Youmail's text notifications.  I get the messages emailed to me anyway and can also listen to them via my cell phone so why pay for a text message.

[Dialvintage]

Wish we had Lenny bot here in Britain! I get loads of spam texts on my mobile phone- no idea how they get my number and my home line is ex directory yet get some spam calls! I reported them to my phone company.

[twocvbloke]

no idea how they get my number

They don't they just have an autodialler that calls up numbers in sequence, and if they get an answer, be it an answering machine or you picking up the phone, then you go onto their list of active numbers. With mobiles it's a similar thing, they send out texts and the ones they get a response from (usually when people see "To stop this message appearing, send STOP to 76543" and send a text back with "Stop" in it) they go onto their active lists...

You just have to stick your phone number(s) into google to see the lists that have been generated by doing such devious things...

It's why I hate answering incoming calls, cos 99% of the time, it's a computer...

[Dialvintage]

You mean they just try random numbers? I don't answer them except today as I thought it was work- had a text asking me to do my timesheet ( which I had yet to do) and I dialled the number it ( on my home line with rotary phone) and it was a dead line. Weird.