Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!decwrl!hayes.fai.alaska.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request
From: aablue.aablue.com.uux!macy@uunet.uucp (Macy Hallock)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Mercury Marketing Again
Message-ID: <13177@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 8 Oct 90 12:01:00 GMT
Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu
Organization: F M Systems, Inc.  Medina, Ohio USA  +1 216 723-3000
Lines: 55
Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 723, Message 10 of 12


In article <13131@accuvax.nwu.edu> >haynes@ucscc.ucsc.edu writes:

[Discussion of sleazy copier/toner/paper telemarketing practices...]
>Wonder why these sleazoid outfits happen to
>pick copier supplies as their merchandise of choice?

Because it works and they get away with it ... and they sell other
things, too.  I've seen other common items sold the same way.
Sometimes its sold COD, other times they just render a big invoice
that looks legit and it gets paid.  An awful lot of small and large
companies will pay damn near any credible looking invoice...remember
telex directories?

If the receptionist is given explicit instructions on how to handle
telemarketing salescritters, then its easier to control ... most
employees are trained to respond to authority over the phone with
action, not questions.  This is not always in your best interest, and
is a sign of poor employee training.

Here, all calls where questions are asked about equipment info, etc.
are sent to the person who handles our purchasing.  Invoices are never
ever paid unless a P.O. was issued, with prices on it, so the
bookkeeper knows the invoice is OK.  COD's must have a P.O. number on
the address label or back they go.  This is occasionally inconvienient
(like the time they sent back a tech manual I ordered and paid for by
credit card, but had no PO number ... now we use a personal name, not
a company name on those orders)

Even the yellow pages bills, advertising bills and long distance
invoices are checked for contract compliance before payment.  This
sometimes slows things up a bit, but you'd be amazed at the errors
(accidental and intentional) that have been caught here.  Double
invoices from some suppliers are often caught...


I find my wife often responds to telemarketing people who call her at
home.  Why?  Well, she's a medical lab tech (can you say
histotechnologist?) and often answers questions on the phone at the
lab.  If she asks someone calling who they are or why they need the
info, she usually gets yelled at by a rude and impatient doctor.  (So
much for patient confidentiality)......

I've finally trained her (with her cooperation, of course) to tell the
telemarketing types "We do not discuss {financial, real estate, sales}
transactions on the phone and hang up.  She hang up on Sears the other
night.  We have found this will work with stockbrokers if used
properly, too.  (I still haven't got our local newspaper to quit
calling, yet.)

I'm waiting for her to hang up on a doctor at work by accident one of
these days.


Macy M. Hallock, Jr.     macy@NCoast.ORG      uunet!aablue!fmsystm!macy