How anyone with any self-respect can be a car salesman of any sort is beyond me. Our latest purchase poses a question for those "satisfaction" surveys the dealers are sending out these days. We bought a 2000 Mazda van from a Mazda dealer. I made it clear to the salesman that dual air was a priority and I explained my reasons. Reassured more than once that the van we were considering met all our needs, we bought it. Only after getting home and over the next couple of days exploring all our options did we discover the "dual air" was only a rear control of the fan...not the air conditioner controls. Did the salesman mislead us deliberately or did he truly not know enough about this vehicle to tell us the truth? I did make it clear that temperature control and not just fan control was desired, so claiming he misunderstood my desires is not an option. Sigh.
The Great American LET-DOWN. It has become almost axiomatic that politicians are not to be trusted. What surprises me most is that the campaign trail is still littered with mud-slinging. I thought studies had shown that negative campaigning didn't have a positive effect. Am I the one who is naive? Does this tactic really work? Ewwww...these guys are worse than car salesmen!
You think "they" are depending on that attitude? Hmmm?
Here's a real bummer. You have to PAY to get your name taken OFF telemarketers lists. You have to PAY to have an unlisted phone number...and on this one you pay big time..as of October 9, 2002 for Southwestern Bell it's $35.00+ per year per phone number. Wait...why do I need to pay to have people leave me alone? And last time I checked I had to PAY to NOT have a long distance provider. Ummmm....isn't that interesting...those are all phone related.
BUT....here's an encouraging bit I got in my Red Hat email the other day. One of my favorite guys, Andy Rooney, has some hints for the TM nuisance:
Andy Rooney's tips for telemarketers
Three Little Ways That Work !!
1)Three little words are: "Hold On, Please..."
Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off(instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt. Then when you eventually hear the phone company's "beep-beep-beep" tone,you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.
2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end? This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone. This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a "real" sales person to call back and get someone at home. What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there,is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times,as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialed the call and it kicks your number out of their system. Since doing this, my phone calls have decreased dramatically.
3) Another Good Idea: When you get "ads" enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these "ads" with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.When you get those "pre- approved" letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope. Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? It costs them more than the regular 37cents postage "IF" and when they receive them back. It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before! the last increase and it is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage- paid return envelopes. One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas.Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express.Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back! ..if you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them. You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! Eventually, the banks and credit card companies will begin getting their own junk back in the mail. Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all they're paying for it...Twice!
Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea !
If enough people follow these tips, it will work----I have been doing this for years, and I get very little junk mail anymore.
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THANKS, Andy...I'm definitely going to try your methods.
Poetry
Good Works