Until we hunt telemarketers for sport, this will not stop being a miserable experience.
Point is, at this point I don't even bother answering unknown numbers. If it's important they'll leave a voicemail or text me
Turned out it was legitimate and I just looked like a jackass. Got my free upgrade though.
While I didn't need to be so arrogant, I think companies should make it easier to prove their identity. When I call my bank, they ask for information like DOB etc to prove it's me. Fair enough. But it never works in reverse if they call me, like a push message via their app, or an ID number I can call back with. I feel a bit silly asking.
Not that I have an option to request them to perform the validation. But they require that validation to continue the conversation now.
That’s true if it’s done right, but it also sounds very similar to how people scam (call a victim, let them know they will receive a message from the bank, and ask them to read the verification code back to them)! It’s a little tricky.
I've been looking at alternatives from ING recently.
We should take every opportunity to worsen their lives as they have employed themselves to worsen ours.
Just to play devil's advocate for a second. Some times you don't do things that would benefit you. In these cases getting your to do something that you wouldn't otherwise do is beneficial.
Which is something that marketing very nearly never does.
Marketing does more than just create ads: they research what their customers want, what they say they want vs. what they actually buy, and it doesn't matter how good your product is if no one knows about it.
The problem is that there are almost always other companies making the same/similar products, so you create a race-to-the-bottom effect where you have to eventually get more and more crazy in your methods of reaching a target audience. Don't blame marketing, blame capitalism.
I can blame both, as well as the underlying sociopathic mechanisms that the modern understanding of the terms necessitate.
If I am not mistaken what you are describing is market research, not marketing. Marketing is, in practice if not theory, about invasion of attention and manipulation. If marketing were not these things then companies would be content to have their products discovered in catalogs and store shelves where interested parties willing to devote attention to such things would readily find them.
That reminds me: if you ever receive a call from a legit collection agency, be prepared in advance. You have the right to ask them specific questions that they need to answer, according to regulation, if they have a legitimate debt to collect. Your second opportunity to ask the questions will be more difficult, so take advantage of them reaching out. Have a list by your phone or on your Favorites.
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/how-can-i-verify-wh...
https://anachronox.fandom.com/wiki/Grumpos_Matavastros#Weapo...
Let's brainstorm some similar techniques that we could do to similarly unscrupulous people.
