Thread: pushy salespeople

Some time ago, I emailed a few various publications asking for ad rates, etc.

Ever since then, I have had this woman calling and emailing me and pestering me to buy an ad in this magazine which is a lot more mainstream than I realized (translation, costs many thousands of dollars) Obviously I have no need for that kind of expense. I'm a solo dancer. Even if I got tons of response, there's only one of me - so the numbers make no sense.

I have explained this many times to the woman, tried to get off her mailing list, etc. She is just not getting it. She has even left message where she made it sound like she is trying to hire me for a gig, and when I called back it was her (this only worked once)

It's to the point where I recognize her voice on message, because she always sounds angry and begins the call with scolding me, and complaining that I have been ignoring her messages. She says it like she's truly aggrieved. WTF? we're not friends! I don't even know this person. Since when are potential prospects required to make salespeople feel loved? It's weird.

Has anybody else dealt with a salesperson so pushy? It has been going on three years now and I just received another message today.

This certainly sounds strange.
3 years is a long time.
Sounds to me either very pushy or slightly imbalanced.
Can you or have you gone over her head (manager or supervisor of advertising sales of this publication) to report her unnecessary tenacity?

Can you complain about this to the management? It sounds excessive.

You may have already done this (or done it many times!) but assuming you've made a really clear request that she desist contacting you, then from that point on her behavior is harrassment. Next step would be to tell her you consider it harrassment, and that you're documenting her contacts and will take legal action if she doesn't stop. Hopefully just the threat would make her cut it out.
It sounds yucky. Good luck!
Rosette

OMG, I think I might have hired this woman once when I was in the magazine business -- is her name Liezel?

She does sound WAY overly aggressive. I think the only way you'll get rid of her is to react with anger. "Look, I told you ages ago I'm not interested, and I'm not going to be interested, your publication doesn't meet my needs. I want you to take me off your list. If you contact me again, I'll be contacting your boss."

I'm a coward, so I'd be calling in the evening to leave that as a voice mail. If you have a copy of the magazine, you can probably find the advertising manager's name listed in the masthead, and possibly an e-mail address. In case you feel the need to report her. You could also contact the publisher if necessary. I'd do that by e-mail, you can be sure the message will get referred down to the appropriate person & acted on.

This is harrassment, she sounds nuts.

I would send her a cease and desist letter.
Send it return receipt with signature requested.
This way you have proof, that you've asked her to stop.
(You can't prove a phone call, or that she got the message via phone)

Let it be known you will take legal action.

I hope she gets the "message" with a letter, otherwise you might have to start tracing the calls (here you need at least 3), and this gets expensive.

I would also make a recording of the messages she leaves.
This isn't illegal. She voluntarily left a message on your machine.

I wonder if you could contact the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint?

I contacted them once when I kept getting papers I didn't order and the paper asked for payment. It worked. The papers stopped coming and so did the collector.

Azeeza

Originally Posted by gothique

This is harrassment, she sounds nuts.

I would send her a cease and desist letter.
Send it return receipt with signature requested.
This way you have proof, that you've asked her to stop.
(You can't prove a phone call, or that she got the message via phone)

Let it be known you will take legal action.

I hope she gets the "message" with a letter, otherwise you might have to start tracing the calls (here you need at least 3), and this gets expensive.

I would also make a recording of the messages she leaves.
This isn't illegal. She voluntarily left a message on your machine.

I have ALWAYS gotten results by sending a return receipt letter.

That being said, a cease-and-desist phone call (or reporting her alienating sales tactics to her supervisors) would be cheaper and easier.

Telling someone that they're harassing you and that you will take legal actions against them works pretty well for those who are crazy but not that crazy.

I would also call to speak to management. Play the recorded messages she leaves back to the manager. Let him/her know it's been going on so long. It's a waste of the company's time and money for this woman to keep calling, not mention it probably turns you off to ever recommend them to others. I certainly wouldn't recommend someone like that, even if they had the money and time to make an ad worthwhile