I just say, "No thank you, we're not interested" and I repeat it until they go away or if they won't go away, I hang up on them. You could say that you are not the person that makes these decisions and you need to pass their information on to that person. You could also say you're already contracted with a company that handles that service for you.

But honestly, after a certain amount of "No, I'm not interested"s, you don't need to be polite. They may be doing it with a smile in their voice, but if they keep pestering you, THEY are being rude and you have every right to just hang up the phone and get on with your day. :)

It's their job to hound you till you say yes and their job depends on making the sale or at least making the best effort to make the sale. They will try anything to keep you on the line. Say no thank you, good bye, and hang up. It'll be easier for both you and the sales representative.

Consider your hourly rate and how much sitting through that phone call is theoretically costing you. You don't always want to go around counting the minutes but it can help get your head around "No, thank you" in this case. :) Good luck!

My husband, who is the epitome of Southern Gentility with his manners, taught me, the sometime abrupt and frequently telephone rage induced rude Yankee how to nicely deal with any kind of phone solicitors:


"No thank you. Good luck with the rest of your calls." - in a nice sweet tone.

And hang up. No time for you to be aggravated about the time you have spent on the phone so you can genuinely be nice in delivering this short and sweet message.

You get to still be nice. And you are done!!!

Actually this sounds really rude, but the best thing you can do is just hang up!
The reason for this is the telephone sales people make money by making calls and the more calls they make the better. So by spending time on the phone with them when you have no interest in their product not only wastes your valuable time, it wastes theirs too!

"Would you please take me off your list permanently, and never share, rent or sell my contact information? Thank you."

Think of it this way: You are being nicer to them by letting them go quickly so they don't waste their own time on a sale they have no chance of making! You're doin' 'em a favor by letting them go early, and if you feel pressured, tell them so: "I'm not interested, and I'm trying to save you time so you can go on to your next call."

I had a telemarketer make a huge mistake about a month ago while talking to me.

They wanted me and my husband to go to the far west side of Houston (we live about 30 miles southeast of downtown, so it's easily drivable...but really only for something that you truly want to do). They wanted us to come listen to a 1 hour talk about timeshares.

I told them that we were not interested. They proceeded to tell me how awesome their offer was. I told them that we were not interested (I had them on speaker phone, and it was at this point my husband was motioning for me to just hang up).

Then they made their mistake...they repeated that we should go to the far side of town to listen to their 1 hour talk and this time added that they wanted our "honest opinion" about the talk. I took some poetic license in responding:

"Since you've asked for my honest opinion, I'll give it to you. When you call someone unsolicited and try to sell them something and they tell you that they are not interested, then you should listen to them. Trying to browbeat them into being interested is just going to annoy them. I'm hanging up now. Good-bye." *click*

I didn't say it in a mean way...just a very matter of fact "you have made a serious error in your attempt to deal with my personality type" way.

It's called the Disconnect Button.

Just hang up.

Trust me, these people are VERY used to being hung up on. They will NOT take it personally.

If that makes you uncomfortable, then try this. The INSTANT you know you don't want to listen any more say "Excuse me!" until they stop talking. Then "Hello, can you hear me?" When they say yes, tell them "Goodbye" and HANG UP before they have a chance to say another word.

Know any other languages? It helps believe me. If they are looking for a Mrs. Smith and you answer in German, I don't think they expect that. I used to take Japanese and nothing makes them hang up faster than not being able to speak the language being asked of them. hehe. Okay so I can be a devil sometimes, but I'm tempted now to answer the phone with Chinese. Mwahahaha! Well see how that goes. :-)

Just say, "I am not interested, please don't call me again. Goodbye." Then hang up (quietly, please), even if they are still talking. Some sales rooms are run so that the callers are not allowed to disconnect from a potential customer. You are doing them a favor by hanging up if you don't plan to buy from them or listen to their spiel. I know everyone hates telemarketers, but some of them have children to feed, so be polite as well as firm.

On the other hand, try to also pay attention to what people are saying when they call you, even if you don't know them. I once called from my store to a woman who had left her wallet, and I had to call three times in a row (she hung up loudly the first two times) and talk over her yelling at me for being one of those "terrible telemarketers" to get her to understand that I only wanted her to come back and pick up her wallet!

Yup..."No thank you, I'm not interested." Click!