Was I unprofessional?

Question

I work for a dating service and call people who fill out profiles online and email them to us. I called a woman who I've called several times and I usually just get hung up on. This time when I called her, she picked up the phone and screamed as loud as she could into my ears. I wear a headset and my volume was turned all the way up. This scared me AND hurt my ears and gave me a headache. I called her back (using a blocked number) and got her answering machine and said "Hi this is ___ from ____ dating service. I understand that you are upset with this company, however, YOU were the one who went online and sent us your information requesting our service and we are simply returning your call. If you're not interested,you have had the ability to let us know. We have left you several messages with our #, so you could call us back and request to be added to a do not call list. You have chosen rather to take a more immature approach and scream at our representatives, so don't be mad

(continued) so don't be mad at us for the continued calls. The choice has been yours all along.

well, I WOULD say, if you wanna get "hooked up" go to our website and fill out a profile, but yahoo answers considers that "solicitation" of services, so I can't...sorry! LOL

Ok...to clarify, I am NOT a telemarketer, I am an appointment setter for a dating service. These people are single, they go online and fill out LONG profiles and questionnaires and they HAVE to give us their name, address, phone number, age, marital status, and other personal information. a phoen number is REQUIRED and when you click submit it even SAYS "a relationship expert will be contacting you to verify your profile information" and we call several times, becuase we deal with people's personal lives. You can be interested one day and not the next, single one day and not the next. Our members pay a LOT of money for our service so we HAVE to be persistent in getting new members. Remember these people ARE interested or they wouldn't have given us their information or submitted an email to us in the first place.

Answer 1

Not unprofessional. As much as I dislike telemarketers, there is a huge difference when she herself signed up for it. She knew what she was getting, and screaming in your ear is probably the most undignified action to ever take to ANYONE. Its always kinder just to ask to not be notified. You did okay!

Answer 2

I can understand why her behavior irked you and I can understand what you are saying about her requesting the information, therefore she should not have been so nasty upon being contacted. However, your question was in regards to being unprofessional. I would have to say yes, but only because when you work in a job that deals with the publc (I do as well, so I know how you feel) you have to deal with them all, good, bad and ugly. I would have been more than a little hot under the collar had someone screamed in my ear but you have to let it go. Remember, you can't contol other people's actions and reactions, you can only control your own. Just put her on a "do not contact list". Should she resubmit her information at a future time, mark her with red flags and notate the reasons why.

Answer 3

Blocking the number was unprofessional. The rest was just insensitive. Your company should have a policy of only calling three times and if they say they aren't interested or hang up on you, take their names off the list.

(I bet she's married and only filled out the form in the first place because she and her husband got in a fight. Or it could even have been someone else who filled out the form in her name, or typed in the wrong phone number, etc. Whatever the situation, clearly this is NOT a customer you want.)

Answer 4

In principle you are right. However, it might have been wiser not to point out her shortcomings in any direct way, and simply say something to the effect of, 'You submitted a profile, we are having trouble getting in touch with you, if you do not wish to have your profile listed anymore or receive calls from us, please let us know so we can add you to our no-call list.'

For that matter, I can see one potential huge problem that your response doesn't deal with: someone may have entered a profile for her without her knowledge or authorization, at which point her reaction is justifiable, because she may not even know about this and think you are an advertiser who is harrassing her...

It might be better to somehow contact her, perhaps by e-mail, and apologize for the mixup, and sort of 'start over' again in the way I have indicated.

Answer 5

While she was wrong for yelling at you, the fact is you are invading her privacy. What if she did not fill out the form and someone else used her name etc... What if she has a husband and did not read your instructions. I know your company wants to make money, but after 2 calls the lead should be considered dead. Why don't you send an e-mail giving the person a chance to remove their name?

Answer 6

Yes, it was a bit unprofessional. You could have left a message simply saying that she could have requested to be put on a do-not-call list if she wasn't interested, rather than being rude to your company's representatives. In short, I mean that could have said the same thing in a sweeter and shorter way.

Answer 7

I would think that her screaming at you was her answer that she didn't want to be called- and I'd put on the do not call list. She's obviously upset with the company you work for. Maybe she did call and somehow the message got screwed up.

You did what your told to do, so you can't take it personally, but I'd ask your bosses if you couldn't put on the that list anyway. I know where she's coming from as I have no patience with such things myself. It's not you, it's the organization that reuires you to keep calling until she calls back expressly saying not to. How many times do you have to get hung up on before your company allows you to recognize she dosn't want to ge called?

I get my oxygen, nebulizer meds. and blood sugar testing supplies from a company that now is calling every 3 weeks for each thing I get to see if I'm out and need to order more. I've screamed at them so many times for waking me from a sound sleep, just as I finally got to sleep- as I have severe insomnia. I've tried to tell them I'll call them, but they tell me it doesn't work that way! This isn't even my phone and they shouldn't even have the number. I finally was able to get the local franchise to intervene as the calls were coming from there national office. But I did have to stop ordering from one other company in order to stop them from calling me. And their messages were recordings that you couldn't yell back at.

Answer 8

I do believe u weren't unprofessional, U have every right to ring her back...i would have done except i would have used more violent word....Rude ppl piss me off!....maybe she has a husband and wants to cheat on him and cant tlak to u when u call because her husband is in ear shot! on the other hand maybe she filled the online profile out because she was bord and have nothing better to do!

Answer 9

Not that I'm condoning the woman's screaming at you like that, but maybe she was frustrated? I mean, honestly, you called her several times and she hung up...how much more of a clue might you need that she's no longer interested in your services?

Answer 10

Absolutely NOT! I think you had the right to do it. She put in the information and requested the call so she needs to pick up and say I'm sorry take me off if she doesn't want to be called.