5 ms·

It's interesting how this phenomenon is completely nonexistent in Europe. On none of my EU phone numbers, in 15 years, i have ever received a telemarketing call

It's interesting how this phenomenon is completely nonexistent in Europe. On none of my EU phone numbers, in 15 years, i have ever received a telemarketing call apart from about 1-2 calls a year from phone company itself who usually tries to push some new tariff plan on me. Why?

mrweasel 2y ago
Not sure where the why belongs, but some EU countries have rather strict rules about what you can sell when call without prior approval, e.g. newspapers only in Denmark. As to why the phone company call: Because they need you to approve the move to a new plan. At least previously, when contracts where 12 months, forcing customers to a new plan would immediately release the customer allowing then you move their number to a competitor. Given that most contracts now are just month to month, if that, it's only expedite the porting of contracts. My old employer, a telco, wanted my grandfather to move from a landline and a basically free service, to a cell phone and a contract where they could actually make a profit on him. It took them years and a pretty large (temporary) discounts to get him (and others obviously) to move his number, so they could shutdown their landline service. Telcos hate losing customers for two reasons. Firstly it takes over a year to turn a profit on a customer, if you factor in cost of acquiring the customer. Secondly, the different phone companies meet up a few times a year and compare number and figure out how much each should pay to have the other companies customers call their customers. If you have the most customer, you get the most money. (Not sure how this works across the global).
carlosjobim 2y ago
You're not old enough to be an easy and profitable mark. Telemarketers judge by the name in the phone book how old the person on the other end is. Why would they waste their time with you when they can scam thousands from elderly who are trained to worship any "authority" on the phone?

mrweasel 2y ago

Not sure where the why belongs, but some EU countries have rather strict rules about what you can sell when call without prior approval, e.g. newspapers only in Denmark. As to why the phone company call: Because they need you to approve the move to a new plan. At least previously, when contracts where 12 months, forcing customers to a new plan would immediately release the customer allowing then you move their number to a competitor. Given that most contracts now are just month to month, if that, it's only expedite the porting of contracts. My old employer, a telco, wanted my grandfather to move from a landline and a basically free service, to a cell phone and a contract where they could actually make a profit on him. It took them years and a pretty large (temporary) discounts to get him (and others obviously) to move his number, so they could shutdown their landline service. Telcos hate losing customers for two reasons. Firstly it takes over a year to turn a profit on a customer, if you factor in cost of acquiring the customer. Secondly, the different phone companies meet up a few times a year and compare number and figure out how much each should pay to have the other companies customers call their customers. If you have the most customer, you get the most money. (Not sure how this works across the global).

carlosjobim 2y ago

You're not old enough to be an easy and profitable mark. Telemarketers judge by the name in the phone book how old the person on the other end is. Why would they waste their time with you when they can scam thousands from elderly who are trained to worship any "authority" on the phone?