I had a telecoms reselling company phone me this evening trying to sell me cheaper telephone calls, and lower line rental on my BT line. I know how these things work: they purchase in bulk from BT, and re-sell cheaper than BT does. Not a bad business, nor do I have any particular attachment to BT (though I do like their broadband service). So why didn’t I purchase this?
Firstly, I hate being put on the spot by a cold-calling telesales person. I know that the people on the other end are sitting in a call centre somewhere, and are paid by results, so I do have some sympathy with them. But I still don’t like being cold-called. And I couldn’t get rid of these people: first they phoned me while I was eating: I did tell them this, so they phoned back. I must have asked too many questions because the girl on the end of the line put me on to her supervisor.
Secondly, I like to make purchases when I want to. Not when I’m put on the spot. Not even to save money. Their salesperson explained what he was selling, and I even found his company on the net, so I knew that he really was genuine. But it was his pressure to close the sale there and then that finally got too much for me. My innate bloody-mindedness kicked in, and I explained politely that I really didn’t want to buy, and didn’t want them to phone me back. I had to do this three times before they really took the message. They clearly believe in their product (and they are probably right as well, but that’s not the point).
So, I’m probably paying over the odds for my telephone line. So what? That’s my problem! If I want to fix it, I’ll fix it – in my own time! There’s plenty of resellers out there who package up BT lines and calls (now that legislation forces BT to open the market to them). But I’ll organise it myself, thank you very much.
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