What You See is What You Get?

What may  be one of the most annoying ways to market something to someone is through telemarketing. I’m sure we all have our own ways of blocking these calls, but sometimes one or two slip through. My experience with a telemarketing call got me into one pickle of a mess…

First of all, not only was this a telemarketing scheme, but it also included some personal marketing tactics. It took advantage of my coming of age, and considering the situation I was in, I gave in and accepted the offer.

It was a rainy afternoon in the summer and I had just lost my phone the night before. I received a call in the morning from the person who said he found it and would return it to me as soon as he arranged a ride. Waiting for his call as to when I should meet, I accidentally picked up on a bank’s offer for life insurance. I already knew that this bank was calling for me because my parents kept on telling me that some company was calling for me and needed to talk to me as soon as possible. Oblivious to the fact that they were trying to sell me insurance that I clearly didn’t need, I listened anyways. How the telemarketer knew my name and address, I had no idea. I thought banks were suppose to keep information private from third parties. The pitch was basically about how important it was for me to think about the future and to make sure that I was protected at all times. The telemarketer, he kept on repeating my name and reminded me that I was of legal age and could make decisions on my own without my parents.

At the moment, I was excited to hear how I was praised for being able to make my own decisions and for having the opportunity to do something adult as buy life insurance and not to mention that I had miraculously been contacted by someone who had found my precious phone. The catch with this insurance deal was that I had to pay $8.95 a month. I had one month trial period before the fees kick in, but I had to call in before the 10th of the month if I wanted to discontinue the service.

Lively with conversation as though he was my life long friend, customizing the subject and mentioning how I will soon start university and how I was beginning a new journey as an adult, the telemarketer painted a picture that somehow made me agree to the insurance agreement. I didn’t stop to think that I probably already have all those features with my parents. In the end I figured it out and called in before the 10th to get myself out, but having to go through the discontinuation process was three times longer than getting myself in.

I did get my phone in the end. I was never harmed in the time period that I had insurance, but I did become a victim of personalized marketing, a victim of situation factor for a) trying to get off the phone  to receive another call, but was too nice to just hang up and b) believing that I was being empowered by making such an important decision, and of course,  another victim of good old telemarketing.

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