you know what, once I just sit in front of LFS and said "sir if you excuse me I am driving, can you call again later?" he must be pretty amused after we hung up cause he was calling from the land line.

I just interrupt the person politely and tell that I'm not going to buy anything. If they try to continue with their sales speach I say it again. Usually they get it at this point and I end the call politely

It has a strange nice effect on me as well. Being able to manage the whole situation with a smile on my face and being polite gives me a good feeling too. Dunno, I know some people who really stress about telemarketers. I say it is all about the way you handle the situation mentally.

I see very little point harassing the poor sales persons, they are just doing their job. Sure there are idiots among them too but tbh the customers are just as bad.

This worked nicely:

Telemarketer: Hello, blah, blah, would you be interested in blah blah, ordering some useless magazines?
Me: Uhm, well I'm not sure I should order anything, taking account that I don't even live here. But you sound like a really nice girl so would like to go have coffee or something some day?

Quote from hyntty :

Me: Uhm, well I'm not sure I should order anything, taking account that I don't even live here. But you sound like a really nice girl so would like to go have coffee or something some day?

And what are you doing when it's a guy?

Don't make JTbo sad.

"Sorry, wrong number" *click*

here in belgium my familu doesnt get much telemarketers on the phone, they do fax alot.
what my father did: he faxed back for making an appointement with one of them guys. couple of days later the guy arrives. my dad invites him inside, sitting down..really calm. the guy went like. ok sir, so you were interested in our services? my dad. NO, i just wanted you to waste your fuel so i can tell you i dont want any damn faxes from you. sir, we work by a company that does that for us. SO your telling me, that all these crap faxes aint coming from you? yes sir, indeed. well, you tell your crap company, that if they dont stop it this ****ing instance, i'm gonna sue their asses!!! Sir, please calm down. Calm down!!! get the **** out of my house!

since then, they still fax us; my dad went called to the belgium computer crime unit and reported them, we are still getting faxes. my dad IS going to sue them

Quote from kiss me :

since then, they still fax us; my dad went called to the belgium computer crime unit and reported them, we are still getting faxes. my dad IS going to sue them

simpler solution (assuming youve got the money and they have a fax that prints rather than saving what it receives digitally)... tape a few pages of black paper to a ring and fax that back to their number

Quote from Shotglass :

tape a few pages of black paper to a ring and fax that back to their number

That's an infamous and excellent way of getting revenge over the phone lines, but sadly most fax machines these days seem to scan all the pages before they'll dial and send, preventing you from taping one end to the other and creating an endless loop.