Tuesday, I received a telephone call. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked the display. It was a toll-free number I didn’t recognize. I didn’t pick it up both because I was at work and because I didn’t want to waste any of my day-time minutes on what was likely a call I didn’t want to receive. When the caller left no message, I was certain that I’d done the right thing.

The same caller tried again a few hours later. Curious, I entered the number into Google and was surprised to discover that it was my bank! They’d never called me before. If it was important they’d leave a message, and since they didn’t, I didn’t worry about it.

They called me back the next day. Again, I didn’t answer. Instead, I called back from a land line. I asked politely that they not use my phone number or e‑mail address for any promotional offers. The guy took my information, though he said ‘offers’ a few too many times for my comfort. It was really weird. He informed me that they’d take my name off their list, but it could take up to 30 days.

Yes, 30 days!

Thursday they called. I didn’t answer. Friday they called twice. I didn’t answer. I did however, send feedback to the bank:

I received my first TD Canada Trust telemarketing call this week. I was disappointed. My time is valuable, just as yours is. I go to my branch to see my TD rep on a regular basis. My needs are taken care of and I have a financial plan that I’m moving forward with.

Calls of this nature serve only to sour the relationship I have with TD Canada Trust. If that’s your goal, you’re well on your way to achieving it.

Not only is it annoying, but I have a mobile phone and I’m sure you can understand that I do not want to squander my daytime minutes listening to a pitch for something I do not want. So I called the customer help number and asked that I not be contacted to solicit business. I already am a customer.

I was told that it would take 30 days to have me removed from the list.

I received further telemarketing calls the two days after I asked for the calls to stop. You can imagine that I will not be pleased if I go through this for another 28 days.

Listen, you offer good service and I’ve been nothing but pleased with my TD Canada Trust experience so far. Why do you resort to such annoying tactics to generate new business? It annoys more people than you hook, and I can tell you from experience that it pisses off the customers you already have.

I’d like to continue to be your customer. Will you stop the calls?

I received an answer 31 minutes later:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us about the marketing calls you are continuing to receive.

We are pleased to confirm we have contacted our outbound sales department and requested your phone number be removed from all current and future campaigns. This should in effect stop the calls effective immediately, however do not be concerned if you receive one or two more.

We hope this information is helpful. Please contact us again with any additional questions you may have.

My question is simple. If they can so simply call the poxy outbound sales department and stop the calls immediately, why isn’t this the standard procedure when anyone calls to have the sales calls stopped? Why keep bugging people for 30 days after they’ve clearly expressed their desire not to be bothered by these calls?

Ridiculous.