How to get Ken Fisher Investment off my back?

[BHCadet]

I had an account with Schwab in 2002 and had a free financial review with them.
At the review, the guy gave me a list of financial planners for help managing my account.
I didn’t object to the idea then, but a week or two later, I decided not to use any of them and continued to manage my portfolio myself.
Once I told Schwab of my decision, none of the financial planners bothered me.
However, Ken Fisher Investment have been bothered me since.
They have my work phone # and home address.
When they called me at work and I always declined any offer from them.
And they keep sending junk mails to my home.

How do I get out of their mailing list and tell them not to call me again?

[Grt2bOutdoors]

Does their junk mail include a postage paid envelope? Mail back the envelope without anything in it? Keep doing so, at some point the mailings will cease.

Register your work number with the "FTC's Do Not Call Registry" - wait for days to elapse until it becomes effective, then report them as being an habitual offender.

Or, just have an attorney write them a nice "go away and stop the harrassment" letter with the standard caveat of "we will sue you" if you continue with this behavior.

[tainted-meat]

Does their junk mail include a postage paid envelope? Mail back the envelope without anything in it? Keep doing so, at some point the mailings will cease.

Register your work number with the "FTC's Do Not Call Registry" - wait for days to elapse until it becomes effective, then report them as being an habitual offender.

I don't think the DNC Registry will apply to business phones.

[Watty]

Have you firmly told them to put you on their "do not call" list?

They don't want to wast their time either so often a firm request to do this will get you taken off a calling list.

[goldendad]

I had a similar experience with them. They called a lot and were very aggressive including challenging me concerning why I did not want to use their services. I always told them I was not interested and it eventually stopped - but it took a while. Needless to say I would not recommend them to anybody else. This was about 5 years ago.

[westcoast]

I had them calling me all the the time also two years ago. I got rude to the guy on the phone and told him firmly to stop calling me at work. They have not called since. And happily I found this great website.

[ObliviousInvestor]

Have you tried being very, very explicit about what you want? Something to this effect:

"No, no, no, no, no, no. I am not interested in your services, and I will never be interested in your services. Please put both my home phone number and work phone number on your do not call list. Do not call me again. And do not send me anything in the mail again. Ever."

[Mudpuppy]

Rather than say you are not interested, you must say the phrase "do not call me again" for you to have any regulatory/legal standing. You may need to do this for both the work and home phone numbers depending on how their calling database is set up. The DNC registry will not help since they have a tenuous "prior business relationship" with you, but uttering the magic phrase "do not call me" can sever this relationship. Don't just say it and hang up, as not all dialer software reacts well to that (and may just disposition the call as a "hangup" instead of a "DNC"). Tell them to not call you again and when they protest, repeat it. Don't give explanations, don't get verbose. Just repeat "do not call me again" several times (and then you can hang up if they are still talking).

Once you have told them this, they are supposed to stop contacting that phone number (which is why you may have to do this from both home and work numbers). You can pursue your regulatory compensation if they do not (and if you desire to take it this far).

Edit: typo

[HongKonger]

Tell them you are bankrupt. I find this stops all those 'expat wealth planners'/'art investment brokers' who call me.

[BHCadet]

Does their junk mail include a postage paid envelope? Mail back the envelope without anything in it? Keep doing so, at some point the mailings will cease.

Instead of mailing back the return envelope only, I think I'll mark it "Return to Sender" and send it back as is without opening it next time.

[BHCadet]

Have you firmly told them to put you on their "do not call" list?

They don't want to wast their time either so often a firm request to do this will get you taken off a calling list.

I did firmly tell them I'm not interested.
I also told them I'm a Boglehead.
However, I don't think they understand what it means.

[BHCadet]

Have you tried being very, very explicit about what you want? Something to this effect:

"No, no, no, no, no, no. I am not interested in your services, and I will never be interested in your services. Please put both my home phone number and work phone number on your do not call list. Do not call me again. And do not send me anything in the mail again. Ever."

I had them calling me all the the time also two years ago. I got rude to the guy on the phone and told him firmly to stop calling me at work. They have not called since. And happily I found this great website.

Rather than say you are not interested, you must say the phrase "do not call me again" for you to have any regulatory/legal standing. You may need to do this for both the work and home phone numbers depending on how their calling database is set up. The DNC registry will not help since they have a tenuous "prior business relationship" with you, but uttering the magic phrase "do not call me" can sever this relationship.

Lucky they don't have my home phone number.
I will be rude and say "do not call me again" next time.

[BHCadet]

Tell them you are bankrupt. I find this stops all those 'expat wealth planners'/'art investment brokers' who call me.

Hmm... They may able to tell it is a lie since they've my work phone number and may know the company I'm working for.

[BHCadet]

I had a similar experience with them. They called a lot and were very aggressive including challenging me concerning why I did not want to use their services. I always told them I was not interested and it eventually stopped - but it took a while. Needless to say I would not recommend them to anybody else. This was about 5 years ago.

They haven't stopped yet after 10 years.
They reason I'm posting here is because I'm so frustrated with them.

[Mrs.Feeley]

Does their junk mail include a postage paid envelope? Mail back the envelope without anything in it? Keep doing so, at some point the mailings will cease.

Instead of mailing back the return envelope only, I think I'll mark it "Return to Sender" and send it back as is without opening it next time.

I've tried that with various companies over the years and it never seems to work to get us off the mailing list. I don't think the employees who process mail have any hand in updating the database.

For many years we were getting credit card statements for someone who had lived in our house, oh, ten years before. After getting these suckers for years, and each time dutifully writing "Return to Sender, Recipient no longer lives at this address" on the envelope and dropping it back in the mail, I finally started opening the envelopes and calling Discover to ask that they stop mailing statements for this account to our address. It was obviously an inactive account. But even calls didn't work. I'd get incredulous Discover employees on the phone: "You opened the statement?! You opened someone else's mail??!!!" Well yeah, I've been getting these statements for seven years now and returning them to you for seven years. But like I said even pleading calls to their customer service department didn't help to stop the statements and we continued to receive them for years after that. I'm quite sure in fact that we received them for nearly ten years before they suddenly stopped.

[BHCadet]

I'm quite sure in fact that we received them for nearly ten years before they suddenly stopped.

It has been ten years since I first received their junk mails and phone calls, hope time is up and they stop soon.

[Mrs.Feeley]

I'm quite sure in fact that we received them for nearly ten years before they suddenly stopped.

It has been ten years since I first received their junk mails and phone calls, hope time is up and they stop soon.

A hearty good luck to you! I've been receiving regular mailings from the Journal of Technical Analysis since 1994, I've never responded to any and I can't even imagine how I got on their mailing list in the first place. They even seem to have followed me through multiple addresses. I think once these marketing databases get going they become out-of-control cyborgs. Good luck!

[Mudpuppy]

Have you firmly told them to put you on their "do not call" list?

They don't want to wast their time either so often a firm request to do this will get you taken off a calling list.

I did firmly tell them I'm not interested.
I also told them I'm a Boglehead.
However, I don't think they understand what it means.

"I'm not interested" is not the magic phrase. You must say "do not call me again". Anything short of that, and they can legally keep bugging you. Just keep repeating "do not call me again". Nothing more, nothing less. It's not being rude, it's protecting your interests by legal means.

[Mudpuppy]

And if we're deviating to odd mailing lists we've somehow ended up on, University of Phoenix, Devry, and the like keep sending me brochures about enrolling in their technology programs... when I have a Ph.D. in the field. I have thus far resisted the urge to reply with a resume to teach evening courses for them, since I am not that much of a glutton for punishment.

[HongKonger]

Tell them you are bankrupt. I find this stops all those 'expat wealth planners'/'art investment brokers' who call me.

Hmm... They may able to tell it is a lie since they've my work phone number and may know the company I'm working for.

Just because you work doesn't mean you have money!!

[midareff]

Just tell him you re a Boglehead and would never go for the stuff they are peddling. .. and not to call again. OR, tell him your wife got all the money in the divorce nd you are broke. Both should work just fine.

[livesoft]

It seems that Ken Fisher incorporated is having some fun with you. They are putting your contact info at the top of all "The F'...ing New Guy"'s list of calls to make. They even have a special bonus of a one-month vacation to Hawaii for the first FNG to get you to sign up. Man-up and tell them what you think about that.

[hicabob]

Have you firmly told them to put you on their "do not call" list?

They don't want to wast their time either so often a firm request to do this will get you taken off a calling list.

I did firmly tell them I'm not interested.
I also told them I'm a Boglehead.
However, I don't think they understand what it means.

I have tried telling financial salespeople that I was a Boglehead - As surprising as it may be to us, the term is not yet in the general vernacular! Response is generally "what's that" or "huh" although once I believe a salesperson thought it was a malady and expressed empathy.

[midareff]

Have you firmly told them to put you on their "do not call" list?

They don't want to wast their time either so often a firm request to do this will get you taken off a calling list.

I did firmly tell them I'm not interested.
I also told them I'm a Boglehead.
However, I don't think they understand what it means.

I have tried telling financial salespeople that I was a Boglehead - As surprising as it may be to us, the term is not yet in the general vernacular! Response is generally "what's that" or "huh" although once I believe a salesperson thought it was a malady and expressed empathy.

Sounds more like a standard brush off rather than they don't know what it is. I'd be tempted to tell a financial person who said that they needed to learn their own business before making cold calls.

[zed]

Life is too short. Stop getting mad. Have some fun with it.
Waste their time.
Next time they call engage them in a language of your invention.
"Dibby dah?"

[likegarden]

Nuisance phone calls are no problem with us. We have phone ID on 2 phones and on the TV, and have a message on the answering machine that we only answer phone calls from people we know. After a while everyone gets the message and does not call again. Once you answer, the callers know that there is a live person and call more often to sell you something, so don't pick up.

[HongKonger]

Life is too short. Stop getting mad. Have some fun with it.
Waste their time.
Next time they call engage them in a language of your invention.
"Dibby dah?"

hahaha - yes I've done that along with the 'go on then - you have 2 minutes, give me your best pitch'.

[Beat The Street]

Just tell them you will donate $1,000 to FINRA for each time they attempt to contact you. That should work.

[mhc]

Here is what I would do:

1. Tell them explicitly not to call.
2. Inform them that you are going to inform your legal department that they are harassing you.
3. Ask the person if it is okay to put them on hold and then just leave them on hold.
4. I like to pretend that I just had oral surgery and just mumble to them in pain.

[wilpat]

I had some investment dude calling me repeatedly a few years ago and he would not stop. Finally on one of his calls I asked him for his physical address. He asked "Why do you need that?" I said "Because If you ever call me again I am going to come out there and break your F___ing arm!". I never heard from him again.

[Cernel]

I had a similar experience with them. They called a lot and were very aggressive including challenging me concerning why I did not want to use their services.

I, too, had a similar experience. What finally stopped the calls for me was when I told the rude representative that if I received another call from them that I was going to report their firm to our State's Attorney General for harassment.

[Grt2bOutdoors]

I had some investment dude calling me repeatedly a few years ago and he would not stop. Finally on one of his calls I asked him for his physical address. He asked "Why do you need that?" I said "Because If you ever call me again I am going to come out there and break your F___ing arm!". I never heard from him again.

+1 - This is more along the lines of Livesoft's manning up!

[Epsilon Delta]

Lucky they don't have my home phone number.
I will be rude and say "do not call me again" next time.

It is not rude to tell them not to call you again. It is not rude to hang up on an unsolicited phone call. It is not rude to use an answering machine or caller id to screen your calls.

Scammers and other parasites try to take advantage of misplaced politeness, but as Miss Manners has repeatedly said etiquette does not require you to be a door mat.

[ourbrooks]

When they say, "hi, how are you?" answer that you're feeling lots better since you got out on bail, especially, since you weren't guilty and all those checks you bounced were just accounting mistakes.

Alternately, you could try the "what killed the dog approach:" "Much better since I got out of the hospital" See, the reason I was in the hospital was because I got burned getting out when my house burned down. I'm not too sad about the house; since I stopped making payments on the mortgage and the bank started to foreclose so it's mostly the bank's problem. Of course, I couldn't make the payments on the house because I lost my job when I was in jail. Well, what's past is past, but I really shouldn't have beaten up that guy who was trying to sell me investment advice. What did you say you were calling about?"

[BHCadet]

I had some investment dude calling me repeatedly a few years ago and he would not stop. Finally on one of his calls I asked him for his physical address. He asked "Why do you need that?" I said "Because If you ever call me again I am going to come out there and break your F___ing arm!". I never heard from him again.

+1 - This is more along the lines of Livesoft's manning up!

This is funny… asking for address to break his freakin arm.

[Helloeeze]

Try the Senfield way. I did this once. It was fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3aCL8PIOuM

[paulsiu]

You should tell them to put you on the do not call list and ask them to stop calling. Log each time you do this. If they keep calling you, report them to the FCC and forward them a log, feel free to CC Ken Fisher on it. Tell them that you have done this. Write a letter to their CEO complaining that their staff bothered you at work and at home and you have talked to all of your friends and all of your relative not to use Ken Fisher because they are too annoying. Tell them that you have also posted to financial boards and now regulars there won't use Ken Fisher.

Paul

[nisiprius]

Have you tried being very, very explicit about what you want? Something to this effect:

"No, no, no, no, no, no. I am not interested in your services, and I will never be interested in your services.

You're one "no" short. I was once told that salespeople are trained to listen for seven "nos," as in seriously, they are supposed to count them. But maybe the "not" and the "never" count.

[dratkinson]

I vote play with the KF phone guy. They want your time, so sell it to them.

You could tell them you will grant them a 1-hour appointment... for $1K... to be paid in advance... with the clear understanding going in that you have zero interest in their services. Then tell them to only call back to schedule YOUR time AFTER their check clears.

Before the check arrives (and you cash it), on each call, tell the phone guy, "You have violated the terms of the meeting agreement, the price for a 1-hour meeting with me goes up $1K. Don't call back until after your check clears." Then hang up.

If they pay up (can't believe they would), then schedule YOUR time to meet at your favorite (sports bar) eating place. You both got to eat lunch anyway. Request separate checks. Eat. Watch the games. Be pleasant. Discuss him/his hobbies/his family/his commissions/his investing experience/KF services/compare-contrast with BH investing philosophy/etc. with the phone guy like he was a good friend. When the hour is over, wish the phone guy well, pay your check and leave.

Repeat as often as necessary.

Don't know how to account for the $1K on your taxes. Assume KF will claim it as a business expense... so you would claim it as revenue. Maybe on Sch B... as KF's interest in you. (See what I did there?)



That's all I got.

[livesoft]

....Write a letter to their CEO complaining that their staff bothered you at work and at home and you have talked to all of your friends and all of your relative not to use Ken Fisher because they are too annoying. Tell them that you have also posted to financial boards and now regulars there won't use Ken Fisher.

Paul

LOL! The CEO has already received lots of such letters and it has had no effect. Posters have already done all the posting without any effect. Frankly, based on all the bad press this firm receives, I am surprised they haven't changed their name to something else like Rachel Investments.

[prudent]

If you get them to believe you are not in your right mind the calls will stop (although it's simpler to tell them to put you on the do-not-call list).

Telemarketer: Mr. Prudent, as a sophisticated investor you are certainly aware of the need to properly diversify your asset base, but what you may not know is that certain alternative investments have outperformed the S&P 500 by 255% over the last three years. We would like to offer you an opportunity to participate in our Double-Secret Guerilla MegaFund Series X. These opportunities -
Me: Do you have a ceiling on the maximum investment?
TM: Why no, Mr. Prudent! We can accommodate discerning investors of all levels. Let me send you -
Me: And are turnips available with that?
TM: Excuse me? Is what available?
Me: Turnips. I like turnips and please send me some.
TM: I'm sorry, Mr. Prudent, I don't understand. This is an investment opportunity for a selected number of investors who -
Me: So, are you saying there are no turnips? If there are no turnips, I can't ask my banker for money to invest. We made a deal for turnips. Way back at the last meeting, boy did we have an argument.
TM: But Mr. Prudent -
Me: When that old banker said no more money for my investments, I said, "Now listen here, you thief, it's my money!" Do you believe that? You should have seen the look on his face when I said "We deal in turnips from now on!" Then he -
TM: <click>

So far I'm three-for-three in stopping further calls.

[SurfCityBill]

I would tell them that I'd be happy to invest with them right after my bankruptcy is discharged. Hello, hello, you still there?

[rotorhead]

Hey BHCadet, did you get your free binoculars yet? I got a pair some years ago from Fisher, for "spotting those great investment opportunities." Pretty nice actually - pocket size, great for taking to the theater. I've used them several times.

I got on their list 9-10 years ago, when I was subscriber to IBD. The binoculars were part of one of their more notable marketing efforts - not sure how successful it was. Didn't work with me. I haven't had a phone call in long time; but still get the occasional letter. I just throw them out; part of the cost of living in our modern era.

They're not the only ones. I could eat pretty well all winter here in Florida, with all the invitations to lunch or dinner that I get from the various investment houses in the area. They get hyper active "in season" when the snowbirds are here. I'm often tempted to go eat their food and listen to their pitch just for the hell of it; but I don't want to go through the hassle of being on anymore mailing lists than I already am.

Try not to let them get under your skin; and have a little fun with it if you can. Send the post paid envelopes back empty, or load them up with junk paper. The Post Office charges them based on the weight of the envelope. Other posters have suggested some novel ways of dealing with the phone calls.

[BHCadet]

Hey BHCadet, did you get your free binoculars yet?

This is annoying.
I didn’t get any free dinner or binoculars from being on their mailing and calling list.

[rjbraun]

....Write a letter to their CEO complaining that their staff bothered you at work and at home and you have talked to all of your friends and all of your relative not to use Ken Fisher because they are too annoying. Tell them that you have also posted to financial boards and now regulars there won't use Ken Fisher.

Paul

LOL! The CEO has already received lots of such letters and it has had no effect. Posters have already done all the posting without any effect. Frankly, based on all the bad press this firm receives, I am surprised they haven't changed their name to something else like Rachel Investments.

Just how bad is Fisher Investments? I can't really tell what they do from the website. I mean, it looks like it's value-oriented stock picking. Are they just super-aggressive marketers but relatively harmless compared to other active investment firms? It's hard to find the bad press, at least based on a quick search. Presumably they manage to squelch poor reviews. I did find negative comments on glassdoor.com, though arguably the commenters may not be the most objective parties. In any case I ask because a relative seems to think quite highly of the firm. I guess I'm just trying to protecting them from any potential disasters looming on the horizon.

[BHCadet]

Just how bad is Fisher Investments? I can't really tell what they do from the website. I mean, it looks like it's value-oriented stock picking. Are they just super-aggressive marketers but relatively harmless compared to other active investment firms?

Yes - Super-aggressive telemarketer selling investment products I don’t want and don’t need and would not go away.

[Stryker]

Just how bad is Fisher Investments? I can't really tell what they do from the website. I mean, it looks like it's value-oriented stock picking.

I bought his first book "Super Stocks" when it came out in 1984. Still have it in the bookcase, although I don't use it much any more. I used to read his columns in Forbes but started to lose interest shortly after the new millenium came in. He used to be a straight value investor, then towards the late 90's he emphasized super cap stocks at any price. He called it perfectly. In his Forbes column Ken then told investors to get out of tech stocks a month before the start of the collapse. Again he got it right. Around that time it seemed he was doing a combination of market timing and value investing.

Since then I've moved on to other investment methods that have served me well, so I've basically lost track of what Ken Fisher does now. I've never been invested with Fisher Investments so I don't know what his results have been but if the long term returns are anywhere as bad as the mutual fund he's been managing for over fifteen years, then I would say not very good at all. Better just sticking with a world index portfolio.

[The Wizard]

Life is too short. Stop getting mad. Have some fun with it.
Waste their time.
Next time they call engage them in a language of your invention.
"Dibby dah?"

hahaha - yes I've done that along with the 'go on then - you have 2 minutes, give me your best pitch'.

Another good way of killing them is to just mumble "Hmm-hmm..." into the phone every five seconds as if you're following their pitch.
Then eventually when they catch up to you, "Ooops, I'm sorry, did you say something???"

[dratkinson]

For the times when TMs call your home, I've heard stories of parents handing the phone to a young child and telling them to "Talk to the nice man/woman. Tell them about your toys." While the parents supervise the call. Then when the child is done with the stories, tell the child to say "Goodbye" and hang up... if the TM has lasted that long.

[dbr]

....Write a letter to their CEO complaining that their staff bothered you at work and at home and you have talked to all of your friends and all of your relative not to use Ken Fisher because they are too annoying. Tell them that you have also posted to financial boards and now regulars there won't use Ken Fisher.

Paul

LOL! The CEO has already received lots of such letters and it has had no effect. Posters have already done all the posting without any effect. Frankly, based on all the bad press this firm receives, I am surprised they haven't changed their name to something else like Rachel Investments.

When this happens at Megacorp, the offending organization telemarketing our employees at work gets a call to the offending organization CEO from Megacorp Public Affairs followed by a letter from Megacorp Legal. Megacorp takes this very seriously and pursues the issue aggressively. When a local organization is the offender the effect on the cold-caller will be severe. This is a community where businesses do not do that kind of crap to each other.