Honestly, while all these answers are great, most of this, if not all, is not going to actually mess with the people calling you. In fact, you’re probably just making their night better by giving them a story to share with their co-workers. Telemarketers and such have tough skin. It’s all a joke to us.
The easiest way to get removed from the list, assuming you aren’t on the Do Not Call List, (which only applies to people selling things) is to be firm and say, “No, thank you. I never do surveys/I never buy blahblahblah, etc.” We have no reason to keep trying back if you tell us you NEVER respond to what we are doing.
You just have to be specific. Where I work, we will call people who say a plain “No.” or “Not right now.” back up to three times while on one project. Don’t get a spouse or kid to say it for you either. It doesn’t count. Also, if you screen our calls and let it go to the machine, we may call back every half hour trying to get through. It’s better to just answer the phone.
I’ve experienced almost everything listed in the answers above. If someone tries to be funny, sometimes we will call again and again to keep messing with YOU. Look at it from our end, we are trying to do our job. The sooner you say no, the sooner we can move on to the next call. We have no way to “code” someone who messes with us, other than to keep trying back.
Sometimes I break the rules and remove people who are sincerely sweet to me. Keep that in mind next time you get a call.