People often ask me if those pay by the minute psychic hotlines are legitimate or scams. I’ve resisted writing about this topic for years because my mom always told me if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything.
But since I get the question hundreds of times a year, I recognize that people are looking for answers and there are few places where they will find the truth.
I have never worked for a psychic hotline so I can’t say with a large amount of authority whether they are legitimate or scams. However, I have had conversations with people who DO work for the hotlines and what they tell me concerns me a lot. I will tell you what I’ve been told, but it’s up to you to do more research on your own.
A guy asked me to be on his psychic radio show once. I was chatting with him about what he wanted me to do and we got on the subject of psychic hotlines. He told me he used to work for a hotline and he bragged that he once kept a guy on the phone for 8 hours. That’s hours, not minutes.
I said, “What on earth could you have talked to him about for 8 hours?”
He said, “Oh, we were taught ways to keep a client on the phone for long periods of time. We all got paid by the minute so the longer we kept a client on the phone, the more money we made.”
I asked, “How would you keep a client on the phone?”
He said, “I’d tell him I was doing a tarot spread and to hang on while I pulled cards. Then I’d put the phone down and go make a snack and come back 20 minutes later and tell him what cards I pulled. If I wanted to chew up more time, I would tell the client I was tuning in to his guides and just put the phone down and watch tv for 20 minutes.”
My mouth was on the floor, “And the client would just sit there and wait for you to come back?”
He replied, “Yes. It worked better on some people than others, but I could usually keep a client on the phone for a solid hour just by using tactics like that.”
I said, “But that’s so unethical!”
He said, “We didn’t get paid very much. If we wanted to earn a decent living, we had to do it. Plus the company rewarded people who had the longest calls.”
I was appalled. And I’m not sure what appalled me more, that the company directed their employees to do this or that the employees agreed to it. Where are the ethics? It really sounded like they preyed on the psychic junkies and just took their money without providing much real value.
I declined to be on this man’s radio show. I didn’t want any part of that energy.
Later I received an email from an acquaintance who was looking to start a business as a professional intuitive. Since he was just starting out, he thought it would be a good idea to work for a hotline so he could get some money and clients coming in immediately.
When he applied he said there was an audition where he had to give a reading to the employer. He used his real psychic abilities to do the audition and was told he qualified.
As part of his “training”, he was told he didn’t really need to be psychic, only sound psychic to the client. So he was told to use generalities that might apply to everyone, to fish around for information, and to be vague and sound mystical because a lot of clients liked that.
He was also told to make up specific information about the future because people wanted to know what was going to happen to them.
He was so appalled by this company that he decided not to work for them. He also told me that if the company was charging $4.00/minute, he was only going to make 50 cents per minute. So you can see why there was a strong drive to keep a client on the phone for as long as possible.
Legitimate psychics will find these tactics completely distasteful.
Another girl I know told me she used to work at a psychic hotline. I said, “Oh I didn’t know you were psychic.” She replied, “I’m not. I was actually auditioning for the sex line but the same company owned a psychic hotline and hired me for that as well. They trained me on what to say and how to behave on a call to keep the client on the phone as long as possible.”
While I do believe there are good and accurate psychics that work at psychic hotlines because they aren’t ready to go into business for themselves, I am wondering if the majority of the people who work there are just excellent actors.
So buyer beware. When you are looking for a good and accurate psychic, take your time to find someone that has a good reputation, or that has read for a friend of yours, or someone that you trust.
There are psychic scammers out there, but likewise, there are legitimate, accurate, ethical psychics who genuinely use their intuitive abilities to help others. It’s up to you to hire one of the good guys.
