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Fighting Telemarketers with Technology
prostoalex writes "According to an MSNBC story, 104 million telemarketing calls are made daily in the U.S. alone and technology is on the way to fight those special offers and incredible credit card rates. Zenith EZ HangUp, The Phone Butler, TriVOX VN100 and ScreenMachine are quoted in the article as new gadgets that allow phone owners to avoid the plagues of telemarketing."
an effective CHEAP way of eliminating telemarketers is saying "PLEASE PUT ME ON YOUR DO NOT CALL LIST." By law, telemarketers are not allowed call ppl on this list. It has worked for me.
I use my phone company's Privacy Manager feature. Since we started using it, we hardly get any spam calls anymore. It's definately worth the 4 bucks a month.
Live web cams
I didnt read the article, but you could insert the first tone of a telecom's disconnected line signal on your answering machine, and automated systems will delist you.
Does it work for my mother-in-law?
Requirements: 1 answering machine
Turn the answering machine on, but set it so that you can hear the messages people are leaving. Then, screen every call. Period. If people start to leave a message, and it's a message you want, pick up the phone.
Let people who you want to talk to, know that you screen your calls for this reason, so that they will leave a message.
You are under no obligation to pick up the phone. Ever. Don't do it unless the call actually matters to you. And even if it does, but you're busy at the moment, let the machine take the call and you can call back later.
The phone is there to serve you, not the other way around. I have let someone leave a message, just because I was in the coding zone at that moment, or enjoying an ice cream cone, or even awake-but-trying-to-nap, and didn't feel like picking up the phone. So I didn't.
ChicagoFan
"The Phone Butler takes over, delivers his legally-correct message in a very polite, British-butler's voice, then terminates the call automatically when he is done!"
I'm not sure if I'd even wish that upon a tele-marketer...
s200.org - visit it (me), love it (me).
All those calls were faked by the phone company for years so that you'd get pissed off enough to pay $4 more per month to make them stop.
I just don't answer the phone. I have a handy device known as an "answering machine." This device answers the phone on my behalf and allows me to hear what the other party has to say. I then can decide if I want to take call. I call this process "screening my calls." I've found it to be most useful. Previously, I received numerous wrong number calls, or worse, telemarketers. I've found that very rarely do telemarketers talk to my wonderous machine. However, when they do, I've found it effective to quickly "answer and hang up."
I've already applied for a patent on the "answering machine", the "screening calls" process, and the "answer and hang up" process. If you infringe on my patents expect numerous calls from lawyers...
I use a Stargate to handle my incoming calls. I can filter on any CallerID string, including Private and Unavailable numbers, and play a custom outgoing message, based on the time of day, day of week, CID, temperature outside, etc.
.WAV files of SIT tones on the 'net, just adding the "disconnected number" tones to the beginning of your answering machine message will accomplish the same thing that many of the $40 gadgets do.
Telemarketers and other nusance callers get a SIT tone, a "DO NOT CALL THIS NUMBER" message, and then a click.
On sundays, the custom filters are disabled (telemarketers legally can't call on Sundays).
You can find
-This sig intentionally left blank
While it still annoys me to check and see calls from "Unavailable", you can't beat caller ID, since none of the telescammers ever call with their real ID/phone number. Without caller ID I would have to go back to my old technique of using the air horn on em when they called (which tended to annoy my neighbors at 9pm). And still to this day I have yet to get one of them to give me their supervisors home number, so I could bug him/her while they are eating dinner to discuss my athletes foot problem.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
My brother & family moved into a nice new house last year... and as soon as the phone was set up, BANG! Telemarketers left right and bloody center.
He ended up installing this system (I'm not there so I couldn't tell you what it is) that will reroute all calls without Caller ID to an automated system so calls can be screened, callers have to give their name or business name and then the system literally calls the house itself to say "person or company x" is calling.
The number of telemarketing calls went through the floor, mainly because most didn't want to go through the screening check. They get the odd call now and then, but mostly by those who do persevere with the screening system or those that have valid Caller ID tags.
Originally he did have the system completely rejecting calls without ID, but since the rest of the family live in England, there isn't any ID transmitted - so we couldn't get through for a while, until we got a call from him wondering why WE hadn't called!! DOH!
Are you local? There's nothing for you here!
It is really silly that you need to opt-out to try to get away (and you still get calls even then). If there would be an opt-in it would probably kill off the whole telemarketing business, which I feel would be a good thing.
This problem is just as bad as spam, fax-spamming and all other broad adverticement methods. I wish that one day you would not get more ads than you ask for (i.e. 2-5% of todays load of shit).
For you people living in Sweden I would like to mention the Nix register, it is the Swedish opt-out register.
Since I had Qwest enable an anti-marketing feature they sell. Basically if the call would be "Unknown" on my caller ID box, the person calling gets a message that this line does not accept phone solicitations and if they're not a telemarketer, please dial their number now. It even seems to have worked for the Qwest telemarketers. Of course, that's an extra buck or two on the phone bill each month, but I've gone from 5-10 telemarketing calls a week to 0. Once my spam load gets obnoxiously high, I'll be implementing a similar solution for that.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Would I be right in assuming that it's a side effect of the free local calls you guys get? Whilst the whole idea sounds rather tempting it just seems like you have a lot of hassles and issues with the whole system - especially when it's possible to buy 6 or 7 different call screening devices!
Ps. the English accent on the Phone Butler really made me laugh :o)
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
If they show up an unknown, I let it roll to the answering machine. If it is someone I know, I just call them back or send an email. Everyone now and again, I will pick up and ask to go on the "Don't Call" list. We are down to one TeleMarketer a week now.
I hate phones. They are the spawn of Satan. If you have something to say, use email. I guess part of it is coming from a corporate culture. In the corporate world, some people don't like email because it leaves evidence of their incompetence.
But I digress...........
If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem
I just hope they won't try to sell me one by spamming my mailbox to its limit ;-)
Someone pointed out that there is no Federal "Do not Call Registry". However, Some States do have them. Find your state and Sign up.
Do not read this
Tennessee passed a Do Not Call law some years back. The state maintains a Do Not Call list, which is free to join. By state law telemarketers must abide by it, with stiff penalties if they don't. I signed up and have had zero telemarketers call since. That was about 2 years ago. Any other states (or other countries, for those outside the USA) have anything similar?
Plus, the machine also has a feature to send caller-id-blocked numbers right to voice mail (after a special message). The neat thing is listening to the different kinds of response -- some hang up during the "Your number is being sent to voice mail..." which tells me that it's a human calling. Some wait through the message, and then there's a pause, and then a click and a dial tone, which suggests to me that it's a machine that waited a certain amount of time and then gave up.
www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
You don't think you can get money from these scumbags? Think again. Friend of mine has gotten $1500 (if not more). See here: http://osiris.978.org/~brianr/telemarketing/
Most of the time they're in another state and it's far more expensive for them to send somebody to represent them in small claims court then it is to just pay you the $500.
Free Mac Mini
Telephone Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, P. O. Box 9014, Farmingdale, NY 11735-9014
More tips at Junkbusters. Now we tend only to get long distance phone company calls.
Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?
I work for a group of public libraries that uses a computer to call and say "Someone at this telephone number" -- we won't say who, because if you use a public library we consider it your own damn business -- "has an item waiting to be picked up at the So-and-So Public Library".
Unfortunately, if you use one of those gadgets that sends a "this number has been disconnected" message, the library's computer takes that at face value. You miss picking up the book, and then the library staff asks you to verify your phone number the next time you're there.
So, yeah, it works, but sometimes a little too well.
Really, on a boring night, it really can be a slightly entertaining trying to sell a telemarketer something YOU own.
Thing is, you have to really push it and not make it sound like a joke. When they scoff and give a laughing no to buying your Miata, use their tactics: Don't take no for an answer, incredulously ask why they would be interested in being a cool person with a cool car, ask where they live, how nice it would be to drive a convertible around, etc.
You'll run THEM off the phone in no time.
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
So far, telemarketers haven't started calling it. Everyone who is likely to call me knows that number. I have the ringer turned off on the landline, and just check the answering machine every evening. The only reason I have a landline is for 911 service.
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Pennsylvania recently passed the "No Calls Please" law, where, if you register with the state, you are added to a do not call list and Telemarketers have to download the list and remove you from their database if you're on it. Adding yourself to the list is free!
When a telemarketer actually does call me, I explain to them about the law. A lot of telemarketers actually tell me they don't believe me. I then ask to speak the supervisor on duty because I need to get the companies name and address in order to report them to my attorney general so they can be fined $5000 for disturbing me. They usually hang up real fast and don't bother me any more.
What we really need is an active law NO ONE in PA can receive telemarketing calls unless they ADD themselves to a list.
I will modify my behavior, pretending to be interested, so I can get the telemarketer's name and name of the company and ask to be removed from the list.
That is what I do (when I feel like answering). Then I add them to my do-not-call-list list. If I get another call from them, I inform them that I had already asked to be placed on their DNC on what ever date the last call was made.
Simple solution for those who live in the USA: Get a cell phone and ditch your land line.
By law telemarketers can not call you on your cell phone. I've recieved one or two calls in the past, so it isn't 100%, but it's worth it.
III.IIVIVIXIIVIVIIIVVIIIIXVIIIXIIIIIIIIVIIIIVVIII
Umm .. its common courtesy"
.. its common courtesy" or "Everyone should go to my web page and click my banner ad .. its common courtesy" or "Everyone should get all the money they need .. and rich people should pay for it .. its common courtesy" .. maybe that last one was a little too far .. but that just proves how much telemarketers push me over the edge.]
.. and I pay MY money to operate it. What is sad .. is I also have a Cel phone .. and thats the only number I give out to friends .. I never give out our house phone number ,becuase 9 out of 10 calls are telemarketers. Thats becuase the people/businesses I gave it to lack "Common Courtesy" and placed me on call lists .. or sold my information to someone else.
.. I went home yesterday for lunch .. and had ELEVEN messages on my machine. all from telemarketing companies.]
.. when I *KNOW* that i don't even give that number out anymore ?
.. be they on my phone .. my front door .. or my computer - there is no rule of ediquette that says I have to cheerfully exchange the time of day to them.
.. I will SUE you for harassment." [after obtaining their company information of course]
.. or I tell them that the person they are looking for is dead.
That is a very 'Liberal' outlook.
"Everyone should answer their phone
What kind of crack are you on ?
You might as well say "Everyone should turn on their TV to channel 4
[ok
My phone , (last i checked) is in MY house
[for example
So explain to me again why I need to answer everyone of my phone calls
If I don't want to talk to someone
My telemarketing responses are generally along the lines of "Don't fucking call my house. Put me on your DO NOT CALL LIST - If you call my house again
either that
works like a charm.
--Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum, non erravi pernicose!
I often compare living in teh US to living here in Norway, Europe. It seems that we can learn a lot from each other, this time it is your turn to learn... ;)
So. WHAT?!?! Are paying for hardware and services to stop telemarketeers? Aren't they obliged by law to check if your name is on a do-not-call list? A friend of mine in the US said that he had to pay to be on a do-not-call list, operated by the telemarketeers association. That is nothing short of insane. Paying people to not bother me? Hello; it's not very difficult to operate such lists.
I'm on the Norwegian goverments do-not-call list. There are three levels: 1) Any call accepted. 2) Commercial calls not allowed. 3) Neither commercial nor charitable calls allowed.
I'm already a member of the chartiable orgs i want to, so my do-not-call entry lists me as option 3. This is a free system, no fees. Any company that calls you even though you're on the list will face fines if you turn them in to the Consumer Council.
I think this system is
What do you do if the person doesn't have a phone number? Or if they request to be contacted in another way than the phone? Or if their kid answers the phone and drops it back at once?
I don't think it sounds like an especially good technology, no offense.
I'll put this one in the public domain, so as we can all benefit from it:
If you're in the mood, answer the phone. Answer with your name, e.g., "This is Doug." If there is a pause, or the person on the other end says, "May I speak with Mr. X", they are a telemarketer (in all likelihood). The pause is a dead giveaway, and asking for me by last name means they don't know who I am.
At this point, hang up the phone. No need to be polite and try to reason your way out of the call. Really. It's okay. These are professional telemarketers. This kind of rejection rolls off their back like water on a duck (Simpson's, Daryl Strawberry anyone?).
If the call really was legitimate, they'll be calling back, although I haven't had a false positive using this technique yet.
This technique is licensed under the GPL.
Giddy Up.
with a machete or an ax
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
In the UK, you can register on-line with the Telephone Preference Service to avoid telemarketing calls.
http://www.tpsonline.org.uk
Similar services exist for Snail Mail
http://www.mpsonline.org.uk
and Fax.
http://www.fpsonline.org.uk/
The Data Protection register monitors these, and operates enforcement, so you can expect good results.
I would like to see a more high tech version of this running on a PC. I think it would be liberating to press a button and have an Eliza-like program take over the call from my end. Initially, it could ask the telemarketers to repeat everything several times... then play dumb for a while - asking for things to be repeated in more and more depth - then present an automated sales pitch for some ludicrous randomly chosen product - finally thanking the company for an amusing conversation - and hanging up. I think this would be a particularly effective anti-scam as a result of the way in which I suspect many call centres are run - I understand that those making the calls are required to be polite at all times and are frequently are required to follow strict rules about how they must direct conversations and answer questions. I'm having fun ideas about stock phrases like - "Very interesting - but I'm afraid I was distracted by my next door neighbours' cat - please could you repeat all that" on a rule where the caller has spoken for over 3 minutes. "I'm very interested in this idea - please would you wait while I get a pen I'm back again - what was it we were talking about again?" "Can you explain to me what you meant by that first bit again?" (The possibilities are only limited by our imagination :-)
I worked for a market research company. Our company would pick the area code and first 3 didgits of the phone numbers in the area we wanted to research, then our computers would randomly pick the last four digits. If you are unlisted or on a list, it doesn't matter. It is random. When I called someone who was unlisted it always puzzled the hell out of them how I got the number.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Info here.
I used to get 7-10 telemarketer calls a week before this service, now i've got blissful silence. It is very worth the $4.00/mo. verizon charges.
-ted
In six months of being on the New York State Do Not Call List I've found it quite affective, especially against AT&T cellular, which was calling at least every week despite being asked every time to take me off their list. You'd think a phone company would know federal law on this? Naturally I will NEVER buy anything from AT&T - and urge you not to either. Meanwhile, this is one gov. program NYS actually runs well - perhaps the only one.
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
Here's something to think about- maybe someone with a bit more time on their hands could tackle this problem and make a mint.
911 calls can not be blocked by the *67 code- your number will always show up, 800 numbers also always show the caller's number.
So what is it with the caller ID program on my cell phone, or the call ID box that my mother has that listens to the PRIVATE / BLOCKED code, and why can't it be reprogrammed to just show the caller's number always.
III.IIVIVIXIIVIVIIIVVIIIIXVIIIXIIIIIIIIVIIIIVVIII
I used to work as a telemarketer in the past (Don't mod me down because I needed a job...) and I've learned a few tricks to beat telemarketers.
Do Not Call Lists: All telemarketing centers have a Do Not Call list. Two of them in fact. The first is required by law for the center to remove you from their calling list if you say the words "Put me on your do not call list" This information is entered by the telemarketer into the system and your name is then removed from the system for that Company.
In many cases, A center will have multiple Companies that they do calling for. Requesting to be placed on the "Coperate Do Not Call List" will not only remove you from the list the telemarketer is calling for, but also any other company that the center does any telemarketing for at that time and in the future. That will help in making sure that the center does not call again in the future (Next time, try asking the telemarketer who they actually work for, usually it's not the one they're calling on behalf of.)
As Well, in the United States, you as a consumer are protected by the "Telephone Consumer's Protection Act" (TCPA), which requires the telemarketer to give you the company name and telephone number where you can reach them. If they fail to do so at the end of the call (IE, if they think you hang up, and just don't say it even to dead air), then you have the right to sue the company for up to $10,000. Not all states fall under the same rules, so check out here for more info on it
Some states also have what's call a no rebutal law, which should prevent the telemarketer from rebuting you (ie. saying "I understand your hesitation but..."), when you say "No" they have to end the call there. Check out your state laws to find out if you fall in this category as well.
-- Never monkey with another Monkey's monkey
that we have to *buy* a device to get rid of an inconsiderate business practice.
Seems to me if we had legislators with ANY backbone whatsoever this practice would not be allowed. I find it hard to believe that the american public actually WANTS telemarketing.
Software like this may help combat this in the future. Imagine your own computerized voice mail system... give you friends an access code (31337? *laugh*) and all other calls get diverted to a "Remove me from you list" type message.
The best way to get rid of telemarketers? Tell them a joke.
You "What has a small penis and hangs up side down?"
Them "I don't know"
You "A bat. What has a big penis and hangs up?"
Them "I don't know"
You *click*
Since doing that our telemarketing calls drop dramaticly.
Why are people still even using land lines? Cell phones are cheaper than land lines in most cases now. All I use my home phone for is for dialing out to the Net. I have no telephones connected to it at home, thus, no telemarketers.
Local phone companies like Verizon Communications offer enhanced caller-ID service, which intercepts any calls that show up as "out of area," "unknown," or other frequent telemarketer aliases.
.uk a bit of a start when they called me after it was first activated.
...press 1 to answer, etc.
Callers are asked to record their name, then placed on hold as the recipient decides whether to take the call.
I got this service 9 months ago. Calls from telemarketers went from 1-4 a night to none. Worth the US$5 a month, but it's still a shame that I *have* to pay not to be pestered.
On a side note, it gave a few people from
Phone: Privacy director. You have a call from.. ("What the in the hell is this poxy thing? Will you just pick up the phone!")
/*drunk.. fix later*/
- EZ Hangup - an annual-fee "opt-out" list, and a single-point device that tells telemarketers to fuck off
- The Phone Butler - a device that lets you, from any phone in the house, tell telemarketers to "piss off" (British accent, donchaknow)
- TriVOX - call screening device that requests callers to enter a code to "ring through" to the hosue
- Screen Machine - not quite sure, looks similar to TriVOX. The linked site (and the manufacturer's site) are pretty skimpy on info.
These are not, of course, the only solutions to the problem. Some other approaches (discussed here and elsewhere):- Do Not Call Lists - State, Federal, Industry, and Company-specific -- a list of numbers wishing to be left alone
- Interrupt tone generators - The idea is to generate the "booo-dee-dweep" sort of sound you get when you call a number that's out of service, and the belief is that telemarketer dialers will hear that and remove your number from their DB. Nobody knows how many call-generating systems actually do this (it's probably a small number).
- Call Screening with an Answering Machine - you still have to run downstairs to listen to the machine, and many telemarketers will just hang up and try again later
- Caller-ID Rejection - Most telemarkters don't pass CID information (thanks, FCC, for dropping that requirement!), some legitimate organizations (some college dorms, for example) don't pass the info, and other telemarketers deliberately pass "appealing" names to entice you to answer.
And what list of potential solutions would be complete without a list of why they all suck?- Opt-Out Systems - They still have to call you once so you can tell them to leave you alone. Not all telemarketers follow the rules, and fighting back is difficult. Not all telemarketers are even bound by the rules (there are a lot of exceptions). Not all subscribe to industry-based lists (like the Direct Marketing Association). Proposed national Federal "opt-out" lists are riddled with exceptions, too, and still rely on callers actually bothering to obey the law. It's difficult to tell a recorded message (illegal, by the way) to place you on a do not call list.
- CID, Interrupt tones, answering machine screening, etc. - discussed above
- EZ Hangup - see #1, plus you gotta run to the phone where the EZ Hangup box lives
- Phone Butler - see #1
- TriVOX - Would be nice to have the ability to manually place numbers on the system so that friends, family, etc., calling from recognizable numbers can ring straight through
- Screen Machine - ??? Probably similar to #5.
Of all these possible solutions, the TriVOX comes closest to what I've been hoping to find for about the last 10 years. The ideal solution, for me, would be:- Hardware solution that sits in my basement, between the outside world and all my inside extensions
- Connects to a computer for inbound CID logging and configuration (including setup of whitelist and blacklist phone numbers)
- Passes whitelist numbers straight through to internal extensions
- Blocks blacklist numbers immediately with "do not call" request
- Interrupts unrecognized numbers, before ringing inside the house, with user-recorded announcement giving callers the option to "hit 1" to ring through.
- Tone-sensor to allow any extension in the house to interrupt a caller who has rung through and is still a telemarketer (ala Phone Butler)
- (optional): capability to do multi-extension ringing ("hit 1 for david") or multi-mailbox voicemail (extra credit: record voicemail to computer and make available for software to include in email or web interface)
I've always thought that this would make a great open source hardware project -- complex enough that it doesn't already exist, simple enough to be within the reach of hobbyist hackers.Like I said, the TriVOX comes VERY close to this, but is missing some key features (like the ability to whitelist friends and family). It is, however, very encouraging that we're finally getting close to being able to truly solve the problem. At least as well as can ever be done.
The telemarketers numbers show that people buy the junk they sell. One of the people I work with has bought tons of stuff from them, including Direct TV, Carpet Cleaner, and weight loss stuff.
So long as there are people like my co-worker, these guys are going to keep at it.
As for me, I'm using the 3 tone way.
What, me Tweet?
Conversation 1:
Telemarketer: "Hello, may I speak with the lady of the house?"
Me: "Sure, hang on a second." Then I put the phone down and go on with whatever I was doing. Come back 10 minutes later and hang it up.
Conversation 2:
TM: "Hello, may I speak to to Mrs. Mole?"
Me (sobbing): "No, she died last week. Is it important?"
I know that getting those calls is really annoying but they do have a purpose. These businesses contain many employees. These employees have families and financial obligations. Once they are fired from there telemarketing jobs because the technology has killed the industry there are thousands of additional people unemployed in our country because some of us are too lazy to say " NO Thanks" when we get a call.
Employement.
Nobody likes telemarketers. But we're talking about a *lot* of jobs. It sucks that people don't have actual skills, literacy, insights, money to invest, etc. But the bottom line is that call center jobs are sometimes the only game in town.
The real problem is that the telemarketing industry is part of our welfare system...
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
You know what I desperatly want? I want a seperate phone # that I give out ONLY on forms that I fill in, only to companies that request information from me. But I want the phone number to always be answered by my phone company's voice mail service. I don't want a line to my house. I don't want to pay all the extra crap. I just want a phone number that always goes to an answering machine. Which I will check from time to time.
Then I'll give out my real phone number to all my friends and family. And my public phone number to anyone I don't know. Oh, also, my public phone number will be the one listed in the phone book. Oh, and I'll put callerid blocker on my real phone number.
I'd be willing to pay about $10 a month for the extra number w/out a line to my house and the voice mail that operates on that number. But I'm not willing to pay $40 a month for a phone line attached to a $30 answering machine that comes to my house. That's too expensive.
Anyone know of any phone company that does this?
Key to financial independence: Spend less than you earn. Save and invest the difference. Do it for a long time.
... is the people who answer the questions.
I get very few telemarketing calls, maybe a dozen or so a year, but I object to them on principle so a couple of months ago I decided not to accept them in future.
About a month ago I got a call and a very polite guy explained briefly who he was, what his company did (market research) and asked if I had a few minutes to answer some questions.
I told him: "Actually I don't like taking part in these things, sorry."
His reaction told me so much. Slight pause, then in a surprised tone: "You don't?"
I imagine lots of people make excuses not to answer the questions, or they just say they don't have time or whatever, but judging from that guy's reaction I bet I was the first person to just say that I didn't want to take part.
Maybe if more people make it clear to cold callers that they aren't welcome, they'll quit doing it. It's not like spam where the sender is pretty much anonymous. The cold caller is right there on the phone! Just tell them that their call isn't wanted.
But remember that the person on the other end of the phone is just someone paid to sit at a desk and dial numbers and ask questions. No need to be rude to them. I'm sure they'd be doing a better job if they could get one.
I used to receive at least 1-2 telemarketing calls a week. After adding myself to Missouri's "no call" list, I haven't received a single telemarketing call in 6 months or so.
This is the most effective measure, in my opinion, without irritating the hell out of family and friends that may live in an area that does not send caller ID information (such that they show up as "OUT OF AREA").
Privacy Manager is a fairly rude piece of technology. It works, but I get quite a lot of legitimate calls sent through the system as well and I know they don't like it.
Get an unlisted and unpublished phone number. This costs $6 a month in MN. Couple this with not giving out your phone number to people trying to give you something "for free", and you should be in the clear. I haven't had one telemarketing call since I got the number two years ago.
:(
YMMV. I've got an unlisted ph#, and it hasn't stopped them. OTOH, I've had the same ph# for over 7 years. Like an email address, there's a certain age:spam ratio. Of course, the second you apply for a credit card, set up a bank acct, get phone service, turn on your electricity, etc., you'll be on someone's list. It's yet another play in "You Can't Win Theatre".
/*drunk.. fix later*/
Well some people do want these calls! This guy seems to have the most fun with them. I get a chuckle everytime I hear the calls he gets.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
This is about an 80% solution, but it has worked fairly well for me. Within the past couple years, I've noticed that most, if not all, solicitation calls to my home are dialed by an automatic system that requires the sales person to pick up their line after they are notified that someone (me) is on the line. This leads to an annoying silence, followed by an even more annoying exchange: Me:"Hello, this is Scratch" Marketeer:...[silence]..."Hello? May I speak to Scratch please?" Anyway, I started using those periods of silence as my cue to hang up immediately. I never have to talk to a salesman, and I sometimes get the satisfaction of hearing them talking just before my phone hits the cradle. The drawback is that I don't end up on a "no call list," but I figure I'm going to keep getting calls anyway, from other companies.
Evil is the money of root.
I have not had any telemarketing calls since signing up with it.
well .. and I jog 10 miles a day if I can help it.
.. and everything to do with the fact that I don't want some random stranger .. calling me at 8:00 at night .. trying to get me to change my long distance service.
.. but thats just pouring salt now.]
.. believe me .. i have the ability to dial their number myself.
.. your arguing a non-sequter
.. not talking on the phone.
.. is that telemarkers call my phone more often than legitimite callers do.
.. you might have made the intuitive leap that:
.. that way I can cackle maniacally with a ringing phone in the background as I take them for granted."
.. is you .. calling me a "bad person" with no friends because I don't seem to fit your moral values of "Be Kind to Telemarketeres and Turn the Other Ring."
.. Than I'm the biggest-loudest-motherfuckerest-jerk you'll ever meet.
.. and if a driver ahead of me sits still at a green light for more that 10 seconds .. I honk my horn too ! TAKE THAT !
*This* 'jerk' doesn't own a TV
it has nothing to do with my 'fat' ass and pause buttons
[Just an aside: I found myself wondering why you give the concept of a Fat person negative connotation. I don't see how body size or conditiong has ANYTHING to do with how good of a person someone is. Or answering the phone for that matter
If I want to change my long distance carrier
As to your equation of
Answer Phone = Obtain More Friends
Again
I don't see ANY direct corolation to picking up telemarketing calls obtaining me more/better friends.
Personally, I prefer to spend time with my friends *DOING* something
*MY* whole point here
And if you extracted your head from your posterior
a) in order to know that 1 in 10 calls are telemarketers *I HAVE TO ANSWER ALL TEN CALLS*
b) in order to be asked to be removed from their list *I HAVE TO ANSWER ALL TEN CALLS*
*knock knock* Did I make any statements that said "What I like to do is NOT answer my phone, especially when friends call
What I DO see
If wanting my privacy respectes makes me a jerk
Oh
*grin*
--Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum, non erravi pernicose!
Here's what YOU can keep in mind, to avoid the need for any high-tech solution:
Before you flame me, realize I am not apologizing for telemarketing. I wish I could make the entire concept disappear with a wave of my hand, but I can't; telemarketing is too profitable to just go away. "There's a sucker born every minute", after all.
(*)Well, last I checked it was free if you sent them a letter for the cost of a stamp, and $5 if you register on-line (to keep you from registering all your friends and family and the phone book presumably).
So I keep a pad of paper by the phone. When they call, I ask the person their full name, and I have them spell it. I ask them the name of their company. Then I politely say "I want you to take me off of your list, and never call here again". They are used to dealing with aholes, but they aren't so used to dealing with someone who takes down all their info and speaks nicely but firmly with them. They get a little freaked when you ask for their name, but they usually give it to you. Now THEY are tied to the call, so they have a vested interest in not pissing you off. As we all know, people are a lot more bold when they are Anonymous Cowards.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Last I checked .. it encourages open communication when people RESPONDED to posts .. not modded them down because they didn't agree with them.
.. however .. at least I'm not a Karma Whore and I dont hide Anonymously.
.. technically .. could almost be -1 OFFTOPIC since the article is about telemarking stopping MACHINES - not about everyones opinions on telemarketers.] And I refute his opitnion opening it for discussion.
/. be if everyone who didnt say 'Ayup- thats right on' got modded down ?
You can mod this post if you wish
Really though, What happened to the idea that this was a DISCUSSION board.
One gentleman states 'contrairy to popular opinion' that everyone should TALK to all the telemarkers [which
How exciting would
--Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum, non erravi pernicose!
----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
It's a common courtesy to answer every single phone call you can.
Other examples of common courtesy:
1. Replying "Thanks, have a nice day." when someone says "No thankyou", instead of immediately shifting down to paragraph C of your script.
2. Leaving a message on my machine when I'm away, something like "I'm trying to sell you X. I'll call back later." instead of just hanging up. I can tell when I'm on a marketer's hotlist, because I get 6 or 8 hangups on my machine in one day.
3. Not forcing a conversation on me in the middle of the only 4 hours a day I get to spend with my wife.
The bottom line is that telemarketing techniques are rude and invasive. I'm polite to everybody who calls, but I will take any step to get them out of my life, including not answering the phone.
Evil is the money of root.
The link in the posting for EZ Hangup links to a site that's running a scam. Zenith's EZ Hangup is a $10 product--I have one. For $49.00, the site hangupnow.com is offering you one Zenith EZ Hangup device and a "free" listing on the "national do not call list" (a $39.00 value). On top of that, there is no national do-not-call list--they're advertising a private service that contacts telemarketers to have your number removed, and it is doubtful they even do that much (particularly since their FAQ highlights that you may still receive calls, and the service has no guarantee).
Then I say "No," and hang up.
Answer every telemarketing call politely, and quickly say "I am not interested, please put me on your do not call list" and hang up. Do this consistently for several months and the call volume will drop to almost nothing.
Try it - it works.
-josh
I actually had one of the vegetable level people, when I declined to participate once (before Caller ID and before my answering machine message started with the special information tones) say "I hope nothing happens to your house." Sinister, indeed.
Call (206) 338-5780 COLLECT for information about a genuine BA, BS, MA, MS, MBA, or Ph.D.
Chicago fan is RIGHT on the money with this one.
I'm not gonna go into a mini-rant about how we interrupt EVERYTHING for the phone and have become slaves to communication technology, cuz I don't believe it.
But if it REALLY bugs you you can screen your calls. Have a very short Outgoing Message.
My parents do this, My wife does this, I sometimes do this (or I'll just wait 3 rings and pick up- usually those multi-calls just drop the trunk when they get someone ELSE to pick up!)I don't need the WAshington Post to call me up on a sunday morning, twice, when I already get 7 day service! Infact I won't even answer a doorbell ring if I'm not expecting anyone.
But mekka b! What if it is your long lost friend and they had an accident just down the road in in their last dying breath they crawled to your door?
Hmmm, possible, but not probable. More probably, it is some schmuck trying to sell me something door to door. Empirical evidence states that you are probably someone who I don't want to waste my time on becuase I can't bill my lost time to your account. Fuck off.
But for some reason many (like the guy before me) will SLAM you for how inconsiderate it is to force him to suffer through your message! Well I got news for you buddy, if you don't want to listen to the machine, don't leave a message and don't call. I'm not crying over it.
Besides, if you want instant communication, send me an e-mail! I'm always on line!
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
I just want a phone that I can tell not to ring if the call shows up on caller-id as "out of area" (or unavailable or whatever).
But, in the meantime, I have that anti-telemarketer option from Qwest and I'm on the Colorado No-Call list. Before it went active, I'd receive up to 20 "out of area" rings on my phone in a day. Since the list went active I haven't received a single one. Very nice.
Bit offtopic, but...
Annoying, but true. People have been so brainwashed into "answering the phone before it stops ringing" that the phone seems to have priority over everything else.
The one that really irks me is when I'm the flesh and blood customer in a store and the clerk dealing with me runs off to answer the phone (and gets trapped into some 5 minute conversation with an idiot) when I'm the one who was there first.
Sorry folks, but if you have a living customer in your store, the person on the phone can call back later. I've called a couple of salespeople on this and it genuinely seemed to surprise them. Likewise, it generally surprises me when they ignore the phone to deal with me first.
N.
"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Charles de Gaulle
I keep getting calls with automated messages (against the law) trying to sell me something in a foreign language I don't understand (Farsi or Punjab, I think) on my cell phone.
Already lodged a complaint with the FCC after being told I would be put on the DNC.
Bastards.
I take one of the following tactics, depending on my mood:
ONE The legal approach, which could probably make you some (odd todd voice) Money.
Ask this question:"What company do you work for?"
Write down the answer, or don't... unless you want to try to get them, write down the date as well.
Read this to them:
"In accordance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 I formally request you put me on your do not call list. Any repeated calls to this phone number will result in legal action against your company. Do you understand?"
Then hang up
TWO The fun approach, start asking them random survey questions, and expand on the answers. The goal here is to find out what kind of people are in the world with no worry of their opinon of you. Keeping them on the phone raises their long distance bill too I guess...
What kind of computer do you own?
What operating system do you have on it?
Have you heard of linux?
How much memory does your system have?
What type of internet connection do you have?
What browser do you use?
Do you own or rent?
What type of car do you drive?
Do you smoke cigarettes?
-Or any slashdot poll...
THREE Make them listen, If I am doing something like playing the piano/guitar or listening to music, I usually just put the phone down without hanging up. I've had people listen to me play the piano for about 20 min without hanging up. Pathetic part is they go right into the pitch after that, as opposed to, "That really sucked, why don't you take some lessons"
FOUR, Two year old, Give the phone to my two year old, she doesn't have a credit card yet.
FIVE, Porn Read them something from the Penthouse Forum, or make something up along those lines.
SIX Turrets syndome, don't hang up, listen to response.
M@
Krispy Cream is people
See .. now i see where our disconnect was.
.. as my family is getting older .. medical emergencies come up a lot more frequently .. and with my cel, they can get me anywhere anytime. BOY is it scarey when that thing wakes me up at 3:00 am.]
.. it takes a telephone 45 seconds to ring 10 times.
.. but quite a short time when your in the shower with shampoo streaming down your face.
I didn't really make it clear that my family & friends call my cel-phone.
[which is part of the reason I have a cel phone
But to play devil's advocate
45 seconds is a long time when your waiting for someone to pick up
*heh* not like thats a real life example.
--Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum, non erravi pernicose!
We snail mail 'em if we can't reach them by phone. It just takes a little while longer.
:)
No offense taken -- I'm not our vendor.
Until we decide to actually give some police organization real authority to prosecute these people
Around here, the Fraternal Order of Police is one of the worst organizations for telemarketing (second only to Citibank). They not only call, but repeatedly call until they get someone to solicit donations from.
I pick up every "unavailable" call and as soon as I hear the other person call me by my last name and then mis-pronounce it, I say hello and let them start their speech, then I set the phone down. By doing this, I can increase the call times as much as possible and still get back to my TV show. Like spam, the only way that telemarketing will ever stop is when it is no longer profitable.
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
Usually I ask if the US has laws like in Canada. This, however, sounds like a damn good law coming from America. Anyone know if anything like this applies in Canada.I'm tired of getting calls around dinner (they know I'm home then).
And just in case it hasn't said it
1. Place name on list
2. Bust spam callers
3. ??? (indeterminate court process?)
4. Profit!
Pre-recorded messages and audio-clips can also be a great amusement in this case - phorm
It reduced the calls by 99%. Aside from occasional mortgage refinance idiots and clueless SNET morons, the teletrash is pretty much gone. What little gets past the DNC list will be ignored since I only answer when Caller ID shows me a name or number that I recognize.
Before the state offered the DNC list, I played around with a modem that just happened to include caller ID recognition. I wrote a quickie app to detect the "number unavailable" situation and have the modem go off-hook for 5 seconds and hang up. Any call that rang more than once was worth answering, because otherwise my program would have intercepted it. The sheer fun of hearing a single ring followed by silence made it all worthwhile. In a way, the state DNC list has deprived me of the enjoyment I used to get from my homemade teletrash defense system.
Arkansas also has such a law. If you live in Arkansas, check out this site for details. I paid $5 to put my name on the list, and haven't had any telemarketing calls since.
I pulled that kind of crap with a couple telemarketers. The last one had the unfortunate timing and got me hours after I had been laid-off.
After trying to sell me on the benefits of his company's credit card, for which any question was easily solved by a flowchart, which was quite obviously sitting in front of him. Then I asked him what color the card was. I guarantee that this information is not on the flowchart. After a short silence, I explained that in my vast array of credit cards, I had covered most of the primary and secondary colors, along with several metallic cards. When he suggested that he believed it was a translucent card, I feigned enthusiasm and asked him to estimate the opacity. He, quite literally, spent 10 minutes trying to hunt down someone who could confirm this. Needless to say, he was disappointed to find out that I remebered a a building passkey was significantly translucent and I was no longer interested.
These people generally do not have the ability to end the call (or initiate it, for that matter) and will stay on the line as long as the person doesn't hang up. Have some fun with it and then inform them that you want to be removed from their list.
I only have voicemail. I have a cell phone, but when I call companies, I block my phone number. Very simple. T.M. never leave messages and I only give my cell phone number to friends -- never *EVER* to companies. Corporate America has abused the consumer phone system so I've simply denied them from calling me unless they want to leave a message. ;)
It never even rings.
-- Ken Kinder ken@_nospam_kenkinder.com http://kenkinder.com/
Let's get this straight: they want me to buy a device that, when I press a button, will deliver a 10-second spiel and hang up. And for this miraculous device, they want me to pay between $10 and $60?
For my money, I'd rather take 10 seconds to bitch out the telemarketer myself. It's therapeutic, and on occasion can even be amusing.
I suppose the call screening devices linked to in the article are slightly more noteworthy, and might even be valuable to some people. Just the same, I've had a device for several years now that will play a prerecorded spiel and hang up on people unless they enter a code. It's called an answering machine.
Of course, I would never use my answering machine in that way, since it would be extremely discourteous to ask all my friends and acquaintances to remember an extra three or four digits on top of my phone number, if they wanted to talk to me. With the proliferation of area codes, it's bad enough getting people to remember a 10-digit number; with an effective 14-digit phone number, I imagine I wouldn't be very popular at all!
From the Direct Marketing Association's website:
here
Pennsylvania recently passed an anti-telemarketing law that created a "Do Not Call" list. When they started accepting info (via phone and web) from people who wished to be added to that list, they got such a crushing, overwhelming response that their call center and their servers couldn't handle it, which made the local news and really drove the point home about exactly how many people HATE telemarketers.
I am one of those people. I signed up successfully, early on the first day, but I still continue to do what I've been doing for years-- applying technology myself to keep the bastards from bugging me:
For the last two years, I've had a Caller ID modem connected to the Mac that runs all my home automation stuff. I set it up with a whitelist of my friends and relatives. When someone on the whitelist calls, the computer verbally alerts me through wireless speakers placed thoughout the house, and I know to pick up the phone. The computer will also mute the sound on the entertainment center if I'm watching TV or have my stereo on, so I don't have to fumble for a remote. The end result is, the only people who can interrupt what I'm doing are people that I want to talk to. Everyone else gets the answering machine. This works for me because I am not so such a social butterfly that the whitelist needs constant updating. I suppose that if I were, though, I'd just create a web interface for it so I could edit it from anywhere.
The bottom line, though, is that Caller ID is your friend. Don't pick up if you don't know who's on the other end, just let your machine get it. If the call is important enough, the caller will leave a message.
~Philly
Whatever you do, NEVER tell a Telemarketer to put you on the DNC list!!! Always say "Do Not Call" list!
Otherwise, in no time at all, the Democratic National Committee will be calling you, hitting you up for donations every night during supper!
A couple years back I heard a guy on the radio. He taped telemarketer calls for comic purposes. He always had them call back later so he could prepare. Anyways, one day he had a call from a pre-bought funeral/gravesite service. He said to call back tomorrow then recored it. It was totally hilarious, here is the transcript as best as I can remember. Telemarketer: Would you be interested in a pre-paid funeral service and gravesite to spare your family the burden . . . Guy: (Sniffing as if he just got done crying) You know, it is amazing that you called just now. You see, I got fired yesterday. My wife said she coulnd't take living with such a loser any more, so she took my kids and left me. I was just praying to god to give me a sign if I should kill myself or not, and then you called! TM: Ummmm, sir, can I get you some help or something. Guy: No, you have made my decision very clear for me. How can I pay for the funeral, do you take visa? TM: Uh, no, I can't do that right now. But I can have a salesman come visit you next week. Can I call somebody to help you or something. Guy: Nope, I'm fine. Hang on a second. (pause, then sound of gunshot then dude falling to ground) TM: SIIIRRRR!!! then scrambles to call the cops, ambulance, whatever.
My motto is: Never give up - unless it's harder than you want it to be.
Basically this is a very smart version of 'block anonymous calls'. Instead of just blocking all anonymous calls, it routes them to an intercept message where they can unblock their caller ID (if it is deliberately blocked) or identify themselves verbally. Only if they follow the procedure does the call go through, and you still get the opportunity to screen it when your phone rings.
Here's the best part, which they don't really advertise. Since most telemarketers use automated phone dialing systems, most of the calls never make it past the intercept message! The automated dialer thinks it hit your answering machine and hangs up. So your phone never rings.
I found that once I turned on Privacy Director on my home phone, the number of telemarketing calls I get has gone down like 90%. And I never had to hassle with anyone, register on a list, or anything. Plus it makes Caller ID all the more useful because you never see "Out of Area" or "Unavailable" anymore.
Thanks for this informative post, but I beg to differ on how some telemarketing operations work.
I actually did telemarketing for about a year for an area carpet cleaning company. (Talk about a job I'll never do again.)
Anyway - they in fact *did* want to pay the employees to manually mark the calls as busy, answering machines, etc. We all had dumb terminals at our desks, and it worked like this:
Dialer would call out from the phone number database, and as soon as it was finished dialing a number, would attempt to pass it to the first available telemarketer. (If everyone was on the line, it would apparently just abort the stray call; judging from the number of times people seemed irate as soon as we talked to them, acting like we'd been calling and hanging up on them previously.)
When a call was passed to you, you'd immediately say "Hello", and glance at your dumb terminal screen, which was supposed to already be showing you the customer's name and address, etc. Assuming it displayed their last name, you'd immediately follow the "Hello" with a "Mr." or "Mrs." and the name shown, so it all appeared natural. (Sometimes the system got slow, so you had to change your opening pitch to something like "Hello! I'm calling with xxx carpet cleaners, to offer you specials, Mr. Doe.") If you heard a busy signal, a disconnected line, or an answering machine, you'd key in a letter code (such as "B" for busy) and it would close your line, clear your screen - and you'd wait for the next call.
We also had a letter code we could key in if a customer told us not to ever call them again. It was supposed to mark the number for deletion from the dialing database. (I believe the numbers were actually deleted only overnight, when the manager started running a database clean-up and update type operation.)
I don't remember the exact details on the other letter codes, but I believe they basically instructed the dialer to try the call again after preset numbers of minutes. (EG. Typing in a D for a disconnected line might tell it to call back again in 20 minutes, while a B for busy might tell it to try again in 10 minutes.)
>I've talked to former telemarketers and they prefer my method. It waists no time.
And that's the problem. If you _do_ waste the telemarketer's time, they get less commission, since they make fewer sales. The company gets less ROI on telemarketing, and the system breaks down because the telemarketers aren't getting paid enough to take the abuse, so they quit, and the company doesn't make the cash necessary to run the operation. No more telemarketing! (YAY! I got no phone spam!)
Your best bet is to keep them on the phone for as long as possible (the old "Oh, I need to turn off the stove/check the kids, just a minute" trick is a good one). After that ask them all sorts of details about their product/company, maybe even saying you might be interested in a few dozen of the product for your company. And then, just before they are ready to give up, tell them to put you on their do not call list.
The best I've done was 45 minutes (while I watched TV CC, of course!)... But that was an outgoing call to a spam with an 800 number in it. >:-D I usually average up to 10 minutes with the (luckily, very few, about 2 a month) telemarketers that call my place.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
The system you describe is something I'd like, too. Now, a quick Google search led me to look at Zeus Phonstuff over here. The price of this particular model is USD 249, but the device provides you a simple interface from caller ID box to PC (via serial cable). From there, doing the matching of the number against a database (perhaps even a shared database, much like spam blacklists) shouldn't be difficult. I just glanced through the online manual for this 2 line unit and it says that that unit doesn't do blocking (but this suggests that the 4 line unit does, since the switch is present, just not selectable).
Oh, go on, check out my job.
All the devices, black boxes, and "do not call" lists in the article sound rather troublesome, because each telemarketer can still call you one time. It's easy enough to keep them from calling again, either by asking to be placed on their "do not call" list, or by having a device do the same thing, but there are still thousands of other comapnies out there.
A much better solution is to either cancel your home phone service, or, if you're stuck with dialup Internet access, unplug all the telephones from your home phone line and use it ONLY for Internet access. Use your cellular phone(s) for all voice communication.
It is completely illegal in the US for telemarketers to call a cellular phone. Not only can they be heavily fined if they do, but they're required by law to take proactive steps to make sure that they never actually do call a cellular phone. They have lists of cellular prefixes that they must check phone numbers against before calling them.
Since switching to cellular-only nearly a year ago, I've received zero telemarking calls and only three wrong numbers, compared to several of each per week on my home phone line. Sure, my home phone line is probably still GETTING those calls, but since there are no telephones plugged into it and my computer is connected to the Internet 24 hours a day (my ISP is seriously regretting the whole "unlimited Internet" thing), the telemarketers will never get anything but a busy signal from me.
As soon as cable Internet service becomes available in the area, I'll be cancelling my home phone line completely. Just a basic residential phone line costs more than a basic cellular plan these days once you add up all the taxes and fees the phone companies charge that the cellular companies don't, PLUS with cellular there are usually no long distance charges, and if you're a typical Slashdotter, you don't actually talk on the phone enough to risk using up all your airtime minutes and having to pay a per-minute rate.
(This information applies to the United States, YMMV.)
How do I know which outsorced telemarketing company is making each call?
We have do-not-call lists in the US, but they're hardly obeyed. Small companies just plead ignorance if they're caught, and large companies avoid the issue by using telemarketing "contractors." These operations spring up overnight, and disappear before they're caught. Some of them even operate from overseas, making them impossible to catch. Besides that, law enforcement has more important crimes to deal with than annoying phone calls.
Damn! That sounds rough. Get some snakes if you can and let them go up in your attic. If you put a heat lamp on a timer in there, they'll probably stay and will definitely reduce your packrat population.
Since you're a homeowner, it might make sense in your case to keep the inline plus... In the case of apartment renters, though, it's wildly unnecessary.
Good luck with the packrat situation!
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
"Hi this is 'Probably yo daddy'. Please leave a message."
What happens is that telemarketers use a machine that dials. The machine dials a whole bunch of numbers. When someone picks up on the other end, the machine connects a telemarketer to your call. If you leave a short message, the message is over before the telemarketer is connected. The telemarketer doesn't hear anything and assumes the number is not in service and removes your number from their list.
On top of this all, not answering your phone is great for increasing efficiency. Answer calls when your ready, not when they arrive. This gives you time to prepare info that is required to answer the call. Plus you can do it when you are compiling code or downloading pr0n^H^H^H^H large files.
I use this technique for email too.
There are telemarketing jobs that are "real," like selling long distance service to corportations, being a stockbroker, insurance agent, etc. But these "real" jobs, like any other, require some skills, training, smarts, and maybe even a college degree. Good companies with good products need good people on their front lines.
The telemarketing jobs available to people without these skills are usually not "real" jobs at all. They're miserable, boiler-room slavery for fly-by-night sleazeball telemarketing contractors. Employees are lured into servitude with promises of big commissions, flexible hours, etc. The reality is being forced to work long hours to meet unrealistic quotas, for commissions that never materialize. After a couple of weeks of this (according to Dept. of Labor statistics), most people get disgusted and leave. But the contractor got plenty of work out of them almost for free, and there's always another sucker to replace the one who left. Most people leave these jobs in worse shape than when they started, even more broke, deeper in debt, completely demoralized, and without any new skills. In the time spent working for the telemarketing contractor, they would have been far better off washing dishes, cleaning toilets, or pounding nails.
The government would be doing *everyone* a favor by putting these bottom-feeders out of business.
Translation:
[press "no" button to get to next page on the script tree], then in a surprised tone: "You don't?"
They have the entire conversation scripted. Any objection they think you might have has been considered beforehand and planned for. The only way to REALLY screw them up is by getting out of their script tree.
Case in point:
My dad: Hello? ... Uh, ... sorry. [click]
TM: Sir, my name is Foo, and I have a great prize for you today if you can answer one simple question.
Dad: Uh, okay.
TM: Who was the US president during the Civil War?
Dad: I think it was Truman.
TM: Well, this is a tough question, so I'll give you one more hint. It was either Ronald Reagan or Abraham Lincoln. (emphasis in original) Which do you think?
Dad: I still think it was Truman.
TM:
Any sufficiently simple magic can be passed off as mere advanced technology.
Perhaps your library should start asking for email addresses for those patrons that wish to use them. Then send your notices via email and via telephone. One is bound to make it.
I work for a group of public libraries that uses a computer to call and say "Someone at this telephone number" -- we won't say who, because if you use a public library we consider it your own damn business -- "has an item waiting to be picked up at the So-and-So Public Library".
What does the little "someone at this number" dance actually accomplish? If it's a one person household then the person recieving the message already knows who they are. If there are two people in the house then it's obviously either for you or for the other person. If there's a whole family, then you probably have to know who's waiting for a book anyway in order to relay the message to the right person.
And, most annoying of all, if more than one person in the household uses the library (gasp!) then you're just confusing everyone by being all coy and not saying who the darn message is for.
Just invite them for a swim with their new gift from you: the Sodium Swimming Suit.
Table-ized A.I.
Now, if you are evil and cruel, like me for instance, getting a telemarketer is not something you dread; it's something to look forward to!
"Hold on, I have to turn off the stove," 3 minutes. Nice as can be, "Ok, I'm back, now what were you telling me?" 20 seconds. "Oops, now one of the kids is trying to hurt himself," there goes another five minutes, "Wait, the doorbell", 4 minutes. "No, I really do want to hear your pitch, it sounds great! I'm almost sold" "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't hear that last couple of minutes that you were talking becuase I ran off to the bathroom, could you repeat it" 7 minutes....
My record is 34 minutes.
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
I work for a telemarketing company, and every day I call about 600 people per day. There is approximatly 100 people working in the same call center as me. Just going off of the volume of calls per day that I make, there are at least 60000 calls going out over the course of 16 hours. 10% of these calls end in sales, while 10% of the sales will end in an upsale als0. But this is beside the point.
Here are some ways that people try and avoid telemarketing calls, and the results of what happens:
1-one who is called states that they are not available (some are quite stupid also, "Im not here" is a common resopnce)
Result-we disposition as not available. Re-calls house in 2-3 hours.
2-one who is called says they are busy.
Result-dispositioned as not available. Recall house in 2-3 hours
3-one who is called cannot speak english, or not well.
Result-dispositioned as a lnguage problem. House recalled (maybe in 5 months) waiting for them to learn english
4-one who is called says they are not interested.
Result-give second effort, if refused, disposition as refusal. one who is called rmoved from that program's list. Continues to remain on other lists.
5-one who is called hangs up without stated reason.
Result-dispositioned as hung up, recalls house in 20 miniutes.
6-one who is called brings up threats of lawsuit / or is an irate customer.
Result- dispositioned as refusal. See results above.
7-one who is called requests to be placed on do not call list.
Result-Give DNC responce. Dispositioned as DNC. Federal law mandates that the called number be placed on company DNC list within 90 days.
8-disconnected tone.
Result- dispositioned as disconnect. Number is dropped from list.
9-number is fax machine.
Result- dispositioned as disconnect. Number dropped
10-awnserwing machine.
Result-dispositioned as awnsering machine, called back in 2-3 hours
11-one who is called is deaf/has difficult hearing on the fone.
Result- dispositiond as deaf, number dropped
12- Anonomys call blockage/privacy manager/phone butler.
Result- put a random sequence of numbers into the telephone box at the cublcle, to "fool" the caller ID system, and continue call.
General guidelines that work:
1. Request to be placed on DNC list (and say you have requested so before. Since it is a previous requset, we will red flag it, and it will have more importance being removed even faster.
2. Speak a forign language, and dont speak any english. You dont even have to know any of the language that you are speaking, but caller will not know that. Will be language barrier. (Maybe recalled in 5 months).
3. Give your credit card creditors a invalid number, a fax machine, or a modems number. You wont be getting the call, and number will be removed.
4. Refuse the offer. Will give second effort, maybe third also, but if you hold your ground, will be dispositioned as refusal. Removed from that call list, remain on others.
I hope this pointer list helps you stop those endless calls
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I use that method here, too. But generally, I find it's not extremely effective - because the auto-dialers you hang up on like that just try back again and again, at least 3 or 4 more times, until they detect you've actually picked up and talked to them.
Many states are enacting laws such as that which goes into effect in California as of January 2003.
The law mandates that the state maintain a website where people may, for a minor fee of $3 to maintain the database, assign their name and number to a state "Do Not Call" list. Anyone doing telemarketing toward anyone in CA must then refer to this list or risk a $500 fine for each breach of the law.
The effect is that once I pony up $3 my number is protected for 3 years, and I can get $500 from each telemarketing company that breaks the law by calling me though I'm on the state no-call list by suing them in enforcement of the law.
The only tool you've got against psychosis is experience.
So I'll add to my list of questions: Is that your real name or the one you are supposed to give me if I ask? :-)
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Neither is saying, "Please put me on your do not call list." While they're both effective, the only way to drive annoying commercial marketing into the ground is to make it more expensive than it is profitable.
;) The worst case scenario would be that spammers would have to buy three times the bandwidth to send the amount of spam they do now, as well as maintain a working and valid From: address.
1. Phone marketing: Feign interest, then ask the telemarketer to please hold for a minute (someone's at the door, etc...). By yourself, you can cut into their profit margin a little and have the satisfaction of getting back at the people that are bothering you so much. If enough people did this, it would be DEVASTATING to the telemarketing industry. Why? When a telemarketer is on the phone with you, their machine stops dialing new numbers. This seems like a smart idea - there's no reason to call someone if the telemarketer is busy talking to someone else. Usually, those machines dial 10 numbers at the same time and the telemarketer clicks over to the one that gets a live person. That's where those hangup calls come from: out of the 10 numbers the machine dialed at once, yours was one of the two that yielded a live person, and the telemarketer decided to go with the other one. What does this tell us about the telemarketing industry? They just hate it when their telemarketers are sitting around waiting to make a sale (i.e. while the machine is dialing). If they're waiting for you to get the door, guess what? They're sitting around waiting to make a sale.
2. Junk mail: This is really easy. I have no idea why nobody has started advocating this so far. Whenever you get junk mail, open it up, find the "postage paid - business reply mail" envelope, stuff everything else into it, seal it, and put it back in the mailbox. You're charging them postage to throw away their garbage. If you want to remain completely anonymous, just tear out the parts that have your name and address and mail the rest back.
3. Spam: Ok coders, this one is for you. Implement selective whitelisting as described here in your favorite open-source SMTP server. Yeah, server-side. Just make it a flag that can be turned on for individual email accounts so that the server will automatically start building a whitelist from confirmation emails. As long as this remains a *nix-only client-side spam-blocker it will never see widespread use. Why? Well, a server-side implementation has many benefits:
* It only has to be installed once. Every time a piece of software is installed on a computer, it's an opportunity for something to go wrong. A client-side program could install itself incorrectly, the user could become frustrated with an interface shortcoming, or it could trash some part of the user's system (possibly turning them off to spam blocking tech forever). If it's installed (carefully and by the ISP's lead tech) on a single mail server, suddenly thousands of people have the ability to block spam with no more effort than a call to the ISP to turn on the feature.
* ISPs would provide it as a competitive service to their customers. Most ISPs (in my limited experience) use open-source *nix mail servers, so implementation in existing systems would be easy. Perfect spam-filtering (that guarantees no false positives - meaning no lost important mail) would definitely influence a consumer's ISP choice now that most are competing based on cost. Considering how easy it would be to implement, it's a no-brainer for another ISP to offer the same service once the ISP across the street does.
* The principles are easy enough to explain to most people. Granted, most ISPs don't explain the details of their spam-blocking tech to new customers, but when they make a claim like, "No false positives, guaranteed!" it will be easy to explain if a customer gets curious.
Eventually, when no spam gets through, or just not enough to pay the bandwidth bills, spam will stop. What if selective whitelisting doesn't work? Well, it does, go read the web site.
4. Banners: Go download privoxy right now. Combined with mozilla's popup blocking feature, I've seen maybe 3 ads in the past 3 months, and I spend hours surfing the web every day. It's absolutely amazing. Same deal with selective whitelisting as above, too. If ISPs ran privoxy, they'd be able to offer a service to their customers that, well, once addicted they couldn't live without. It's also the perfect way to implement caching and cut down on ISP backbone bandwidth costs.
Think these are good ideas? Help me spread them around. Think they suck? Tell me why so I can improve my explanation.
Autodialers produce, store and dial telephone numbers using a random or sequential number generator. Autodialers are usually used to place artificial (computerized) or prerecorded voice calls. Except for emergency calls or calls made with the prior express consent of the person being called, autodialers and any artificial or prerecorded voice messages may not be used to contact numbers assigned to:
I am in Ontario and we get it for free. It turns out that someone with the same last name as my family in the same city was an illicit drug trafficker and we kept getting calls in the middle of the night asking for the guy.
We had the police kindly delist us and it has remained in effect for no charge to us, even though the guy was arrested and hauled off to jail many years ago.
i wonder if i could get a 900 (976, whatever) number and charge a butload of money every time some a-hole wants to sell me a magazine.
THERE IS NO DATA. THERE IS O
Sounds like they had a pretty rough dialer then. On some of our larger (50k numbers) campaigns, agent-marked busies and answering machines was in the area of 1 - 5% of dialer-marked busies and machines. And this was with no more than 5s agent idle time and less than 10% drops.
The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe.
There has been a FEDERAL law in effect for more than a decade. Try doing a google search for at least 30 seconds before making statements like this.
It outlaws several things, including all unsolicited commercial faxs, prerecorded commercial calls to residences, and an calls to devices where someone must pay for the call (e.g. cell phone, pager).
That same law, and subsequent memorandums by the FCC, state that companies MUST maintain a DNC and it must be honored for 10 years. Companies that solicited by phone must also provide their name, address, and phone number. It does not have to be asked for as they are required to give this (most ignore it though).
The law is screwy in that a telemarketer must call you at least twice in a 12 month period, after being placed on the list, before a violation occurs. Upon request, a company must also provide to you a written copy of their company's policy regarding the maintenance of their DNC list. Failure to do this is a violation of the law. This is a Federal Law that also provides a private right of action and allows you to sue the company is small claims court (or the appropiate court of your state) for damages.
In the past month, I have obtained $800 from two separate company (both mortgage companies) for prerecorded solicitations to my home. This was without going to court and simply sending them a demand letter stating my claim and backing it up with statute proof. One was local and the other was in Virginia.
On Tuesday, I won (though through default since defendant failed to show) a $1500 judgement against a company the prerecord called me in May. Today I filed a $1500 suit against a local company that sent an unsolicited fax. I sent them a certified demand letter that was returned to me yesterday as refused. So by noon today I filed suit. I've probably spent 20+ hours of research, but I have solid proof to support everything I claim as well as the case history to back it up. I will be filing against another prerecord once the time allowed by my demand letter to send me my money has expired.
You have $500 in statutory damages owed to you for every violation. If you can show that the defendant 'knowingly of willing' violated the law, then you may be awarded triple damages (for a total of $1500 for each violation for you math majors). If a company uses a prerecord, fails to provide the name of the entity, and ever refuses to provide their company's DNC policy (or more likely does not have one) then just in statutory damages you are owed $1500 for the 3 violations. Imaging the look on their face if the judge awards you treble damages!
Do research. It will be worth your time if you push this and win. After the first case and subsequent research involved, future cases will just be copy and paste demand letters and lawsuits.
Here is some stuff to help you with your research.
Use google to find information.
Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991
47 USC 227 (actual law)
47 CFR 227 (code of federal regulations: FCC's implementation of the TCPA)
International Science v Inacom Communications 106 F3d 1146 (holds that state courts have exclusive jurisdiction of private right of action claims)
Kaplan v Democrat and Chronicle 698 N.Y.S.2d 799 ((shows actual damages do not have to be shown [i.e. prevent defendant from saying they would own you no more than 5o cents for a junk fax])
Nicholson v Hooters of Augusta 136 F.3d 1287 (holds state courts have jurisdiction for private right of action)
Foxhall v Telecommunications Premium Services 156 F.3d 432 (same as above case)
There are several others that support same thing. Search for these cites; 156 F.3d 513, 131 F.3d 507
Kaplan v First City Mortgage 701 N.Y.S.2d 859 (shows that 'express' consent is NOT given by merely having your number in a directory. Faxers and prerecorded callers MUST have prior EXPRESS permission or an existing business relationship in order to contact you in those ways)
47 USC 312 (f) (defines what 'willfull' means - basically that it is the conscious and deliberate commission of an act, irrespective of intent to violate any provision of the regulations. If they meant to fax you (e.g not a transposition of two numbers error), then they are guilty of the violation whether or not they knew it was against the law.
Moser v FCC 46 F.3d 970 (holds that prerecords are not constitutionally protected speech).
Destination Ventures v FCC 844 F. Supp 632 (holds that the TCPA is constitutionally valid)
States may have thie own law, however they are not preemptive unless they are MORE restrictive than the federal law. If the TCPA requires telemarketers to maintain a list for 10 years and the state law requires something more restrictive, like 15 years, then the state would preempt.
I've put a lot of research into this. I'm not in this for the money as I would rather have this practice ended. I've taken steps like writing the DMA (the RIAA of the marketing world) to be placed on their list as well as my own state's DNC list, so this certainly isn't an attempt to rake in the money.
Cave, wreck, and deep diver.
When you demand to be placed on the DNC, make sure to tell them that this includes the telemarketing company placing the call (get their company name) as well as the company for whom thay are making the call. If they ever say it will take X number of days to be removed, do not belive them. If they call again an hour later, it is a violation. The law does not provide a grace period. I have a hournel that I keep near the phone as well a recorder already connected to the phone to record the prerecords if necessary.
Cave, wreck, and deep diver.
-Hello. *chew, chew*
-Hello Sir! Am I interrupting something?
-Yeah, we're eating.
-Perfect! Would you say this is annoyting, me calling you in your home like this?
-Definitely.
-And how would you like to be free of this annoyance once and forever?
-Get lost.
-Precisely! I am in a position to offer you a grrrreat deal on a new invention that can filter out these pesky calls - this could be the last time you ever spoke to an obnoxious telemarketer!
-I dunno...
-Did you know we have special training facilities where we learn to sound cheerful, cipper and positive, no matter what? We train day in and day out to persuade you, the hard-working American Joe to part with your hard-earned money, and we're damned good at it, if I may say so myself. We never give up! We call in rain, sleet or snow! If Ma Bell (ultra-cheap long-distance rates!) is napping and a tropical storm has taken the phones down, why we're not above visiting in person with our encyclopedias, aluminum sidings, low-low APR and zero-down offers!
-OK. *sigh* Where do I sign?
Money for nothing, pix for free