Telemarketers Sue to Block Do-Not-Call List

chumpieboy writes "A story on Yahoo tells about about the DMA's attempts to stop a national DoNotCall list, essentially claiming that Opt Out is not a viable model for telemarketers. Yet they claim that Opt Out is a viable model for email marketing?"

Comments

fantasy system:

[timothy]

[Medium Closeup: telemarketer dials]

[SFX: ringing phone]

[SFX: an audible click, followed by a recording]

[Slow zoom, from closeup to extreme closeup, onto a telephone or computer with exaggerated blinking lights to show activity]

Recorded voice: "Hi! You're reached my telephone number. If you'd like to agree to be charged up to $10/minute at my sole discretion, please hit the "1" key now! I don't charge my friends, but if you're wasting my time with an unsolicited sales call generated by a database, please be advised that your calls are valuable to me."

[Medium closeup: telemarketer, with can of soda in one hand, hangs up, frustrated]

[Extreme closeup: hand crushing soda can]

Re:fantasy system:

[qoncept]

Thats great, except... I did telemarketing while trying to find a real job for about a month (be nice, I was a bad telemarketer - if you said no I left you alone and got yelled at by my supervisor for it). It sucked, but not because of the people I talked to. I just couldn't stand sitting there all damn day without a chance to move around (it's quite high paced).

Think about it, though. I talked to probably an average of 500 people a day. 400 of them were as rude as they probably ever are in their lives. 250 were pissed that I was calling them. 100 yelled at me. 50 tried to be clever and expected to trigger some sort of emotion in me, and 0 did.

By the way, if I was lucky, maybe 3 or so of those 500 would end up with a shiny new Discover Platinum card.

Re:fantasy system:

[BigT]

This is why do-not-call lists could actually be good for telemarketers. Of those 400 people, most would probably sign up for the do-not-call list. Let's say 300 of them. That leaves 100 people being rude, and 100 willing to listen for every 200 calls. If you expand that out to the 500 calls you made a day, then you have 250 people willing to listen and 7-8 sales per day vs. 3.
The people (like myself) who are going to sign up for the list will never buy anything from a telemarketer, so if we cut down on the number of calls that they make that are guaranteed to be unproductive, it's actually better for them.

Re:fantasy system:

[MattCohn.com]

I convinced someone trying to sell me long distance that I did NOT have a phone.

Sir, could I speak to the owner of the household?
>That's me.
And you have no phone?
>Correct.
You are at YOUR house?
>Yep.
And you OWN the house?
>Yes.
Yet you have no phone?
>Nope. No phone.

Went on for about 15 minutes. I think he started to belive it at the end.

Pray that it will back-fire

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe they can successfully make the argument that opt-out lists like the proposed "Do Not Call" won't allow them to operate effectively. Bear with me here...

So, instead of a "Do Not Call" list being maintained that they have to honor, people will have to register for a "Do Call" list. This list will contain the phone numbers of people who have registered themselves as wanting telemarketing calls. This list is also the only list which telemarketers can use when calling people.

Okay, a pipe dream, but it surely would be a more manageable list, no?

Opting-out

[doc_traig]

I'm so scarred by the daily battles with spam that the whole thought of opting-out of anything repulses me... I feel like if I get on some DNC list that a bunch of offshore telemarketers will get their hands on that list so they have "live" targets.

My wife recently told me that she was clicking on an opt-out link on some bit of spam and I nearly tackled her out of her chair to keep her from doing it.

You can't let them know you're there! Pull the shades! Rip the phone out of the wall! Gag the dog!

You know, my mugger told me the same thing.

[dark-nl]

Muggers have to make a living too. The guy was aware that taking my watch and my wallet might annoy me, but hey, he's got to make money somehow, and muggers don't have it easy.

I told him to place me on his "do not mug" list, but he didn't seem interested.

Re:yeah right

[schon]

Where in the Constitution is Freedom of Privacy stated? You may be able to infer it from other amendments but it is not nearly as clearly stated as Freedom of Speech.

The previous poster is clearly in error. "Freedom of speech" is a diversion - this has absolutely nothing to do with free speech.

"Freedom of speech" means "you can say what you want." It does not mean "you can force people to listen to you."

If someone says "I don't want to hear from you", you can't force them to listen by claiming "free speech." Since that is exactly what a DNC list is, the whole "free speech" argument is BS.

Phone Number of Robert Weintzen, President of DMA

[Dave21212]

This post on the Yahoo BB seems interesting...

212.768.7277, ext. 1604

That is the phone number of Robert Weintzen, President of the Direct Marketers Association. Call him and let him know what we think about his fighting the law.

I'm not sure if it's the right number, but it could be a starting point ! Have fun ;)

The way to stop telemarketers

[jmorse]

I despise telemarketers. I also despise evangelicals. It's fun to use one against the other. Here's how my typical solicitation call goes:

[Telemarketer]: Good evening, sir! I'm calling from -insert company here- and we'd like to tell you about an amazing new offer on our new -insert product here-!

[Me]: Well, I'd certainly be interested in your -insert product here- but first, I'd like to talk to you about the Lord Jesus Christ(TM) and your future in the Kingdom of Heaven(TM).

[Telemarketer]: huh?

[Me]: Now, sir, are you absolutely sure that your soul will go to Heaven(TM) when you die?

[Telemarketer]: Um, well, ...

[Me]: Because, you know, Jesus(SM) died for your sins, and those who know Him(TM), I mean the True Him(TM) are guaranteed a place in God's(TM) Kingdom(TM) when the Rapture(TM) arrives.

[Telemarketer]: Well, I never, um...

[Me]: And it's a documented fact that the Bible(TM) guarantees that the children of Jehovah(TM) have a place in that Holy Domain(TM). Now sir, do you go to church regularly?

By this time, the telemarketer is so damn disturbed that s/he usually hangs up and I never get a call from them again.

I suppose you could use a telemarketer spiel on the Mormons(TM) and Jehovahs(TM) that come to your door, but they've stopped bugging me since I got my "No Bible Thimpers" sticker from darwinfish.com.

Re:Well, which is it?

[MCZapf]

Yes, they are trying to discourage you from register from their do-not-call list. But, take a close look at the snail mail removal process. They've cleverly arranged it to be significantly more complicated for you, yet trivial for them. The only data entry a human at the DMA has to do is to enter a tracking number.

Observe that to generate the form they want you to send by snail mail, you submit all of your personal data to their webserver, which returns to you a page for you to print and mail to them. Since you are sending the data to their webserver they are almost definitely collecting it, even though they won't act on it unless you mail it in.

Not convinced? Then take a look at the page the webserver sends back to you. Along with your name, address, etc. there is a unique tracking number. Not only that, but the same tracking number is included in the address they ask you to mail the form to. I'll bet the DMA doesn't even open the envolopes sent to them. Someone just enters in the tracking number from the address and POOF, the data they collected earlier is used to add you to the do-not-call list.

What's my point? I guess it's that these guys aren't idiots. I trust them to actually put my name on this list with little chance for error, seeing as how easy they've made it for themselves.