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429,000 Do-Not-Call Complaints
The Ghetto Imp writes "Is the do-not-call list working for you? According to CNN Money, there have been over 429,000 complaints filed with the FTC over do-not-call violations. The list is incredibly popular, with apparently some 62 million numbers registered. Apparently the worst offenders are the Credit Foundation of America, and our friends at AT&T. In an era where companies use computers to spam pre-recorded messages through our phone lines, does the FTC have the teeth to make unsolicited calls a thing of the past? At $11,000 per violation, let's hope so!"
I was one of the people that signed up for the Do Not Call list as soon as it went live on the Internet. To date, I rarely get an unsolicited calls. They happen so rarely that I get suprised when I get a call. All-in-all, I'm pretty happy with my results.
--
11 Gmail invitations availiable
If they call me... can I get in on some of that... Please!
- Your stupidity got you into this mess, why can't it get you out? -Will Rogers
Because then all telemarketers will move to India, where the law would have no bearing. So every time I get pulled from the dinner table, I will pretend it is Apu from the Simpsons. No offense to Indians meant.
I stole this sig.
I used to work for a telemarketing company doing calls for AT&T's universal card. That's right, if you got bugged during dinner by someone selling you one of their credit cards, I wrote the Informix-4GL app that guided the agent through the sale. Ah, those were the days.
Anyway, at that time at least, AT&T was very dilligent in requiring that we scrubbed the numbers they gave us against the do not call lists. They were also very focussed on staying within legal calling hours, etc.
Then again, AT&T has many, many divisions who may or may not talk to each other and could have very different standards. Also, depending on who they outsourced their outbound calling to, they may have gone with a low-cost less competent provider. Both of those would surprise me though - this was one area where they at least used to pride themselves in their quality. Or at least in our quality.
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
"That is a huge number of complaints to be filed for anything," said Jean Ann Fox, Director of Consumer Protection of the Consumer Protection of Federation, told CNN/Money.
I wasn't aware the Federation had a Director for the Consumer Protection, or even that the Federation existed!
I thought I remembered reading that the long distance companies, i.e., AT&T, were exempt from the Do-Not-Call list...
Shallow, quickly posted comment made only to generate positive karma before any decent posts are made.
Moderators, please mod the parent down. Thank you.
I signed up for it when it first came out and it's worked for me pretty well. I got one sales call since then and reported them.
At $11k per violation, assuming all of those are legit, that's over $4 billion in fines. Hopefully they stick it to 'em.
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Is there a list like this available to Canadian telephone subscribers? I get too many unsolicited calls per day, gets annoying when I am being woken up at 4 in the morning. These days, if it is a number I don't recognize, I just pick up and hang up the phone.
its taking form just like the RIAA, only it is going after companies....
and like the RIAA, it won't stop telemarketers even though there might be fewer phonecalls
OK, assuming for a moment that each of those complaints in a violation (which I know is a grand overestimation, but stay with me for a second), that makes almost 5 Billion dollars in fines. Where is this money going? Surely the FTC doesn't need 5 billion dollars (or even 1/10th of that) to run the Do-Not-Call list!
I tell you where it should be going: To the people who filed the complaints. If your complaint was valid...you were illegally called even though you were on the DNC list...you shoulc get a percentage of the fine. Otherwise this money just gets tossed into the great financial landfill that is the U.S. Government, and gets used for some god-only-knows pork barrel project that has nothing to do with telemarketing and consumer privacy.
Is to just not have a landline phone.
I have had *only* a cell phone for me and one for my wife for the last year, and it's worked great. We always have a phone with us when we need it, and I haven't had any solicitation calls. Oh, and for internet we use cable.
Flappinbooger isn't my real name
True, with the 'Performed previous business transactions with' loophole in the law I would imagine that AT&T is darned near safe with just about everyone.
But to tell you the truth, my phone has been pretty darned quiet since joining the list. My only wish is that you could get flagged to not be called by charities and political campaigns. While I give to charities, it's annoying to have (literally) 10 to 15 different Police charities calling every month (among others).
'Life is like a spoonful of Drain-O, it feels good on the way down but leaves you feeling hollow inside'
I signed up on PA's DMA-managed list and for monthes I did't get a single sales. Rarely I get an Unknown caller call. Once Verizion kept calling me, but other than that it's been great. I've actually considered whether I even need caller ID any more.
Well, it is a prefectly crommulent way to embiggen the protections that the Federation offers.
Even if they move to India, they still are subject to the law if they are calling into the USA -- though it would be harder to enforce.
Generally, they would be doing the telemarking for a company in the USA which would then have liability.
One thing that I found, is that if you ask for their telephone number they will either hang-up on you or tell you they don't have one.
Fight Spammers!
Wow, I kinda forgot about it but now that I think about it I don't get phone solicitations anymore (except from the exempt businesses like the telephone companies). What happened to the disastorous economic effects that the telemarketers warned of?
FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
I work for a company that does Telemarketing and just this morning loaded our latest version of the Federal "Do Not Call" list. I completely agree with the intent of the law and I am on the list myself, but the implementation thereof is atrocious.
In order to even access the list, we must go through several hours of online paperwork that is highly redundant and of no real use in the end.
We would love to automatically download the list on a daily basis and ensure that no one that doesn't want to receive calls is contacted. We can't: The site used to download the list doesn't give a list of URLs for different area codes and said URLs change daily with random strings appended to prevent automated downloads. The server is set to allow only 2 simultaneous HTTP connections from a given IP, so downloading the 48 area codes we subscribe to takes roughly an hour, rather than the two or three minutes it used to when we could do many simultaneous downloads. And beyond that, you have to contact the helpdesk for them to reauthorize your download in the event of a download failure. That's right, if something times out or gets corrupted, we have to email the help desk and wait 24-48 hours for a reply before we can come into compliance.
We work very hard to comply with every state and federal do not call law, but none of the state lists are as difficult to access or as intentionally difficult to automatically deploy as the Fed's. Its a great law - but it would benefit all of us if the Feds made it easier to comply.
It's a fine not a reimbursement.
Shallow, quickly posted comment made only to generate positive karma before any decent posts are made.
OR.....
generic slashdot comment, good for almost any story or circumstance. Never have to wrack your brain again!
You decide! Operators are standing by.
#!/usr/bin/english
OMG! I totally agree that AT&T are the worst offenders. After switching my mother without her permission, they give me a call even though I have an unlisted number and am on the list. Then they argued with me when I told them I didn't want to switch!! Ex
A few years ago I got a call from one of their marketers trying to switch my long distance service and I interupted him by saying
..."
Me: "You know, I'm not interested
Him: "Well fuck you then"
Me: "What? fuck me?"
Him: *Loudly* "Yeah, fuck you!"
Me: "You got to be kidding me, you called me from AT&T"
Him: "Fuck you" *Hangs up*
At first I thought it was a prank call, but then I remembered that it had all the right initial sounds that a telemarketer call would have like the initial pause and sounds made while the computer connects me with the marketer.
After two weeks of answering every telemarketing call and saying "Take me off your call list", my phone-spam decreased dramatically. Now that I have just a cell-phone, I *never* get that junk.
The Federation can't exist yet, because Archer hasn't even been born yet!
We signed up for the "Do Not Call" list as soon as it was available.
However, that apparently hasn't stopped the calls. While I wouldn't know (I don't get home until 6:30 to 7), my family says they apparently get them. According to them, they're not non-profit orgs or anything, they're "would you like x credit card" or something.
My family only brings up the "we're on the do not call list" like every-other time; causing the people the immediately hang up the phone.
I keep telling them, "find out who they are so you can report them," but they always forget.
Seriously, how hard is it to remove those phone numbers from your list? Like I said, we were one of the early adopters, so it's not like they don't know.
What the gov needs to do is monitor the telemarketers' outgoing calls, and compare them to the do not call list. That'll stop them. Otherwise, they know most people are too lazy to report them.
429,000 x $11,000 per violation = roughly $4.7 billion in potential fines. Now if only there were do-not-spam fine like this. The government could collect enough money to solve that $8 trillion deficit.
Yes but- Like SPAM, which lives on lists of email addresses, telemarketers lived in lists of telephone numbers. With the 'death' of the industry, the main lists seem to have died out (thank gawd). My call volume went from 2-5 per day to 1 per week, usually a 'charitable' organization. The callers from India and the Phillipines stopped after about a month after the DNCL went into effect. Most of 'em are stopped when you ask for a phone number and company name and address. They hang up quick. now the real question- How can I make bucks off the guys who call me without checking the list ? Do I have to sue ? Do I have to have some physical evidence like a recording or a 'legal log' ? I want some bucks !
Heck, I just use Caller ID. If the number is unknown or 1-800 something, then you can go and screw yourself. If it is important enough, they will leave a message.
I just hate putting my ANYTHING on a list of some sort... [puts on tin foil hat]
I havn't gotten a single cold call since I got rid of my land line phone about a year ago. Before that, it was at least one a day, not including voice mail spam. I also have not paid a phone bill either (my work pays for my cell).
You know what? Its better this way. I would get most pissed off when I would get telemarkers looking for "Philip Wong" (I am not asian), some of them only spoke Chinese. I got my phone spam, and his for 2 years.
I don't miss it.
Do what I do. When they call, speak very faintly until they turn their volume up. Then turn the speakerphone on at the base unit and touch the antennas together for some high pitched feedback. Works for me. And yes I'm happy with my long distance.
I recently received an unsolicited call from a creditcard company despite 1. being on the national DNC list, 2. having Radio Shack's telezapper, 3. paying Verizon for the extra funcationality of blocking certain type of calls. Turns out there's an effective, common loophole these bastards use: They partner with a business that you have a legitimate relationship with. Sequence of events: Phone rings, Caller ID says its AAA (I'm a member), I pick it up and I get the credit card schpiel. When I confronted the agent about being on the DNC list, he said that this call was a special offer to AAA members. I cancelled my AAA membership.
Hmm, tough call my friend.
I agree with the 'generic' description, but the use of the word 'good' here is offensive to all that is 'good' in the world.
Is there a -1, Karmawhore moderation option? If not, it is a massive oversight and should be corrected immediately.
The Do-Not-Call list was almost a waste of time and money. With the growth in online usage and that insidious spam growing everywhere companies are not using the phone for solicitations anymore. It is by far much cheaper to send out mass emails and probably more effective then trying to call individuals. No telemarketers to pay (or at least fewer) and fewer phone bills for 800 numbers and other lines.
Before the do-not-call list it wasn't exactly hard to get rid of a telemarketer. Before they would even make their pitch you would have the phone hung up because they would mispronounce your name.
It may have been a nice idea to do the do not call list what we all really want and need is the do not email list. The spam is ten times worse then the telemarketers ever were.
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
You can file a complaint, and they can be FINED $11,000. Or you can sue them and collect up to $1,500 per incident. It's a lot more work to sue them than it is to simply file a complaint, and they stand to lose more money from fines than individual lawsuits.
That's roughly one complaint every hour and 15 minutes for the past year.
At $11k per violation, the FCC made about $8800 per hour from the DNC list. (assuming ideal enforcement).
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
Before DNC... 99% of my calls are from telemarketers who are specifically excluded from the legislation. Mainly, any credit card company I've ever done business with as well as non-profits.
Before DNC... 99% of my calls are from telemarketers who are specifically excluded from the legislation. Mainly, any credit card company I've ever done business with as well as non-profits.
The answer is no, this scam didn't do jack for me. Telezapper has been more effective.
> At $11k per violation, assuming all of those are legit, that's over $4 billion in fines. Hopefully they stick it to 'em.
But then you see, the government is profiting by these violations and the violations will never cease because it's loving tax money. Like speeding tickets.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
I signed up for the Do Not Call list when it went live.
Lucky for me, I find that I only get about 1 or 2 "dropped calls" recorded on my answering machine a day while I'm not home.
I think the Telezapper is helping to curb some of that.
The thing that *really* gets to me are those people who aren't covered by the Do Not Call restrictions. In my case, charities (Vets, State Police, local Firefighters, etc.).
You think they'd get the hint after asking them to not call any more and always saying "no thank you." But since they don't have to maintain a do not call list, they still call me back... every week, week in, week out.
For those people, I have the "Phone Butler" (which plays a pre-recorded message then hangs up on them), but I'm tired of getting those calls all the same.
Anyone else dealing with that sort of issue?
Is there anything that can be done (really) to stop these repeated calls?
Diplomacy is the art of saying, "Nice doggie!" until you can find a rock.
...to my home voice number? In the middle of the night? It's weird -- I get two within 15 minutes from UNAVAILABLE, the third one has a number (which I can't call to -- assuming a non-answering PRI/DSS trunk), and the fourth attempt is back to unavailable.
I've had this happen for two nights running. I could hook up the modem and answer it, but I'm worried that even accepting the call will hook me up for even more overnight FAX spam. I hoping that I might get one more night of it and then they'll give up since they never get a FAX answer.
Is there a -1, Karmawhore moderation option? If not, it is a massive oversight and should be corrected immediately.
There are too many ways around this to see anyone take a fall.
#!/usr/bin/english
it may cost me an extra $2 per month, but I didn't recieve calls before the list came out and I still don't.
All I can say is, as a Canadian I've notice a HUGE, yes HUGE increase in the number of unsolicited calls from Americain; phone numbers, companys, and states solicity me! ...
I fear that if the FCC is able to effectively 'crack' down on this, we Canadians will get further attention from a dieing industry
Our Canadian counterpart the CRTC will make steps to protect us, but its going to be a shitty couple years while the beaucrats / legalities get worked out about cross country issues..
CCTV Cameras
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I was contemplating asking Slashdot if people were finding that the DNC list was starting to lose effectiveness. I've had 2 calls from 2 different mortgage companies in 2 days, after months without any calls.
Maybe the mortgage companies are just getting desparate now that everyone has already re-financed and the rates are creeping up.
Touche. +5, Insightful.
This only works if you have decent reception in your home. I live in an old stone house with bad coverage to begin with. I have to go outside every time I get a call on my mobile phone.
(S(SKK)(SKK))(S(SKK)(SKK))
yeah but I'm broke!
Its amazing how effective a fine is on these people who call - i once received a call from some credit card company - and i didnt even say my name - i just asked 'how did you get my number?' - and - 'could you please remove my number from your list and not call me again?'. Those are the only two statements i spoke - and viola!
the thing which pissed me off is that the only phone number i have is my cell - and very few people have it - credit people calling me during day results in minute usage.. an absolute no-no.
There are three loopholes on most DNC lists.
Previous or Existing business relationship. That is a biggie, I don't know how to get them to go away.
Political and Charity groups. I haven't gotten any (except the police charity), but I would inform them that their rude interruption means I will specifically not support them. Fortuneately few real charities have ever called me.
You could also follow this up with a contact to the group that you don't approve of this. I'm sure that they'd be glad to know that you are voting against their candidate soley because of his telemarketing like behaviour.
I dunno how they got this many violations, unless they were already using one of the very few loopholes (ie pre/ex customer). I built the do-not-call for my company (a newspaper*) and it took me all of 2 days to build and code the php. It's really simple to understand I wish I could show you how easy it is, but it's got a password.
:-)
The way it works is there is 2 postgres databases, one for local do-not-calls (the people we called who told us to bugger off) and the national list (the people who told everyone to bugger off**). The php searches the local list first, as it's faster and more strict as we can't call anyone on that list for any reason, if the number isn't found it then searches the national list, if the number is found there we cannot call them unless they were at one point a customer with us (and there is a big red dialog that explains that on the page).
follow the logic? The phone reps _must_ lookup every number everytime they call out. Since starting the DNC we havn't had 1 single violation.
*http://www.kingcountyjournal.com
**the national do not call list, in case you misunderstood that.
/* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */
Well, look at it this way, if that is just 1 complaint from 1 number, that is just 0.69% violation. Which for a new law, I think is pretty good. But it is no excuse for these big companies like AT&T.
"This is you left and that's your left. This is your right and that's your right. You're gonna die!
American Telephone & Telegraph should be tried, convicted, drawn and quartered for their constant criminal harassment. The following happened to me:
I signed up with SBC for DSL. My wife and I both have cell phones, so we don't use the land line for long distance. Ever.
We made the mistake of using our land line one time to make a five minute long-distance call.
Since then, every month we got a $9 charge from AT&T for being subscribed to their "service." I called AT&T to cancel our "service" with them, and they said we had to take it up with SBC.
SBC said the only way to discontinue with AT&T was to sign up with someone else. So we signed up with SBC, on their cheapest ($3/mo) plan. We eventually switched to a combined local/LD package that offset the cost.
AT&T, since then, calls nightly, wanting to make sure that we really, really, really wanted to switch from them, and weren't "duped" into signing up with someone else. I tell them every time that WE DON'T WANT THEIR FARKING SERVICE, and hang up on them. Next night same thing.
My wife now answers the phone in German every time AT&T calls.
dinner: it's what's for beer
The company i work for gets about 20-50 telemarketer calls a day.
I can spot them usually in the first 3 seconds and just hang up. I don't give them a chance to get going on their spiel. No hard feelings either, they're just a phone monkey sitting behind an autodialer. Once i hang up it dials the next number in line.
I've got work to do, i don't have time for that shit.
On top of that, we get about 10-15 junk faxes a day too.
do() || do_not();
Starbucks, Daddy Warbucks, Sears and Roebuck, Buckle up, Bucking Bronco, Buckdilled platypus...
On second thought, this was probably unnecessary. Next time I'll get more coffee before posting.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
We still get 6-20 mortgage, financial, satellite tv, and time-share calls per week. Often, they start off with a pre-recorded message, and ask you to dial an 800 number to "reach a representative", or ask you to transfer to someone who claims "we don't call anyone". Asking to speak to a supervisor, or complaining results in them hanging up.
Never are the caller ID numbers helpful, even if they show. Usually, they seem forged, or at least inaccurate. And it would cost $150 per month to put an ANI trap on the line.
The measures it would take to put an end to this aren't politically viable. The only reason the DNC list was implemented was for cheap political mileage, and to give telemarketers a big comprehensive list of people to annoy.
As for my house, we have an automated Windows - PC based telephone answering system to filter unwanted calls from a company in australia - http://www.nch.com.au/. I could be wrong by there currently aren't any practical open source alternatives (for linux) - last I checked SourceForge's Toejam project is on hold since the developer is having personal/financial problems (he posted it on his site) and with Asterix http://www.asterisk.org/, the hardware needed is quite expensive.
Shame? Hey, here's a newsflash - I was a developer. I was given a set of fairly challenging requirements (respose time, interfacing to a Rockwall predictive dialer, agent ease of use, updatability, etc) and some interesting hardware (Data General boxen running Informix Online v6 of all things).
You know what? I did my job. Which I was happy to have, and to be able to do. Which wasn't even the point of my post, which was pointing out that even back them ('92) you could get your number scrubbed from the lists of the ethical telemarketers). You want to crusade against people using the phone, be my guest. But no, I feel no shame for writing solid code for a legitimate business. Some of it was still being used years later, which I happen ti think was pretty cool. I guess that makes me that much worse, huh.
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
As mentioned, there are loopholes. I personally do not get nearly as many cold calls, but I do get some. If you do business with the company, they can call you. If you've done business w/ the company in the last 90 days (I think), they can call you. Politicians and charities are exempt as well.
With that said, I'd be willing to bet that less than half of these complaints are legitimate and of the millions of spam calls a day, this is a relatively low number of complaints when put into perspective. I'd say that the do not call list has been a success.
What makes anyone think any of these laws will actually be enforced?
People seem to think that just passing a law is going to "make it so". Like all the anti-spam laws, and how much they've stopped spam. Nice idea in theory but I've lost faith that the government has the incentive or resources to enforce half of the laws that are on the books. Maybe we can pass a law making it mandatory to enforce laws?
It's been announced on the wire that beloved teen Mary-Kate Olsen has unexpectedly passed away of a brief battle with anorexia. She reportedly hit her head on the porcelain toilet tank while purging a secret stash of Ho-Ho's. There has been no formal statement from the Olsen camp at the present time.
It's getting so annoying I'm thinking of leaving tech support altogether.
At least locally, we have a law that forbids faxing advertisements. Well, guess what...we get about 2-3/day. Yes, there is supposedly a stiff fine for each violation. But the issue isn't the penalty, it's the willingness of the offended party to take legal action. Because so few are willing to devote the resources required for enforcement, it's almost as though the law doesn't even exist. I've wondered if telemarketing might eventually become the same type of nuisance, for the same reason.
Some thing like this:
Me: Hello?
Them: Hi, I am calling to let you know that I have some great deals for you.
Me: Oh, I'm sorry, I'm busy right now, if you give my your home number I'll be sure to call you back.
Them: I'm sorry sir, I wouldn't like you calling me at home.
Me: Now you know how I feel *click*.
Telemarketer Counters
429,000/365 = 1175.34
1175.34/24 = 48.97 calls per hour.
Math, get some.
The regulations don't apply to political and charitable solicitors, but all other telemarketers who call numbers on the list face fines up to $11,000 per violation.
The article doesn't divulge how many of the complaints are actually valid, but I think it's reasonable to assume that a large percentage of the "429,000 complaints" figure were solicitations from organizations claiming to represent charities or political bodies (all of the phone solitations I've gotten since registering fall into this category).
While such calls are exempt, I'd like to see additional regulation of the groups who hide behind this loophole; not because I oppose legitimate charities seeking donations, but because of the high probability that money donated over the phone will actually reach the charity.
Here's the way it often works: a legitimate charity contracts a telemarking firm to collect a predetermined amount of money. After the firm reaches the quota, they may continue to make solicitations ostensibly on the charity's behalf, but--according to the terms of the contract)--they get to keep all the money beyond the stipulated quota.
If you want to support a charitable organization or political entity, consider donating directly.
And do YOU have a /. account?
Once upon a time when I had a job, one of my duties was registering complaints regarding violations of Norway's version of the do-not-call list. A lot of organization names came up again and again and again. And of course when I contacted these organizations to give them a warning, all I got was arrogance - "we're doing good work blah blah blah, how can a charity afford to buy the updated it's-ok-to-call lists blah blah blah...."
Now over here, we have 2 different "consumer watchdog" shows on TV. Each show "outed" some of the worst violators. One of them was some kind of Bible charity that supposedly collected money for starving children in Eastern Europe, but from what the journalists managed to find out, the money was going towards luxury property for the organization leaders. This was an organization that was probably one of the top three when it came to complaints about violations of the do-not-call list. You can't imagine how happy it made me to see them outed for being fraudsters.
There are also a few other telemarketing companies are also being investigated for fraud; complaints about violations of the do-not-call list have been a motivating factor in this. Mowahaha....
People say I'm crazy, I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes...
I'm on the Missouri no-call list (it preceeded the national list by several years) and I rarely get calls anymore. That is, except for AT&T, who has an exemption in the no-call law (the national one too - businesses that already have a relationship with you, as well as all telecom companies, are exempted in these laws). They call several times a week.
I still complain about them, even though they're exempt from prosecution, in the hopes that the laws will be strengthened to remove this loophole.
Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon has been diligent in pursuing violators (and they don't have to be calling from Missouri - the law covers calls into Missouri) and the calls fell off dramaticly when telemarketing companies learned that the law is enforced. On the rare occasion they do call, they are VERY apologetic when I inform them I'm on the no-call list, and they have been good about getting me off their call lists, where they definitely weren't before the law went into effect.
All in all, I'm all for it. It's very effective as long as it's enforced.
1) Create a voice interface to a chatbot ...
2) Interface it with your phone
3) Next time a telemarketer calls, turn on the chatbot
4)
5) Profit!
take it down FTC man.. take it down!
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Just like the 'do not email' spam list was determined a bad idea...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_U.S._Election_c
I've gotten calls from Canada from AT&T, insurance companies and credit card offers. I'm surprised it took this long for them to find that loophole.
*shudder* I absolutely hated the companies that specifically targetted answering machines when I was in California. Not only did the house I was living in average 10+ messages a day of them, but there were some downright fraudulent ones.
"Mr. Barnard. This is Telly Salvias at 5th-3rd bank and there's a problem with your account. Call back immediately" *wry grin* Credit card scheme. Were it not that every bank used the exact same message with their name substituted...
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
I'll try to keep this short, but it's complex.
...only to get a voice mail box that was full. The woman's voice slurred the name of the firm, so I couldn't quite tell who they were (sounded like Charity Organizations of America).
I have caller ID, and was on the DNC list the very day it was offered to the public.
About 2 months ago, I started seeing my caller ID log fill up with calls from someplace in Georgia.
But the calls were always during normal work hours (when I'm not home) so my answering machine was full of hang-ups.
Well one night, they called at 7 pm, while I was home. I answered the phone, waited for the pause (while a computer transferred me to a live human)....and was promptly hung up on!
That just plain pissed me off, so I immediately called back the number on my caller ID....
A helpful computer option said to press 1 to be connected to the main operator.
I did so, and was promptly told by yet another computer that the main line was no longer in service!
Some investigation on Google (and white pages, and reverse lookup anbd what not) gave zip. The number didn't exist.
A call to my local phone company the next day had no information, but if I wished to place a complaint, it would be looked into, *in 4 to 6 months* (no, not weeks...months).
Well I knew the area code, it belonged to Bell South. So I contacted the Georgia one, and they too, had no info for the number, no listing, nothing.
I have a police friend down there, and they have access to all kinds of cool toys we don't, and even *she* had no info for the number!
Ditto a call to the Non-Profit registry service of my state, nor of Georgia.
More than just a simple case of DNC abuse was going on here.
Long story short (too late!) after much time calling, and looking about on the internet, I called Bell South back and pretended I worked for that number and was having phone problems, and could they be so kind as to help out?
Turned out is was a telemarketing firm, who had registered one legit phone number, and a bunch of trunk lines, all with voice mail boxes attached, pointing to each other with the main line being disconnected. All very illegal. A few more questions and I had the main line to the firm, whom I was able to track down easily on the web and contact them, stating in no uncertain terms if they ever called back, under *any* guise, I'd nail their ass to the wall for fraud, DNC abuse, and whatever else I could think up at the moment.
They never called again, and I've not had any more telemarkter calls since.
Moral of the story? Don't piss off a geek with too much free time on his hands...
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
There is one advantage of landlines over cellular: if you call 911 on a landline, the emergency dispatcher immediately knows the address of the originating call. In a fast-developing emergency the moments saved from having to state your street address can be a lifesaver, or if you're hurt and can only muster a "help..."
is $76.11. I'll happily take a check or money order, or a federal income tax credit.
Thanks much.
dinner: it's what's for beer
I'm on the list, and I get just as many calls as ever. But they're not selling things now, they're just doing surveys, which are allowed by the damned law. Why they are exempted I have no idea - all they're doing is using people for free labor.
I only get about a call per month now, and it's mostly companies I have a business relationship with, and organizations about policemen, etc.
I've just figured that low-volume telemarketing gets in under the radar, and hoped that some day the list might actually be enforced. Although if it's working for other people, maybe it's just the location where I am.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
Sheesh, what do you have to lose? Who the fuck cares what happens to them?
I signed up all my numbers for the DNCl when it first went live, and although it's helped some with the unsolicited telemarketing my FAX spam has increased.
I'm sure you know the culprets... faux stock alerts, vacation give-a-ways, etc. I firmly believe from the similarities in the "alerts" that it's one or two organizations doing business under a multitude of names.
Of course calling their opt-out numbers and complaining to the FTC does nothing. Half the time the opt-out number is either disconnected or ends up being the same two 3rd party opt-out services, which the spammers don't bother honoring.
I wonder if VoIP is also included in the Do Not Call bill.
I use Vonage, and normally I'm a huge supporter of theirs, but last week I got a voicemail from them trying to get me to upgrade.
There was never an actual "phone call", as the message was placed directly into voicemail at 3 AM on the 19th. However, that is also the intent of many, if not most, telemarketers, i.e., to leave a "personal sounding" voicemail rather than talk to a live person.
I was pretty upset that they spammed my voicemailbox like that.
These relationships expire 18 months after your dealings (transactions, payments, etc.) end.
But you can still ask to be put on their Do Not Call list.
Of course, you could have just gone to the Direct Marketing Association's website and signed up on their do not call/do not mail list, without wasting taxpayer dollars to pay the bloated salaries of government bureaucrats.
I signed up on the DMA's website, and I've had no problems.
And, I get to say I don't go to the government like a spoiled child every time someone does something I don't like.
Help cure AIDS, cancer, and more. Donate your unused computer time to worldcommunitygrid.org. Join Team Slashdot!
The whole idea of DO-NOT-CAll list is wrong. There should be a Do-CALL list. Anyone willing to receive those calls should register. anyone not in the list should be consider do not call by default.
Here in Colorado, we invented the list and gave it legal teeth to work with (interesting that congress is not in a hurry to give it the same status on a federal level). In fact, We use to receive 10's of business calls a day. Once I signed up on it, the stopped. Now, we get about 1 call a day from a charity and 1-2 a day saying to vote for some republican (Almost wlways W. or Tancredo), maybe 1 democrat a week, and a libertarian a month. I regard it annoying, but much better than before.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
I still get them due to the loopholes. Mainly the "survey" loophole. They call me and say, "I would like to ask you a few questions about your long distance service". I hang up by thge time they get to "ask. I also love the "polition" loophole. They keep making laws but exempt themselves. They are not above the law.
Actually I never really found them to be a big problem for me, I would udually play with them, keeping them on as long as possible wating there money. I do the same for junk mail. I stuff the postage paid envolopes with junk, costing them money. Oh fun hobbies.
Those police charities are invariably scams. I would report them, if I were you.
Anyway, I am kind of saddened that they included so many loopholes. An individual should have the option of blocking campaign calls and charities. If they do not want to recieve the call, they probably won't give to a telemarketing charity, anyway.
If you don't understand any of my sayings, come to me in private and I shall take you in my German mouth.
This shit isn't going to go away. How long before I get just as much bullshit on my cell phone as I do in my Inbox?
"It would be cool to give people I know a 3 digit DTMF code or somethign to enter while the phone is ringing so I would know it's someone I know, and not some fucking telemarketer", He said, popping the back off his cell phone.....
boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
How do you finance a deficit? ;-)
"After the firm reaches the quota, they may continue to make solicitations ostensibly on the charity's behalf, but--according to the terms of the contract)--they get to keep all the money beyond the stipulated quota. If you want to support a charitable organization or political entity, consider donating directly."
Another option is to blacklist charities that partner up with telemarketers. My favorite scam is the "vaguely police-affiliated charity". I once got into it with one of their con men.
Him (accusingly): "You DO want to support your local police, don't you?"
Me: "Let's say I do. What's your charity's overhead rate? (They're required to disclose if asked.)
Him: (Long pause) "85%."
Me: "Wow. So if I give $20 to you, they get $3 of it. Sounds like if I support my local policemen I should give them $10 directly, which would more than triple their take, and save myself $10 in the bargain. You're kind of a parasite, aren't you?
Him: (click)
People still use their land lines?
Seriously, I haven't made a call from home on a land line in about a year. Even when I had DSL, the phone was answered for about a month, then I just stopped answering it. Now I have a cable modem, and no land line at all.
They can't call your cell phone.
Fuck them.
s'wut i sed.
I have gotten a few telimarketing calls from 866 numbers. The trick is that they hang up on me as soon as I pick up. Then I call back and hear a prerecorded spam message. Has anyone else gotten this? Does the fact that I called back mean that this is a legal practice?
While I give to charities, it's annoying to have (literally) 10 to 15 different Police charities calling every month (among others).
This is why I don't give to charities.
I did once. Last Christmas, we put a bunch of goodies in a shoe box to send to a poor child in Africa. Gave it to a company that was collecting them along with a check to cover postage and such.
In the six months since, I've received half a dozen letters from them begging for more money. Forget it; I'm not doing it anymore. If I can't just donate from time to time without being harassed for the rest of me life then I won't donate at all.
-Ryan, with the unoriginal sig
Why would anyone still bother with a landline, anyway?
I have not had a landline in like 6 years. I give out my cell number freely, whenever I transact business. Since my area code is 917 (in NY, this is obviously a cell number), I never get telemarketing calls.
Not. Ever.
And I dont miss the landline in the least
Contemplate the marvel that is existence, and rejoice that you are able to do so.
I work at a company where telemarketing is done. We take great care to make sure DNC numbers are removed from our lists. However, our "telemarketers" use a regular phone to avoid that dead air after the customer answers. People don't realize that someone could have dialed the wrong number, or what's more likely is that the person put their number on the list in February, not realizing that the list won't be updated again until April.
Mod points are pointless when you browse at -1.
I signed up for the Do Not Call list as soon as it became open for registration. About a month after the list went into effect, I got my first phone solicitation. I dutifully collected all of the necessary information - business name, address, phone number - and reported the violation. I was told that a call is not viewed as a solicitation, and is therefore not subject to punishment, unless I actually buy something. Since then, I have received fairly regular solicitation calls. Although the number of calls that I receive is much less than it was before the Do Not Call List went into effect, I feel that I am still without recourse when I receive a phone solicitation. Has anyone actually had success in pursuing penalties as a result of the Do Not Call List, or have other people had the same experience as I have?
This sig has been stolen. Return it to its original user for a reward.
AT&T and other telecom companies are regulated by the FCC not the FTC like other businesses. Since the do not call list is an FTC creation, AT&T isn't required to obey it. I could be wrong -- when the list came online there was talk of the FCC tying into it but I never heard that anything came of it.
I was one of the people to sign up for the do-not-call list within the first few weeks. It's been really great with one big exception:
Nursing Recruiters.
My wife is a nurse in California. There is a super high demand for nurses around here, and as a result there are many, many nursing recruiters.
We get 4-5 calls a week from nursing recruiters.
With CallerID, the call comes in as "000-000-0000" or "Unknown" for the number, and "Unknown" for the name. It's an automated call, and their machine leaves a message on our answering machine.
I've filed a several compaints with the FTC, and have called the recruiters back on their 800 numbers to see if I can get removed. However, I can't get in touch with a human-- Just an answering machine.
Yarg... these guys are annoying.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
Maybe its time you reverse the roll, start calling all those who call you and start asking for donation money, and watch that call rate drop.
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
When will the FCC (FTC?) crack down on fax spam?
My place of business recieves anywhere from 25-100 faxes daily on the 3 fax lines we have. It's quite annoying when customer orders are intermixed with vacation offers and low interest rates.
I know that the law prohibits it, but there doesn't seem to be any shortage.
I often think about having everyone pile the faxes into a big box and then shipping it off to the FTC, but I doubt they would do anything.
Anyone have any experience in fighting this stuff?
-David
My care factor = 0.
Keep crying newb.
Mod parent down (-1, Karmawhore)!
I got a call the other day from some stupid prolife group. It was an automated deal and the lady said if I wanted to take part in an abortion survey to stay on the line. I did it for shits and grins. It said to press 1 if I was prolife or 9 if I was prochoice. Naturally, I pressed 9. Then it thanked me for being prolife and if I would like more information about their organization to press 3. I wanted to complain, so I pressed 3. After telling me some bullshit about them, the lady said if I wanted to make a financial donation to press 6. I pressed 9 again and the lady thanked me and said I would get something in the mail in a few days. What the fuck?
that Microsoft, SCO and the RIAA keep calling despite our requests for them to remove us from their lists. Let's see, $11,000 a fine multiplied by 3,000 slashdotters and if we each tell 3 people to call, that's $99,000,000 per company. We could slashdot microsoft w00t!!
When DNC went into effect, the change was dramatic and immediate. We went from four calls a night to zero.
We've had problems with two companies that have repeatedly called after being told to take us off their lists, and I have filed complaints against them both: AT&T and the Credit Foundation of America. I hope they get slammed with fines.
[ring][ring]
Them: "Hi, I'm Tyrone, and I'm calling from the $Police_Fire_Charity. Did you know that $Police_Fire personnel are great guys and don't any benefits at all? How would you like to help?"
Me: "Well, Tyrone, I've already donated this year, three times so far and I plan to give again in the fall."
Them: "Mr. $Mispronounced_Lastname, you've been giving to one of those other charities. We represent the real $Policy_Fire_Charity -- how about helping us out with $20?"
Me: "No, no, I'm positive I've donated three times already. I even have the cancelled checks. Let's see here, this big one's made out to "Hennepin County", the other to "Minnesota Revenue Service" and the third and largest to "Internal Revenue Service." I'm sure that all of those donations cover all the money I'm giving to law enforcement."
The rest boils down to an amusing argument with the high school dropout on the other end of the line about whose benefits are better, his (none), mine, or the cops. I'm actually pretty sure mine are better than both, but the cops around here sure get to retire on a nice pension before I do.
Could this be classified as extortion, pay up or we'll keep calling? Different but sort of like the popups adevrtising anti-popup software a while back.
Imagine that: Congress allowed for two types of unsolicited phone calls to still be allowed!
Charities can still call and ask for money. That means the fake police department can still call and make you feel uncomfortable if you don't donate money.
And.... (Wait for it).... POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS! Wow, imagine that! There's no penalty for John Kerry, who keeps calling my house and talking at me. WHY WON'T HE LISTEN TO ME!?
Don't Crease the Weasel!
Donate stuff to your local thrift store. It's usually anonymous and even if it isn't, they are to small and unorganized to bother with a telemarketing campaign.
Life in Orange County
Just do this: hang up. As soon as I realize it's a sales call, I hang up. I don't care who it is or what they're selling or how nice they sound. I just drop the phone and carry on with my life.
I've watched friends and family receive sales calls and we all seem to have this Pavlovian response where we're petrified of hanging up on someone. It's rude or it's socially unacceptable behavior or whatever. But then, calling my house and using my phone to sell me something is rude too.
So just hang up on them. Do it and you'll never go back.
--Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."
My friend's old cellphone was with AT&T wireless, they got the marketing calls so bad that they have to shut off the phone most of the time. as soon as they got off the contract, they changed it to t-mobile and barely get any marketing call. my sprintpcs doesnot bother me either.
so, I think at&t wireless deserves the hell it got.
weak excuse, buddy.
does the FTC have the teeth to make unsolicited calls a thing of the past?
I am happy for those that have seen a stop in telemarketing in their homes. But I think the Golden Rule in the US is still that it's not a consumer economy, but a market favourable to companies that want to sell things to consumers - consumer rights definitely take a back seat.
In other words, there's another Golden Rule about knowing which side of the bread the butter goes on, and I don't doubt for a minute the FTC know - just as surely as they know they have to try to stop Howard Stern.
Welcome to Money & Morality USA VLLC. Our motto: 'Money Talks.'
I don't have a single friend who ever thought your 'Don't Call Me' programme would work.
Still, I am glad that for some it did.
He called me twice. I took him to small claims court in Northern Cal and shook him out in front of a judge for a cool 750. I also got 500 from another TMer for calling my company's cell phone (my employer sued him).
It's been FOREVER and a day since any TMer has ever called me. That list works TOO darned well.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
I work for a software company that develops software that help plan mortgages and realestate documents. One of the features of the product, since they're often used by realestate agents, is customer/lead management. Since they are liable for any calls they make if a lead is in the DNC list, we added a feature that checks to see if a number is in the list and if it is, we highilight is as do not call. The point is we had to buy the list. It's about $7k. That's not bad for us, we do enough business where that's feasable, but for small companies, that could kill you. Realestate agents, for example, don't do massive cold calling, but they do have to figure out a way so that they can be covered. That way they don't fined 11k. That could drive an independant agent, or a small company out of business.
RandomAndInteresting.comdefending the world from stupidity since 1979
Not everyone registered with the FTC. Here in Indiana, the Attorney General announced our state law(s) is|are more strict and we should retain our state registration. Registering with the FTC might give them a lighter law to deal with. Overall, I think Kentucky has one of the strongest laws.
Several weeks ago, I got an unsolicited call from Oracle. The person gave their first name but not their last but did tell me they were from Oracle Sales. As soon as I told them it was an unsolicited call, they hung up. I returned the call and it was answered with "Oracle...". The lady told me they had over 300 people so it could have been anyone. I filed it nevertheless (one of the questions was "do you have caller-id and did it capture the phone number of the calling party?" (jeez, like how long are you supposed to retain that? I pulled out my digital camera and sent that along with my complaint) and received followup snailmail to confirm my complaint.
nm
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
As a college student currently working fundraising, however, I can tell you that that's not how it works with our company.
Basically, the company I work for makes contracts with different universities. The institution pays us a pre-arranged amount. I think there may be a sliding scale based upon how well we perform, but that's neither here nor there. If a prospect makes a pledge, we send them out a pledge card, which then is sent directly to the institution.
I see a lot of people in this discussion being proud of being jerks, and that makes me sad. It is the job of a fundraiser, at least where I work, to ask you for three(sometimes four) different amounts of money. That's all they're trying to do - everything else is gravy. All you have to do to get them not to call back is to either A) say no three times or B) say please put us on your do not call list.
Valete!
429,000 * $11,000 = $4.719 BILLION
The FTC's 2004 budget was only $191,133.000.
Of that, only $16,000,000 was for the Do Not Call Initiative. Add that to the previous year's $5,000,000 for the program, and the DNCI has netted a return on investment of 22,471%.
If they were allowed to keep the money, one year's worth of proceeds from the DNCI could keep them going for 20 years without requiring tax money.
Hell, give them all 50% raises. Between DNCI, anti-spam activities and online fraud prosecution, FTC is one of the most productive and useful US agencies ever. They deserve the money.
You kick ass, Swindell.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
The Red Cross is even worse. My ex-girlfriend donated blood immediately after 9/11, in an attempt to help.
Since then, every 2-4 weeks she's gotten a phone call from them asking for more blood. She's even received two calls in the same night, despite telling them to take her off the list every single time. Saying that she's on medication did no good either.
I've thought about giving blood, but after seeing the harassment she went through, I won't without a damn good reason.
I helped open up a business. Little small thing, only 3 phone lines, but when we tried to sign up for the do not call registry, we were told that we couldn't add our numbers because businesses were not eligable. Sooo, we waste up to a good half an hour a day on solicitations from random companies wanting who knows what. Anyone know if this has changed, or if we can be sneaky about it and add ourselves anyways? (or if possibly, the phone company was full of crap and businesses are in fact covered)
You haven't seen Star Trek, have you?
If you get one of those calls where you pick up and say hello, and theres a delay until you say hello again and then you hear a click and someone starts nattering to you, when they answer you can hit the # key and it screws them up somehow. My dad found this out somewhere and has tried it out, he just heres some sort of click or static sound and then no ones there anymore.
My current record is 8 minutes they waited for me to return.
-
There is ONE Big and EASY way to get rid of the survey's ;)
:p suckers. if everyone does it, pepsi and coke will have to drop the price of the darn thing!
.02
If you don't want them to call again, just make sure that you say YES when they ask you are your working for xyz company (competitor servey company or targeted industry) and they will say "Oh Sorry, Thank you for your time"
This will ensure that your name is registered in they're database as Employee of xyz co. DO-NOT CALL to not false the results!
Then again, you might just answer a few of them to make things in your favor. I remeber when i was asked about my favorite kind of drink. A few month later, i saw a big price raise. Since then i keep telling them i only drink no brand
In short, for serveys, you can either get on the black list, and they won't botter you anymore. Or answer what they don't want to hear, so they adjust ther USP (Unique Selling Proposition) to fit your desire.
my
In the SF Chronicle
... due to a technology glitch."
06-23) 16:22 PDT SACRAMENTO (AP) --
California has reached a settlement of its first-in-the-nation lawsuit under the federal "do not call" law, Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Wednesday.
The state sued American Home Craft Inc. and two of its corporate officers in November, alleging the company made illegal telemarketing phone calls to more than 120 Californians who had their names on the national registry. The complaint also alleged the home improvement company violated federal law by continuing to call customers after they asked to be placed on the companys internal "do not call" list.
Lockyer, in a statement, said the Hayward-based company "blatantly disregarded one of the most significant consumer protection laws ever enacted." He said the state's investigation showed the company never purchased the federal registry when it became available in October.
But Sanjay Khurana, the company's chief operating officer, said the problem "was an honest mistake
"We're on the same side as the attorney general and the people of California" in wanting to protect privacy rights, Khurana said. He said the company is now watching its list "like a hawk" to prevent a repeat.
The settlement approved by U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey S. White in San Francisco requires the company to comply with federal and state "do not call" laws, to investigate and report complaints, and to train its employees.
The company and its president, Bradley Alan Smith, also will pay $45,000 in civil penalties, $30,000 to cover the state's cost of investigating and prosecuting the case, and $25,000 in restitution to the California residents who formally complained to the attorney general, the Federal Trade Commission or the Federal Communications Commission.
Those residents will be paid up to $200 each.
In addition to its Hayward headquarters, the company has offices in Sacramento, San Diego and Irvine selling vinyl siding, texture coating, patio doors and cabinet refacing services.
California's "do not call" law took effect Jan. 1, but Lockyer sued American Home Craft under the earlier federal law.
Lockyer has a second pending lawsuit against Florida-based L.M.A. Marketing Inc., doing business as Mortgage Concepts, after fielding more than 250 complaints from state residents.
Residents who want to register their phones under both the state and federal lists can use the National Do Not Call registry Web site or call 1-888-382-1222. Complaints can be filed through the same Web site or telephone number.
Sure, great. You've signed or registered for the Do Not Call list. Everytime you give any company your phone number and read the fine print where they can call you concerning future promotions and share the information with third parties, you've signed away any legal rights to not call you. Me signing a paper is a business relationship, and remember they ask you if you'd be "interested about other great products" and how Company 1 inc. can "share the information". You can get 10 solicited calls a day. They may as well be unsolicited. Do Not Call can get a disorganized boiler-room to play it safe and take you off their list instead of giving the same leads to kids in cubicles across from each other, but Do Not Call won't stop any company from selling off your #'s you gave them the right to sell to other companies who contract boiler room operations.
Do Not Call basically stops some shmo from telemarketing through the phone book, and none of them do. You want a Do Not Call list? Tell them Joe is dead. Just make sure to mention to the power company that you were just kidding when they send the truck over with the big snips to cut you off.
they're database
"their".
I have actually gotten _three_ separate calls from SBC recently, all pitching their DSL at me! I haven't registered a complaint yet, as I quite enjoy toying with their sales staff (they do not offer a service that meets my requirements and pointing this out, in detail, is a fun way to get _them_ to hang up!).
I probably should have complained, as that would have given them a $33,000 fine. It would be nice if we got a cut, though, for all the years of inconvenience... How many times have _you_ been interrupted at supper? Or woken up early on a weekend? I lost count some years ago.
+++++++
"Look, dear, it's a crazy hairy scary man!"
Look, I work from home and my work requires concentration. I can't accomplish anything if I am constantly being interrupted. A few years ago, before the DNC list came out, I shattered my leg. Getting round was exceedingly difficult and very painful. Between the telemarketers and the charities, it was not unusual for me to receive twenty calls in one day. One day I received thirty-one calls.
It has been the tradition in my family to give small sums to many charities and large sums to a few favourite charities. Those favourite charities sold my name to other charities, and now I get no peace at all. So no one is getting any more of my money. (Part of the reason for that is my growing mistrust of these organisations. God only knows what these charities do with the donations and how much of what is contributed actually goes where we think it does. I know from personal experience that a lot goes to plush offices and fancy luncheons for charity administrators.)
Neither the peace of my household nor my personal privacy is for sale. I am the one who draws the line: not American commercial interests. I always gave to American charities because I now live in the US. But now, angered by the harassment, I am giving a larger share to charities back in Scotland. American charities, with their greedy tactics, are poisoning their own well, and they are too stupid to realise it. Many of my American friends have stopped giving to charities for the same reason.
Julia Cameron
Oich ù agus hiùraibh éile
As I understand it, companies must "scrub" their telemarketing lists against the Feds' list. However, it only applies for those names/numbers who aren't current or previous customers.
For example, let's say you've added your name/# to the Feds's DNC list. Let's say Bubba's MSO is gearing up for a telemarketing campaign. You're currently a Bubba's MSO customer. Bubba's MSO can call you.
If you like, you can ask Bubba's MSO to put you on their DNC list, at which point they're obligated never to call you again.
Now, let's say Jim-Bob's MSO is gearing up for a telemarketing campaign. You've never done business with Jim-Bob's MSO, and your name is on the Feds' list, so Jim-Bob's MSO is obligated not to call you.
Again, this is just my understanding of the law. I don't actually do the list scrubbing or manage the telemarketers.
We outsource 99% of our outbound calling. Our contractors (the companies placing the calls) are responsible for list scrubbing. Something I've always wondered, though, is this: let's say a # does slip through the cracks. Who's liable? The contractor or the company who hired them?
I don't care if the call is from a business, charity, surveyist, or politician... I don't want any of them to ever call me. So I tell them "I'm on the National Do Not Call List. Make certain that you comply with it and add this number to your do not call list. We never want to hear from you or your affiliates ever again."
Then I immediately surf over to www.donotcall.gov and file a complaint.
The way I see it is if the FTC gets enough complaints about the exempted parties, that they will revoke their exemption as well... As far as I'm concerned, if I don't want calls, I don't want any calls....
Fucken telemarketers... they can all go rot in hell...
Of course, i've nary a call since I answer each and every 000-000-0000 call with a italian accent, thick and heavy, muttering something about SOBs that interrupted his afternoon tea with the Don.
Of course it never hurts to holler every once in a while at Sallie boy to get the car, cuz "we got a live one!"
First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.