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Do-Not-Call List, Two Years Later
Carl Bialik writes "The Wall Street Journal is reporting that two years after the National Do Not Call Registry took effect, regulators say the system is working, but only six federal fines have been issued. More than half of registered consumers say they're still getting unwanted calls, according to a recent phone survey. Now, a fresh fight is brewing over which calls are restricted and which ones aren't. Twenty-five states maintain their own do-not-call lists, and many of them impose tougher restrictions on the kinds of calls that telemarketers can make."
Am I the only one that finds it shockingly ironic that the survey to determine if consumers are still receiving unwanted calls is done by initiating unwanted telephone calls?
I mean isn't that bound to skew the results?
Consumer: Hello?
Survey Operator: We're conducting a survey on unwanted phone calls
Consumer: OK...
Survey Operator: Have you received any unwanted calls lately?
Consumer: Yes... Quite recently actually!
From TFA:Regulators say the system is working, but a recent random survey (by telephone) by the Customer Care Alliance, a Virginia-based consortium of three customer-relations consultants, found that 51% of registered consumers say they're still getting calls they think the list is supposed to block.
So they conducted the survey by CALLING the people on the do-not-call list...So... did anyone try to turn in the survey-takers?
But then, my calls had dropped pretty low even before the do-not-call list went into effect. I had learned the magic phrase, "Could you take me off the call list?", which I diligently said to every telemarketer. By law, they have to take you off, so that had already almost completely solved the problem. The national do-not-call list eliminated the last bits.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
say they're still getting unwanted calls, according to a recent phone survey
I would consider the recent phone survey an unwanted call...so that's kind of self defeating. . . calling peolpe on the do-not-call list to see if they are getting calls even though they are on the do-not-call list
i don't care
Despite one million reports of violations, the FTC has filed only 14 lawsuits and levied only four fines.
Wow, that's only 0.0014% of reports turning into lawsuits.
Bradley Holt
The DNC list goes against free market capitalism which our country was based upon. Yes it's legal by the letter of the law, but it grossly violates the spirit of America. We are a country of entrepreneurs and all this law does is chop down the new cherry trees of companies before they have a chance to blossom and provide jobs for poor people. Think of the recent victims of Katrina and Rita, think of how much better those people would be if there were more companies to lend them jobs?
More than half of registered consumers say they're still getting unwanted calls, recent phone survey.
I take it the other half just threw down the phone in disgust at being called in a phone survey? Or perhaps half of those surveyed were in coma?
SCO employee? Check out the bounty
There Oughtta' Be a Law...
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
I'm sick and tired of telemarketing. Why do we tolerate it at all? If I announce to the world I don't want sales calls, I have explicitly voiced that I do not want your intrusion. If you continue to try to con me into giving you money I don't want to give after I have specifically told you not to contact me, that is harassment. Somehow, we have huge punishments for stalkers, but not for these sociopaths who do basically the same thing. I don't know why we tolerate them at all.
And this isn't an issue about profits. There's nothing wrong with trying to make a profit. There is something wrong with violating people's rights to do it. If you want me to listen to your spiels, PAY ME TO DO SO. Otherwise, go away.
Rank my idea: http://www.sinceslicedbread.com/node/531
Once and for all, somebody needs to drive this into their heads: it is MY phone, and you may not use it (i.e. call me) without my consent. P.S. refusing to pay $3.50 a month to NOT be listed in the phone book does not mean I consent to have you morons call me.
-paul
Pistol caliber is like religion: everyone has their favourite, and theirs is the only right choice.
Combined with anonymous call blocking I get pretty much no solicitation calls. Of course, it also helps that whenever a store asks for my phone number I tell them to f off.
I still get calls from companies that i have a "business relationship with" and a few others taking "surveys", but my unwanted calls have dropped from a couple a night to one or two every few months. And now since i'm no longer used to getting interupted i am intensely rude to the people that do.
The difference between Canada and the USA is that in Canada healthcare is a right and gun ownership is a privilege.
Sounds like federalism is working then to me. What works in TX may/may not work in ME.
I am NOT on the Do Not Call List, but I am getting about 90% less telemarketers calling me. I would have to say its a pretty good track record considering I didn't do anything. Some are having problems, but no one is getting MORE calls than before, unlike spam and CAN-SPAM.
This is because many companies that do telephone marketing are doing something else instead (spam maybe?). So while the system isn't perfect, and can be improved, it has to be considered a success for the most part.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
The federal Do-Not-Call system has worked very well for me.
The Oregon state government was charging for Do-Not-Call. Now the state system has been terminated.
If it's working, one would expect there to be very few fines.
Most of the annoying calls coming in now are pretending to be "surveys," rather than sales calls. They're lying, of course, but the volume has gone down considerably.
I think the question is, do people report - or even know where to report - telemarketers when a violation occurs?
The part that always concerned me about the do-not-call exemption was the allowance of getting calls from a business that you had a pre-existing relationship with.
What constitutes a pre-exiting relationship? I get calls from a local suto dealerchip's service center "reminding" me to get my car serviced.
What if they get bought by a corporation that owns credit card companies? Does this mean the credit card company would be able to solicit me?
Best Windows Freeware
If you have done business with a company they are allowed to call you. It says this on the Do Not Call registration site somewhere. This means that if you stay at a hotel somewhere, they can call you up and offer you those stupid travel packages without violating the law. Asking them to discontinue those calls has seem to work for me thus far, but perhaps I'm just lucky.
Well, considering charities, political parties, pollsters, and anyone you've had a prior business relationship with can still call you, there is a significant percent of telemarketers who can get through.
Then there is the fact that to report someone, you have to jump through hoops, and have a lot of information from the telemarketer, most people probably don't report illegal calls if they get them.
Lastly, I think we need a "Do-Not-Fax" list, as it drives me crazy that people will send vacation offers (that are probably scams) to the office I work at sometimes (which is technically a residential number), and not only does it waste time, it wastes ink and paper. Essentially, we have to pay to get spammed.
what the world needs is a telemarketerzapper. TaserOverPOTS, perhaps.
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
I still to this day get unwanted calls to my house, and my cell phone. Its insane.. ;p
Ever since I signed up for the Do-Not-Call list I get even more telemarketters and unwanted calls. Before I signed up, I used to get maybe two or three calls a day outside of the hourly call from TalkAmerica. After I signed up my phone rings twice every half an hour. Its even worse.
Today I have gotten at least 16 calls since 6AM. DIE TALKAMERICA! DIE!
Carl Bialik sends in a free Wall Street Journal article every few days and they seem to be always accepted. Does Slashdot get a percentage of ad revenue/new subscriptions they generate for the WSJ? If so, shouldn't you make this more obvious? If not, why should Slashdot be a de facto WSJ advertisement?
beware the jabberwock, my son! the jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Think of the do-not-call list as a service. You just got called by the service people to see how they're doing.
Someone might have already mentioned this, but the reason they are probably getting so many of these calls are because more and more "surveys" are being done.
I worked for a place as a second job during the summer where we could call and do "surveys" with people. Surveys are OK under the Donotcall list. Our surveys, however, most of the time weren't really surveys as much as a way around the do not call list. Anyone who had half a brain could pretty well tell that these were sales calls disguised as surveys. We didn't ask you to buy anything or anything like that, but we did tell you all about the survey sponsor's product and why it was sooooo much better than the competitors. Things like that. I would say there were only 1 or two legitimate surveys that that survey company actually preformed. Those legitimate ones were actually about how you were treated or how the company was doing. The rest were sales pitches in disguise. It was horrible.
I think this is why a lot of people are saying they are still getting calls, though I haven't rtfa. They get these surveys that are sales pitches and consider them to be sale calls. I think the majority of people do not realize that surveys DO NOT COUNT for the do not call list
According to http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/dncbiza lrt.htm
section 19, at $15,400 PER national marketer PER year, its not a bad deal... for the government.
We get no calls in KY. The only calls we do get are from the police, firefighters, and a few other fund raisers. KY has it's own list. The KY / Fed combo is working great for us.
These kinds of companies generally need call only once for the damage to be done. I can't remember many occasions where the same company has called several times.
That solution "tell them to put me on the do-not-call list" simply keeps the burden on the consumer, not the telemarketer. Also, how do you do it to recorded calls?
BTW, before the national registry, there was a law requiring all telemarketing firms to send out written copies of their do-not-call policies to consumers upon request. Any individual violations of the request to send written copies of the DNC policy was something you could sue for in small claims court. Most telemarketers had never heard of this rule, and most were never trained about it.
Robert Nagle, Idiotprogrammer, Houston
This worked great for me, we signed up at the beginning, and the local Texas one at the same time. We went from getting 2-3 calls a night to none, or perhaps one a month; it was awesome. This is a big deal as it's just such an intrusion. Back before I knew you could say "Please add me to your do not call list", I used to tell them to hold on, and put the phone down right next to the television speaker for 10 mins or so...but this is much better. Now how about a do-not-email-list? ;) I know, how the heck would it be run/administarted or maintained, blah, time for some greylisting!
fak3r.com
I have my home, cell and work numbers on the DNC list. I dont get any unsoclited calls from telemarketers. That part is working well...
My volume of new credit card offers via snail mail has tripled however. On any given day I get 3 or more offers to sign up for a new credit card. And now I'm started to get very aggressive home refinance offers too - I got a real, 100% legitamate cashable check for over $50,000 and on the top it says in big letters "cashing this check will bind you to the terms of the loan described below from FOOBAR Loans LLC". Fucking scary, sending me a check with that much on it, imagine if some asshat steals my mail and cashes that check - I'm on the hook for $50,000 until its all sorted out.
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
I have NEVER recieved an unsolicited call on my Vonage phone and I have had it for 2+ years.
Blotto box. ;)
See, I think it could work, but you have to admit that it is like ten times harder. For starters, you don't get a useful trace on a spammer most of the time. Generally, all you get is a throwaway email address. The only way to hit them is to get the guys that they're spamming for. Of course, in that case, someone could just spam "for" Microsoft or any company unpaid and watch them get fined.
I'm not saying it can't be made to work, but if we have such a low rate (under 1% of complaints are fined) with DNC, and it's ten times harder with spam, there won't be much of a threat of getting caught.
I've had far less problems with telemarketers since the Federal Do-Not-Call list came into existence. However, I have found that robo-calling has increased. A few of them are setups that call for a previous holder of my phone number because that person had an existing business relationship (i.e., gym membership, etc.) but many are deliberately designed to make tracking them difficult, so I cannot get them to stop calling. They might leave an 800-number to call them back, however it leads to a maze of people who have no ability to remove me from their calling list.
What bugs me even more is that I've heard rumors that some of these robo-call devices are programmed to only switch on and leave a message if your answering machine picks up; they can detect the difference between a human pickup and an answering machine. If this is the case, that'd really tick me off, both from being hung up on, but also getting the annoying messages. Rogue telemarketers aren't giving up 100%; they're just making it far more difficult to track them down.
Never look down your nose at others. Someday, someone is bound to see your boogers.
Over half say it doesn't work?
.."
I don't get it - I was totally harrassed by at least 4-5 calls per night before this list came along.
Not only has it blocked almost 95% of the bullshit, it kicked in almost instantaneously. The execptions for charities are annoying/minor. Some utiliies and banks I do business occasionally bug me with the claim that I opted-in somehow - or that its just a "courtesy call
But IMHO - The list rocks!
---- "Logoff! That cookie shit makes me nervous!" - A. Soprano
And, so, when the law was passed, they had loopholes for
The only thing that seems to work is to hang up on the charities and to tell the businesses that you'll be closing your account with them if you get any more calls.
Karma: Chameleon - mostly influenced by bad '80s New Wave music
See http://www.dmaconsumers.org/consumerassistance.htm l (Direct Mail Association). Links on that page tell how to use the DMA's Mail Preference Service to avoid getting junk mail. I've used them for ~15 years with great success.
Unfortunately, I still received numerous unsolicited fund-raising calls from charities and the fire/police departments. It's also annoying to endure having both the cell and land line ring in turn when someone is trying to reach me (at times when I don't want to be reached).
Finally, I asked myself, "why am I paying an extra $40/month for harrassment?" As many people are doing -- I canceled the phone service and bumped up the minutes on my cell plan. Overall, I save $20/month and have MUCH more peace in the evenings (for those rare free times when its nice to be left undisturbed).
Yes, I still get unwanted calls. But yes, the system is basically working in that I get probably two a month instead of two a day. And since those two a month are generally charities or companies I've done business with, the law is doing basically what it claims to.
To get rid of all unwanted calls, they'd need to require that charities and political groups honor it, and that companies lose the right to call the day after I stop doing business with them.
The cake is a pie
Sometimes, I just lay the phone down and say nothing or cut a big fart or hold the phone down and get my cat to meow. I've used airhorns, the alarm clocks on Dark Side of the Moon, police whistles and tape recordings of me talking about something.
Have some fun with 'em.
Wansu, th' chinese sailor
What do you guys do about junk mail? I get tons of it all the time and the only thing I can think of is to fill the business reply envelope with a bunch a junk so they get charge the postal fee.
"More than half of registered consumers say they're still getting unwanted calls, according to a recent phone survey." ...was this phone survey unwanted as well? Nothing would be more ironic than an unwated phone survey about unwanted phone calls.
When I was working as a bill collector, many thought that collectors were part of the list of organizations/companies that were to obey the DNCL. That is not true. Plus, with the laws in place, determining the fact that I got the right person may make the call seem as an odd sales call, and would prompt them to just think I was a telemarketer.
I think that depending on the respondents, there may be alot of fluff in there due to the fact collection agencies are not held liable by this list, but people just think they are.
Sigs are nice guns
The problem is that a very large proportion of these telemarketing companies are dodgy, unprofessional, and sometimes illegal. Just like e-mail spam companies.
Most of the telemarketing phone calls I recieved had to do with me sending them $200 as an entrance fee for a contest for a trip to Jamaica, and things of that sort. Do you really think they'd take you off their "list"? Chances are they have no list at all.
UNIX: A computer user is defined as a programmer. WINDOWS: A computer user is defined as a consumer.
I rarely get unsolicited calls. Usually political parties have robo dialers going during election time but in some ways I don't even mind those as they narrow down my choice of candidates NOT to vote for.
Junk faxes have gotten better over the past year but for a while they were getting on my nerves. Phone rings at 2am and there's no fax machine to pick up so robo faxers try over and over until I finally unplug my phones or turn off the ringer. I'd love to spend 5 minutes behind closed doors with a Louisville Slugger and the people running those shows.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
I'd say it works pretty great, we were on it at our old hous, and we moved her and got a new number and the calls *flooded* in. So I put the number on the list and it stopped almost over night. Now and then we get a random survey, but nothing annoying.
If it's not one thing it's your mother.
Back in my Phreaking days, the phone company employed various frequencies for line and trunk switching. 2600Hz being particularly famous. But another frequency prevented your target from disconnecting the call. Ostensibly to allow tracing, back when it took just shy of for-e-ver.
With a modern linux system and Festival... Well you could keep them on the line indefinitely, forcing them through your phone tree from hell...
This goes on for a while. (cat /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb.txt)
When they press a button:
There are do not call lists... And then there's the toxic-death-list this little solution puts you on.
Make sure you buy all your cars from someone else in the future, and tell everyone. Ideally you get in line behind the salesmen who sold you the car (assuming he still works there which is unlikely in some dealers), and then tell someone else in line loudly enough that he overhears it.
Most important is to vote with your feet to never give them money. It makes a difference. Maybe just a tiny amount on their bottom line, but it still is there.
They actually expect to have better luck selling to people on the do-not-call list. People who put themselves on the list are often the people who just got their bank statement and discovered how much money they are spending on telemarketer scams. They put themselves on the list because they know from experience that vowing to never buy something from a telemarketer again does not mean they won't give in when the call comes latter on that day.
Well, I take a multi-pronged approach:
1) TX state do not call list.
2) Fed do not call list.
3) Full block of all anonymous calls.
4) I use my computer and an old voice modem to intercept all calls with
an ID status of "Out of area", blast SIT call fail tone at them,
deliver a message that "The number you have called does not accept
calls without valid caller id" and hangs up.
5) I use a multi mailbox message system, instructing users to use box
three for me, two for others. As such, if it lands in box one, it
is either spam, or a moron who can't follow directions. At any
rate, that box only gets checked about weekly, and typically just
dumped.
6) If something "leaks", then I give them the "Do not call list"
speech.
At this point, I can safely say that I am down to maybe three
marketing calls per month . . . . . . it CAN be done.
And I laugh at the folks whose machines dialers bounce off my machine
responder - gotta fight fire with fire, I say.
I did this dilligently for years, and while it undoubtedly did stem the tide, I would still receive half a dozen calls per evening every weekday.
Once I signed up for DNC, I have not had a single call from a telemarketer.
That's the difference, and it's real.
The do-not-call list has been great and nowadays I don't get any junk calls at all(an occasional charity call may be). Few months back, I was getting some junk calls from India and fortunately that has stopped too. I even went cheap and gave up caller-id to save some money. I am surprised that a big number of responders still say that they receive junk calls. Hope they will leave this alone and not modify anything. I do notice that credit card and mortgage solicitations have gone up but that is less intrusive than calls and I can live with those. I do send junk back to them sometimes if the envelope doesn't have any id.
When it rains, it pours. Another solution for telemarketing was invented just as DNCL is enacted.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
Assuming you are in the US, there is a $500 fine for junk faxes. They will pay you $100 for each one they collect on. Looks like $400 for them (this includes collection expenses, including those that they cannot collect from), but in return you don't have to deal with collecting.
I'd tell everyone with a fax to sign up - you have nothing to loose really. Even if they take all the money and run, you still are making junk faxes unprofitable, so even in the worst case you win. You could easily make a few hundred bucks in the mean time too.
Like everything though, read the fine print. I don't have a fax machine, so I didn't get too in depth.
I was tired of getting these calls every day where the caller would hang up once the answering machine or I would pick up. The number and name of the company showed in the Caller ID and it was always the same company. I called and got a recording. It seemed to be some mortgage company. The recording appeared to give the me the option of removing my number from their list, but when I reached that part, it just said, "Mailbox is full." I just went to the website and filled out the form. Pretty simple and strangely enough I haven't gotten another call from them since.
Never did trust the DNC list. Some law changes and all those phone numbers are fair game.
I just built an Asterisk PBX and send all the "unknown" caller id's to voicemail. I believe there is even people working on a predictive dialer detector, and if that works you could send all those calls to voicemail as well. At any rate, just sending "unknown" calls to voicemail defeats almost all of these soliciting calls for me.
Now if we could just devise a good way for a Do Not E-Mail list to work things would be great! Though I guess as always we could just go the Russian route
6 years ago I couldn't sleep past 9 in the morning because telemarketers started calling and I would hear my father (the talker) chatting them up. I thought the federal do-not-call list was the greatest idea I had ever heard of. Now, I want to hire Indians who can inflect American accents to cold call potential customers for $1 per hour. I can't quite bring myself to do it, but boy is it tempting!
Except for the exceptions....I get just about zero calls trying to sell me something, but a couple of calls a week asking me for donations (usually clothing), from groups I've never donated to. Often they ask for "Mrs. $myLastName", which is interesting since there isn't now, nor has there ever been, a "Mrs. $myLastName" at my phone number.
My sister worked at a telemarketer place for a long time. When the law passed, they basically sat on their hands and did jack shit all the time until the place changed it's tactics and began doing fallow up calls and the like. The days of massive dialing operations calling everyone in the phonebook are over, and the days of companies hiring telephone professionals to check up on and get you interested in new services has begun.
Of course, that hasn't stopped large businesses, like credit card companies, banks, car dealerships, ect from sneaking things into their contracts and calling people up from out of nowhere when they cancel their services over and over again...
Basically, if you stick do doing business with small businesses and you don't give out your personal info, you're fine. Of course, I prefer the culture jamming approach which helps everyone out.
"What's your name sir?"
"Why do you want it?"
"Too keep track of our customers, send you advertising, ect"
"Ahh..ok. Icarus Presscot Freelay"
"And what is your address?"
"Eighty Eight Null road, (some random town nearbye), Illinois. Apartment s1 n1 p-A, and yea, it's a wierd freggin address"
"Would you like to recieve advertising and whatnot?"
"Sure, send it all."
And if they ask me to sign something, I sign it in Egyption or wingdings.
Each time I go, I give them a new name and address. And if they don't like it there are always other stores...
This is an example of the Broken window fallacy
These companies are taking money that could be used for honest companies, and sending it to companies that charge more, because they have the expense of the telemarketer calls to pay for. Sure the economy is moving because of this, but there are much better uses that the same money could have gone to - but now it isn't.
My family signed up IMMEDIATELY. I think in the last two years we've gotten 3 or 4 calls, all from police/fire agencies and such (exempt under the law). It's worked fantastically well (even if they haven't prosecuted many cases).
That said, god help you if you're not on the list. I got a new cell phone and the number wasn't on the list (had to add it). I get a call or two daily leaving me voicemail in the evening (8:00 PM local time or so) that is just an automated message with the text "...all 800555121..." (the start of the message is cut off because of the "you have reached MBCook's phone" stuff, and the last digit is cut off (time constraint?)). It is a major pain. I've added myself to the list, just waiting for it take effect.
If there was a national spam list that worked this well, I'd sign up in a heartbeat. Too bad that's not possible.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
The groups which are exempt from the Do-Not-Call list are still calling, albeit in small numbers. I have noticed, however, that every single time that I ask to be put on their private do not call list they are very rude, even though I ask in a very nice way.
The DNC list worked well for me except for the NC auto auction advertisements I get on my cell phone -- my cell-phone is on the national DNC list -- it's a cell-phone -- they play a recording only so I can't tell them to put me on a DNC list -- their advertisement is sometimes in Spanish -- I think a few of these things they do is illegal, but I don't know where to start to report this.
I got a call a little while ago from one of those annoying taped messages wanting to let me in on some sort of "special deal" to "make money fast". I'm on the state's do not call list. I went to the state government's website, and they had a form to fill out to register a complaint. I did. A couple of days later, I got a letter from the Attorney General that said they're pursuing it.
That do not call list has been pretty good over all. It's really cut down to number of calls we used to get. Of the few we get, nearly all of them say "we're not trying to sell you anything" during their taped messages.... SUUUUUUURE.
Or, you could just fill them all out and send them in. It costs them about $50 to pull a full credit report on you.
Then you get a shit load of "Inquiries" on your credit report, killing your credit.
I'm now starting to get calls from Indian telemarketers that apparently don't have to adhere to any do-not-call rules. This was an actual call I got recently:
Telemarketer: blah, blah, blah
Me: Please add me to your Do Not Call list.
Telemarketer: I'll think about that. *click*
The DNC list has done some good, but it sure doesn't stop everything. I have two phone numbers. Both have answering machines on themn, but one has something Qwest called "Caller ID with Privacy Plus" (Moneymaker for them!) If a call comes in from a hot-house number the system interrupts and makes them say who they are. Then it calls me up with a distinctive double ring and with a couple of "Press 1 to continue" gyrations I can hear how the caller has identified himself and choose whether or not I want to accept the call. It's kind of a drag for legitimate callers, and it traps all overseas calls as a matter of course. But I get so few calls on that phone that it isn't really a bother at all. The other phone, without this feature, gets a couple of calls a night, but that phone always goes to voice mail where I tell them to call my other number. No telemarketer ever bothers. So, works for me.
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
I used to get at least one every couple of days, I can count on one hand the number of illegal calls that I have received since the federal list went into affect.
The problem that I have now is that some people call me at my business, ask for me, then try to sell me something that has nothing to do with the business.
Do you have ESP?
You can opt out of pre-approved credit card offers, which may help you. Just go to the official opt-out website: https://www.optoutprescreen.com/
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Spammers say the exact same things you do.
I don't want either you of contacting me, ever. Period. Never.
Why is this concept so difficult to understand?
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
Have you never sent the Mighty Fax Of Doom(tm)?
...is rendered out of paper quicker than you can yell "Timber-r-r-r!" ... is depleted of ink as rapidly as possible. (Why I recommend especially dark pictures as part of your MFOD(tm).) ... is unreachable by those that are actually trying to send them a "real" fax.
Oh, my friend, you have never tasted vengeance.
The MFOD(tm) was first shown to me by a fellow employee who had received exceptionally poor customer service from a florist. I was awed by his reckless delivery of a bouquet of revenge.
Step 1: Receive annoying junk fax.
Step 2: ??? (Assemble 3 pages of vitriol or whatever message you feel the offender deserves. Tape the 3 pages together so that it forms one very tall page.)
Step 3: Profit! (Send the fax to the offender, but as you begin to see the top of the page come out -- Quick! -- Tape the bottom page to it, in order to form the non-Moebius loop of hate.)
Step 4: Enjoy a beverage of your choice as the offender's fax machine:
a)
b)
c)
Step 5: Rinse and repeat. Also, enjoy the frantic pleading phone calls from your former tormentor/ current victim.
That doesn't mean their calls aren't unwanted... Just not illegal.
So the survey was worthless because it didn't even ask the right question! They should have asked if the individual had recived any calls that should have not happned becuase they were on the Do Not Call list.
"Did you get any unwanted calls lately?"
"Well yeah, the Gas company called to tell me I'm over 60 days past due. My boss called me to come in on my day off. My mother in law called and berated me while I was trying to watch the game last Sunday, and I'm ten minutes late for work right now and YOU called!"
I used to pay for qwest no-solicitation feature which would answer a call and play a message to the effect of "if you're a soliciter hang up, everybody else press 1". I liked the service and it worked great but didn't think it was worth $7 a month.
:)
2 years ago I found a device that does nearly the same thing without the monthly charge, "The screen machine" (http://www.wantphones.com/screenmachine.html). When I dumped my analog line a year and a half ago and went to Vonage I was delighted (but not surprised) that the device works with it too.
I haven't had a telemarketing or survey call for 2 years.
Here in Brazil there's no regulation on telemarketing about when not to call. But still I have a solution that usually solves the problem for me.
When identified as a telemarketing call I ask to send me printed material, and ask to never call back. I call back when I'm interested, not them.
Usually works.
-=-=-=-=
I know life isn't fair, but why can't it ever be un-fair in MY favor!?
Just like the no-fax laws, telemarketers simply don't care. I've received endless calls from for-profit companies with falsified and blocked CID. When I tell them I am on the federal DNC list and that their call is a violation, they basically tell me the DNC list is meaningless and they will do whatever they want.
And they do. They know law enforcement doesn't care.
I'm fed up with it, so I'm working on setting up a PBX with asterisk. The aim will be that my phone won't even ring unless the caller enters a correct password. All other calls will be sent to auto-voicemail. That unique password will only be given to people who _need_ to contact me, and will be unique for each caller so it's traceable in case someone decides to "share" it.
I might even try implementing telecrapper 2000 into asterisk. Telemarketers give consumers the finger, might as well give them the finger back.
All you have to do is say 'put me on your do-not-call list'. That's it. THEY'LL NEVER BOTHER YOU AGAIN.
Great. And once I've done this with each of the 10,000 companies who are trying to call me, I'll be 20 years older and ready to shoot myself.
If you just hang up on a telemarketer, they're going to call you back. No doubt about it. They will do it. You never told them not to call back, for all they know maybe you just dropped the phone. Or maybe your 5-year-old answered. They don't know.
You're just about the stupidest person alive if you actually believe this. Yes, it's the excuse telemarketing companies use. It's also complete and utter bull.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
(OT south park reference)
I worked as a telemarketer during one summer, and it was a useful experience. Please take note that not all telemarketers are terrible people who make all of their commission off of legal loopholes where they convince Grandma or Grandpa to buy into some scam. Almost all of my sales were made by saving people money - people who were paying $90 a month or something could often be brought down to $40/mo. or less. This is mostly because some other company had previously ripped them off with one of their telemarketers. On a side note, I did only work as a telemarketer for a summer, and any longer than that would have probably had me fired. I never made the quota for sales (and therefore never made any commission, either). That said, many of the telemarketers really are trying to bend you over backwards... those that aren't are the ones that won't be there very long. ;-) In fact, as I learned more about the product I was selling, and more about what we were telling them was true and what wasn't, I made progressively less sales.
Besides the fact that many telemarketers really are assholes, not all of them are especially terrible people. The job has a high turnover rate and pays more than your local burger joint for a reason - it's pretty high-stress. These people are stuck on the phones all day long. You can't carry on a conversation, because the pauses in between calls are short, and you have no idea when the next call will come in. You wait for a beep in your ear, and at the sound of the beep you start throwing your pitch. The reason it all sounds like bullshit is that they have to follow a sales script - sometimes verbatim. It's not their choice or their fault that the sale call sounds like crap. It's not your typical office job, which has a lot less stress involved, even if it's high-paying. Telemarketers typically don't last long, and doing telemarketing for a prolonged period of time can turn you into a pretty sour person. If you get a telemarketing call, why don't you just listen to what they have to say? You might actually save money. I did it for plenty of people. If it turns out that you can't save any money on your current bills, and if you really don't want to get a call from them again (which you probably would), then simply politely tell them that the product isn't what you're looking for, and ask them to put you on the do-not-call list. It will stop the calls from that company, and make the person's day a lot better. Just be sensible about these things, and the better will come of it.
Or, you could just fill them all out and send them in. It costs them about $50 to pull a full credit report on you. This is a bad idea on cards that have an annual fee, of course, unless you're sure they'll reject you.
This is very, VERY bad advice. At least here in Canada, and I'm pretty sure credit bureaus work the same in most countries.
Each time a credit report is done on you, it gets entered into your record, to stay there for 7 years, as an attempt at obtaining credit. Every one of these entries lowers your credit score a bit. Have more than a few in a short period of time (like a year), and you will be denied credit for YEARS.
Also, racking up a bunch of cards, even if you don't use them, can really mess things up for when you actually need some credit. You want a car loan, but have 15 credit cards with zero balance on them? Sorry. You've over-extended yourself.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
Quote from post: "That solution "tell them to put me on the do-not-call list" simply keeps the burden on the consumer, not the telemarketer. Also, how do you do it to recorded calls?" I have found that if you wait till the end of the automated telemarketing message, frequently they will say "Press 2 to be removed from our calling list" or something to that effect. It seemed to work well.
What's the difference between unlawful and illegal?
One means contrary to the law. The other is a sick bird.
I was wondering if there is a DO-CALL-ME List?
I don't know how long you've had the number but there are certain, let's say... entities that will give out your info unless you explicitly tell them in writing not to. Most of these entities usually keep a record of your home phone number and street address. The top ones are: your mortgage / home loan lender, your credit card companies, and (*shocker*) the three big credit reporting agencies - Experian (formerly part of TRW), Equifax, and TransUnion. Even though they are national, and have their hands in the life of just about every U.S. citizen, they are *not* government agencies. They are for profit corporations and they'll sell your info in a heartbeat.
Great. And once I've done this with each of the 10,000 companies who are trying to call me, I'll be 20 years older and ready to shoot myself.
And then after that you can get started on opting out to all the charities, politicians, and polls that keep bugging you!
Thankfully there is a list that takes care of that.... Oh, wait a minute....
Careful - this is also considered more "illegal" than the original offending fax. Also: chance is strong that your target is actually a faked destination phone number as well. (like email spam).
1. Having some facility to record your calls on demand is a good idea for dealing with this. When this sort of thing happens, start recording.
2. If caller-id is blocked, you can use *57 to generate a log at the phone company containing the true origin of the call. It will not be available to you but it is held for some time (30 days? -- I'd have to check on that) and can be retrieved through a subpoena. So if someone breaks the law like this, or by making threatening calls, and you are mad enough, you can do something about it.
There are many ways to accomplish a goal. So what if this person chooses to debase the telemarketers instead of just say "please don't call me?" What's wrong with that? Because most people are 'polite'? Well most people don't like getting unsollicited calls.
Personally, I'm not a slave to my phone. When I don't want to be bothered, the phone is OFF.
Blar.
I had a company that continued to harass me on my cell phone for a few weeks. They repeatedly left messages that I needed to call them back (at an 800-number) about "important business that concerned me" they didn't say who they were on any of the messages.
When I called them back, they continued to dodge questions about who they were. It bothered me because when I called and mentioned having gotten a voicemail message they always wanted to know my phone number first thing. It reminded me of all those spam mails with the unsubscribe links that do nothing except verify your email address is a working one. I finally relented because they refused to give me any info about the why they were calling until I divulged it (in all fairness, they might have been a clearinghouse type call center were they honestly didn't know which client wanted to reach me until they looked me up).
They apparently were trying to reach someone I'd never heard of about a "package" of some sort and had my number listed for him. The first few times I called them I was polite, but after that the calls didn't stop. They claimed on calls I did pick up on they hadn't heard anyone there and that the line had gone dead. They would hang up on me if I got angry, not transfer me to supervisors when I requested it and generally were pricks.
I mostly got angry because I was told several time I was being taken off their list only to have the calls continue. When I mentioned this many times I was told they had no record of having spoke to me before and some of the people I talked to, "supervisors" included, said I should just "stop answering the calls" like I should willingly accept my phone ringing all the time and multiple voicemail messages from them because they couldn't get their act together. It took threats of "talking to my lawyer" about the fact they continued to call me on a cell phone line after I asked them to stop too multiple people before the calls did, in fact, stop.
I am pleased to say that my fears were not realized and I was not added to some shady calling list.
...might be taken as a hint that they want off of your list. Ya think?
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
...might be a hint that they want off of your f***ing list. Ya think?
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
A moose bit my sister once.
We recently had heard in the office over one of the Yellow Machine that's made by Anthology Solutions.
There are thousands of telemarketers out there. Getting most of them to not call me the first time is great, and that's what the DNC list should do, and largely has. Once they've called me, getting that one to (maybe) not call me again is pointless. Telling them they are a jerk (yes, you personally, in addidition to your employer) is more satisfying, and possibly more effective. If fewer people were willing to be jerks for pay, perhaps it would be less cost effective.
What a grand idea. Too bad it doesn't work. "Well of course you don't *think* you need our product, but really, sir, you do need it. BUY BUY BUY DAMN YOU! YOU NEED OUR PRODUCT!"
If telemarketers would take "no" for an answer the FIRST DAMN TIME, maybe they wouldn't be so universally reviled.
-paul
Pistol caliber is like religion: everyone has their favourite, and theirs is the only right choice.
For example: you list your phone number in the yellow pages, marketing materials, or the state lists when you incorporate your home business. You then receive business-to-business marketing calls - quite within the law - even though you're listed on the do-not-call list.
You *69 the company calling you, and proceed to yell at the salesperson, and hang up. I grab the phone, call the person back, inform them that by listing their home number as a business number in marketing collateral, yellow pages, the filing when you incorporated, you voided anything the DNC list has to do with you. Business-to-business calls are not covered by the do-not-call list, and if you don't want your home phone to receive sales calls even during business hours, get a separate line for the business.
Well, she apologies, and rather than being a royal bitch at that point, thanked me for telling her. Come to find out, her husband had incorporated a business he had in the works, and unbeknownst to her, used the home phone number for everything.
So, I'm not surprised that 51% of those surveyed are running into this. I never have my sales folks check the do not call lists because every one of our calls is business-to-business - no need to check. I am not surprised only 2 fines were issued. The bulk of the 1,000 to 2,000 calls per day are probably people whinig about B2B calls, which are absolutely positively not covered by the list - nor should they be.
Don't want sales calls? Don't list your number in association with your home business. Get a separate line.
You know, (granted this is off topic, but is related) I take the opposite approach with spammers. I find out where the company is located (whois, etc.), look for toll-free numbers associated with the company and I call into their system about 30 times. If I get a human I scream obscenities and inform them that I consider the spam they sent me to be an invitation to call them, and when I get voicemail I play seinfeld or whatever else is on into the voicemail system until I disconnects, and repeat again until about 30 calls have been made, then call back one last time and ask if they liked wading through my phone equivalent of spam - and ask them to think of what potential customers must think of them.
I've been doing this twice a week to Lasik Vision Institute (I've been receiving spam from them twice a week) but they haven't got the hint yet. I hope more take action like I am - if we annoy companies who hire spammers enough, we can either run up their phone bills until they go broke, or they can just joint the rest of us and simply stop spamming.
Anyway, the opportunity came up to share, so I thank y'all!
First off, I signed up for the DNC list and still got calls. Didn't work for me. I don't really get angry at these people I simply lead them on and ask lots of questions, keep em on the phone for absolutely AGES and AGES and then finally tell them I'm not interested and please remove me from their lists.
On several occasions the caller has got really pissed off and used abusive language to me and then hung up. I'm cool with that, it's them that called me and attempted to waste my time. Well, now we both wasted time, and since it's on their dime, tough luck buddy.
If a chick calls you, ask her what she's wearing - I guarantee she'll hang up.
For all the telemarketers here that are defending the practice, shees, when you grow up and get past 18 years of age you will realize what the rest of us are talking about.
My second approach, after I got bored of pretending I was 90 years old and didn't understand or using amazingly awful foriegn accents or making them wait on the phone for 10 mins while I made a cup of tea or I pretending I was a retard or something, was to dump my home phone and just use my mobile as my only number.
I never get calls on that, the telemarketers are well aware that this is a big no no.
How?
I fired my landline voice provider and got a cell phone.
Every time this topic comes up, I'm stunned that anyone still has this problem.
pants
I'm on the UK's do-not-call list, and I can't think of a single UK telemarketing call that I have taken in the four or five years that I have been on it. What I do get is pre-recorded american women telling me I have won a holiday, and all I need to do is send a couple of grand to a PO Box address.
I've checked with the UK's telephone preference service, and aparently there is nothing they can do because these companies are calling from outside the UK.
I let the answering machine pick up everything and the outgoing message requests that I be added to their "Do not call list." However, since we end up screening all the calls this also eliminates calls from mothers-in-law, "friends" who can't take a hint, and church people calling to ask us to do something.
Frankly I think that at some point, annoying enough people becomes a crime. For instance I am quite comfortable with the death penalty for spammers because of the degree of annnoyance they cause. Telemarketers I feel should probably be sent to prision for a few years, but if people like him engage in the karmic payback telemarketers deserve then more power to them, I say.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
19% said they no longer get junk phone calls.
32% said they still get junk phone calls.
43% said they still get junk phone calls from Cowboy Neal.
6% said they don't have phone lines, you insensitive clod!
That might add up to 100%. If not, see my sig.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
.. the biggest reason people don't get fined is because it's not reported to the FTC.
I work for a marketing company and we end up selling a lot of telemarketing data to the individual firms. We scrub each of those lists up against the state and national do not call lists before we give it to the companies.
Most of the phone calls you get are probably mom and pop organizations that are dialing out of the phone book because they're too ignorant to know better. Report them to the FTC. A huge fine is the easiest way to ensure they won't be calling you ever again.
If you're feeling too lazy to talk to the FTC, then just tell the person who calls you that you're on the do not call list, and I can guarantee they'll stop calling you.
The only people who have the right to call you are:
1) Companies with which you do business within a 9 month period (I think 9)
2) Non-Profit Orgs -- which will usually stop calling if you ask them to
3) Surveys -- if you don't want to take them, then don't. That's why they ask if you'd like to take one.
Best option for dealing with telemarketers is the one used by Crawley in Pratchett&Gaiman's "Good Omens". 'Nuff said.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
My phone number's unlisted, so the only solicitors I get are from other phone companies. The best part is, I don't even have a long distance carrier, I use a phone card. With my phone card, I spend $0-$5 a month on long distance charges, lower then the monthly connection fee from whoever's calling.
So I just sit there watching TV while they try to convince me why I should use their services. I politely answer all their questions honestly. But of course they never convince me to buy anything. Sadly, I think they're not allowed to hang up. One poor girl that I was talking to was being very polite the whole time, and after 45 minutes with her, she mumbled to herself, "Oh, what am I suppose to do now?" So I had pity on her and asked if she wanted me to hang up. (She did) She must have returned the favor and taken me off the list, because I never got any more called from them after that.
"That's so plausible, I can't believe it!" - Leela
Actually, when I was a telemarketer, I would joke and laugh at someone like you for 15 minutes after a call.
To quote you for my reply "Seems like a waste of your time to me, but have fun with that."
Actually, it seems like those people you are ranting about won, doing so you wasted 15+ minutes of the company's telemarketing time to laugh at those you called. Your "laugh break" also means less time for you to spend bugging other people.
Anyone else get the calls from the supposedly disabled telemarketers
trying to sell their wonderful products with a side of guilt?
I bit a moose once. Fucking thing was taking a survey. Let that be a lesson to you telemarketers out there.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
...and if you think about it, your reply is simply an insult rather than a rational statement.
/. sniffer should understand!
The point (s)he's making here is that knowledge (DNC law etc) is the powerful thing... something a
Working at a call center it gets frustrating having to deal with a lot of the people that I have to call but its not the end of the world to deal with "screamers". Working for a business like the one I do is nice because they actually value us being here (as well as better benefits than most people receive) unlike most of the businesses in this industry (turnaround is very high i must admit in this industry). But there are a few key points that some people miss about the DNC. First of all it takes a little while (about a month) because a business can only acess the lists once a month, telemarketers also cannot put you on the national list, only the ftc can do that when you call them or you sign up for email. An no businesses cant be put on that list they are exempt, sorry. And to all those people that mess with telemarketers and want to punch them in the face etc., how would you feel if we came to your job and started screaming at you, cussing and maybe even punch you in the face. Not to well would you. it only takes a second to ask to be put on the companys dnc list and a second more to be notified that it may take a while to process because some campaigns with your number may already be in progress prior to your request. plus it may be your fault that you are on the list anyway, all those forms filled out on the internet for all sorts of crap, heck if you have a drivers liscense your dmv has sold your info to a telemarketer, i bet half the people don't know that. If you sign up to win that car at the mall, your info goes on a list, practically every business that you have a relationship with will sell your info. It sucks I know but its not the person on the phones fault, maybe not even your fault, most places dont tell you that your info will be sold. Oh and by the way, by just hanging up and not telling them to take you off the list will guarantee a call back. But hey, give the person on the phone a shot. I actually work for a place that is offering something that is beneficial to some people, if the would only listen... *sigh*
But faxes are more annoying. The fax machine is pretty loud, and it is going so often that unless someone is going to send a fax, there is no paper left in the fax. That saves a lot of money and paper. Also the ink is saved too. The Do-Not-Call list was an overall success. Now let's apply that to faxes.
I've been on the DNC list for over a year, but I've recently been getting telemarketing calls (and I report every one) because my number is now listed as a business number by Verizon. Why? I had my land line number switched over to my VoIP provider. I'm not sure how Verizon does this internally, but it marks my number as a business number, and guess what? business numbers don't qualify to be on the DNC list - so they're allowed to call me.
:)
I can still verify that I am on the DNC list, and every time I get a telemarketing call, I report the number - I'm almost never home when they do call, and they leave a message with all the pertinent information
I have worked a very long time in call centers. Seven months or so was spent working for a media ratings company were I went by the name "Chris Johnson" which was supposed to identify the call center I was in but I have since met other Chris Johnsons which showed that it didn't identify crap.
Anyway: I am willing to bet that most of those people who are still getting calls aren't even aware of what the DNCL does for them. They think it stops all solicitations. Trying to explain to them that survey companies and non-profits can still call is an exorcize in responsable LART managment.
So while half of the sampled group may think they are still getting calls that the DNCL is supposed to stop the actual number is much lower than that.
Ascii artist &
1. I was a customer at the time. They had a machine (not a person, a machine) call me with a message during the President's address right after 9/11. WTF? Ok, I hate our fucking President, but that was still really inappropriate.
2. Their salespeople lie to make a sale. They lied to me about the cost of basic phone service in order to get me to buy a package deal.
3. When I called to cancel my DSL service the salespeople (who weren't going to make any commissions processing my request to cancel a service) would transfer me from person to person to person to person until one of them would disconnect me because they were too lazy to transfer me. I had to call several times to actually cancel my service.
4. When they finally cancelled my DSL, they accidentally disconnected my phoneline, too.
Tell you what. Suppose we have a new rule that anyone who wants can punch you in the face. But you can make any one person stop by saying "Don't punch me any more, please!"
Asking to be removed from a telemarketer's list is kind of like that, except they can punch you from anywhere in the world.
Now do you see why people get pissed off?
Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
I had learned the magic phrase, "Could you take me off the call list?", which I diligently said to every telemarketer. By law, they have to take you off, so that had already almost completely solved the problem. The national do-not-call list eliminated the last bits.
I have worked as a rep, in behind the scenes rolls and as a supervisor. When I worked as the supervisor I had to take "DNC" calls and resolve a lot of those issues. The law then (five years ago) said that if you said "take me off your list" we actually didn't have to do much more than do just that. Problem is that we run many lists and you could be on all of them. You had to mention the do not call list specifically (you still do). To sue us you had to do two things: request a supervisor and then say anything about not being called again and prove that we intentionally called you. The second qualifier basically meant that if we had a good excuse (someone manually dialed the wrong number, we called a second line that you wouldn't or didn't tell us about, distinctive ring numbers, and so forth) you would get a summary judgement and your time in court would be about 15 actual minutes.
Now the national DNC list has thankfully eliminated almost all of the requests to be placed on our own do not call list. Our rules are still the same. If you just yell at me and hang up there is no requirement to place you on the DNC list. You've got to say that you want to put on the do not call list. In fact, we put too many people on the DNC list. We have been yelled at daily by the boss because we put people on there who just complain about the product. The pool is small enough, so spoiling a phone number forever can't happen.
It's hard to hear, but the rules aren't really in your favor - unless you're patient. For your protection you must always use the phrase "do not call list". It's not up for debate, no matter how much you flame me. If you want to ensure that someone is never, ever going to call you again stop them before their speech and calmly ask for the supervisor and calmly ask to be placed on the list. I know that it sucks, but being impatient can just make you get called more (with many automated calling systems). We run the DNC list across the calling database - this means that not getting on the actual DNC list will call you again even if we don't want to.
We are glad to get rid of the spoilers. The sales reps want to get rid of anyone who isn't interested - we welcome the national list. However, this is important to remember: if you've had a six month relationship with a company they are exempt from following the national do not call list. This means that you must attack your credit card companies, newspapers (and The New York Times will call you no matter where you live!), and charities one at a time. What I sell is used by most of the calling area already so there is a good chance I'll still call you if you used the product for six months.
Get your Unix fortune now!
In Norway, where I live, we also have a do-not-call list, but with excemptions for political parties, market research etc. Those calls are still annoying, so I just stopped answering phone calls where caller ID is blocked. What I really need is a phone that will not _ring_ when not presented with caller ID, saving me a trip to the phone. Anyone know of such a beast (analogue)?
A)bort, R)etry or S)elf-destruct?
It already applies. Junk faxing was illegal even before the DNC.
There is a lot of venom towards telemarketers in this thread.
I'm a retired MD, and I had many young, relatively healthy people ask me to put them on disability. I saw a quadraplegic, who could barely move his neck and one arm, and could move nothing else. He told me he lived independently and his income wasn't from disability. (Yes, I know he had lots of other governmental support available to him, but he didn't receive disability _income_.)
He did it by working as a telemarketer. His brain and his voice worked, and that was the only kind of work he could find. Seeing him changed my idea of what it meant to be disabled.
So, remember some of those on the phone are doing it because they truly can do nothing else. Ever since I met this young man, I answer politely and ask to be put on the DNC list. It takes 10 seconds. Even if it happened three times a day, that is less than a minute. Don't you have one minute to be polite to another human being?
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
Here in Britain it has never been legal to use automatic calling equipment (i.e. outgoing recorded messages). We've also had something equivalent to your "do not call list" for at least twenty years. I wasn't even on that list but still got very few unwanted calls.
Then the US introducted its "Do not call" list. So there was a whole country full of telemarketers with nothing to do. What did they do? They all started calling me. I now get several automatic calls a week telling me that I've won a holiday in Florida or Lag Vegas or something equally unappealing.
It seems that there is nothing I can do about this. The UK regulations cannot be enforced against people outside the country. (In theory, if one of these telemarketers were to come to Britain on holiday, they could be charged. But that's hardly likely in practice.) The US regulations don't seem to apply to international calls. (I've tried to register my number on the DNC website but it complains that it has too many digits.)
So it looks like I'm doomed to get these calls forever. The only solution I can think of is to block all calls from the US. Since I don't think I've ever had a legitimate call from there it wouldn't do any harm. But I suspect that it would also block calls from Canada, since they share your telephone network, and I wouldn't want that.
Maybe you don't have to wait. Just start punching numbers and see if it responds. Lots of automated services have a long intro that you can abort if you know the numbers to go to the next level.
You're supposed to use black paper. It depletes ink faster.
I made a telemarketer feel silly buy harshly stating that there were not circumstances under which I could ever stoop low enough to buy something from someone who was interrupting my dinner.
My reward was an automated 5 times a day phone call with the simple recorded phrase "Fuck You" and a hangup. It lasted for nearly 3 weeks, and I called the Police to see if I could get something done about it after the first 3 days.
The Police in my area have a policy that phone calls (of such a nature) are threats, so the transfered me to the Homicide Divison (I'm not kidding) where they took down a lot of information about myself and the nature of the phone call. The Homicide Division politely reported that they didn't have the resources to follow up on the caller, but perhaps I could purchase caller id from the phone company and then they might have something to work with. That was after collecting nearly an hour's worth of information which might become useful in determining who the telemarketer was should I suddenly show up dead.
So, even after offering for the Police to tap my phone, and complaining to them, and a national do not call list, and federal laws backing the whole thing up, I was stuck with "Fuck You" being autocalled to my home around 5 times a evening for nearly 3 weeks.
I don't have any sympathy for any telemarketer, even if they were formerly starving before they got thier job. Just like I don't have any sympathy for murders even if they were formerly starving before they got their job. Some things are socially unacceptable, and lack of proper marketing, a decent product, and targeted advertising isn't justificaiton for the tactics used by telemarketing.
When you lie with dogs, you get up with fleas. When you take a telemarketing job, you know you're screwing the public's peace of mind.
I have no sympathy for people that dont sign up for the DNC or the ones that lie about it telling companies their already on it and still bitch about getting calls. I used to work for afew telemarketing places (all but 1 were legit and we not trying to sell anything). Most people in the call center are nice, but sometimes you get the jerks on the line. My sister in MD when the Baltimore Sun calls here, she just replies that shes blind and needs it sent in braile (sp). One of the worst things (company calling side) is when people sign up for lets say a new car to win, and everyone in the household applies, that could be up to 4 or 5 people in the same house (and you wonder why you get numerous calls, their all put into the dialer as a seperate person!). Of the few best things I have heard when working in the call center: -For National Geo (the thing when you call to order via tv, and this coming from a really old lady) OMG MY TVS ON FIRE YOU HAVE TO CALL BACK SWEETIE (while you hear a really bad BOOM in the backround) -For ITT Tech (call setting, I was verifying this call that a coworker had taken) A man who originaly called to set a time/place to go visit a ITT campus, decided to have a 'little fun' with my buddie Sarah, he continued to *ahem* Jacket (quite loud) during the call, and ended the call with 'you sat through all of that, I will need you to call back sometime honey', rofl, that was funny shit, esp. when our branch mngr came it and refused to keep the call (the rep lost the sale) and the call was remoed from the company listing to prevent whatever would have happened had it taken the sale legit. -For Concerned women of american A kid answered the phone, asked to speak with said parent, he put rep on hold for awhile, came back and said 'My parents are having sex on the living room floor right now, please call them back later'. lol I have called for alot of companies that were legit, and worked for only one that wasnt. I left b/c it was a POS company to start with, changed its name numerous times (I think in 20 yrs of being around, atleast in 2 months, 4 names)........dont EVER sign up to win a car, BAD MAMMA JAMMA. Needless now, I dont work in that field, but I found numerous laughs along the way, so I dont feel any pity when someone talks shit to a caller, I have heard just about everything. When someone calls here (quite rare, its Sunrocket and so far *fingers crossed* not sold our info) I ask them right off the bat what do you want and how did you get this number. For the most part, in 4 months about 3 calls, its someone from a actually bank that we use (who sold our info), and we tell them, DNC dont make me fine you. Thee end. Not that hard right? And yes, whoever posted if you just hang up = call back. O so true, lol. It only takes a second to tell them not to, why are you people so damn lazy, its your phone line!
The real problem is the calls that are messages, where you don't have a chance to ask to be taken of the DNC list unless you call them to contact someone. The end result is that every single day for 18 months thus far, I get the same call from the same companies... but nothing I can do because I don't want to unwittingly call a number and get charged for the call.
I wrote a piece of software that watches the caller id (no call can get through unless callerid can recognize them) and if its "known" number, it'll just play the "beep beep beep, we're sorry, number you are trying to reach has been disconnected or is no longer in service, if you feel you've reached this number in error, please hang up and try the number again.". For everyone else, the call just goes through to my normal voicemail or I pick it up. You'ld be suprised how effective this is.
Thanks,
Leabre
Then why do I still get them?
Because you mistakenly beleive that just because something is illegal, annoying, unethical, or just plain wrong that people don't do it.
Advertisers are one of the worst groups in this regard. They bring us junk-faxing, spamming, and telemarketing, and they don't stop until the punishment outweighs the rewards.
32%* said they only get calls from Cowboy Neal about when to make duplicate posts..
* - numerical stickler note: percentage drawn from other entries, totaling 150% per nwbvt's sig
Its not users who are broken, it's systems not taking account their likely behaviour and fixing it technically.