Slashdot Mirror
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."
Thank you for stating the simple phrase! I'm amazed at how many people scream and yell and get angry about telemarketers. One simple phrase "Please place me on your Do-not-Solicit list." would cure most of it.
I worked as a telemarketer for a year. I heard people yell at me every day and it didn't change anything. Those people would get calls over and over and over. It was the ones who were calm and said the magic phrase didn't call again.
A little polite respect gets you much farther than spewing vitriol across the telephone line.
Post-rock/Ambient/Drone and other noise.
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
I also worked as a telemarketer for a year.
I was completely amazed at how people are so uninformed about the whole thing. I realise we were bothering them, but that doesn't change the law or how incredibly simple it is to get us to stop calling back.
I called on behalf of Qwest (the phone/Internet company). Qwest is kinda serious about the Do-Not-Call list. They don't call ANYBODY who isn't already a Qwest customer. Even if they're not on the Do-Not-Call list. And Qwest is, of course, allowed to call its own customers unless they've asked them specifically to be taken off the list (because they have an Existing Business Relationship).
So this kinda got annoying after a while:
me: 'Hi, i'm calling on behalf of Qwest, is so-and-so there?'
guy: 'LISTEN HERE WE'RE ON THE DO NOT CALL LIST I'M GOING TO REPORT YOU' click
It's just like... OK... that's cool that you're on the DNC list, but we're still legally allowed to call you. So since you have no idea what you're talking about and just hung up on us, we're just going to call you again. I hope acting like an ass hole was worth it.
People not understanding the DNC law was the biggest annoyance we got. You'd be amazed. Almost nobody understands what the hell it does. I just can't fathom why you would sign up for something without having any idea what the fuck you're signing up for.
Another thing that was annoying is the people who just hang up on you. And then they threaten you the next time you call, as if them hanging up last time was some kind of legal contract that you were supposed to adhere to. 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.
Messing with telemarketers does not get them to stop calling you. No matter how many times you call them a fag or ask them what they're wearing or hang up on them or ask them how they'd like it if you called them during dinner, they're still going to call back. JUST TELL THEM TO TAKE YOU OFF THEIR FUCKING LIST.
All you have to do is say 'put me on your do-not-call list'. That's it. THEY'LL NEVER BOTHER YOU AGAIN. If they do, you can call the FCC and get them fined $11'000 or whatever (and you get up to $500 out of it).