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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.
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?
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.
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.
I think the question is, do people report - or even know where to report - telemarketers when a violation occurs?
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.
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.
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
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
Wow, that's only 0.0014% of reports turning into lawsuits.
Yeah, but it's 28.5% of lawsuits turning into fines.
Jeez, try to think of the glass being half-full once in awhile ;)
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
At home, I get an automated recording on the machine (from a telemarketer, no doubt), saying that isn't a sales call. What good is is law if simply saying "this isn't a sales call" makes it so, even if they are trying to sell you something?
I've been getting the same thing recently. To my cell phone. i wonder who's doing it.
funny munging
i've discovered a new way to deal with the few that get through. Like yourself, I used to get furious with unsolicited callers. Now, I simply take my cordless phone into my living room, pick the first random object that I find, and try as hard as I can to sell it to the person who is calling...until they hang up on me.
yes, it wastes time, but it is incredibly fun.
dude.
I just stuff their junk mail into their prepaid envelope along with some selected nuggets from the cat's litter box and send it all back to them.
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
"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.
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.
Snail mail ads are easy to deal with. The Post Office has a "Form 1500", or application for prohibitory order, that you can file with a copy of any ad you consider obscene. Note that it is at the sole discretion of the recpient to decide what is obscene. The Post Office is not allowed to question it. The Supreme Court case law was over a dry goods catalog.
Once you file it, the Post Office is specifically required to compel the sender to stop sending you ads.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!"
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.
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.
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.
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.