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."

Comments

Ironic...

[vmcto]

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!

Re:Ironic...

[vmcto]

That doesn't mean their calls aren't unwanted... Just not illegal.

Do-Not-Survey list?

[overpayd]

More than half of registered consumers say they're still getting unwanted calls, according to a recent phone survey

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...

Worked for me

[Reality Master 101]

Here in Southern California, ever since I went on that list, I get almost no calls at all. Every so often I might get a call for a survey, but that's about it.

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.

Re:Worked for me

[mpathetiq]

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.

Re:Worked for me

[Surt]

A little polite respect, and the threat of expensive fines.

Re:Worked for me

[AuMatar]

Because you show no polite respect to us. You've taken a job that you know annoys the hell out of 90% of the population. That shows an utter lack of consideration of any type for the rest of humainty. Be polite? If I met you I'd punch you in the face.

Re:Worked for me

[lav-chan]

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).

Re:Worked for me

[Golias]

Because you show no polite respect to us. You've taken a job that you know annoys the hell out of 90% of the population. That shows an utter lack of consideration of any type for the rest of humainty. Be polite? If I met you I'd punch you in the face.

You were modded down as flame-bait and troll for saying this, but I'm behind you on this one.

Yes, saying "put me on your do not call list" is a simple thing to do, but doing so three times in one evening when you are trying to enjoy a DVD or play a computer game is very tiresome. Before Minnesota's do-not-call registry was set up, that's what it was like.

I'm generally a nice guy, but I delight in being rude to telemarketers. I deliberately waste their time. I belittle them. I pummel them with questions about why they want to be parasites and how can they sleep at night knowing that they make their livings spreading human misery.

Why? Because I want every telemarketer to utterly hate his or her job. I want them to go home crying and wonder if the paycheck is worth the stress and heartache, so some of them will quit and companies who rely on telemarketing have to spend more money to hire new people. This makes telemarketing cost more for the same return, which makes it a less attractive means of generating business.

If everybody who disliked being called by soliciters was as mean, rude, and disruptive as me, the entire industry would dry up within a couple years.

Re:Worked for me

[nmb3000]

I agree with what you're saying, though I usually am less harsh in my time wasting. Often I'll come up with something that makes them feel foolish for calling me. It might not be very nice, but I have been known to berate them for calling and trying to sell home exercise equipment to "a paraplegic cripple". It's fun to see them try to explain their way out of that.

In addition it's fun to play the Hold game. When they ask for somebody or something, I'll ask them to wait for me to find them and then put them on hold (my phone even played music) and go back to whatever it was I'm doing. The record holder (pun intended) is 1 hour and 25 minutes. I guess he liked the classic 80's songs playing...

I try to waste as much of the company's money as possible by wasting their time and resources. At the same time I feel bad taking out my annoyance on the employees because it's very possible that they are at the only job available to them at the moment. Being a telemarketer doesn't require much in the way of skills, but it is better than other skill-less opportunities like fast food.

Re:Worked for me

[lurker412]

Right. So lots of people are dumb. But why should the burden be placed on them to know the magic phrase? Seems to me that if someone screams "I'm on the do not call list" that should be good reason for a reputable company to never call the person again, regardless of legality. People get pissed when companies ignore the obvious. Don't you?

Re:Worked for me

[soft_guy]

My wife asks telemarketers not to call again and asks them to take her off the list. Generally they just start cussing at her. She has actually had a telemarketer say to her: "Shut the fuck up, Bitch! We will call you whenever we feel like it." Unfortunately there is nothing we can do because they were in Canada.

Re:Worked for me

[Golias]

You're no better than them you piece of trash.
That's what you are. Trash.
Utterly wasteful human garbage. You obviously leech off of other peoples' misery
and try to prevent them from making a living in any way, shape, or form instead of
just being polite and resolving your issue with them.

My "issue with them" is that they choose to call me. They are welcome to make a living any way they like, but they are not welcome to call me, and will suffer my wrath when they do. Don't like it? Then don't call.

It might be aggravating, but there are much better ways to go about it then trying to make
someone feel awful about themselves.

I can think of at least three, but none of them are as much fun. They feel awful about themselves after talking to me? Good! They are being awful people, and therefore I'm merely aligning their self-image with reality! Perhaps I will provoke some of them to change their lives in a positive direction.

Seriously. Prostitutes deserve more dignity than telemarketers. At least a whore is providing a service which is actually desired by her customers.

Re:Worked for me

[eaolson]

People not understanding the DNC law was the biggest annoyance we got.

Yeah, because one thing we wouldn't want to do is annoy telemarketers.

I IS working, in unexpected ways

[Pharmboy]

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.

What they let in:

[ZachPruckowski]

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.

well, not that simple

[rjnagle]

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.