Slashdot Mirror
Australian Do Not Call Register
green-e writes "Looks like us Aussies are finally introducing a national 'Do Not Call' register. Under the plan all telemarketers would be banned from calling homes after 8pm on weekdays and 5pm on weekends. Companies that call a household on the register could face fines of up to $220,000 (AU), which could be legislated early next year. About time something like this should be set up. How effective has it been in the US ?"
It's about time.
This is awesome and I hope it's enforced thoroughly.
Sure it's going to cost some people some jobs - but lately the calls have been coming from other countries anyhow.
Marketing is invasive enough as it is, my number at home is not to be called for any old reason - this is just plain RUDE, 30 years ago you wouldn't dream of this crap happening.
... why not a complete ban on those annoying calls all day?
What's up with the fine amount? $200k + GST?
I registered for the one in Colorado (the original). I have had no problems (except that I am called all the time by the republican party even though I am a registered libertarian). IIRC, I did not register with the federal one.
But I know of several people that did register with the federal and gets called all the time by everyone (oddly enough, they are now afraid to register in the Colorado one). For all purpose, the federal DB has been a way to get a name, an address, and a number; IOW, the marketers wet dream.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
I've had enough of calls from Indian call-centre workers saying they're in Melbourne. It's great when you ask them how the weather is there, and they say the complete opposite of what it acutally is.
It's about time something like this was put in place. But will it work.
The easy part was getting the brain out, but the hard part was getting the brain out.
It has been pretty effective. Telemarketing calls were coming in hot and heavy right up to the last day, then stopped completely the day the ban went into effect. (Our ban is complete, not just an after-hours ban, as long as there is no business ralationship with the caller.) But since then a few telemarketers have figured thay can get away with breaking the law as long as they keep a low profile. I now get perhaps a call a month that is in clear violation of the law. I report these to my state's Atournet General office, but I've never heard of anything being done about them and over all we have only heard of one or two sucessful prosecutions they have done against anyone breaking this law. So it has helped a lot, but it's not perfect and I would like to see even more teeth in it.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
We've had this in Sweden for some years, a register called "NIX" (which means something like "nope").
I think it works pretty well but not 100%. It's really easy to sign up, just call a number, enter your home phone number and confirm.
Nobody asked, but...
I stayed off the do not call list in the UK ("telephone preference service") for a while, used to average one call per day. Im not getting any since joining, though it took a month or two to settle down.
Like the US, it's a complete ban unless they already have a business relationship with you.
I haven't had a landline for two years. I have a mobile phone with silent ring if it's someone not in the addressbook, and Skype with contact disabled if not approved by me. No telemarketing or nuisance calls whatsoever.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
It's called the telephone preference service
The telemarketer counter-script.
We've had it for years; it's the Telephone Preference Service and you can sign up online.
(Ring up someone you really hate at midnight sunday night)
*Ring Ring*
Hi, I'm from Microsoft. Have you heard about the exciting new things Windows now has to offer your business or home?
It depends where you live. I moved down from the Blue Mountains, where we got almost no telemarketers (occasionally charities that our family has donated to would ring up, a great thank you from them definitely) to South Sydney where it's a huge hassle with telemarketers ringing every day!
Meanwhile in the UK, the Trading Standards Institute is extending physical "no cold calling zones" .
Let's face it, if I want to buy something, I'll do it online or go out and get it. I'm not waiting for someone to come to me with a stack of encyclopedias.. or call me with an amazing offer whilst I'm halfway through my dinner..
London's finest organic fairtrade coffee
From TFA: Market research companies, pollsters, charities and religious organisations are likely to be exempted.
Market research companies and charities would have to be the worst offenders of the lot. If they are exempted the government may as well not bother.
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
I always figured it wasn't a problem in Australia.
It's not, unless you watch Today Tonight.
You'd have an even bigger problem if you watched A Current Affair on Channel Nine. Not only are they're in cahoots with Micro$oft's m$n, as this site proves, but their regional outlet, Win, is in charge of maintaining all the radio transmitters. I understand that in rural Australia their reception is on average 6dBm better than Channel Seven, and that's when you're wearing a tinfoil hat. I can't imagine how bad it would be without one.
I don't get that many calls now, and I don't think I will sign up for this. It is just another place for your phone number. I just hang up if I am annoyed.
The way it works is if you are on the no call list, you can't be called at all. Else you can only be called during the day. It also applies to call centres outside Australia if an Australian company has contracted the call centre.
(It is also ironic that the US flag is under the Slashdot whilst talking about Australia. We are after all the 53rd state (after the UK and Canada).)
I wank in the shower.
That's why I've learned to say hello once and only once and then hang up after a there's been a pause that's longer than a second or two. If it was a human on the other end calling me they would have starting speaking by that time, so it's safe to say that I was dialed by one of those auto-dialers. If I ever get it wrong and it was someone I know, they would just call right back (and hopefully be quicker on the uptake), but that's yet to happen. The machines OTOH, conventiently just go on to the next number on their list.
The law in the US has helped, but there are still telemarketers of one type or another.
I work from home, and use my cell as the business phone. Our POTS line gets five or six calls a week, even with the law and Anonymous Call Rejection... but at least ACR means that I have a phone number displayed for those that do get through.
Some are companies we deal with, but I tell them to put us on their Do Not Call list immediately or lose our business. (I 'threatened' the NRA: I explained that I would donate $100 to the Democratic National Committee for each subsequent call... alas, there were no more calls).
Some claim exemption from the law, saying they don't have a Do Not Call list. I reply that they'd better start one, because I will charge them with harrassment and criminal tresspass in Delaware if they ring my phone again, and did I mention that my wife is a lawyer? (They never call again).
Most important is to take a polite but aggressive approach as soon as you answer the phone, controlling the call (and therefore the caller):
Hello, this is Tina from AMC and I...
Tina? What's your full name, Tina?
Tina Brown...
Thank you, Ms. Brown. I am required by Federal law to inform you that this call is being recorded. And what do the letters "A M C" stand for, Ms. Brown?
Uh, the Annoying Marketing Council...
And where is the Annoying Marketing Council located, Ms. Brown?
In Walla Walla, Washington, but I...
And what is the phone number of the Annoying Marketing Council, Ms. Brown?
Sir, I am not permitted to...
Actually, Ms. Brown, Federal law requires you to provide that information.
Okay, it's 215-555-4242...
Ms. Brown, the reason I've asked for this information is to put your company in my [imaginary] Telemarketer Database, and now I need you to put this number on your Do Not Call list, effective immediately.
I can do that, sir, but it takes up to 30 days to be removed from our list...
Actually, Ms. Brown, you will need to make sure it happens immediately. If I am called again by the AMC -- even if it's five minutes from now -- I will immediately file civil and/or criminal complaints against the Annoying Marketing Council, and against you personally.
Sir, I should let you speak to my supervisor...
No, Ms. Brown, Federal law requires that you, the caller, handle this. I need to go. Rest assured, if the AMC appears on our caller ID again -- even if we don't answer the call -- you will hear from our attorney... and she's my wife, so she works for free. Goodbye. [click]
I get no repeat callers.
The big advantage that you have in that neither the Italians nor the Swedish colonised Indina, leaving a billion cheap potential telemarkets who already speak your language.
I'll never forgive the poms for that.
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
I was doing CRM systems when many US states passed do not call lists. The result was impressive in two ways:
* The calls at home absolutely stopped after the lists went into effect.
* You could stop an telemarketer cold with one sentence: I'm on the do not call list.
* Call centers had to re-invent their business to focus on inbound calls.
* Companies had to learn that marketing is the stuff that makes the company phone ring.
* Internet advertising asploded.
-- $G
For the past 10 years, I've gotten *at most* two telemarketing calls per year. How did I do it? I once made a "credible threat to sue" AT&T Wireless. There's an industry wide list of people like me, and they don't call us.
... " but I just said that I wasn't going to lift a finger to help them. Remember, if it went to court, the case would be decided on "the preponderance of the evidence," and a corporation has no choice but to pay for legal council at trial - they can't represent themselves. Everything is on your side, so they just add you to the list.
I learned the technique from a colleague familiar with the industry. First, know your legal rights. Second, keep a hand-written log of occasions when you have asked to be added to the no-call list of a telemarketing firm. Be careful to have them spell out the name of the firm and the city they operate out of. Then wait for them to make a mistake. If they call you again, after the six month grace period the law allows them to update their paperwork, you've got it made.
Don't shout or be nasty; just read them the log and indicate that you are aware of your legal rights and are interested in collecting the statutory damages. They asked me to "please call this special number to be removed
Enjoy.
Don't mess with The Phone Company. Piss them off and you'll be using two tin cans and a piece of string.
We've had this kind of register for some time now here in Norway and the same rules apply i.e. telemarketers can't call you unless there is a previous relationship. It works great if you just remember to register everyone in your household of legal age. My existing "relationships" have not been abused and they're not likely to be. The law gives the consumer agency semi-effective means of punishing any offenders (fines/jail time). It's really only the very small, less serious companies that break the law - and they're not easily persuaded to stop.
:) On the other hand most people would probably not accept deals offered in a foreign language anyway. Although recently there was this Florida-based American telemarketing company scamming people with offers of holidays to the Caribbean if you wouldn't mind handing over your Visa account number... Yes, several people fell for it.
The great thing about living in a small country is that you do NOT get bothered by foreign telemarketing companies because they can't break through the language barrier! Now the truth is that most Norwegians speak english quite well - more than enough to understand telemarketing calls - but thank God the telemarketers don't know that
Another great thing about the language barrier is that when a recent phishing scam appeared aimed at customers of a large norwegian bank - most people laughed it off since the e-mail was written in english... And there are no translation services on the net for the language that will work properly, hehe.
OK, I'm a number cruncher for a medium size telemarketing firm in Brisbane. This is actually very good news for the telemarketing industry as a whole because it enables us to reduce the 'dead call' rate for our existing list. We purchase list information for the whole of Australia, over 20 million numbers, including mobile phone numbers and faxes. It costs us over $10,000 a month to use this list from our providers, it is a small cost compared to our takings each month from just selling things over the phone.
We have to factor a dead call rate into our lists, and from that we can calculate fairly accurately how many sales we'll make for each area we target. If we can remove the people who will not buy from us off our list it means we save the flagfall for a phone call and also the postage for our mailouts. If you use a standard postage and ff cost per person it comes in at around 70 cents. When you mail out to 8,000 people a day it adds up very quickly. Plus you have to cost in hourly rate for a telemarketer and mailroom person.
Right now, we have an internal do not call list which we value very highly. If we lost that list we would waste thousands every week on phone calls alone.
One thing we do get is a discount from our list providers when we feed information back to them every month. We send back address changes, primary contact number chages, head of household, primary cheque signer and rough income per household. Presently they do not request do not contacts from their list consumers, I would imagine when we receive the list from the ADMA we'll start feeding them back again.
Task Mangler
That I like, but we could do better.
I'm thinking it maybe wouldn't be too difficult to hack together a system to sit between your phone and the socket which would do nothing but play a really loud noise onto the phone line at the press of a button.
You might even have a menu to choose from. Let's see, how shall I interrupt the telemarketer's script this time? 'Airhorn, v loud' - good. 'White Noise' - nice, might make them think their system's broken. 'Beep, Sinusoidal, Annoyingly High Pitch' - a possibility. 'Baby Crying' - cruel! 'Barney Theme Song' - perhaps excessively sadistic. 'Fingernail On Blackboard Noise' - they don't deserve that yet. No, I think this telemarketer gets the 'Burst of Incomprehensible Dialogue From Puni Puni Poemy'. * click *
And having built it, post a webpage and submit to /. so we can all applaud.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
It says there are 700 000 people employed by the telemarketing industry. We have about 20 million people in Australia, that's around one in 30 people... No wonder I get so many calls.
In the last few months the number of calls had been steadily increasing, polite request and angry threats seemed to make no difference. Now these calls go something like this...
**ring ring**
Hello, this is Bill from [insert company here]Gday Bill
I'm calling today to offer you [insert crap here]
Wow Bill, that sounds great. Can you tell me more?
Well it is a great deal [bla bla bla]
Actually, the wife and I were discussing something very similar just yesterday - oh, can you hold on for a sec, I just have another call coming in on my mobile thats really important
Yes, sure
Bill is put on hold. I go make myself a coffee. If I'm feeling nice I will check to see if Bill is still there after about 7 minutes (they have usually hung up by then), but if I'm in a bad mood I will check back with him every two minutes, just to tell him that I won't be much longer.
Sure, you may have to pull this stunt a few times for each call center, but you eventually make it onto their internal do not call list.
Everyone complains about Telemarketing calls. Thing is, my home gets exactly zero. Ever.
Why? We've got an unlisted phone number. By paying Telstra whatever it is for the privilege of not having our number in the phone book (go figure) we don't appear in any telemarketers databases, so no annoying phone calls.
Of course we still get calls at work. We've just set up a special asterisk extension which plays some lovely "hold music" from artists such as Hanson until they hang up. "Can you hold please? I'll just put you on to the person who handles purchasing."