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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'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.
The telemarketer counter-script.
(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?
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!
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.
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.
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.