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Dish Network Violated Do-Not-Call 57 Million Times

lightbox32 writes Dish Network has been found guilty of violating the Do Not Call list on 57 million separate occasions. They were also found liable for abandoning or causing telemarketers to abandon nearly 50 million outbound telephone calls, in violation of the abandoned-call provision of the Federal Trade Commission's Telemarketing Sales Rule. Penalties for infringing on the Do Not Call list can be up to a whopping $16,000 for each outbound call.

8 of 247 comments (clear)

  1. Some had fun with one of there calls by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 5, Funny
  2. My last call from Dish Network by TheRealHocusLocus · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Are you recording this, or can you set a flag that will cause this call to be flagged for review? Do it now."

    "You're calling because I have a listed phone at an address that used to have Dish Network. Yes, there is a Dish dish on the roof; two of them in fact. Despite asking you not to call, you keep calling on average every two weeks. Clearly you hope that those dishes will be turned on again right now. There is no chance of that, but if you call again here's what will happen. I will climb onto the roof and unbolt both dishes, then toss them over the edge onto the driveway. Then I will bust them apart with a sledgehammer and set fire to what parts can burn. Then I will put out the fire by pissing on it. I will save a souvenir, something with the Dish logo on it, and plant it on a pike in my front yard as a warning to Dish sales representatives. Or if you stop calling it the dishes can stay up there and wait for the next tenant. For the last time, please don't call again. Got it?"

    I got a laugh from the lady representative and she said 'Got it!"
    They didn't call again.

    --
    <blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
  3. Most calls not really from Dish by Brad1138 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Most of the calls are from telemarketing companies that sell Dish, not Dish themselves. I work for an authorized, small local company that sells and installs Dish (and DTV). As we see it, the biggest problem in the industry is telemarketers that sell the systems and then don't care at all about the customer. These unethical companies are the ones breaking the laws, but Dish looks the other way as long as they are sending them lots of business.

    The sad thing is, it is very possible Dish will do away with all retailers to help fix this problem, and the small, ethical, local retailers will get thrown out in the wash... This is the complete livelihood for the 5 of us that own and work at our company. We handle some large accts like our state capital, entire state prison system, state University medical center (to name just a few). My boss has built a great little company, it will be very sad to see it taken away as a result of this. This is actually quite scary, we all have over 15 years of our lives invested in this company.

    --
    If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
  4. Cardholder services by BenJeremy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Argh. After they say they are calling in regards to my card ending in "...1234" I ask them to identify the bank, at which point they balk.

    Likewise, when scammers call me up about my [insert model year] [insert make] [insert model] and how my warranty is up, I ask them to name my warranty company (I know the exact terms and the company, having dealt with them a few times already), to which they have no answer. The last one got angry and hung up after I lectured her on scamming people.

    As far as I'm concerned, I fully support the use of our Predator Drone program to identify, locate, and destroy these call centers (who are most certainly not calling from anywhere in the US, let alone near the area code spoofed on my caller id)

  5. Make an example of them. by JDAustin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Fine them to the max and if they shut down, they shut down. That will wake up the rest of the corps that do this.

  6. Re:.912 Trillion dollars. by davester666 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Actual penalty: $57.00

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  7. Re:= $912,000,000,000 by crbowman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Bull. Levy a fine larger than the market cap of the company (or even greater than the assets.) When they can't pay the company as a whole can go into bankruptcy and the government can be awarded the company as a whole functioning intact corporation (if they don't get it all they can get enough to control it). There is no reason the company needs to be broken up, it's a working functioning corporation. As the now largest owner the government can fire several high level employee including the CEO, dissolve the board and sell all shares to the public. Low level employees with no connection to the crime can continue to work. A functioning profit making concern continues to exist and the shareholders and bond holders get zero'd out, thus providing them with incentive not to be so passive and allow a corporation to do shit like this again next time. The government gets money in the end. It's a win-win-win!

  8. Re:Abandoned calls - heh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I used to design call center equipment

    Karma's a bitch.