This is topic why it's not a worry that the Do Not Call list will put solicitors out of work... in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.
I just hung up the phone. You know, I just moved, so my number is brand new. The only people who call me are co-workers, family, or far more often, telephone solicitors.
I've never used the Do Not Call list because the fact that it is necessary offends me. If I just don't buy from phone solicitors, then I figure that they'll stop calling. I realize this is a bit of ostrich attitude, but while I appreciate the desire to have a Do Not Call list, I won't use it.
Anyway, I just got off the phone. It was an automated voice recognition system soliciting my donation to their Very Important Cause. Now THIS is enough to think the Do Not Call list is worth signing on for.
If a physical person took the trouble to call me, I have the time to tell them "No thank you" and firmly hang up. But a machine?? *grumble*
I sincerely feel like I'm getting old if this is what the world is coming to. I should start carrying a cane and yelling at the neighbor kids. "Get off my lawn!"
Posted by Treason (Member # 7587) on :
I would rather get a machine calling me. I feel much better about hanging up on a machine... Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Of course, the DNC list doesn't keep people from charities from calling you.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
I actually like the automated ones better (not that I generally get phone solicitations, thanks to the do not call list). I can hang up without feeling like I'm being rude by hanging up on a person.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Saying no thank you does not get you removed from calling lists at all, it just means you don't get called for a length of time variable depending on who's calling you and how many times they've already called you (from a day to a week to a month).
<-- worked for a more reputable telemarketing firm, where this was still true.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Of course, if you ask them to remove you from their list and they don't, you can report them to the FCC.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I find automated calls ruder. Interrupt my time at home and inconvenience me, at no inconvenience to yourself? Go straight to hell.
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
Ic, you and I understand each other. That's exactly how I feel.
MCI was the first call I received on my brand new phone lines. They didn't take no for an answer, so I got to hear from them approximately once a day on both of my phone lines until I asked them to please remove me from their list.
I do that if I hear from the company more than once in too short a period of time.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
I love it when they have an automated dialer. When you pick up, there's a pause before someone real picks up. When I answer my phone, I expect someone to be on the other end. Whatever tiny chance they might have had to sell me something just went down the drain.
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
I have never bothered with the Do Not Call list because we just screen all of our calls. We use dial-up internet that is always online and the Callwave internet answering machine. Whenever someone calls, a little window pops up showing who it is as they leave a message, then the message is played on the computer. I've found that telemarketers never leave messages.
Whenever I see that a telemarketer is calling I just laugh because they won't ever get through.
--Mel
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
quote:Originally posted by zgator: I love it when they have an automated dialer. When you pick up, there's a pause before someone real picks up. When I answer my phone, I expect someone to be on the other end. Whatever tiny chance they might have had to sell me something just went down the drain.
And you have to say hello a number of times before the real person even comes on!
The thing I love about telemarketers is when they get my last name wrong. One time a telemarketer asked for "Mr. Batman." I really just wanted to answer, "I'm sorry, he's out in the bat cave waxing the batmobile, can I take a message?"
Posted by Lord Solar Macharius (Member # 7775) on :
I also screen calls through my answering machine.
But telemarketers are fun; verbally abuse them until they hang up on you.
Posted by Rico (Member # 7533) on :
Kojabu:
I once had a guy who asked for a "Mr. Alfredo Jones". Once I told him he had the wrong number, he kept insisting that *I* was wrong and that I was in fact, this "Mr. Jones". After a while of him trying to convince me I didn't know my own name or the people who lived in my house, I finally got tired and ended the conversation
I really hate machines though, but I like them better than people because like others said, you feel no guilt if you hang up the phone and you don't have to make with any pleasantries.
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
Rico: I had a similar situation a few years ago.
I'd moved into my apartment a few months prior, and I started getting a bunch of calls from finance companies looking for the guy who held my phone number before me. He had defaulted on a number of loans and the finance companies were refusing to accept that I had no clue who John Smith was. I had four different companies calling me looking for the jerk, each of them extremely nasty, one of whom accused me point-blank of being the guy's girlfriend or wife and blatantly lying to them in order to cover up for my guy. I told THAT punk to go ahead and file the lawsuit and be prepared to pay me significant punitive damages as a result.
Oh, and yes I changed my number soon after that. The CSR at the phone company couldn't understand why I wanted a new number so soon after moving in, even with explaining to her what I was going through. "Oh, but we never recycle numbers before 2 years has passed..." As if that has any bearing?
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
quote:Originally posted by kojabu: And you have to say hello a number of times before the real person even comes on!
I take that as my cue to hang up.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Yeah, we had collection agencies calling us for over a year after we got some deadbeat's old number. Luckily they were a little more polite.
When I get the pause after I pick up and say hello, I immediately hang up.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I don't have a home line, only my cell phone. One of the best things about it is no telemarketers. I had a home line briefly last year for the DSL, and within 24 hours of signing people were calling me. They should know better.
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
I have a confession. I was, for a time, a telemarketer. Wait, please, put down the torches and pitchforks! I worked for a museum, and while what I was doing WAS telemarketing, we only called museum members. Which means, they gave us their phone numbers when they joined up.
I found it most amusing when they would get extremely angry at us for calling, even bringing up the DNC list, and then backtracking when they realized who we were and saying they loved the museum.
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
Well, FWIW, there are a couple other reasons for not worrying about putting telemarketers out of work:
I didn't have the time or energy to hunt down statistics, but:
1. The telemarketer who can't call you may not work live in the U.S. at all. Lots of these jobs have been outsourced to workers in India and other countries where the labor is cheaper.
2. The telemarketer who can't call you may not be an "employee" at all. He or she might be a prisoner - and not getting paid at all for their work. For private industry, labor in a prison can be even cheaper than the labor to be found in other countries.
In all fairness, you might hurt the profit margins of the owners of the telemarketing companies. I don't know about you, but I can accept responsibility for that and still get a good night's sleep. Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :
So good to know that people who fall into difficulty and are unable to keep up with their bills are automatically "jerks" and "deadbeats."
All phone companies do NOT routinely wait two years to recycle old numbers. I found out recently that my old number had been recycled 2 or 3 months after we dropped our phone service. I'm sure they got lots of collections people calling for me. I feel bad for them, but it's the phone company's fault. Those people might get exasperated and call me a jerk and a deadbeat, but they don't KNOW me or WHY I had those problems.
-Katarain
Posted by steven (Member # 8099) on :
If you abuse those who call you, make sure they're selling something first. Telephone surveyors are not subject to the DNC list, and when you abuse a surveyor, they are quite likely to set up a "revenge callback" out of hurt feelings. I know, becaue I've set up quite a few "revenge callbacks" as a surveyor. I finally stopped doing it, because I don't like doing that to the next guy who has that number pop up on his screen, but for several months, those most likely to get "revenge callbacks" were often the rudest ones.
Posted by Hmm216 (Member # 8403) on :
Did you know that each time a solicitor calls at number that is on the do not call list they could get an $11,000 fine?
My stepdad has a real estate school along with a Real Estate company he co-owns with my mom. Since my mom is the Broker she would have to pay that fine if any of her agents called a # from that list.
Posted by Architraz Warden (Member # 4285) on :
I'm firmly convinced that the time during which solicitors cannot call my cell phone is limited, so I have gone ahead and registered my cell number with the DNC registry. I personally detest solicitation calls, regardless of whether it is done by an automated dialer, a person, or entirely by machine. If it's a machine, I'll just hang up after about the third word. It it's a person selling something, I'll let them through their entire spiel, and then hang up without saying a word. If it's a survey, charity, or similar institution I'll politely tell them I'm not interested, and then hang up. This was all the case before I signed up for the DNC registry on the first day it was available.
I got a call from the Arizona Republic last night trying to sell me a subscription to their paper. About halfway through the act on how much I would save over the news stand price, I realized there was no reason he should be exempt from the DNC. As soon as he asked a question, I was sure to point out that the process for reporting organizations who violate the DNC was actually very similar, and he was about 6 words away from getting his paper reported (Anything more than "Thank you for your time" was going to get reported). He paused, said nothing which was a first for a solicitor in my experience, said goodbye and hung up in record time.
My number was not held before being recycled, so I continuously receive calls for Dr. Susan Lastname. Normally I'll inform the people of their mistake, but most the calls occur during business hours. I come home at least once a week to a message for her (despite my answering maching actually SAYING this is not Dr. Susan's number), and the person calling then leaving some likely confidential medical information regarding a patient on my answering machine. Silly silly stupid people. I should look up the patients the messages refer to and suggest they look into lawsuits regarding their doctors' privacy clause.
Posted by gnixing (Member # 768) on :
If you want to be most unkind, keep the phone active as long as you can. Most of these telemarketing outfits pay for usage on the phone lines. Meaning, the longer you tie up their phone line, the more they have to pay for calling you.
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
The Arizona Republic is an aggressive one. Yesterday they called at least 5 times, although I wasn't really keeping track as I deleted their calls. Two were from machines, as they actually left messages. I'm assuming that the others were real people because they declined to leave a message.
If you want real fun with a wrong number, listen to this story. My husband had a cell phone with Sprint for several years. Since he had given a lot of people that number, when he switched to AT&T a year ago he took the number with him. Apparently, Sprint never removed that number from their database, because soon after that we received numerous calls for "Mark". We got calls from his friends, people he worked with, you name it. Clearly, Sprint had told this guy that he had our phone number, and consequently all his calls were getting sent to us. It's been several months since someone has called for him, so I'm guessing that they cleared that up. Still it was frustrating for us and I'm sure frustrating for him as well.
--Mel
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
In the state of Arizona, it is illegal for telemarketers to call cell phones or use recorded messeges. They are also required to maintain a no-call list of people who request removal from their lists. Crow, next time the Republic calls, remind them of that and that you will be reporting them to the attorney general. Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
Hmm, I just listened to that Arizona Republic message, and it appears to be something that gets turned on if they don't get a real person. It says things like "We're sorry we missed you" and "It's not necessary to return this call." I find this rather strange. There must be a real person who does the initial call, and if they get an answering machine they switch it over to the recorded message. I don't know if that would run afoul of Arizona law or not.
Oh, and I don't ever talk to the Arizona Republic because we leave the internet connected through dial-up all the time. I would have to disconnect from the internet (how would I survive!), turn off call forwarding, and then hope that the Arizona Republic called. Actually, even that wouldn't do it because it appears that the recorded messages are only played if they get an answering machine.
On the other hand, I do have that recorded still...I suppose I could report them just based on that...
--Mel
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
quote:So good to know that people who fall into difficulty and are unable to keep up with their bills are automatically "jerks" and "deadbeats."
Kat, it was their words, not mine. I should have probably clarified that and didn't think of it at the time.
Posted by gnixing (Member # 768) on :
quote:Originally posted by theCrowsWife: There must be a real person who does the initial call, and if they get an answering machine they switch it over to the recorded message.
The dialers that the company uses would have the ability to determine if the call was answered by a machine or a person. The dialer would not ever send the call to a live person unless it is answered by a live person. This is why you can often tell it is a telemarketer just by there being a delay before you are speaking to the agent.
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