Is the Do Not Call System Working? 415
BrentRJones writes "I signed up for the Do Not Call registry the first day I heard of it, and I have to say that I have gotten very few telemarketers calling over the past couple of years. However, there now seems to be more calls that start, 'This is a survey...' or some other such excuse. I do not mind getting a few charity appeals or calls from those I have done business with in the past, but I do wish that I could avoid the political phone calls. I am curious what other Slashdot folks are experiencing, and I am also wondering if I say, 'Please remove from any list that you have.' when I am called, will this do any good?"
"Your do not call list" (Score:5, Informative)
Anyhow, in answer to the second part of your question: If you say "take me off your list" or "don't call here again," if the telemarketers are following the rules - and they're subject to MASSIVE fines if they're not (like $1000+ per phone call in violation), your phone number will be removed from the marketing programs you mentioned for two years (or if you say "all" your lists, all their marketing programs).
The magic words are "do not call list" or "ever." The better choice is "do not call list." If you say "Don't call here," it's still two years. However, if you say "Do not call here ever again," or if you say the magic phrase "Add me to your do not call list," your phone number will be added to their federally mandated do not call list for a period of ten years. Also note that once you say one of those two phrases, they are required to give the three pieces of information they need for every call if they have not yet mentioned them, and then terminate the call immediately. (These include their full company name, a telephone number at which they can be reached, and....the third I don't remember. Oops. But! I do remember MBNA being so paranoid about it that we were even required to say the phone number to dead air if someone hung up on us - it was always the last thing you gave them, and we were recorded every second we were on the clock, even while not on a call.)
Again, this is if they're following the rules. No one likes a telemarketing call at dinnertime, but the bad guys do a hell of a lot worse than that.
Oh, and I can't comment on surveys or political calls. This is just commercial stuff - the guys who aren't out to make $ have looser rules.
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Absolutely correct... (Score:5, Insightful)
From the parent post: Also note that once you say one of those two phrases, they are required to give the three pieces of information they need for every call if they have not yet mentioned them, and then terminate the call immediately...Again, this is if they're following the rules.
That phrase right there sums it all up. I heard this exact same explanation from a student of mine at school who worked for a legit telemarketer. If you say the magic words, "Add me to your do not call list," they are required to follow the rules and do follow the rules. If they do not follow the rules, they will be fined big time by the FCC. However, the US is powerless against some calling agency operating out of Costa Rica, who doesn't give a rip about telecommunication laws. These people will war-dial phone numbers at unscrupulous hours of the evening, varying their tactics anywhere from constant nagging to actually demanding that you buy from them, even sometimes claiming that you've already established an "oral agreement" to make a purchase that you cannot back down from without penalty. (I've heard stories of telemarketers saying anything from, "We already have your name and address, and we will file suit if you break your oral agreement," to, "We have your banking account information, have this conversation recorded for proof of transaction, and we will proceed with making an electronic withdrawl from your checking account whether you like it or not.")
The national do-not-call list will help keep the legit soliciters at bay. But the bad guys...well...international law is a bitch.
Re:Absolutely correct... (Score:4, Interesting)
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Re:Absolutely correct... (Score:5, Insightful)
What I haven't done is 'track' any of these telemarketers. As far as I can tell they never call back -- a non-communicative party who doesn't listen to them never translates into a sale, and they have an endless supply of other numbers to call.
The Federal do-not-call list seems to be working fairly well. We do not get nearly the number of calls we used to get (although political and charitable calls haven't dropped.) The phrase also appears to have stopped the polling firms, who used to be the worst time sinks. You'll find my f'ing opinion after election day along with the rest of America, thank you very nothing.
What does NOT work is to screen telemarketers with Caller ID (which is what my wife does.) She doesn't answer when it says something like "CRAPPY CARPET CLEANERS", or she'll tell me "don't answer, it's those damn carpet people again." But they'll call back over and over and over for like a week or two. Finally, I'll answer with my magic phrase, and lo! they quit calling instantly. It's easier on everybody to be brisk with them earlier rather than later.
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"wouldn't know if I ever got a call like that because I never let a telemarketing call last that long. I've been squacking the same phrase at telemarketers for the last 5 years or so: "Please add me to your do-not-call list and never call this number again." I politely say it at the first break in conversation I get from them, or I interrupt them after just a few seconds if they begin their shpiel without a pause. Usually I get an "OK", at which point I hang up; but some times I get an argument or a questi
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Call the source company, and ask them where they got the information, then have them place you on their do-not-call list.
Repeat until you reach a dead-end, which is usually one of the aforme
The charitable calls are a legal scam (Score:5, Informative)
After getting fund raiser calls from various "State Troopers", "Widows of Firefighters", etc charities, I hunted around on google and found out that these are from companies who go around calling charities, and offering to donate somewhat large (on the scale of the organization, which can be small) constant sums of money in exchange for permission to use their name. The "charity" involved can be something as lame as the union for police officers of a particular county. In other words, they might not be in your area, or even be worth donating money to.
The companies then sell this permission to other companies who do the actual calling.
End result is that the charity gets some relatively small cash, and some company gets the ability to farm up mass sums of money in their name.
DO NOT GIVE TO THEM EVER!
... or give them fake donation information... I wonder if that would be legal or not...
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We are on the national and state do not call lists, which has indeed eliminated a large majority of the calls. The calls I still get are generally from some place that I "have a business relationship with", meaning, I bought something there once and wrote a check or something so they have my phone number. I also use Caller ID to screen these calls, and yes, they will call numerous times before they give up. It seems to me that telephones, now-a-
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yes it does. I add that number to my asterisk phone sy
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thats why I don't understand the DirectMarketing Assoc being such pigs about many many rules to help the legit. I mean make it as harsh of a offense (say federal offense like mail) for all fraud. Require ways to verify the legit, ie a working caller-id, and all telemarketers requiring a legit caller-id number...
As is, you can't trust a thing on the phone, because although the fi
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"If you sue me for breach of oral contract, you'll have to do it in the United States, and then due to your usage of the court system in the US, you will
Re:"Your do not call list" (Score:5, Funny)
Personally... when I get a telemarketer, I do my utmost to make their job as uncomfortable as possible... since they initiated the conversation, their time is now mine... If I'm rushed, a simple, "What are you wearing right now?" usually gets them to hang up...
You can also go for the phone-sex line style stuff... and start asking for a credit card number...
Nephilium
Be always drunken. Nothing else matters. If you would not feel the horrible burden of Time weighing on your shoulders and crushing you to the earth, be drunken continually. -- Charles Baudelaire, French poet
Paul from the Prize Claim Center (Score:5, Interesting)
There is also a Markus from some mortgage company doing the same thing.
In each case the outbound calls are from a robo-dialer that only starts if it gets a voice mail. When I called up the telephone number they gave I got a real person which was something of a suprise. They hung up when I pointed out that their operation was facing huge civil and criminal penalties.
What I should have done but haven't got round to yet was to dial up the number several times to work out how many people are working for them.
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That's why I just ask them to hold on and then put the phone down and walk off. Sometimes it takes them 10 minutes to work out nobody's going to talk to them...
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I think it varies by state.
IIRC, Kentucky is one of the most stringent. Here in Indiana, the SAG has been pretty harsh. A couple of places have set up shop -- until they get caught and decide to make a go of it in court: 1st Ammendment. So far, no one has even come close to winning. There was a bloc (no, not block) of banks which were setting up a crusade to go against the state and the SAG had a half-page ad in the Indy newspaper with contact info for those banks.
I wrote to the SAG's office, point
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10 minutes? Shit, that's nothing. If you say something that makes them think you might buy, they'll stay on the line for much longer than that. My personal record is an hour and a half (I could have gone longer, but I needed the phone). A friend of mine claims seven hours.
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Re:"Your do not call list" (Score:4, Informative)
making a call for telemarketing purposes must provide the called party
with the name of the individual caller, the name of the person or entity
on whose behalf the call is being made, and a telephone number or
address at which the person or entity may be contacted. The telephone
number provided may not be a 900 number or any other number for which
charges exceed local or long distance transmission charges.
direct C&P from
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/get-cfr.c
Re:"Your do not call list" (Score:5, Informative)
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I donated money to the MN Fraternal Order of Police and I've been getting police charity orgs calling me every month now. After the second time I requested to be removed from the list. And I still get called every month.
Next step, write them a letter, record the next call I get, and find out what government org I can call to get them fined.
Remember, if Safety Services calls you for a donation, save yourself some hassle, and refuse.
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I use the word "suckers", because "MN Fraternal Order of Police" (on a related note, some scammers will use the names of real charities as a pretext to defraud people) is likel
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In the future if you really do feel it is worth the donation, then you should ask them their name and tell them you will make a donation in your own time. I make a business of not buying anything from a telemarketer and ask them for a phone number in case I change my mind, if I am interested
Police charity response (Score:5, Funny)
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About charity calls (Score:3, Interesting)
If you get a call asking for a donation to a charity, beware!
I am a fairly generous person, and I made donations in response to several of these calls. The problem is that I started getting calls from many more charities than I donated to that began with "thank you for your donatin in the past." When I say many more, I mean at least an order of magnitude more.
Next, I happened to have two of the return envelopes in my hand at the same time and noticed that the addresses were extremely similar, so rathe
Re:"Your do not call list" (Score:5, Informative)
In a previous (pre-IT) life, I was paid political consultant (the pay wasn't high, which is why I am now in IT). Anyway, when we called folks, it was usually folks who were very consistent voters. If it was a primary election, we only called voters that had voted in two of the last three primaries. If it was a general, we tended to open up the list a bit more, but, again, we didn't call anyone who hadn't voted last general election.
The primary reason for this was money. Why spend money calling someone that had a less than even chance of showing up at the polls?
Beyond that, our first phone call was usually a straight forward "poll". Would you vote for candidate A, candidate B, or are you undecided? Trust me, when you pick up the phone and someone asks for your opinion, you are more likely to stay on the line. Then, a month or so before the campaign, we would run a "slanted" poll. For those folks that either supported our opponent (candidate B in this example) or were undecided in the first round, we would call them back and ask "Would you vote for candidate B knowing he/she was a lying sack of shit (or some phrase that would echo our most recent negative campaign commercial)"? The goal here was to PUSH the undecideds and opposing voters into either voting for our candidate (candidate A) or not voting at all.
Then, a few days before election, we would go back to our loyal candidates (in general elections, those voters in our party) and encourage them ALL to vote. Get Out the Vote.
Since I never won and election, I am now a stinkin' IT consultant and James Carville/Karl Rove are all either making millions or are about to make millions. But, even though I never won, trust me, this is the usual way of running political phone banks.
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My mailman must get a chuckle from all the names.
It's interesting to see what companies sell names. The only drawback is explaining things if they need my real name for some reason. "Sham Fraud isn't my real name."
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It *amazed* me how big their database is. It was so big that developers (at least all the ones I worked with) weren't allowed to query against their (Oracle) tables. We only had read access to (the hundreds of) views. It was the largest database I've ever worked against and it really taught me a LOT about writing applications that have to work with very large data sets.
It had information about how you told a DNC staffer you
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Undecided - Call this person every day to try to make her decide on our candidate.
Enemy - Call this person every day to try to change his mind.
Friend - Call this person every day to encourage her to vote.
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Why do you say that? Campaigns are nothing more than glorified advertising campaigns. The primary job of a campaign is to portray your candidate in the best light possible. The most cost effective method of advertising for most campaigns is mass media (there are some campaigns where direct mail is more effective, but that is limited to certain expensive media markets). Radio and TV adver
Re:"Your do not call list" (Score:5, Informative)
That's the one piece of information they never told anyone.
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Answers (Score:4, Informative)
I wouldn't say that any of these other calls are "excuses"; they're classes of calls that are exempt.
It's pretty clear what's exempt:
https://www.donotcall.gov/FAQ/FAQBusiness.aspx#Ex
Surveys, among other things, are one of the things that's exempt. "Telemarketing" is "telemarketing". Not someone calling you that you don't want to.
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Excellent question! (Score:2)
Sorry, I was interrupted by someone asking my opinion about how well I'm being isolated from people I don't know asking my opinion about things. And, who are you, again?
Actually, I think that political and charity-type stuff is pretty much completely fitting through the holes left in that legislation. I will say though, that the normal unsolicited commercial stuff more or less came to a sc
VOIP + spoofing caller ID (Score:5, Interesting)
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33. Are telemarketing calls from overseas covered?
Yes. Any telemarketers calling U.S. consumers are covered, regardless of where they are calling from. If a company within the U.S. solicits sales through an overseas professional telemarketer, that U.S. company may be liable for any violations by the telemarketer. The FTC can initiate enforcement actions against such companies.
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For offshored telemarketing, then yes, you might have some ground but what the heck is the FCC going to do about it? Ask Duhbya to invade India? (oh wait, he just might
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Sue Them (Score:5, Informative)
I recently sued Suntasia for violating the TCPA and settled in my favor. The whole story is posted on the site. I got less than I requested but they hired a very expensive lawyer which they have to pay for so I got what I wanted: money out of their pockets.
The hard part is figuring out who they are since all you have, if you're lucky, is the phone number. After that you have to do your homework on the law and try not to be intimidated by their lawyer if they hire one. Suntasia is rather infamous around the states so information was pretty easy to find. A phone number was all we needed to get started.
If they're not doing anything illegal then all you can do is not answer your phone or request they stop calling you. They don't have to honor the national list but I'd be very surprised if any organization could get away will calling you after you specifically told them not to. And those requests go into effect immediately.
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Reading is fundamental...
It's very simple (Score:5, Funny)
dnc (Score:2, Funny)
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Pushy Police Charities (Score:2)
I've been getting these at work lately as well. I'm an administrative assistant for a business that operates out of my employers' home, so they get personal calls there sometimes as well (remarkably though, most of the calls coming into the house are actual business). The inappropriately high pushiness of these people just astounds me. The typical call will go something like this:
Me: "Castellino Training and BEBA,
Good luck on the political stuff (Score:2, Insightful)
They are exempted from the federal rule http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/tmarkg/donotca ll.htm [ftc.gov]. Seems like most states do the same. Here's florida http://www.800helpfla.com/nosales.html [800helpfla.com] and Tennessee http://www2.state.tn.us/tra/nocall.htm [state.tn.us], for example.
Naturally Political Groups have exceptions (Score:4, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_not_call [wikipedia.org]
Did anyone seriously think the writers of that law would harm their own cash flow?
Personally, it's been very successful for me. I can't remember the last telemarketer I had to hang up on. Unfortunately, my kids have aged and can actually speak now. It was much more fun when they were still babies and I passed the receiver off to them. "Goo-goo-ga-ga" pretty much ends any solicitation.
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My number is on the DNC ("Do Not Call" as opposed to "Democratic National Commitee") list and I too have noted a large number of calls claiming to either be taking a poll or a survey. Unfortunately (or fortunately depend
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Because there are elections in 7 weeks.
Works for me. (Score:2)
However, after about 1 year of relief, I moved to a new apartment but kept the same phone number and the calls started coming back in a big way. Apparently, if there is any change in your phone service you get taken off the list again. Even if your number didnt' change.My suggestion to anyone who
Datapoints... (Score:3, Interesting)
I did get one from the Martin O'Malley campaign, being a democrat in Maryland, from an actual human. She asked "Are you going to support O'Malley for govenor?"(sp?) I told her "In the primaries because I have no choice, but forget it in the general. He's still got work to do in Baltimore (he's mayor there currently), cleaning up the mess that it is, and currently voters are thinking he's trying to escape the problems. So he's not going to get it from me come the elections."
Mostly YES (Score:2)
Then I moved, and forgot to put my number in the DNC. Several calls per day. Put number on list, calls slowed and stopped ~1 month later.
Watch out for "charities" (Score:2)
I somehow doubt these "charities" would respect a do-not-call list even if they legally had to.
No calls (Score:2)
I ran some of the numbers through Google -- and the hits do indicate that the number is usually associated with some "survey" or "charity" type of a call.
Occasionally the frequency that the same caller ID rings picks up a bit. When that happens I hook up the fax machine to autoanswer after two rings. That usually solves the problem.
A particula
I personally like surveys (Score:2)
I have problems don't I?
I'm so glad you asked! (Score:3, Funny)
I have found that rudeness can be pretty effective in stopping future calls, but these are my two favorite methods:
1:
Telemarketer: "Well hello Mr. sporkme, how are you this evening?"
Me: "I am soooo glad you asked. First, I was late for work because my kids made off with the car keys and I had to spend ten minutes digging through a toybox full of legos. Then I got a speeding ticket on my way in. My back has hurt all day, and I'm honestly hoping that you're selling a hemorroid cream of some kind. How is your day going?"
2:
Telemarketer: "Now what would it take to get an order from you today?"
Me: Well, honestly, sales have been down at work. Are you aware that our BXK-31-R is capable of tolerating well over sixty rads per cycle and still produces results within tolerance? This is well in excess of industry standard and we offer free support and service for the first sixty seconds of your contract. How many can I sign you up for?
To the point, It seems to be difficult to find statistical information about the success of the registry. Indiana was one of the first states to implement such a program, and several other states have separate registries (many have merged with the federal one). All I really could find without making a job of it was information [savedonotcall.com] on Indiana's success with the state program, and registration numbers [ftc.gov] for the federal one. Also, here is a summary chart [savedonotcall.com] of nationwide complaint volume.
It worked for me (Score:2)
DNC list and caller ID (Score:2)
I guess it's more of the "no...I'll call you " thing.
heck....just the other day, I got a call from a number I didn't recognize and they left a message...it turned out to be from the Republican Party...something about a rally with the governator....don't know why they called....especially when I'm no longer registered as one (the Republican Party I use to belong to
It's a trap! (Score:2)
Sorry about invoking Admiral Ackbar here, but I heard about this recently, I think it was on digg. The trick is that by participating in a survey, you suddenly have a "business relationship" with them, which means they can hit you with a regular telemarketing call.
I personally prefer to use the magic words "Please put me on your do not call list", especially when I hear that telltale lag between picking up the phone and the outbound dialer connecting me with a sub-human.
It also doesn't hurt that I have o
It works (Score:4, Informative)
The best case scenario is that someone hangs up on you, worst case is they report you to the authorities and you get fined for violating the list. In both cases you gain nothing and only loose time spent calling the person and quite possibly a lot of money too.
My favorite solution... (Score:4, Funny)
It helps (Score:2)
The bad ones are the companies "conducting a survey to see if you are
You really think the list works? (Score:2)
Oh, and I can always
I call it 'do not contribute' list (Score:2)
Hello,wouldyouliketoparticipateinaquicksurvey... (Score:5, Funny)
I just got one of these last week asking for my opinion about the film and tv ratings systems. When I started to actually say what I thought about the system ( three digit body count = PG13 while a nipple = NC17 ) she hung up without even bothering to cut me off. I may have spent as much as 40 seconds discussing the issue with dead air and I was very disappointed that I wasn't really given a chance to string her along for as long as I'd have liked.
The police and fire department charities are a bit more pleasant to work with. My best for a police call was when I asked if they'd found my car yet. My best fire call, I had a friend nearby to help me with this, I set off the smoke detector with a cigarette, dropped the phone on the counter and yelled at my friend for not watching the stove while I got the phone. That one went through some cursing, clanking and the sound of me unloading a bottle of shaving cream next to the phone (to simulate a fire extinguisher) before I picked up the phone asked "who are you again?" and then following their response with "Oh.. thank you for calling but I think we have it handled."
Always Looking Out for Themselves (Score:2)
While I feel that the Do Not Call list was a success, it's sad that it does not apply to those with political interests. Now that it is approaching election time, I'm getting 2-3 automated calls per week of a political nature.
Cheese (Score:5, Funny)
A few months ago, I went out and actively solicited calls from telemarketers. How? By signing up to a mortgage website, giving a false name (Jack B. Morocco), a false address, but a valid phone number. Why? Because those running the mortgage website spammed me, and I was interested to follow the money back to the bona fide mortgage companies that were financing the spammers.
A few days after I signed up, the phone calls began. Usually, when the caller asked to speak to Jack, I would tell them that I would fetch him to the phone. I would then set the handset down next to the phone, and get back to work. They would typically stay on the line for around 10 minutes, before they hung up.
However, on some occasions I used the cheese method. Basically, to whatever question I was asked, I replied cheese. A sample conversation:
Him Hi, may I speak to Jack?
Me Cheese.
Him I beg your pardon?
Me Cheese.
Him Did you just say cheese?
Me Cheese.
Him I'm trying to speak to Jack.
Me Cheese?
Him Look, I don't have any time to waste
Me Cheese.
(The last remark was particularly funny, in light of the huge amounts of others' time this company had wasted by funding spammers).
On one special occasion, I was called by someone in an overseas call center. They stuck religiously to the script, despite the fact that I was cheesing them at every turn. Slowly, it became clear to them that something was not quite right -- but it took them a while, because I don't think their grasp of English was perfect. Eventually, they ended the call with "OK, Jack, you really sound good, I'm sorry to bother you, goodbye."
To which I replied cheese.
If you want a slice of the action, why not reply to the next mortgage spammer yourself? Make sure you give a fake address but a real number, so that they can get through to you. Oh, and it would be fun if you signed up as Jack/Jane B. Morocco. And don't forget the cheese!
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Heh, I can relate...
I normally keep my landline's ringer turned off, since I know that anyone who needs to reach me has my cellphone number. But I keep the landline to give to businesses so all the telemarketing calls will go there, and never be answered since my phone has the ringer turned off.
Well, last summer I had a friend visiting from Denmark for a few weeks, so I turned the ringer back on. Whenever the phone rang, I let my friend answer, and he would start speaking in Danish, with not a word of Eng
Phone sex...... (Score:2, Funny)
Running for Office lets you call (Score:2)
Do those things really work?
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Sure. They convinced me to vote against the guy who used them.
The Telecrapper 2000 (Score:2)
Works great (Score:2)
It basically works...but... (Score:2)
I have found simple ways to deal with surveys and political calls.
I really don't mind doing surveys, its just sometimes when they call its very inconvenient. When its not convenient, I have simply asked "I'd be happy to answer your survey, but not right now...could you call me back in an hour or so?" I have never had a survey company not honor my request. They WANT your opinion.
As for po
I have my own system... (Score:2)
So I'm not on the "do not call list." Instead, everybody else is on my "do not answer list."
David
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Do what I do - fuck with 'em (Score:5, Funny)
Telemarketer (T): Hello Mr Spoilsport may I call you Ralph?
RS: I own you...
T: Sorry?
RS: I own your soul...
T: You own what?
RS: I am Sataaan... I know you to the Soooooul... You are mine....
T: May I interest you in (product)?
RS: Come to Sataaaaan... Come to me.... You are mine... I own your soul...
T: (Agitated) Does this sound like something you might be interested in?
RS: Come to Sataaaan... I own your soul... You will rot in hell with me.... Come to me...
etc.
Once this black woman called and I did the Satan routine and she FREAKED OUT. She started crying and hung up. I scored 30 points for that.
Another favourite tack on these creatures:
RS: WHAT?
T: Hello? Is this Mr Spoilsport?
RS: FUCK YOU!
T: What?
RS: FUCK YOU AND YOUR WHORE OF A MOTHER WHO IS SUCKING MY COCK RIGHT NOW YOU SCUM SUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!
(click)
I get 20 points for that - It's a brute force approach. It's not that creative and it's kind of mean, so you only get 20 points for it.
Also: there's the classic:
RS: Bobo!
T: Hello? Is this Mr Spoilsport?
RS: Yabba! Tengo bleck nock! Curby flipwitters!
T: Do you speak English?
RS: Me me me speak English!
T: Would you be interested in (product pitch)?
RS: Ama watamela eatie foo!
T: What?
RS: yumma cunt swabber! Peenie drip bubby! Yumma buttlicker!
T: What?
RS: shibby shops! Peeface! Yabba Peeface!
etc. If yo ucan get them to hang up, you get 40 points, because talking like an idiot with a straight face long enough to get them to hang up is pretty hard.
Then there's always:
RS: Yes...
T: hi is this mr Spoilsport?
RS: What's it to you, motherfucker?
T: Sorry?
RS: I'm coming to your house, and I'm going to kill all your pets.
etc. whatever tey say, just march over it and make weid fucked up pseudo threats, like "I'll steal all your garbage" or "I'll pee in your garden" or "I'll get your dog knocked up" etc.
Telemarketers were put on this earth to be abused.
RS
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I was called by a nice sounding female telemarketer for somthing or other (this was long before the DNC registry), and I decided to have some fun. I listed to part of the pitch and was genial with her as I found my wife's plant watering pitcher, which usually has water in it. I then walked to the bathroom, noisily lifted
Installed Asterisk, No Problems (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
I would have to say that I fall into that group. If a candidate's campaign contacts me after being told not to, I would make the automatic assumption that they were dishonest and that any statements about the candidate's positions on issues were complete bollocks, and regardless of the opponent's positions on key issues, he or she would be a better
Re:Political Groups (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, it's legal in this case, but it has nothing to do with our constitutional notion of free speech or the intellectual foundations of liberal democracy. Free speech does not establish an obligation for anyone to listen. IMNSHO, the proper intellectual and (arguably) constitutional framework here should be the right of privacy. All calls should be banned (for anyone registering). Different categories of registration would satisfy my objections, too, but might be too complicated and create even more loopholes.
please MOD PARENT UP (Score:2)
Re:Bastards (Score:4, Interesting)
It expires after 5 years and, believe it or not, it's been around for 5 years.
I had gotten rid of most calls years ago by telling every one to put me on their do not call list. I also got a recording of the "out of order" signal the telco uses and put that on my answering maching, at the start of the tape, and that helped eliminate some calls. If I didn't recognize the number, I'd let the machine get it, and there were some numbers that I used to see show up often but without a message. The telco tone at the start of my tape eliminated some of them. They called once or twice more, got the tone, and stopped showing up. I also know time online is a major issue for marketers, so I'd talk some to death -- keep them on 10-15 minutes and not buy anything. That's way more time then they should spend on the phone even for a sale.
When the do-not-call registry went active, everyone in my family registered all our phone numbers. What few calls I'd still get stopped coming in. Then, a few months ago, I started getting some calls this summer, so I looked up the registry to see if there was a problem and found out that you have to re-register every 5 years to keep your number listed.
If you're getting more calls in the last few months, it's because your registration on the list expired.
Personally, I answer all the survey calls. That way I get to tell them my favorite radio staion and my preferences in movies and other topics they ask about. Considering how few geeks there are out there, I figure it's my way of making sure someone with my tastes gets counted. As for political calls, I can usually spot them on caller ID, so I pick up the phone, then hang up.
Re:Bastards (Score:4, Informative)
https://www.donotcall.gov/confirm/Conf.aspx [donotcall.gov]
They will send you a nice email that looks something like this:
"Your phone number with the last four digits XXXX was registered in the National Do Not Call Registry on 10/13/2003. Most telemarketers will be required to stop calling you 31 days from your registration date. Your registration will (or did) expire on 3/26/2010.
Visit www.donotcall.gov to do any of these things:
-- to renew your registration before it expires
-- to file a complaint
Print this email and keep it for your records."
I'm not exactly sure why the expiration date is more than 5 years in my case. Something to explore!
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, I used to teach math. I can also write well, too. Guess that's better than your abilities.
Re: (Score:2)
1. Radio/tv station wants to see what kind of visibility and reputation they have with consumers.
2. Political party/figure wants to sway your opinion by wording questions to badmouth their opponent.
It's a bit dissapointing because I agree to do the surveys because I hope they are the kind that get quoted in the media, but it just seems like they are either marketing research or propaganda.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:You should mind... (Score:5, Insightful)
If they're still on, wasting all that time with me, I know they're in trouble because that call is driving their average call time way up and the boss doesn't like it. So, in the interest of educating them about charities and to make sure their boss educates them about call time, I keep going. I explain that good charities will give most of what they get to the work they're doing. I deal with some that give something between 75-80% of all they raise to the work they're doing. I explain that true charities, when doing fundraisers, tell people how much of each dollar goes to the charity and how much goes to other costs (like ads or admin). Then I point out that they say they're giving $100,000 to a nationwide fund, but what if they raise over half a million -- who gets the other $400,000? That's a lot of money for someone to make when they imply it's all going to charity.
By then they've either hung up or they're so amazed by what I've said that you can already hear the tone in their voice indicating they just don't believe in their job anymore.