Comment What about recordings and faxes? (Score 1) 415
Yes, I'm on the do not call list, but I still get calls. And how can I deal with recordings? I answer the phone and it is not a human, it's a recorded spiel, and maybe if I listen to all of it there will be a human at the end whom I can inform not to call me again. Or maybe not. There is no clue how long I might have to listen before I can respond. It's very frustrating.
Even worse, the faxes. I am not set up to receive faxes most of the time, occasionally I connect a fax machine to send one. But somehow I'm on their lists. They call in the middle of the night or very early in the morning. If you try to ignore them they call twice more. There is no way to identify them without being set up to receive a fax, and then you are helping them confirm they have a valid number. The only thing I have thought of is to leave the phone off the hook when I pick it up and hear a fax machine. I leave it off hook until I get the phone company's off-hook warning sound. This might have two effects: it just might slow the caller down, depending upon how long it takes the sending machine to realize there is nothing there, and the phone might still be off hook when they try to resend.
For voice calls there ought to be a law requiring a caller to inform you who he or she represents at the start of a call and to have a human or a recorder ready to acknowledge your wish not to be called within a very short time after you pick up. For faxes there ought to be a way to program a modem or some other gadget to respond to an incoming fax in some way that disables the calling machine for a significant time. Does anybody know if this can be done?
Even worse, the faxes. I am not set up to receive faxes most of the time, occasionally I connect a fax machine to send one. But somehow I'm on their lists. They call in the middle of the night or very early in the morning. If you try to ignore them they call twice more. There is no way to identify them without being set up to receive a fax, and then you are helping them confirm they have a valid number. The only thing I have thought of is to leave the phone off the hook when I pick it up and hear a fax machine. I leave it off hook until I get the phone company's off-hook warning sound. This might have two effects: it just might slow the caller down, depending upon how long it takes the sending machine to realize there is nothing there, and the phone might still be off hook when they try to resend.
For voice calls there ought to be a law requiring a caller to inform you who he or she represents at the start of a call and to have a human or a recorder ready to acknowledge your wish not to be called within a very short time after you pick up. For faxes there ought to be a way to program a modem or some other gadget to respond to an incoming fax in some way that disables the calling machine for a significant time. Does anybody know if this can be done?
