Do-Not-Call Violations

[MattusMaximus]

Best invention EVER: the answering machine.

99% of the time the damned telemarketers get the machine and don't even leave a message. Just BEEP!

We never answer the phone immediately anymore, as we just let the machine screen all calls. I love it.

ETA: This has the added benefit of me never having to be a prick to some poor bastard on the other end who's just trying to make ends meet at a crappy job. It's a win-win.

 

[Checkmite]

Because the only way the companies responsible will ever stop the practice is if you make it economically impossible for them to continue. You can't change their income, so you have to affect their expenses. Their primary expense is the salary of 'these poor schmucks'. People demand higher pay for nastier jobs. If I make this job as nasty as possible, they will demand higher pay for it, or find another job with less stress. Eventually, the companies responsible will either run out of money or suckers willing to work for them.

This may have been true once upon a time. However, with an unskilled/untrained labor force unemployment level of almost 15%, telemarketing companies will be able to replace any turnover pretty much immediately, and will continue to be able to do so for a long, long time. You can personally badger 100 telemarketers into quitting, and you will have made as much difference as if you had done nothing at all. Anybody at a telemarketing firm who asks for a raise will be laughed at - I can't imagine where you get the idea that "making the job stressful" will have the impact you've invented.

Or, you can call the number the OP gave; a punitive fine for violating the law will cut into their bottom line much, much deeper than all the employees you could possibly harass into quitting.

I submit that if your answer to the telemarketing problem is to pointedly reject treating the disease in favor of temporarily relieving its symptoms only, you really shouldn't be complaining about telemarketers.

 

[rjh01]

I live in Australia. We have a do not call register. Before it was established I was getting calls most nights. Now they are very rare. I just pity the people who are not on it. So rare that I do not bother about the violations. I just hang up.

 

[shawmutt]

I laughed my ass off at this telemarketer:

 

[PhantomWolf]

Why?

Here's a better idea:

I've used it a couple of times. I haven't gotten any telemarketers to stay on the line long enough to find out what toothpaste they use, though.

Doesn't work very well with recorded messages.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Legitimate market research is one of several legal exemptions from the "Do not call legislation".
The UK equivalent, "The Telephone Preference Service" is very effective. Practically the only major company who still cold call me is BT itself, asking me to rejoin the fold.
I take delight in telling them that I was considering it, but that each time they call resets the clock by three months.

 

[Checkmite]

As an aside, my parents live in a city that has something analagous, called a "Do Not Knock" list. When you place your address on this list, door-to-door solicitors may not come bother you. I thought it was a great idea at first, until I learned that non-profit organizations are exempt from having to follow the list. Unlike phone telemarketing, door-to-door pests are almost entirely non-profit groups - either churches or other charities soliciting donations, or kids in some kind of school or youth group fundraiser. In fact, I can remember once in my entire life that an honest-to-goodness salesman actually came to any of the houses I've lived in. As a result, placing yourself on that community's Do Not Knock list accomplishes pretty close to nothing, as great as the idea initially sounds.

 

[BPSCG]

As an aside, my parents live in a city that has something analagous, called a "Do Not Knock" list. When you place your address on this list, door-to-door solicitors may not come bother you. I thought it was a great idea at first, until I learned that non-profit organizations are exempt from having to follow the list. Unlike phone telemarketing, door-to-door pests are almost entirely non-profit groups - either churches or other charities soliciting donations, or kids in some kind of school or youth group fundraiser. In fact, I can remember once in my entire life that an honest-to-goodness salesman actually came to any of the houses I've lived in. As a result, placing yourself on that community's Do Not Knock list accomplishes pretty close to nothing, as great as the idea initially sounds.

Just go to your local Home Depot. The same aisle where they sell house numbers and business signs sells signs that say, "No Solicitors."* It's worked very well for us in the last year, especially during the recent election campaign; we had hardly anyone come knocking. Those few who do, I just smile nicely at them and point at the sign and say, "I guess you didn't see the sign."

* I suppose in the UK, that would only keep door-to-door lawyers from ringing your bell...

 

[roger]

Around here, everyone has signs up "No trespassers" "beware of dogs", own guns, and pretty much leave their doors unlocked. Works for us.

 

[BPSCG]

Around here, everyone has signs up "No trespassers" "beware of dogs", own guns, and pretty much leave their doors unlocked. Works for us.

Sounds like y'all are adapting very nicely to life away from Our Nation's Capital.

I saw a sign once that said, "No Trespassing - Survivors Will Be Experimented Upon."

 

[Arus808]

I laughed my ass off at this telemarketer:

Tom Mabe is an excellent comedian at getting back at telemarketers.

http://www.tommabe.com/

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

If it is a survey, and it is not particularly inconvenient (like during dinner) I'll answer most of the questions.

This is the part I still don't understand. If you are eating dinner, why do you answer the phone? People complain about answering the phone/door during dinner, as if it is somehow required that you do so.

 

[drkitten]

This is the part I still don't understand. If you are eating dinner, why do you answer the phone? People complain about answering the phone/door during dinner, as if it is somehow required that you do so.

Back in a more civilized era, people wouldn't telephone you at inconvenient times unless it was very urgent and actually needed immediate attention.

My mother, for example, hates it when the phone rings in the middle of the night, because the only reason for someone to call her then is to tell her to come to the hospital or something.

 

[Checkmite]

Back in a more civilized era, people wouldn't telephone you at inconvenient times unless it was very urgent and actually needed immediate attention.

I would guess that it's been about 30 to 40 years since that more civilized era ended; more than enough time for people to adapt I should think!

 

[BPSCG]

I would guess that it's been about 30 to 40 years since that more civilized era ended;

...right around the same time that women started entering the workforce in large numbers instead of staying in the kitchen where they belonged, making dinner.

 

[Naughtyhippo]

Legitimate market research is one of several legal exemptions from the "Do not call legislation".
The UK equivalent, "The Telephone Preference Service" is very effective. Practically the only major company who still cold call me is BT itself, asking me to rejoin the fold.
I take delight in telling them that I was considering it, but that each time they call resets the clock by three months.

All the market research companies I've worked for never bothered with those on the TPS list. It was the people who were x-directory and somehow thought this made them immune that were the real problem. Oh, that it was somehow illegal to call them.

 

[Checkmite]

I just say, "Hold on just a sec", put down the phone, and go back to playing WoW.

Actually, the longer I think about it, the better this idea sounds. It's great for both you AND the minimum wage slave on the other end of the phone, and bad for the telemarketing company.

Allow me to explain. I worked at a telemarketer for about a week. Not long enough to know the ins and outs of the business, but there's a few things I've picked up on. First, you need to know that except for their standard 30 minutes once a shift, telemarketers do not get a break. Not a single moment of downtime - not ONE moment. As soon as a call is ended (either because the sale is done, or the caller hung up, or the number is marked as out-of-order/business/call back later), the computer automatically and immediately routes the next outbound call to your station. You don't even get a few moments pause while the phone rings, because the computer only patches you through to someone who has picked up the phone. This is because time is money, and time NOT spent actively pursuing a sale is wasted money.

So yes, when a telemarketer calls, do that. Indicate interest in whatever's being sold, and then say "hold on a minute", and put down the phone. This wastes the company's time - time that particular lackey would otherwise be using pestering someone else. But it also gives that lackey a much, much needed break. He'll be able to legitimately spend several minutes doing absolutely nothing without a reprisal, because you indicated interest so he HAS to make the effort to keep the line open, because there's a chance for a sale. You win, he wins, and the company loses.

 

[bokonon]

I've been on the do-not-call list since it became available, and it's stopped the unsolicited sales calls completely. I think I'm about due for a renewal; I need to check.

Taking out your frustrations on the poor schmuck making the call seems like a bad idea in most cases. He isn't the one making the decision to call your number.

I can see two better solutions: simply choose not to answer the phone if the caller ID is showing "unavailable," and let the answering machine do its job, or answer the phone and pretend to be interested and cooperative while you try to get the identity of the company violating the do-not-call policy. They're calling because they want your money, and (unless they're running a flat-out scam) they'll have to identify themselves to get it. Maybe the person on the phone knows the name of the company, and can be persuaded to share it with you at some point.

 

[Wildy]

Best invention EVER: the answering machine.

99% of the time the damned telemarketers get the machine and don't even leave a message. Just BEEP!

We never answer the phone immediately anymore, as we just let the machine screen all calls. I love it.

ETA: This has the added benefit of me never having to be a prick to some poor bastard on the other end who's just trying to make ends meet at a crappy job. It's a win-win.

Then you clearly have never encountered the ones that they have here in Australia. We don't have an answering machine and at times we'll get messages designed for answering machines from companies that are trying to get around the "do not call" list.

 

[GeeMack]

Taking out your frustrations on the poor schmuck making the call seems like a bad idea in most cases. He isn't the one making the decision to call your number.

That poor schmuck is actively participating in a violation of the law. He gets to deal with whatever gets thrown at him. No sympathy here. If he doesn't want to help that company break the law, he can quit. But how about we take out our frustrations on, and hand the responsibility over to the people who have implemented the system that makes it easy for companies to sidestep the regulations with virtually no chance of taking responsibility for it?

I can see two better solutions: simply choose not to answer the phone if the caller ID is showing "unavailable," and let the answering machine do its job, or answer the phone and pretend to be interested and cooperative while you try to get the identity of the company violating the do-not-call policy. They're calling because they want your money, and (unless they're running a flat-out scam) they'll have to identify themselves to get it. Maybe the person on the phone knows the name of the company, and can be persuaded to share it with you at some point.

Don't ask me to take the responsibility for determining the name of the company calling. One of my congressman's aides actually suggested I should be, quote, "sneaky," and try to get that information. Pretty bad idea. Not my job. Especially not when technology makes it a trivial matter for the phone company to send along a valid caller ID with any call. They should be required to do that.

So here's an even better solution. I don't even want my phone to ring if it's not legal for the other party to be calling me, or if I don't have an easy option to know who it is and report them. But since I can't personally modify the law to make that happen, I'm handing it over to the person who says he can. Congressman Aaron Schock has stated that he is concerned about the issue and is willing to do something about it. You can call him at (309) 671-7027. I'm reporting every violation directly to him, and suggesting the same to the millions of others who get unsolicited commercial calls from companies who don't identify themselves according to regulations.