National Do Not Call Registry

[BAW]

I only give my home phone number to people I want to hear from. If I didn't give you my number, I don't want you to call me.

If you use an automatic dialer to call me and expect me to hold on while you connect, if you can't properly pronounce my name and if you need to stop and find your place in the script, I find it a little hard to be polite and listen to your salespitch.

I don't want to put anyone out of a job and I don't think telemarketers as people are bad in any way, I just don't want to be called 3-4 times a day by someone who wants to sell me something I don't need.

I did a little experiement earlier this month...between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., I was getting called every 2 hours on the hour by an automatic dialing machine and I wanted to see just how long this would go on if I didn't pick up. I had already told this company once to take me off their call list so I let it go for 3 or 4 days and finally answered. After they gave me their pitch, I told them they had called me approximately 12 times AFTER I had told them to take me off their list and I had it all recorded on my caller ID. They never called again but I'm sure in a few months, they'll start it up again.

And the all important reason they were calling??? To sell me a Tweety Bird Christmas ornament.

Damn straight I signed up on the do not call list.

 

[zonelistener]

I hate tweety bird!

 

[cell]

And the all important reason they were calling??? To sell me a Tweety Bird Christmas ornament.

 

[joyfulgirl]

tweety sucks

 

[Angela Harlem]

I hate the telemarketing concept a whole lot. There's a number over here we can call and get our addresses and phone numbers taken off which we did, but it only helps if the company has accessed your info off this original master list in the first place. We still get calls all the time, and also those who simply generate your phone number on a computer can still obviously get to you whether you're silent or not.

 

[AvsGirl41]

But you know who must pull the biggest profits from telemarketing?

Phone companies...not from their telemarketing, but from all the little extras they sell you to block soliciters. Yet, who were the ones calling your house for long distance, cell phones, etc.? It was all a big conspiracy if you ask me.

What I want to know is, when will they finally crack down on spam?

It's simply ridiculous that all our forms of communication (ground mail, phone, e-mail) are getting buried under advertisements...!

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

Telemarketers

I like the do not call list.

 

[jesseu2]

just reg'd my number and found a great site with tips...

taking action against Live Operator Telemarketing Calls, Prerecorded Telemarketing Calls, and Unsolicited Faxed Advertisements, you can sue the mofo's an take in damages(if they call twice in a 12-month period)!!!!!

http://www.do-not-call.com/consumer_action.html

I just got this in email the other day.....(i like #2 especially)

Three Little Words That Work !!

(1) The three little words are: "Hold On, Please..." Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the phone company's "beep-beep-beep" tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.

These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.

(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.

This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a "real" sales person to call back and get someone at home.

What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialed the call and it kicks your number out of their system.

Since doing this, my phone calls have decreased dramatically.

(3) Another Good Idea:
When you get "ads" enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these "ads" with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those "pre-approved" letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope.

Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? It costs them more than the regular 37 cents postage "IF" and when they receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before! the last increase and it is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes. One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas. Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank.. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!

If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them.

You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing!

Eventually, the banks and credit card companies will begin getting their own junk back in the mail.

Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all they're paying for it....Twice!

Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea !

If enough people follow these tips, it will work----I have been doing this for years, and I get very little junk mail anymore.