Federal No Call List

[Werewolf]

About a year ago I signed up for the Federal No Call List because I was getting two or three telemarketing calls every evening. It took a couple of months for the calls to go away.

About 6 months later they started trickling back and now I'm getting about 1 a day (better than before but still I get them).

I understand that charities and politicians are exempt.

Seems to me like putting oneself on the list has limited benefit and might just even be a way for telemarketers to harvest numbers they didn't previously have.

What say you?

NOTE: Maybe Direct TV getting fined $5.3M for violating the list will get someone's attention?

[Stranger]

That is one of the reasons I cut my home phone off.  Now I just use a cell phone, no problems except for the occasional wrong number.  I figure if they dont have my cell number I probably dont want them calling me anyway.

[grampster]

I just signed up for a Do Not Call List for my cell phone.  I threw away the # to call when I did so I think, so I can't post it here.  You have to call the # on the cell you want to register by the end of the month, I think.  Wish I had kept the #.  Wait....I might have it at home, though.  I'll check.

[garrettwc]

I just signed up for a Do Not Call List for my cell phone.  I threw away the # to call when I did so I think, so I can't post it here.  You have to call the # on the cell you want to register by the end of the month, I think.  Wish I had kept the #.  Wait....I might have it at home, though.  I'll check.

Wasn't this on snopes? I seem to remember seeing it everywhere, including on the evening news. Then someone on snopes totally debunked it. It was out about the time there was something pending about publishing cell phone numbers.

Back to the original topic. We signed up at home for the no call list. We still get them. How? Because the telemarketers moved their call centers to Canada and some offshore sites [at least that's what it says on my caller ID] where the law isn't in effect.

[charby]

The state attorney in Iowa is going after companies that use call centers in Canada. I heard that briefly on the news yesterday, I imagine other states have or will soon follow suit.

Charby

[grampster]

Here is the #.  Found it in the wastebasket.  You gotta call using the cellphone you want the calls blocked on.    1-888-382-1222.  Takes about a minute or less.

[Standing Wolf]

Some of the so-called "charities" are scams: they're actually businesses masquerading as "charities."

[spinr]

For what it's worth...

The number grampster posted is for the FedGov Do Not Call Registry.  You can call the number or submit your number via the 'net.

http://www.ftc.gov/donotcall/

[InfidelSerf]

I don't understand the big deal..
#1 if you are in a position where you can't or don't want to be disturbed.. don't answer the phone.
#2 should you decide to answer the phone and within 3-5 seconds you learn its a sales call then CLICK!
HANG UP..

I used to rely on caller ID to filter calls from people I don't know.  Now I just don't answer the call, I let the machine pick up ALL calls.
Or get an old fax machine everyone hates that sound when they call

Since when did it become "required" to answer the damn phone at all??
just get a $9.95 answering machine from wallyworld/chinamart whatever you call it, and NEVER answer the phone again.

It is a truly liberating concept.

BTW I don't want to be on ANY lists compiled by the federal government.

[Ben]

Since when did it become "required" to answer the damn phone at all??

+ 1 bajillion

This is sort of a pet peeve of mine. It's a galldang mechanical device and I'll be galldanged if I'm going to be a slave to it. The phone is there for my convenience, not my aggravation. Pretty much everyone that I would want to talk to on the phone knows that I screen my calls. If they start talking on the answering machine, I will generally pick-up when I'm at home.

Because I have rentals, the only exception to the above is when I have an ad in the paper, but for that I give my cell number, and when I don't have anything advertised the cell policy is the same as for the home phone.

It's bad enough that I have to answer my work phones -- I will not bring that disturbance into my personal life.
/rant

[K Frame]

I signed up for the DNC list because I wasn't getting 2 or 3 calls a day, I was getting upwards TWENTY telemarketer calls a damned day.

No joke. Upwards 20.

These days I'm getting maybe 3 a week, mostly from the Red Cross wanting my blood.

[Lennyjoe]

That's what makes caller id so nice.  Just take a peak at the number and name.  If you don't know them or the name doesn't show, don't answer.

[Werewolf]

Welllll - actually - I put our number on the no call list at my wife's insistence. You see I'm a mean ole curmudgeon and no one ever calls me anyway - so I don't bother answering the phone - ever. She does though. Telemarketers drive her nuts and she can't be what she calls rude and just hang up on 'em. So to curtail that NCL it was.

It worked for a while.

Now if one calls and the wife answers she just hands the phone to me. Normally I just hang up immediately. If they're obviously Indian (so many - so many) I tell 'em I won't talk to anyone stealing an American job but IF I'm in just the right mood I'll see how long I can keep one on the phone. The record so far is 47 minutes. Kinda fun sometimes - not as fun as the how long can you keep a bar maid on your lap without buying her a drink challenge we did in the Army but still kinda fun.

[DrAmazon]

but IF I'm in just the right mood I'll see how long I can keep one on the phone. The record so far is 47 minutes. .

I had friends in grad school who did this on a regular basis.  It was even  more fun if the telemarketer called while they were drinking.  I think they kept one guy on for close to 2 hours by claiming that they were looking for their credit card to make the purchase/donation.

[Ron]

I am on the list and it has worked great.  Every once in a while one slips through and I scold them and tell them I am on the do not call list.

Ironically while readind this thread I got a call from a survey company asking questions about health care.  

The young man said they didn't have to worry about the DNC list because they aren't selling anything.

[Guest]

#2 should you decide to answer the phone and within 3-5 seconds you learn its a sales call then CLICK!
HANG UP..

Sorry, wrong answer.
Fact:  businesses that you have a "relationship" with can call you.
Fact:  businesses (above) may share your phone # with "partners"

To deal with those facts, stay on the line and, as soon as you can get a word in edgewise, POLITELY ask the telemarketer to "place this number on your do-not-call-list".  They get to file the call as "completed" and you don't get any more calls from them.

Using this technique along with .fed and .ma do-not-call-lists and an unlisted number, I had over a YEAR of ZERO telemarketing calls.  They trickled in again when SWMBO got a new credit card.  I re-applied technique above and calls are again at zero.

YMMV

Since when did it become "required" to answer the damn phone at all??
just get a $9.95 answering machine from wallyworld/chinamart whatever you call it, and NEVER answer the phone again.

Right, RIGHT!  The phone is there for MY convenience, not some telemarketer's.

Peet

[Tallpine]

Me: Hallo

TM: How are you this evening?

Me: Cò tha bruidhiun?

TM: I have this wonderful offer for you blah blah blah ....

Me: Chan eil Beurla agam.  A beil thu Ghàidhlig agad?

TM: click


No, I haven't tried this yet - but I keep thinking that I'm going to then next chance I get  ;-)

[grampster]

Non habilahtay to much epanole, seenyer.