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| Typical Telemarketer after a time telemarketing |
I looked around online and found some other people got a call from these people and posted about it. I've given up a long time ago about this kind of thing. I put my numbers on the DNC - Do Not Call list. Since you can't stop it, and since I have to have a land line in my house for my DSL Internet access, and since I use a cell phone for everything, what I've done is whenever I have to give a phone number with a company or whatever, I give them my house number. Then I monitor it with CallerID and I don't answer it unless I know who it is.
Also (and this is key), I have voicemail and I put a message on there that says essentially, "I get a lot of sales people calling this number so I don't bother to answer this phone any more. If you have a legitimate reason to talk to me, please leave your name and number and why you are calling and I will get back to you as soon as I get this message. Otherwise, remove me from your call list and hang up now. Thank you." So now my biggest issue is the phone rings and I have to listen to it until voicemail takes over or they hang up.
Anyway, here are what people have said about this on forums:
"I get a recorded message that goes something like
this: This will be your final chance to lower your credit card rate."
Each time I press the option to speak with an operator and then tell
that person to remove me from their call list. Each time I am assured
this will be done only to receive another call from them within a week. I
have requested that they stop calling me about 50 times. I have
reported them on the "Do Not Call" complaint page."
Another said:
"I am also plagued with unsolicited calls from telemarketers and have reported them to just about every government agency I can think of. The DNC list is a joke for the most part, especially in view of the fact that the politicians who passed the bill exempted themselves, non-profit organizations, and all other entities with whom you may have done business in the past.
"The Better Business Bureau, the FCC, and (if you know the state from which the calls are being made) the Consumer Protection Agencies apparently have little or no interest in finding these unscrupulous telemarketers, much less in indicting, prosecuting, and punishing them. It's a waste of time unless a whole bunch of people gang up on the government and put a stop to telemarketing entirely. Sadly this won't happen because it represents too much revenue to the phone carriers and the U.S. Government."
Another said:
"This number calls and a recorded message states that
I am running out of time to lower the interest rate on one of my
credit cards. They do not identify themselves. I pressed "1" to get a
representative to find out WHO they are and how they got my number (on
no call list). The rep refuses to tell me and hangs up ! I do not want
these unsolicited calls and I am upset that I can get no info on them to
report them."
Another said:
"Just received this voice mail (surprising) they never leave messages:
"...Account. There's no problems currently with your account. It is urgent however that you contact us concerning your eligibility for lowering your interest rates to as little as 6.9%. Your eligibility expires shortly so please consider this your final notice. Please press one now on your phone to speak with a live operator and lower your interest rate or press two to discontinue further notices. Thank you and have a great day".
Who is this?? I, too, am on the Do Not Call. Time to change the phone number."
We definitely need better legislation on this situation and the ability to go outside the country for people who do this and are offshore. And I mean, swat teams who go into another country, or work with that country's government to eradicate the situation.
I really dislike people calling me at home to sell me things. If I want something, I will go to the store myself, look it up online, or find it when I want it. I don't go to their homes to buy things from their company, and I don't want their company coming into my home. It is bad enough to have advertisements all over TV (especially PAID TV), intruding into my personal space.
Telemarketers suck. I see them as I do Municipal Meter Maids who get your car towed and ticket you. Criminals in legal jobs and uniforms. I don't mind if they ticket me, but towing my car? Theft. Unless it is a public hazard, the car shouldn't be towed and yes, I've had my car towed. One time, I was legal and they towed it (twice that happened on the same street. If it says you have to be moved by 4PM, then they shouldn't tow you till 4PM. If they need you gone by 4PM, then say, 3:30PM or 3PM. Otherwise, it comes off as a racket, doesn't it? Kind of like the telemarketers.
Need I say more?
Tormenting Telmarketers: A Game You Can Play at Home!
Everyone has gotten a call from a Telemarketer. The new Scourge of the Telephone System. Previously when the phone rang, you always wondered if it was someone you knew, or another schmuck with something to sell. Well, the time has come to turn the tables. We need to take control of our own phones. We need to take the ``market'' out of Telemarketing.
- Premise:
- Telemarketers take the brute force approach to making sales. If you talk to a whole bunch of people, someone will buy what you are selling.
- Counter-Tactic:
- Waste as much of their time as you can. For each minute that you waste means several potential customers that will not be reached. Make Telemarketing unprofitable. Hanging up only increases the changes for them to make a sale. Don't let this happen!
- Hints:
- Most of the preliminary stuff is done by someone making minimum wage, and reads a script. Let them finish. It's easy points, and you were watching Star Trek and weren't using your phone anyway. It's easy to keep them interested using ``attentive grunting'', similar to when your mother calls.
And the plus up side? They aren't bothering anyone else until you hang up.
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