BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.

Subject: RE: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: GUEST,999
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 03:38 PM

I have said, "I am in a hurry. Gimme your number and I'll call you back in ten minutes or so. THEY take MY number off the list.

Subject: RE: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 02:38 PM

There is a piece of tackle on the market which will intercept calls, take the caller's details and then ring you and ask whether you want to receive the call. The trouble is it costs around £125. I'd rather slam the phone down.

Subject: RE: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 12:40 PM

I filter all calls through my answer phone and only pick the phone up if I know that it is somebody that I want to speak to.

Subject: RE: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 03:34 AM

I've recently had a new spin on these. A letter purporting to come from China (but posted in UK) from a Chinese "lawyer" addressed correctly to me by name informing me that he is the financial manager for someone with my unusual surname who died in a hiking accident in China (as you do!)and, of course, not leaving a will, despite having $21 million dollars on deposit. This kind gentleman is willing to share this fortune 50/50 with me despite me not being related to the deceased. I include his details (no address given, of course) below so you can all check with him in case he has similar funds belonging to someone with YOUR surname!
Mr Tuka Zi
Tel:[phone]
Fax:[phone]
Email: [e-mail]

I am asking him to invest my share in the Mudcat Tavern Inc. and the NYCFTTS.

I'm on the telephone preference list in the UK and the online equivalent but it doesn't stop overseas callers, who always seem to ring at mealtimes (or perhaps I'm always eating!). Like Michael, when I get someone garbling my name I just put the phone down. If they purport to be in the UK I point out their company can be fined for breaching the TPS rules and put the phone down.
RtS

Subject: RE: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 28 Aug 11 - 12:43 AM

Mrrzy, you have a well trained lad - a credit to him & those doing the training!

I'm on the Australian Don't Call registry & rarely get calls, & just hang up if an unknown voice announces their name & company brightly or doesn't know me (can I speak to Mrs ...) I hang up even faster if there is no-one on the line. Like others I assume genuine callers will ring back. We also have exemptions for marketing/survey companies, companies which have a business relationship, charities & political callers.

One problem I have is folks wanting a gig at my club, but I can generally differentiate them from the junk mail callers.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: Mrrzy
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 03:40 PM

They've gotten my cell phone somehow...

But one of the best things I ever heard said to a telemarketer was one of my sons, aged maybe 8, who answered the phone politely, listened a bit, and then said, um, if you can't pronounce her name, why would she want to speak with you? And they hung up. I was so proud of him.

Subject: RE: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 03:18 PM

Like Fred, I feel no compunction in just putting down the phone without saying anything as soon as a voice obviously calling from somewhere in the Punjab says "Am I speaking to Mr Gross-venner Mayer?, or some such.

If it is by any chance a genuine caller, they will take it there is some fault that caused their call to be aborted and try again. None ever has yet.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 03:15 PM

In the US, the law specifically exempts registered charities, political candidates, and "survey canvasers" from the prohibition against calling a number listed on the do not call registry.

If a candidate wants to call you it is perfectly legal.

If a solicitor for a charity wants to call you it is perfectly legal.

If a survey taker wants to call you it is perfectly legal.

A little on the shady side, and ambiguous with respect to whether it's really legal, is the call from a bill collector who just "thinks someone who owes money" is at the number.

About the only ones barred from calling you are businesses who might want to tell you about what they'll do for you if you have not done business with them recently. If you respond to any call, even an illegal one, in almost any way (such as by saying $@%#^!!) the business may presume that a "business relationship" has been established, which permits them to call you at will for the next 90 days. Since they are permitted to call for up to 90 days from the date of your last "business relationship," a call on the 89th day that gets any response technically entitles them to another 90 days.

It's a less than perfect system.

John

Subject: RE: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: Crowhugger
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 02:11 PM

In Canada, charities and election campaigners are exempt from DNC lists, but have to follow rules about when calls can be made. Also exempt are companies with whom one has done business within the last 2 years, so for example one's bank and its credit card and insurance departments are free to pester with impunity. As are the million worthy charities looking for a buck. It got really tiresome informing them one by one that I've chosen my charities and have no plans to change them.

Solution: We simply don't answer the land line, it serves our machinery. For cell phone, I've put ALL friends and family & busniess contacts into my cellphone contact list. There's a sound setting where I can specify the ringtone to use for numbers not on the contact list, so I set one. It's actually a custom recording of me saying "junk call, don't answer this".
:-)
If the unidentified call is from someone worth my time, they'll leave a message (corollary: if you haven't left me a message or called from a number you gave me, you aren't worth my time). In my experience, junk callers never leave a message.

I've put all our numbers on Canada's DNC list and contrary to popular belief, it did not result in an increase in junk calls. We do have a few less; I can tell by the time of day: The one who calls at 9:40 nearly every weekday still does as does the 4:20-ish caller and some others; the 10:15 hasn't for a long time now. Those regular rings have become like train whistles: part of the sonic landscape where I live.

Subject: RE: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 12:48 PM

In the U.S., the National Do Not Call Registry is https://donotcall.gov/. There's been a change in the registry and you no longer have to renew your registration every five years - your registration is permanent until you change your phone number.

What frustrated me for a long time was that there was no easy way to file a complaint. Now there is, right on the same Website. Most of the information requested is on the Caller ID on my phone, so it just takes a minute to file a complaint. I don't know if filing a complaint does any good, but it feels better once I've done it.

I had been getting recorded calls from "Obama Stim," offering to refinance my house. It felt good to report these guys, since they had used the name of my President in vain.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: DebC
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 12:10 PM

Many of these calls come domestically and if I do answer, it's a recording or a robo-call.

I have just gotten to the point where I don't answer the phone and screen the calls.

Deb Cowan

Subject: RE: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: Alice
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 11:41 AM

No, the best thing to do is say, "Put this number on your company do not call list". They are aware of the law.

Ask the name of the company and tell them you are on the national do not call list, if you are already registered on that FCC/FTC list. Note the time and date of the call. Then file a complaint.

Here is the info to file a complaint:
How To Make A Telemarketing Complaint

Subject: RE: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: SINSULL
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 11:38 AM

Don't answer the phone. They are usually "robot" calls tracking when you are most likely to answer the phone. With that info a live telemarketer has a better chance of reaching you.

Subject: RE: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 09:25 AM

They're a total menace. The best thing to do is hang up without even speaking to them.

Subject: RE: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 09:07 AM

Saul, are they made from your own country or from 'abroad'. It's practically impossible to monitor or prevent foreign phonecalls to your number. Here (UK) I believe that if one specifically asks for no more cals to be received and a firm persists, they can be charged with harrassment, but only if they are based in UK. It's maddening, and we're Ex-Directory, so heaven knows how they get our number!

Subject: BS: DONOTCALL! Solicitations.
From: saulgoldie
Date: 27 Aug 11 - 07:55 AM

I have been getting solicitations on my personal cell and work cell, as well as my home and work landline phones, even though all of them are listed on the national DONOTCALL registry. I have reported some calls, but they keep coming. Aren't there supposed to be stiff penalties for this, especially for cell phone solicitations? I thought there were supposed to be direct payouts from the offenders to the victims. Perhaps the fines, if there are any, are not stiff enough?

Saul