Get rid of most telemarketing phone calls courtesy of the U.S. government

[Clark Kent]

This is a hot deal considering how annoying the telemarketing pitches are and how they call you during dinner most of the time. Time is money after all as they say. The U.S. government created the National Do Not Call Registry so that it would be illegal for telemarketers to blindly call you up at registered numbers. The registration is now permanent and protection will last as long as the law is valid. I realize this "deal" has been around for a couple of years but I imagine many of this forum's members are not aware of it. Register on-line at:

https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx

I bet some here have been watching a Blu-ray only to be interrupted by a stupid pitch for a product or service they had no intention of buying. The process takes all of 30 seconds to register a number.

[SleeperAgent]

Woot!

[paperthrower2000]

We have the same thing in Canada,I registered and it call the calls down a lot.

[franklinpross]

I turn OFF the ringer and leave ON the answ. machine. (5:30-7:30) They don't get in.

I just registered. How long does it take to kick in?

[Jimbo976]

http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local.../?hub=CP24Home

There are growing concerns that signing up for Canada's "do-not-call" registry may actually increase the likelihood a number will be called by telemarketers.

The list, which was created in 2008, was created to prevent telemarketers from calling people who did not wish to be sold to.

However, its availability for online purchase has made signatories targets for the companies from which it is supposed to be protecting them. Companies are being charged $50 for the list, purportedly so they know which numbers do not wish to be contacted.

"The list is being purchased by fraudulent telemarketers who have access to a list of confirmed telephone numbers," Mel Fruitman of the Consumers Association of Canada tells CP24.

"As a bonus, they have cell phone numbers, which they never had access to before... It's not proper foresight."

[jadedeath]

Originally Posted by Jimbo976

http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local.../?hub=CP24Home

Bingo, we have a winner.

Don't sign up for any 'do not call' lists.

Because there are companies that are international that don't have to abide by U.S. or Canadian laws, that purchase this list and use THAT list to call people.

Logan

[SellmeyourDVD]

We registered all 3 of our work lines and it still didn't matter, we get bombarded EVERY day.

My favorite is the captain calling! The loud blow horn goes off announcing we just won a vacation package . He usually calls on line 3 and when he does we all wonder if the capatin is calling .

The warranty repair people piss me off, they never want to talk they just hang up. I actually got one of them to *almost* quote me a price for a Ferrari Testarosa. He actually started typing it in and than went "oh" and than hung up on me LMAO.

I've also had some foreigners call saying "congratulations you just won a $25 dollar gift card!" I had them on the line for almost 15 minutes before they finally hung up.

Maybe i want them to keep calling after all...... I have a lot of fun when they do

[SleeperAgent]

Yep. It's really nice to harass telemarketers. The machines ruin the fun though.

I once got an actual home phone number from one of them and started giving it to anyone I met that was angry.

[franklinpross]

There is always a 5 second delay so I know it's THEM.
They start the pitch - -- I go along for 4 seconds . . then
start screaming at them in fake Bruce Lee language.
(that's if one Does get thru) It's great therapy.

It's annoying though if I'm expecting a call.

[phlydude]

Here's the deal with the DNC lists...

In the US, if you have an existing relationship with a company, they can all you under the "existing business relationship" exemption - each state either has their own law or follow the Federal guidlines, regardless if you are on the Do Not Call list.
The US version is more expensive than the Canadian one.

Also, if you are business, another business can call you under the BTB (business to business) exemption. There is no legistlation against that.

And charity and POLITICAL calls are allowed in the US, regardless of the DNC listing...lovely how the politicians put themselves above the law yet again!

And want to know the reason why we call you during dinner time? It is because that is the time determined that you are most likely to be home (5 PM - 9 PM in your time zone).

If you want to read more about this stuff, here you go: http://www.ataconnect.org/

and yes, I am in the telemarketing industry and have been for over 15 yrs...I deal with major banks that offer you programs for your credit card (payoff / suspension programs) - it pays the bills...

[mikejet]

Make sure that whenever you get a call you specifically tell them not to call you back. If they do you can report it and they can be fined up to 1 million.

[phlydude]

Originally Posted by mikejet

Make sure that whenever you get a call you specifically tell them not to call you back. If they do you can report it and they can be fined up to 1 million.

You have to ask them to specifically "take me off your calling list - I don't want any more calls from XXXX company name"

It takes up to 30 days to remove - most companies do a mid-campaign refresh to purge out newly requested numbers - if your name is on one list, it is probably on many across many different companies providing telemarketing service for the entity the is being called on behalf of

and the fine is $11,000 USD per offense if deemed valid - the consumer does NOT see any of that-it goes to the policital pockets

btw - the National DNC for the US is a quarterly list - if you are added to it, it could take up to 3 months to be filtered out to the companies that subscribe to it

[dadkins]

Registered years ago and the frequency did go down.
Still get the osccasional machine calling about my credit card or my car warranty - but not nearly as often as I used to.
The "refinance your mortgage" calls have pretty much stopped.

[mikejet]

Originally Posted by phlydude

You have to ask them to specifically "take me off your calling list - I don't want any more calls from XXXX company name"

It takes up to 30 days to remove - most companies do a mid-campaign refresh to purge out newly requested numbers - if your name is on one list, it is probably on many across many different companies providing telemarketing service for the entity the is being called on behalf of

and the fine is $11,000 USD per offense if deemed valid - the consumer does NOT see any of that-it goes to the policital pockets

btw - the National DNC for the US is a quarterly list - if you are added to it, it could take up to 3 months to be filtered out to the companies that subscribe to it

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/37825

[Ferris]

I didn't realize that when a caller answers, the call must be connected within 2 seconds.... There are plenty of times when this isn't met on the calls I get.

[phlydude]

Originally Posted by mikejet

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/37825

Yes, I said per offense - your story is about two companies that violated the DNC list multiple times and settled for 1.2 million with the government combined

Your link crashed my browser but if I am not mistaken, it was companies doing work on behalf of Directv trying to get subscriptions. They also abandoned calls and didn't attempt to reconnect - big no-no (if you do abandon, you have to play a recording with a phone number for the customer to opt out of the calling list).

The offense fine is $11,000 per occurance for the SECOND time the same telemarketing company calls you after requesting a do not call request (we are given a 1 time courtesy oopsie)

Also, the delay people hear when answering the phone is the dialer (one company pretty much dominates the telemarkting out-bound calling dialer solutions) determining whether or not the answer on the line is a live person or a recording (answering machine). It is called Auto Answering machine detection. If you want to get the calls over with, simply answer with a "hello?" - a live rep will be routed your call - if no rep is available, it searches for a few seconds until you hang up or it plays you a message.

[mikejet]

Originally Posted by phlydude

Yes, I said per offense - your story is about two companies that violated the DNC list multiple times and settled for 1.2 million with the government combined

Your link crashed my browser but if I am not mistaken, it was companies doing work on behalf of Directv trying to get subscriptions. They also abandoned calls and didn't attempt to reconnect - big no-no (if you do abandon, you have to play a recording with a phone number for the customer to opt out of the calling list).

The offense fine is $11,000 per occurance for the SECOND time the same telemarketing company calls you after requesting a do not call request (we are given a 1 time courtesy oopsie)

Also, the delay people hear when answering the phone is the dialer (one company pretty much dominates the telemarkting out-bound calling dialer solutions) determining whether or not the answer on the line is a live person or a recording (answering machine). It is called Auto Answering machine detection. If you want to get the calls over with, simply answer with a "hello?" - a live rep will be routed your call - if no rep is available, it searches for a few seconds until you hang up or it plays you a message.

I thought autodialers were illegal?

[phlydude]

Originally Posted by mikejet

I thought autodialers were illegal?

as long as they are routed to live reps, it is fine

it isn't like the Homer Simpson AT-5000

The dialer itself is pretty complicated machine with all kinds of rack mounted pc boards with direct pipes into DS-3 lines (aka T-3 = 672 regular quality voice lines)

the dialer the industry uses is called a "Predicitive Dialer"
most companies get their solutions from a company called SER (formally EIS)

[quexos]

Great stuff, I hope such protections will be eventually implemented in my country cause man am I not sick of those phone scams ? You can tell them a million times you are not interested, that you'd rather shoot yourself 10 times before you even consider buying into their scams, they still call you.

What I do now is hang up as soon as they identify themselves but they still don't get it.

[dadkins]

Originally Posted by quexos

Great stuff, I hope such protections will be eventually implemented in my country cause man am I not sick of those phone scams ? You can tell them a million times you are not interested, that you'd rather shoot yourself 10 times before you even consider buying into their scams, they still call you.

What I do now is hang as soon as they identify themselves but they still don't get it.

A certain Refinance company always had the same guy calling here - I got used to his voice.

As soon as I heard him, I hung up.