National Do Not Call Registry

[mickeyd]

If I recall correctly the DNC registry is good for 5 years. I just signed up for another 5 year stint. I have been receiving some telemarketing calls recently ( after years of none) and could not figure out why. After checking my records, I see that my 5 years expired in April.

If the shoe fits...

 

[braumeister]

Your registration doesn't expire ever. When they first set it up, there was supposed to be a limit, but that was changed.

 

[Amethyst]

We are on the "Do Not Call List," yet still get a lot of weird calls from "Person to Person LLC," "Private Number," and names of probably fictitious folks. When I look up the phone number that appears on the screen, it always appears that many others have gotten called by the same number. I presume that certain marketing outfits have figured out how to dodge DNCL in some way, probably by claiming that we "opted in" to their calls when we bought something on-line.

In any event, that's why we have an answering machine, and never pick up calls unless the caller comes on line and identifies himself/herself. (And sometimes, not then).

Amethyst

 

[Dawg52]

I get calls all the time from 'customer service' wanting to talk to me about my interest rate on my credit card. These people must be exempt from the DNC policy.

 

[mickeyd]

Your registration doesn't expire ever. When they first set it up, there was supposed to be a limit, but that was changed.

Than I guess in double registered...

 

[braumeister]

Just a suggestion.
When I get a call from someone who is ignoring my DNC status, I go to donotcall.gov and file a complaint on them. You just have to give your phone #, the time of the call, and the offending number (from your caller ID).

I have never received a second call from anyone I filed a complaint on.

 

[W2R]

I get calls all the time from 'customer service' wanting to talk to me about my interest rate on my credit card. These people must be exempt from the DNC policy.

I get calls from "Rachel at cardholder services", and I don't even HAVE a credit card. I think that there must be few consequences to violating this policy. At any rate, I just hang up.

 

[mickeyd]

Just a suggestion.
When I get a call from someone who is ignoring my DNC status, I go to donotcall.gov and file a complaint on them. You just have to give your phone #, the time of the call, and the offending number (from your caller ID).

I have never received a second call from anyone I filed a complaint on.

I have been getting a lot of this from robo-callers~ "If you wish to be removed from our list press #1. If you wish to continue press 2".

Hobsons choice...so I hang up as I assume that #1 will be worse than #2. No chance to hear the name of the caller so that I can turn them in to the Feds!

 

[LOL!]

We have a land-line and an answering machine connected to it. We do not have caller ID. If the phone rings, we ignore it and let the machine answer. It doesn't even matter if we are next to the phone or not: we ignore it.

That's quite a conquest from the 1960's when it was "Quick! It's long distance!"

 

[East Texas]

I fill out the complaint form on the FTC website each time I get "Rachel" from credit card services and calls from Texas State Troopers. I've asked the Texas State Troopers to quit calling at least 50 times! The last call was a few weeks ago and "Jason" demanded to know the name of each person with whom I placed the "quit annoying" me request. I included that information on the complaint form.

Even though political and charitable organizations are exempt from the DNC, they have to quit calling upon your request.

 

[steelyman]

While this is not a DNC-specific thing, I have, over the past five years or so, continually gotten calls from collection agencies for some woman who I've never heard of. It's quite irritating, however the agencies do shut up when I finally tell them I have lived in my current residence for 13 years, have had the same number and haven't a clue who so-and-so (no names on a public forum) is. I'm pretty sure I won't hear her name anymore when I move away next year .

 

[East Texas]

Collection agencies are outside the DNC restrictions. Like you, we get calls for someone who hasn't had this number in ages. Just when we think the calls have stopped the debt gets sold and the calls start again.

Now if someone can give me the right words to make the Texas State Troopers group quit calling. Nothing I've tried has worked....

 

[ziggy29]

I fill out the complaint form on the FTC website each time I get "Rachel" from credit card services and calls from Texas State Troopers. I've asked the Texas State Troopers to quit calling at least 50 times! The last call was a few weeks ago and "Jason" demanded to know the name of each person with whom I placed the "quit annoying" me request. I included that information on the complaint form.

And most of these charities supposedly representing police and firefighters are a sham anyway, often barely (if at all) connected to actual public safety workers and usually with 80% of the donations going to fundraising overhead. But they prey on the public goodwill for those occupations, especially since 9/11, and sell hard.

There are some good ones, but usually you should ask your local police and fire department what their favored charities are. They almost certainly won't be these ripoffs.

 

[nphx]

Sure wish there was a do not spam list - i could retire now on my jg wentworth claims of abuse.

 

[M Paquette]

While this is not a DNC-specific thing, I have, over the past five years or so, continually gotten calls from collection agencies for some woman who I've never heard of. It's quite irritating, however the agencies do shut up when I finally tell them I have lived in my current residence for 13 years, have had the same number and haven't a clue who so-and-so (no names on a public forum) is. I'm pretty sure I won't hear her name anymore when I move away next year .

Yeah, we get calls for a specific individual just like that. I've got the drill down now. When we get a call for "Bobo", or "Bobo Deadbeat", we handle these by asking for the name of the caller, AND the address. When asked what they are calling about. they should respond with something like 'It's a personal matter."

These are collection agencies. Someone put our phone number on a loan application or some such, then defaulted, and now we get the collection calls. The agencies are required by law to provide the caller name and address, and are forbidden to disclose any information on the debt to anyone other than the person they are trying to reach.

Once we have the name and address, we can tell them we don't know this person, and ask that they not call again. If they do call, we'll send them a written notice. Use certified mail with a return receipt. (My experience is that without doing this, they'll just keep calling every few days. The deadbeat must owe a lot...) This sets them up for a violation of 15 USC 1692c on future calls, which is good for a court filing, and almost always a default judgement for $1000 plus legal expenses.

It's nice to have a hobby that pays for itself.

 

[obgyn65]

Thank you for the advice, M Paquette.

nce we have the name and address, we can tell them we don't know this person, and ask that they not call again. If they do call, we'll send them a written notice. Use certified mail with a return receipt. (My experience is that without doing this, they'll just keep calling every few days. The deadbeat must owe a lot...) This sets them up for a violation of 15 USC 1692c on future calls, which is good for a court filing, and almost always a default judgement for $1000 plus legal expenses.

It's nice to have a hobby that pays for itself.

 

[TromboneAl]

I don't think these laws are enforced much. What can you expect when the politicians themselves ignore the robocall laws?

 

[scrabbler1]

I am usually so annoyed at being disturbed by someone violating the DNC law that it is at best 50-50 I yell at them to stop calling me because I am on DNC. The rest of the time I hang up. I do not have caller-ID but do have an answering machine.

Besides those annoying robocalls from "Rachel" asking me about the interest rate on my credit card, I get too many calls from businesses I have an existing reliationship with, those who are exempt from the DNC. I get calls from my local phone and cable companies offering me additional (and costly, of course) servces I have no interest in. I used to listen to more of their pitch but over the years I yell "NO" and hang up on them mid-sentence.

It has gotten to the point where I dread the phone ringing these days!

 

[W2R]

I am usually so annoyed at being disturbed by someone violating the DNC law that it is at best 50-50 I yell at them to stop calling me because I am on DNC. The rest of the time I hang up. I do not have caller-ID but do have an answering machine.

Besides those annoying robocalls from "Rachel" asking me about the interest rate on my credit card, I get too many calls from businesses I have an existing reliationship with, those who are exempt from the DNC. I get calls from my local phone and cable companies offering me additional (and costly, of course) servces I have no interest in. I used to listen to more of their pitch but over the years I yell "NO" and hang up on them mid-sentence.

It has gotten to the point where I dread the phone ringing these days!

Wow! You are making me feel so polite and genteel. I normally interrupt and say firmly, "I'm-not-interested-thank-you-goodbye" and immediately hang up.

One thing that has really helped is to put my phone at arm's reach from my favorite easy chair. It's a lot less annoying to answer a junk phone call when I don't even have to walk to the phone to do so.

 

[ziggy29]

One thing that has really helped is to put my phone at arm's reach from my favorite easy chair. It's a lot less annoying to answer a junk phone call when I don't even have to walk to the phone to do so.

Our satellite TV box has caller ID built into it so if we're watching something we can see who is calling on-screen -- and 3/4 of the time we don't have to get up to answer it.

 

[M Paquette]

It has gotten to the point where I dread the phone ringing these days!

No, no. You're doing it wrong.

Unsolicited phone calls are opportunities for endless entertainment!

For those credit card calls, try asking them "Just how does this credit card work?", and no matter what they say, reply "I don't understand."

Ask them what they're wearing. "Is it tight? I bet it's tight. Do you like... wet leather?"

If they ask to speak to someone else, start crying. "Oh, God... Why did you have to remind me of him/her? Ohhhh...."

Think of it as an informal improvisational theater...

 

[scrabbler1]

M Paquette, I appreciate that for others, an unsolicited phone call such as the ones we have been discussing here can be a source of entertainment. But for me, I have other ways of entertaining myself. And none of them include being on the phone with someone I don't want to be on the phone with.

I hate it when the phone rings, even when it is someone I know on the other end. I usualy want the call to be nice and short. So when the caller is someone I do NOT want to speak with, I simply want to end the call as quickly as possible.

My patience with these unsolicited calls has, after all these years, worn very, very thin. Adn if you think I am rude or impatient, you should hear my ladyfriend when she gets a call from an unsolicited caller. She goes off on the caller, shouting, "How did you get my number and why are you calling me? I am on the DO NOT CALL LIST and you are violating the law. Get me OFF your list and NEVER call me again!" She makes ME look polite and genteel LOL!

 

[braumeister]

I've posted this before, but here's another suggestion for those who are especially bothered by these calls, at least if you have caller ID on your home phone.

About a year ago, I bought a new phone system for the house. It has a base unit with answering machine, and several remote wireless units. It's a very good phone system in its own right, but it has a feature that no other system has, to my knowledge.

This one lets you put a block on up to 20 specific numbers, in addition to any number that has caller ID blocked (like the ones that just say "unknown number" in the caller ID window). There are a couple of other systems that do the same thing, but this system is unique.

Here's the thing that makes this system unique: Since caller ID information is transmitted between the first and second rings, other phone systems will ring once, then block further rings and disconnect. I didn't want even that initial ring. This system always suppresses the first ring, so you're not bothered at all. If you hear it ring, there's a reasonable chance you actually will want to answer.

Whenever I get a questionable call, I simply block that number. When I get up to the limit of 20 blocks, I just delete the oldest few blocks and keep adding new ones as needed. I maintain a list of blocked numbers and when I blocked them, and find that when I need to delete the oldest ones, they are always more than six months old. Those generic "unknown number" calls don't count against your 20 blocks.

If you're interested, it's the Uniden DECT 6.0 system, model 2188-3 (there are various systems with different numbers of remote wireless units so you can buy the number you need), and the whole thing cost me less than $100. Amazon and others carry it. Well worth it in avoided aggravation, and I highly recommend it.

Amazon.com: Uniden DECT 6.0 Corded/Cordless Digital Answering System with Three Cordless Handsets (DECT2188-3): Electronics

 

[Rustward]

And most of these charities supposedly representing police and firefighters are a sham anyway, often barely (if at all) connected to actual public safety workers and usually with 80% of the donations going to fundraising overhead. But they prey on the public goodwill for those occupations, especially since 9/11, and sell hard.

There are some good ones, but usually you should ask your local police and fire department what their favored charities are. They almost certainly won't be these ripoffs.

I have found that if you ask if the caller himself or herself is a police or firefighter they will answer NO. Probe a little further: Do you have a policeperson or firefighter in your immediate family? NO. Are you a volunteer? NO. About then you have them in the position of telling you that they are compensated by keeping a portion of your "contribution" most of them will give up without a fight. Just tell them that you choose to make your contributions directly to the cause and not to a third party that gets a cut off the top.

By far, the quickest way to get somebody asking you for money off the line is to tell them nobody in the house w*rks. Doesn't necessarily have to be true. It is very effective.

 

[Nords]

I don't think these laws are enforced much. What can you expect when the politicians themselves ignore the robocall laws?

I think they can expect to lose their next election...

I do not have caller-ID but do have an answering machine.
It has gotten to the point where I dread the phone ringing these days!

I've posted this before, but here's another suggestion for those who are especially bothered by these calls, at least if you have caller ID on your home phone.
I didn't want even that initial ring. This system always suppresses the first ring, so you're not bothered at all. If you hear it ring, there's a reasonable chance you actually will want to answer.

We have an older cordless Uniden phone system, and it's one of the best we've ever owned. (Thanks, Gumby!)

But we've come up with a cheaper, simpler alternative to Caller ID and blocking systems. We've shut our ringers off.

We've been doing this for nearly a decade, and I can't remember ever regretting missing a single call. We're never overridden by our Pavlovian reflexes. No more interrupted dinner conversations. No more wrong numbers or teenagers making multiple attempts to get our daughter to pick up. No more 4 AM rings from Mainland callers who can't subtract the time zones correctly. The telemarketers usually give up by the second ring (they can probably detect the answering machine). Robopoliticians happily chat away to dead air until the machine times out. Friends & neighbors never need an immediate response, and they don't mind if we call them back in 5-10 minutes.

Another side effect is that people stop calling "just to touch base" or because they're lonely. They've learned that they can get a faster response by e-mail, or they'll call someone else, or they'll (*gasp*) figure out the answer all by themselves.

We'll turn on the ringers when we're expecting a call or a callback. But nowadays even our daughter e-mails us to let us know when she'll be calling.