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Who's calling me?
Old 07-07-2007, 11:09 AM   #1
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Who's calling me?

Want to figure out who keeps calling and hanging up or not saying anything?
whocalled.us
Maybe you can call them back around dinner time.....

OR, for the litigious among us....

» Telemarketers Calling and Wont Stop Litigious Consumer: A guide for striking back when companies break the law..
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Old 07-07-2007, 11:15 AM   #2
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Nice information! Thanks!
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Old 07-07-2007, 12:24 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by calmloki View Post
Want to figure out who keeps calling and hanging up or not saying anything?
whocalled.us
Maybe you can call them back around dinner time.....
I guess this works a lot better if you have Caller ID?

We get a call or two a day but we avoid picking up until the 4th ring. By then the telemarketer's computer has detected the presence of an answering machine and quit after the 2nd or 3rd ring.

Our worst offenders are cell-phone kids. They can't believe that they got our answering machine instead of our teenager, so they'll redial five or six times in a row before they decide to leave a message. This gets a bit tiresome at 11 PM so we turn the ringers off when we go to bed.

Typical call for our kid:
Kid's voice: "Is ____ there?"
Me: "Sure, who's calling?"
Kid: "This is _______."
Me (looking out front window to other side of cul-de-sac): "Is that you out there sitting on the sidewalk?"
Kid: "Uh, yeah?"
Me: "Well, why don't you get up off your butt, walk it over here, ring our doorbell, and we'll have our daughter come to the door?"

And that's with her girlfriends! I can't wait until the guys start calling...
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Old 07-07-2007, 12:48 PM   #4
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That was the one really, really nice feature about the now defunct AT&T callvantages VOIP offering...scheduled 'do not disturb'.

You could set it to not ring your phone from, say, 9pm-8am and send calls directly to voicemail. You could however set it for certain numbers to be able to dial through, or to give people an announcement that if their call was a dire emergency, to press '1' or remain on the line to leave a message.

A great phone feature that I havent seen implemented in any other system, although I'm sure someone else has it.
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Old 07-07-2007, 01:16 PM   #5
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thanks for the link, i found out that bofa insurance called - they hung up when i answered - or else i would have asked them to take me off their friggin list...i didn't know who it was till now!
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Old 07-07-2007, 02:09 PM   #6
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thanks for the link, i found out that bofa insurance called - they hung up when i answered - or else i would have asked them to take me off their friggin list...i didn't know who it was till now!
I remember an article somewhere that quoted a guy from a telemarket who said that when people asked them that, they would take them off their do not call list, if they even had one.
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Old 07-07-2007, 02:21 PM   #7
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The worst is getting a wrong fax with auto redial every five minutes.
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Old 07-07-2007, 03:52 PM   #8
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Quote:
Me: "Well, why don't you get up off your butt, walk it over here, ring our doorbell, and we'll have our daughter come to the door?"
Gee, I wonder why they want to try to bypass dealing with the parents?

We get almost zero telemarketing calls, except during elections. A big change occurred when we moved out of the city, but doesn't the national do not call list work for you guys?
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Old 07-07-2007, 04:33 PM   #9
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...
We get almost zero telemarketing calls, except during elections. A big change occurred when we moved out of the city, but doesn't the national do not call list work for you guys?
Do not call works sorta, for 5 years per registration. However:
  1. If I register my number on the National Do Not Call Registry, will it stop all telemarketing calls?

    No. Placing your number on the National Do Not Call Registry will stop most telemarketing calls, but not all. Because of limitations in the jurisdiction of the FTC and FCC, calls from or on behalf of political organizations, charities, and telephone surveyors would still be permitted, as would calls from companies with which you have an existing business relationship, or those to whom you’ve provided express agreement in writing to receive their calls.
  2. Are calls from political organizations or calls soliciting for charities covered?

    Political solicitations are not covered by the TSR at all, since they are not included in its definition of “telemarketing.” Charities are not covered by the requirements of the national registry. However, if a third-party telemarketer is calling on behalf of a charity, a consumer may ask not to receive any more calls from, or on behalf of, that specific charity. If a third-party telemarketer calls again on behalf of that charity, the telemarketer may be subject to a fine of up to $11,000.
  3. What about telephone surveys?

    If the call is really for the sole purpose of conducting a survey, it is not covered. Only telemarketing calls are covered — that is, calls that solicit sales of goods or services. Callers purporting to take a survey, but also offering to sell goods or services, must comply with the National Do Not Call Registry.
  4. My number is on the National Do Not Call Registry. After I bought something from a company, a telemarketer representing that organization called me. Is this a violation?

    No. By purchasing something from the company, you established a business relationship with the company. As a result, even if you put your number on the National Do Not Call Registry, that company may call you for up to 18 months after your last purchase or delivery from it, or your last payment to it, unless you ask the company not to call again. In that case, the company must honor your request not to call. If they subsequently call you again, they may be subject to a fine of up to $11,000.
    An established business relationship with a company also will be created if you make an inquiry to the company, or submit an application to it. This kind of established business relationship exists for three months after the inquiry or application. During this time, the company can call you.
    If you make a specific request to that company not to call you, however, then the company may not call you, even if you have an established business relationship with that company.
And that's the pig dogs calling you legally. What cranks me up is the private number or number not listed cats. Since I feel like our tenants should be able to reach us at any time we don't block that kind of call. Boy i hate our phones.
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Old 07-07-2007, 05:26 PM   #10
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as would calls from companies with which you have an existing business relationship

And this is the pisser. You have a credit card with a bank, which is a subsidiary of some humongous financial company, and they have lots of other subsidiaries.

Anyone in any part of that company can call you up.

I solved the telemarketing calls by:

- Getting on the "do not call" list
- Calling all my credit card companies, banks, brokerages, etc and telling them that I do not want any direct marketing of any kind, just information about my existing account.
- Going to the three credit bureaus and telling them that I do not want them to sell my information for marketing purposes.

That stopped it. The DNC list was only partly effective.

I still got a bazillion calls from companies offering to refinance my mortgage.

Unless you're new here, you're already laughing...
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Old 07-07-2007, 05:33 PM   #11
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Somewhere along the way, I sold my soul to the devil but the money has let me make peace with it.

I do a lot of programming on the side. One client does inbound and outbound call center support (read, call people at dinner time) for some very large companies. I write software to help them evaluate how their agents do. Never have I been so tempted to add bugs to my code that won't show up for months / years.
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Old 07-07-2007, 05:55 PM   #12
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The worst for us lately has been pet prescriptions at pedmeds, who keep calling trying to get us to renew prescriptions.
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Old 07-07-2007, 06:04 PM   #13
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I'm just putting any stray telemarketers on the phone with Gabe.

He seems thrilled to have someone to talk to. Not sure how the person on the other end of the line feels to be told "I did poo-poo!", but then again I dont care.
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Old 07-07-2007, 07:38 PM   #14
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We very seldom answer the phone when it rings. The answering machine will get it. Our friends and family know that, so they'll wait for the 'beep', and then say something to the effect of "Answer the d*mn phone!" At which point we'll reach over and pick it up.

If it's not a friend or relative....sometimes even if it is.....we don't pick up, and most times they won't leave a message either!

We're on the DNC list, and that has eliminated about 95% of the calls. There are times we'll go for a couple of weeks with out the phone ringing. It's wonderful!!!

I also did the "Opt-Out" for junk mail, too. Our trash can doesn't get full so fast anymore! Of course there are days that we get no mail at all.
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Old 07-07-2007, 10:54 PM   #15
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Listen to Tom Mabe turning the table on a telemarketer, this is utterly hilarious.

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Old 07-07-2007, 11:40 PM   #16
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No problems with telemarketers either. We have phones where you can choose the type of tone that sounds when it rings. We have picked one type of tone for friends and family. When we store a family/friend's number in the phone's memory we give it the designated tone. If we don't hear that particular tone we do not answer. If it is a doctor's office or the like they will leave a message on voice mail other wise it is assumed to be a telemarketer and is ignored.
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Old 07-08-2007, 07:35 AM   #17
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I'm not sure if I'm just lucky or if my only phone being a cell is what saves me. I am not on the DNC list and I only get maybe one call every couple of months.

This last one was from Hilton trying to get me to buy a discounted trip to Vegas and listen to a timeshare presentation. I was pretty tempted, after someone here posting a review saying this was real. But the timing didn't work for me so I had to pass on it.

However, sometimes telemarketers are fun. I enjoy telling them that I don't believe in saving money so I don't need their services. They usually are stumped at that point and say goodbye. Also, I blame all financial decisions on the fiance. One of them, obviously agitated, asked me, "You mean you can't make a decision on this good a deal without asking your fiance?". My reply was "damn right - we decide everything together." She was off the phone like 10 sec later. Of course I make most financial decisions, but the telemarketer didn't need to know that
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Old 07-08-2007, 08:39 AM   #18
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Heres one good link:
Consumer Assistance

and heres another one:
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t
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