Do Not Call List / Telemarketers

[Midpack]

DW was wondering why the Do Not Call list hasn't worked (better). We've been on the Do Not Call list from the start, but we still get telemarketers, more frequent with each passing year. I almost never answer unknown callers (if you're not in my contacts, I don't answer), and they will stop trying after X number of tries. Thank goodness for Caller ID. If a legit unknown caller wants to get through, they'll have to leave a message, and I'll call - so I don't think I miss any worthwhile calls. When telemarketers leave messages, rarely, obviously I don't return their calls.

The article says answering and hanging up won't work. It says getting angry won't work. It says a telemarketer is waiting for three "No" responses before giving up, worth remembering I guess. It says asking any questions or showing any interest is a bad idea, duh.

The only thing it said that I hadn't heard before was to tell the telemarketer to 'please put me on your no call list.' And repeat as many times as necessary. I guess I'll try that on the next rare occasion when I do answer an unknown caller.

I can count on one hand the times in my 62 years when a cold call of any type (not just via phone, in person, email, etc.) was of even remote interest. Don't call me, I'll call you...

Edit: We don't have a landline, so those devices won't help.

The most efficient way to get the person to stop calling you requires you to say one sentence: "Please put me on your do not call list." Don't say "Can you put me on your do not call list?" or "I don't want to get these calls." This will lead them to ask why. Be polite, but firm. If they ask why or won't do it right away, remain calm and repeat, "I want you to put me on your do not call list."

I'm a Telemarketer. Here's How to Get Rid of Me

 

[sengsational]

The Sentry 2 device automates the process of saying "take me off your list". And you don't even hear the phone ring (if you set it up that way).

If someone really wants to get through, they listen to the Sentry message, hang-up and call back, and your phone rings. I've had no problem with mechanics, dentists, and even call centers where I leave my number for a call-back.

You'd think the telemarketers would hang-up and call back, but in the 3 (?) years I've had the device, only one telemarketer did that, and the topic of conversation was NOT what he was selling, it was why he ignored the Sentry message. He realized there was no hope of selling anything to me and said "goodbye".

PS: Do not try to save a buck and get the Sentry V1....go for V2.

 

[EastWest Gal]

We switched to OOMA. We pay $5/month for premier. They maintain a national blacklist. You also maintain a personal blacklist.

I occasionally answer unknown callers if it is a repeat or local number. I just say I never give money for anything over the telephone. And I don't. Not to my alma mater, not to charities that I donate to. If it is obviously a scam and the caller is from India, I usually hang up but sometimes I tell the person they are working for a criminal enterprise, they are committing a crime, and they should be ashamed of themselves. It's powerful not to get angry and to speak the truth. Usually they hang up. Funny, that gets us off their list pretty quickly. More often it is a robocall and I just hang up. Also, if you let it go maximum rings, the computer drops your call before you answer.

 

[Bruceski44]

Typical of most government actions to protect us, the DNC list is unenforceable. I looked on the FCC website to see how to report a caller (some years ago) and found out you have to get the company name, their address, the name of the caller, the date and time, etc. As soon as I ask for the first piece of this info, they hang up on me.

The loophole they typically use is to say "You contacted me about six months ago, so I'm following up to see what your interest is now." because the law allows for calls in the case of a preexisting business relationship, or for non-profits. The non-profits I can deal with, but I always correct the others if they try to say I had a previous interest in their product.

Since I realize the person on the phone is just trying to make a living, I patiently wait for a break in their pitch, then say "I'm not interested, please take my name off your list and do not call back." Easier yet, I just stopped answering the landline.

 

[easysurfer]

I have a Sentry call blocking device for my landline and the built-in message that telemarketers get does say to remove from the call list. Before the blocker, I'd get upwards of 10 calls a day. After, there are times I only get one or two (I have the blocker set up to allow one ring before the blocker's message intercepts).

Was watching the nightly news the other night about a new scam in that the caller would call and ask a trick question like 'Can you hear me now?" and secretly record you saying "Yes", then go ahead and use that recording against you saying you said yes to certain charges. ... Low, low, tactics .

 

[Bestwifeever]

Remembering back to before the DNC list, I actually think it works pretty well. Home repair people used to call while we were eating dinner.

Now we get a spoof spam call every day around 10 or 3, check the number without answering, and delete and block. Pretty sure these are generated outside the US using spoofed numbers so not subject to regulation, but not hard to deal with.

 

[FIYes]

We are on the Do Not Call list and get many, many junk calls. If I don't recognize the number...I don't answer. I alert my friends that if they call from an unknown number, leave a message and I will call right back. I assume legitimate businesses adhere to the Do Not Call list and the unsolicited calls that we receive are from crooks, con artists, and scoundrels.

 

[MBAustin]

I think Ooma Premier must be doing a pretty good job as I'm now getting more spam calls on my cell phone than on the house phone. Unfortunately, DH turns 65 soon so we're getting lots and lots of Medicare calls. Usually I can spot them by the callerid and just ignore them..

 

[Clone]

I had been receiving phone calls from a 402 area code for about the last two weeks. Didn't recognize the number, no message, so I just kept ignoring it.

Last evening, phone rang as I was getting into my vehicle. I must have bobbled the phone and answered the call, because it answered on the hands-free speakers. Oh well...

She said she was from Gallup Poll, wanting to close the loop on something. Sorta odd wording. I asked 'if they were trying to get their reputation up out of the gutter?' She responded- 'Thank you Sir, I believe that is all for this call!'

 

[FIREmenow]

Some of these are pretty funny, considering it is all an automated robot.

Jolly Roger Telephone Company, saving the world from bad telemarketing

http://gizmodo.com/todays-hero-made-an-ai-that-annoys-telemarketers-for-as-1756344562

 

[FIYes]

One thing I credit the Do Not Call list for is the elimination of calls from lawn care companies. We used to get man of these calls...usually around dinner time. In fact, we got so many of these calls that I began to wonder if our neighbors were turning us in [emoji14]

 

[scrabbler1]

Whenever I asked the caller of a junk call to remove me from their list or place me on their own DNC list, they hang up. They must get many, many people asking them that and have instructions to simply ignore them and hang up. And those calls continue, despite the national DNC list which I find worthless.


When I switched my landline to my cable TV provider last November, I became eligible for nomorobo, a free service which blocks the robocallers. And for a few months it was working well, blocking the robocallers. The phone rings once then gets blocked (doesn't ring again). If I happen to have my TV on at the time, then the caller-ID appears on the TV for a few seconds.


But so far this year, nomorobo hasn't been working as well. About half of the junk calls have been getting through now, not getting blocked. Are the spammers getting better at spoofing their numbers to evade nomorobo's database? I report these numbers to nomorobo but it seems like I am trying to scoop sand off the beach.


Then there is my cell phone in which 90% of my calls are junk ones, making my cell phone little more than a receptacle for this unwanted garbage.

 

[GrayHare]

We are on the Do Not Call list and get many, many junk calls. If I don't recognize the number...I don't answer. I alert my friends that if they call from an unknown number, leave a message and I will call right back.

It's terrible that junk calls have so trashed the telephone's signal to noise ratio that many people no longer answer. The solution is an enforceable DNC system.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

I was getting calls daily from I don't even remember who. Some telemarketer wanting something. They kept calling me, so I got the idea to call them back. I had two cell phones, land line, and and three computers that could use I forget what kind of virtual phone.

So every day I'd call them on all devices and just let them hang. Takes all of two seconds to hit redial on most. Each time took up several minutes from several people because they wouldn't hang up for whatever reason.

Eventually I called them on my primary phone and let them in on the deal. If they wanted their lines freed again, they'd stop calling.

Never got another call.

 

[Philliefan33]

It's terrible that junk calls have so trashed the telephone's signal to noise ratio that many people no longer answer. The solution is an enforceable DNC system.

Maybe with time, as fewer people answer their phones, it won't pay for the telemarketers and spammers to make the effort. They'll move on to some other means to bother us.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

It's terrible that junk calls have so trashed the telephone's signal to noise ratio that many people no longer answer. The solution is an enforceable DNC system.

Not going to happen. The scammers are two steps ahead of any laws or regulations that are passed. There are too many of the scammers and for the most part are untouchable (unknown person and location). The DNC is only a failure because it's outdated and thus not very useful. Most of the calls that I get (blocked by an application) are local numbers that are spoofed by callers that are overseas and untouchable by regulators.

The only *real* way to stop it (for now) is to have a white list of numbers that are allowed to ring your number. If you aren't in my contact list, you can talk to my voicemail because I will not here my phone ringing.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Maybe with time, as fewer people answer their phones, it won't pay for the telemarketers and spammers to make the effort. They'll move on to some other means to bother us.

I am really surprised we aren't getting spam texts at this point.

I'll really start worrying when spam drones fly over us, though.

 

[John Galt III]

This morning as I left the house there was a hologram of Flo talking to me.

 

[athena53]

Then there is my cell phone in which 90% of my calls are junk ones, making my cell phone little more than a receptacle for this unwanted garbage.

I stopped giving my cell number to businesses after two of them handed it over to companies that wanted to do follow-up surveys on the service I'd received. I have Ting and usually get the lowest charge for voice usage- unless I stay on the phone responding to surveys!

What I found really creepy- I got a copy of DH's credit report after I reported his death to the 3credit bureaus and my cell number was on it. He would not have provided it- he never remembered it and kept it on a card in his wallet.

Sadly, I think my landline will become the equivalent of my spamcatcher e-mail address.

 

[ERD50]

DW was wondering why the Do Not Call list hasn't worked (better). ...

Simple, these callers are breaking the law by calling you, and there is no real enforcement, no real penalty (a slap on the wrist, fines are waived, and they start up the next day). It's like email spam (reduced significantly by google it appears, I get near zero now). Illegal callers don't care about any list.

The only thing it said that I hadn't heard before was to tell the telemarketer to 'please put me on your no call list.'

I'm kinda surprised you didn't know that. I've seen it discussed here before, thought it was fairly common knowledge. And again, the spammers don't care about no list! If it is a legitimate business calling you, one that you have a relationship with, then they should (and probably will) respect that request and never call you again. But I think that is probably a very, very small % of your nuisance calls.

Edit: We don't have a landline, so those devices won't help.

If you have a "simultaneous ring" feature on your phone, you can use NOMOROBO, it has been very effective for us. I did have to re-authorize it once, it's been great since then.

-ERD50

 

[Midpack]

If you have a "simultaneous ring" feature on your phone, you can use NOMOROBO, it has been very effective for us. I did have to re-authorize it once, it's been great since then.

I'd rather just continue to never answer unknown callers than pay $2-5/month for an app that works sometimes. YMMV

I noticed one last week that was using sequential phone numbers - (xxx) xxx-xxx5, next day (xxx) xxx-xxx6. Wonder how long it will take for all of them to do that, so much for maintaining a robo database?

 

[easysurfer]

My set up so what I receive is manageable to filter out all the spam and calls:

Landline - Sentry 2 call blocker (1 ring, then the blocker intercepts unrecognized and blacklisted calls)

Mobile - Android app called "Call Blocker No Spam". Set up so only calls on my contact list get through. Setting to hang up on rest of not recognized calls. Can set to go to voicemail, but I prefer to hang up. The best $3 (one time purchase) or so I ever spent.

I don't get too many unwanted texts. Hopefully, that stays.

Email - email reader with builtin Bayesian filter. Very effective at automatically putting spam mail to junk folder.

Overall, very manageable. Now, if only I can get my Facebook feeds under control without dropping altogether .

 

[mickeyd]

After last springs hail storm in the area all of us had to get a "roof job." It's been over 10 months and dozens of telemarketing calls since then and today I got a call from a company saying that they will have "a man in the area next week" providing free roof inspections. I had time on my hands (most retired folks do) so I played along with his pitch asking (1) if I had to provide a ladder or would they bring one? (2) How could they provide such a wonderful free service to us seniors? (3) Why is this the third call this AM that you made to us? (4) Will this mean that we will receive no more lame telemarketing calls? Click......

 

[mickeyd]

dupe

 

[ERD50]

I'd rather just continue to never answer unknown callers than pay $2-5/month for an app that works sometimes. YMMV

I noticed one last week that was using sequential phone numbers - (xxx) xxx-xxx5, next day (xxx) xxx-xxx6. Wonder how long it will take for all of them to do that, so much for maintaining a robo database?

I didn't realize they were charging for the version for cell phones. Man, don't these fancy smart phones support "simultaneous ring" - that seems to be the hang up (no pun intended)?

NOMOROBO is free service for our VOIP, and any phone that supports a "simultaneous ring" feature. I never know if people include VOIP when they say "landline" - to me, "landline" means copper wire and POTS - Plain Old Telephone System. Especially since our internet connection is point-to-point wireless, there is no "land" about it, in terms of wires in the ground.

When my NOMOROBO stopped working, I thought the rotating phone lists were the problem. But when I re-activated it, it started working again, and calls are near zero again.

-ERD50