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Hey everyone,

I have a question 'bout the "do-not-call" list. I have been on it for at least 5 years now, and lately, it has failed. Every 20 minutes or so, a fething telemarketer has called saying "Hello, is David ... Felthensal there?" *click*. Really, how hard is it to say Felsenthal? If anyone has any information about why the listing has failed, I would love to know.

Thanks,
Felsi

Have you been putting yourself on it every year? I thought you had to register every year for it.

I went to the website and posted a validation email thing. It said the number was up to date, but the calls seem to keep coming in. Weird, huh?

Here in Canada the "Do-Not-Call" list works something like this: you need to register whatever phone number you're using, and that number is then sold by your telephony provider to telemarketers as a time-sensitive list. It's time sensitive because the telemarkerters now have a 30 day window within which to call.

There are several ways of circumventing the Do Not Call list, including contacting a person by sending mail and then doing a follow-up call, using a foreign telemarketing company since the law doesn't apply to them but to domestic telemarketers, or simply calling because the Do Not Call list requires that people receiving unwanted telephone solicitation have to file a complaint including the name of the company, the name of the person calling, and their number. Incidentally that's why so many Canadian telemarketers talk really fast at the beginning, because they're required by law to inform you who you are and on whose behalf they're calling, and if they talk fast you won't be able to get the relevant information to make a complaint.

Edit: I'll also add that anyone you're ever done business with can circumvent the Do Not Call list on the previous affiliation rule, so chances are if you keep getting called by a telemarketer it's probably one of our service providers trying to upsell you or conducting market research to figure out what they can profitably upsell. Instead of hanging up, find out who they are, why they're calling, what their number is, and other important information. You should use a digital voice recorder to record the conversation, and if you don't want to receive anymore calls, ask to be put on the company's Do Not Call list.

Nurglitch wrote:
There are several ways of circumventing the Do Not Call list, including contacting a person by sending mail and then doing a follow-up call, using a foreign telemarketing company since the law doesn't apply to them but to domestic telemarketers, or simply calling because the Do Not Call list requires that people receiving unwanted telephone solicitation have to file a complaint including the name of the company, the name of the person calling, and their number. Incidentally that's why so many Canadian telemarketers talk really fast at the beginning, because they're required by law to inform you who you are and on whose behalf they're calling, and if they talk fast you won't be able to get the relevant information to make a complaint.

Isn't the other reason telemarketers talk so fast is so they can try to sell to more people in a shorter amount of time?

The Australian do-not-call list works quite well.

Charities and political groups get exemptions from it, but regular telemarketers do not.

A simple "We are on the 'do not call" register. Do NOT call this number again." to unwanted marketing seems to get rid of the problem. No callbacks so far.

Cheesecat:

There's that, but the fact is that telemarketers hate telemarketing as much as we hate receiving calls from them. The difference is that they're paid (usually...), and they have a script. Just about anyone in sales can rattle off their script at a mile a minute. One of the tricks to being a good salesman is to be able to slow it down so that it seems like you're making it up as you go along. Again, nobody doing telemarketing is motivated to be a good salesman.

Nurglitch wrote:Cheesecat:

There's that, but the fact is that telemarketers hate telemarketing as much as we hate receiving calls from them. The difference is that they're paid (usually...), and they have a script. Just about anyone in sales can rattle off their script at a mile a minute. One of the tricks to being a good salesman is to be able to slow it down so that it seems like you're making it up as you go along. Again, nobody doing telemarketing is motivated to be a good salesman.

That's a good point.

Telemarketing is the sales equivalent of being a galley slave.

There is a guy in the US who fights back against the telemarketers. When he receives a call, he gets the company information, then he sends their head office a registered letter offering a contract along the following lines.

I make you the offer of a contract that in consideration of the use of my time and equipment in receiving your call, you shall pay me $100. You will enter into this contract by calling me.

The next time the company calls him, he sends them a bill for $100. They ignore him, and he takes them to small claims court and wins the $100 plus expenses. They rarely call him a third time.

Kilkrazy wrote:Telemarketing is the sales equivalent of being a galley slave.

There is a guy in the US who fights back against the telemarketers. When he receives a call, he gets the company information, then he sends their head office a registered letter offering a contract along the following lines.

I make you the offer of a contract that in consideration of the use of my time and equipment in receiving your call, you shall pay me $100. You will enter into this contract by calling me.

The next time the company calls him, he sends them a bill for $100. They ignore him, and he takes them to small claims court and wins the $100 plus expenses. They rarely call him a third time.

I would've tried for a higher number.

You're more likely to win in small claims court with $100.

With the sheer abundance of telemarketing companies out there, it couldn't hurt to test the waters once or twice.

This actually makes me see telemarketing in a good light. At least you can manage to make a profit off of it.

I know a family friend who started to joke around and talk dirty to the guy on the other line...was really funny. No more calls

My personal best was when I managed to dig up the home phone number of the company's owner.

I called and got his family, called back later that evening.

Worked like a charm.

My favorite method of anti-telemarketing is probably this one a friend told me.

Answer the phone in Mandarin/Russian/any other language that you know. This will likely cause the guy to hang up. If they get a translator, switch to English. This will cause the translator to hand you back to the first guy, whom you should then talk to in a third language. Klingon is a good choice. Continue doing this until either they hang up, or you get bored.

My uncle apparently got called once and didn't even listen to the guy. He just asked when he was having dinner and then said "I'll call you then."

Great story!

Nurglitch wrote:You're more likely to win in small claims court with $100.

Plus it might be worth $100 of his time but it ain't worth $100 of a company's time. However fighting back would be worth $1000 or more.

Telemarketers is why I don't have a land line in the US they cannot call cell phones.

I just don't understand why they can't reverse the concept. A "please call" list would be much simpler to manage anyway.

If you're bored enough to talk to them, get into a conversation about whether they would buy it, and then try to talk about their income and how they would budget to afford it. Brush aside any attempts to swing the conversation back onto the intended topic.

Pretend you're unemployed, but say you'd really like to buy it if you could! See if you can get them to help you get a job with the company so that you can 'save' for it!

They can't call you to sell you a product, but they can call you to give you "information about a product that you may choose to buy or not to buy at a later date" without recourse.

Is that a US law?