Telemarketing/cell phone rumour:

[chet]

Have you guys heard that cell phone numbers are going to be released to telemarketers and thier calls will be charged to your cell phone? Is it legit?

[Big John]

That doesn't sound totally legal but i guess its one more excuse to turn it 'OFF' until you need it.

[roth]

I get telemarketing calls on my cell phone already - as does my wife and many of my friends. This has been happening for the last 6 months or so. Probably averages one a week.

[chet]

I never have so I'm concerned. There's also a online government website where you can request not to be called.
I leave my cell off most of the time but i don't want them leaving messages either.

[RichardWitt]

Originally Posted by roth

I get telemarketing calls on my cell phone already - as does my wife and many of my friends. This has been happening for the last 6 months or so. Probably averages one a week.

I have too! I have a policy that if the caller doesn't appear to be someone in my phonebook list and I don't recognise the number, I don't answer it. Even if it's an emergency......, TOO BAD, SO SAD!!!

[stantheman]

SUCKED!!!!!!!
Think about it - YOU have to pay THEM to be "unlisted".
YOU have to pay THEM to maintain YOUR privacy.
It should be "the other way around" shouldn't it?!?!?!?!?

Remember in "Goodfellas"; Paulie "wouldn't have a phone".
Smart Guy - way ahead of his time.....

[teledude66]

the only ones I've received have all been in Spanish, so they get a quick hang up (don't know the language) but our Verizon has free incoming calls...I still don't like it though. I remember when we did the national No call list, yeah it worked for about a month now it's ...."if you'd like to know more about our great opportunities please call us back at _____' what's the difference if they're still calling....arrrggghhhh.

[Bill]

I'm on the National Do Not Call list. I get calls from some companies anyways. Repeatedly from the same company up to 3 times a night. I've contacted the list and the Better Busines Bureau, and they do absolutely nothing. The BBB had the nerve to write me to say they'd contacted the company, which refused to respond to them, so the BBB wouldn't pursue it further.

When I tell these companies I'm on the list they just laugh and hang up. I've also asked for their number and the name of the company, and they gave the info to me. When I said I'd pass it to the National Do Not Call list they said, "Fine, I gave you false information anyways," laughed and hung up. I tracked one company back to it's local branch, spoke with the manager there who also hung up on me although I'd been polite with him.

These are the kind of people you're dealing with. And the authorities do not have the time or inclination to do anything about it.

[boris bubbanov]

'Do not call' works fine for land lines, but cell phones operate in more of an international environment. Remember when you bought that new cell phone and they told you it could be used overseas, hooyah? Well, it is hard to clamp down on someone doing wrong from 13000 miles away, so tarn it off.
This next news is kinda obsolete, so few still have land lines (at least in N.O. where land lines were wiped out) but you can buy the land line service in an assumed name (like Boris Bubbanov) and no worries about paying for an unlisted. My associates knew what name to use to look up my number in the book, but they also knew not to ask to speak to Mr. Bubbanov. No hanging up on the wrong person, no wasted time talking to telemarketers and contribution hawkers.

Bubbanov

[chet]

Originally Posted by Bill

I'm on the National Do Not Call list. I get calls from some companies anyways. Repeatedly from the same company up to 3 times a night. I've contacted the list and the Better Busines Bureau, and they do absolutely nothing. The BBB had the nerve to write me to say they'd contacted the company, which refused to respond to them, so the BBB wouldn't pursue it further.

When I tell these companies I'm on the list they just laugh and hang up. I've also asked for their number and the name of the company, and they gave the info to me. When I said I'd pass it to the National Do Not Call list they said, "Fine, I gave you false information anyways," laughed and hung up. I tracked one company back to it's local branch, spoke with the manager there who also hung up on me although I'd been polite with him.

These are the kind of people you're dealing with. And the authorities do not have the time or inclination to do anything about it.

I just tell them if they keep annoying me I'm going to yell at them and cuss them out. It works!

[timmer]

Originally Posted by Bill

I'm on the National Do Not Call list. I get calls from some companies anyways. Repeatedly from the same company up to 3 times a night. I've contacted the list and the Better Busines Bureau, and they do absolutely nothing. The BBB had the nerve to write me to say they'd contacted the company, which refused to respond to them, so the BBB wouldn't pursue it further.

When I tell these companies I'm on the list they just laugh and hang up. I've also asked for their number and the name of the company, and they gave the info to me. When I said I'd pass it to the National Do Not Call list they said, "Fine, I gave you false information anyways," laughed and hung up. I tracked one company back to it's local branch, spoke with the manager there who also hung up on me although I'd been polite with him.

These are the kind of people you're dealing with. And the authorities do not have the time or inclination to do anything about it.

Cell phones are a different animal.

I know that if you warn these people not to call you and they disregard that, then they can be fined big bucks per incident. The only problem with that is how do you record a cell phone conversation to prove it? My best guess is to put it on speaker phone and have a portable recorder with you. If you caught them doing this, even once after warning them it would pay for your recorder.

I know that Cingular came out with a gismo that routed your cell phone calls to your home phone. In this case you would be able to record it much easier.

Question: Do they leave messages when they call your cell, and is the number they are calling from displayed or is it "unavailable"?

If they leave a message or if their number is visible you still may be able to take action against them by their messages or caller ID record.

The laws are very specific on this.

[chet]

The phone company should have records of who has called you- even on a cell phone.

[guitar_ed]

If you want to do these people some real physical harm, get an airhorn like you see for boating. Put it up to the mouthpiece and push the button. It can cause a burst ear drum. I have not tried this, yet.

Another idea that I have heard of, but have not tried, is to start talking sexual to the person calling.

What burns me a lot is the recordings that I get when they call me. If you can't have a person call me, then don't waste my time because I will hang up immediately!

My current favorite is some people calling from overseas, a religous charity looking for money. I tell them that if they can't pronounce my wifes name or mine correctly, that I am going to hang up. And since my wife and I have different last names, they always lose.

Take care,
Guitar Ed

[tazzboy]

Read this http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/02/dnccellphones.shtm

[Bill]

Originally Posted by timmer

Cell phones are a different animal.

I know that if you warn these people not to call you and they disregard that, then they can be fined big bucks per incident. The only problem with that is how do you record a cell phone conversation to prove it? My best guess is to put it on speaker phone and have a portable recorder with you. If you caught them doing this, even once after warning them it would pay for your recorder.

I know that Cingular came out with a gismo that routed your cell phone calls to your home phone. In this case you would be able to record it much easier.

Question: Do they leave messages when they call your cell, and is the number they are calling from displayed or is it "unavailable"?

If they leave a message or if their number is visible you still may be able to take action against them by their messages or caller ID record.

The laws are very specific on this.

This was on my land line, home phone. They'd laugh, hang up, and I'd get a call from them 5 minutes later. I contacted the Do Not Call List and told them. Got a message back that said thanks and they had added my info to a database in case they ever decided to investigate. Completely useless.

Called the phone company after the third call that night and they said they had no records. They told me to call the AT&T Annoyance Cal Bureau at 1 800 348-8727. At that place the most they could do is set me up to have my phone monitored.

[jlrich]

It is supposed to happen at some specific time but I can't remember when.

As long as we have technology to "help" us and make our lives more "convenient", that convenience works both ways to help telemarketers and the like be a bigger nuisance to us.

[aunchaki]

Originally Posted by teledude66

the only ones I've received have all been in Spanish

I've been getting a recorded Spanish telemarketing call on my cellphone about once a month for the past six months! Ay Carumba!

[teleman65]

I've been getting telemarketing calls on my cell for a couple years. My provider doesn't care since they make money with every call. My phone stays off most of the time now.

[tazzboy]

Well I right after the DNC came out I register my cell, my mom's cell, and our house phone #'s.

[Dave W]

Originally Posted by jlrich

It is supposed to happen at some specific time but I can't remember when.

No, it's not going to happen. It's been repeatedly debunked. By Snopes. By the FTC, as tazzboy already noted in post #14. By dozens of newspaper and online articles last year and the year before. And yet people keep repeating it as if it's going to happen. Go figure.

[jlrich]

Originally Posted by Dave W

No, it's not going to happen. It's been repeatedly debunked. By Snopes. By the FTC, as tazzboy already noted in post #14. By dozens of newspaper and online articles last year and the year before. And yet people keep repeating it as if it's going to happen. Go figure.

Yeah, go figure. Some people and their gossip. Whew!

Give it time.

[blacklinefish]

I haven't heard a telemarketer for 5-6 years now, seriously.

Luckily, the area code to my cell phone is 660. In Missouri, our legislators and Attorney General pioneered the No Call list and seemed to get it right the first time. The national plan is a joke.

AG Jay Nixon makes them pay! Check this history out: No Call Action

It's great when your state is looking out for you, and getting real money from telemarketers. (You might remember psychic Miss Cleo, back in the late 1990s and early 2000-2001? She paid up! Apparently, she didn't see it coming.)

Having a Missouri area code for my cell phone probably scares away any telemarketer. It may be one of the few things we are doing right, but this little program pays for itself and was a home run out of the park.

--gh

N.B. I did not write this to brag. I think everyone should contact their state legistlators (or MPs) and follow this plan. Forget the federal law.