Telemarketers. Just say NO!!! Is the No-call bill that important?

[maveric]

Simple solutions to the telemarketer problem.

Firstly, just say NO! When they call me up,after the intro I firmly and loudly say NO!

If they call back I firmly and loudly say FUCK NO!

Get an answering machine and turn it on during the hours that you really dont want to be bothered. They dont leave messages ya know.

Do any of you DUers have such a problem with telemarketers that the passing of this bill is so damn important to you?

[molly]

1. They are invasion of privacy - kind of like people showing

up at your door uninvited.

[quispquake]

2. kind of like...

The Jehovahs Witnesses of the telephone...

Sorry, having a surreal day!

[MurrayDelph]

5. ...more like audible Spam

Why should I have to take the initiative to not be bothered.

Right now, when we receive solicitations from companies that we might believe in, we tell them we never listen or accept offers off the phone, to send us literature, and that calling again will guarantee that we never do business with them.

Other companies we just tell to put us on the do not call list.

People soliciting for the Republican party are told to put us on their do not call list, and go to hell.

Now, my wife once received a call from a cemetary in the part of LA where he mother lives. When she found out that it was not about her mother, but trying to get her to purchase a plot, she lit into the person telling them to go back to college and get a real job!

[Dookus]

3. it's

not the biggest problem in my life, but I'm very glad they're passing the bill (again) today. It's the first step of many we need to take to get back our privacy.

And I DON'T believe some corporation has the right to bother me at home.

[bbmykel]

4. Turn it into a "positive"

At a recent CA Dean meeting, a member of Marin4Dean said she turned telemarketer calls into an opportunity. She says "You pitch me, and then I'll pitch you!" She claims to have signed up about a half-dozen for the Dean mailing list.

Mike

[BiggJawn]

6. Yes it is.

I don't like the interuption. I don't like having to interupt MY TIME to tell somebody "No."...

And I do not like getting so upset that I'm moved to scream "FUCK NO!" into my telephone, thus causing my tummy to get upset.

And I cannot ignore a ringing fone. It's conditioning from a previous life where ringing fones meant $$$ for me.

but that's just me.

I enjoy the peace and quiet since Indiana instituted a "DNC List"...

[LoZoccolo]

7. Actually, they do leave messages...

...where I live at least (Chicago, IL). Once I picked up while they were recording the message, and found out it was a pre-recorded message they were leaving because they kept going even when I started trying to speak to them (plus it's the same every time).

They should know by now it's just a waste of money to leave that message anyways; if I haven't ordered their sattelite dish service by now, do they really think I'll be more eager to do it after they've left these messages repeatedly?

[Tansy_Gold]

16. And they leave LOOOONG messages

I posted on this subject yesterday, that I had been called by "Bill Johnson" from Greater Acceptance Mortgage Co. every day for several days running. Mr. Johnson leaves lengthy pre-recorded messages on my answering machine. If I'm at home, I pick up the phone and hang it up, which at least cuts the recording short. It doesn't stop the interruption, however.

Today the phone rang at about 10:00 a.m. I looked at my husband and said, "Oh, that's probably Bill Johnson."

"The guy from Greater Acceptance Mortgage Co.?" hubby asked, obviously familiar with the recording.

"Yep," I replied, as the recording began.

Only today it was "Terry Wyatt" calling from GAMCo. Hubby nearly fell out of his chair reaching for the phone to hang it up and cut the spiel short.

Yes, we could have let the recording drone on. And yes, since we were monitoring the calls, we were able to cut it short. But we aren't always home, and there have been times when we've been out and these robot callers -- mortgage refinancers, satellite dish sellers, time share inviters, debt consolidators, etc. -- have completely filled the answering machine so no one else can leave a message. In essence, they've robbed us of the use of our property.

I have a right to privacy. I have a right to the peaceful and non-intrusive enjoyment of my private property. That includes my home, my dinner hour, my reading time, my husband's sports and "handy-man" tv, my telephone, etc.

I do not equate telemarketing with junk mail. Junk mail, although I don't approve of it because of its effects on the environment, sits in my mailbox until I'm good and ready to retrieve it. Because I subscribe to a great many liberal/progressive publications, I'm on a lot of mailing lists, so I get a lot of solicitations. I don't mind these, because I know they are usually on the same side of the issues that I am.

But the telemarketers aren't targeting; they're spamming. And they're spamming on my time, my privacy, and my property.

I feel sorry for the people who work for these outfits; my son did it once and lasted almost one whole shift before he walked out in disgust. (He has less patience than I, and that's saying something!) I realize they need some kind of income, and in these economic times, it's tough. But if the telemarketer has an inalienable right to come into my telephone, my time, my answering machine, then doesn't the Avon lady have a similar right to walk into my house at HER convenience and start demonstrating the latest perfumes, to which I may be allergic? Will I now have to let the satellite dish salesperson set up his multimedia demonstration on my dinner table?

Where are the rights of the consumer in this argument? Where are the rights of the sacred-property-owning individual?

sheesh. shouldn't've allowed myself to get started. . . . .

[buff2]

8. It doesn't make any difference to them if you say NO

Most of the calls are made by computers,and if a rep is available they will give their pitch......if not it hangs up,but still keeps you on the list and they call back. I am damn sick and tired of being bothered every single day by these telemarketers. I can't believe how many "trips" I have won just in the past year. When you pay extra to have an unlisted phone number,then I think we shouldn't be bothered all the time by unwanted phone calls. I am on the do not call list and I can't wait for it to take effect. My nerves are shot by the constant ringing of my phone and being harrassed day after day. :argh:

[sybylla]

9. Maveric, I thought the same thing myself until Wisconsin got a DNC list

I signed up and the difference is amazing. Now my evenings are no longer interrupted by as many as 9 or 10 calls from telemarketers. I can watch a whole show on TV, I can start a movie without ever having to stop it except for potty breaks. I can play a game with my kids and finish it without a phone call. Of course I still get calls from non-profits and political orgs who are exempt and occasionaly calls from violators, but these calls are down to less than one call per week. With our AG on the case, violators won't be operating much longer either.

I agree with the posters who compare telemarketing to unwanted attention at your back door. But I would add one significant difference. I don't have to go to the door to know that it's family knocking. They can just walk in. Unless you cough up the $8 a month for Caller ID, you have to answer every call to know that its your family who wants your attention.

I also believe that corporations don't have the right to violate our personal space. Since they won't act as considerate citizens on their own, the DNC list is the best solution. The only problem I have with a federal list is that it may be weaker legislation than Wisconsin has and the reps in the pockets of big business may try to force all states under the fed list. I would not be happy if this turned out to be the case.

[wuushew]

10. Republicans are trying to save their asses by saying it creates jobs

They say the livehood of 2 million telemarketers is on the line.

Can someone show me how this is a flawed argument?

[hippiegranny]

11. i never pick up my phone

and my friends all know it. if it is someone i want to talk to, they'll leave a message. simple.

[FlaGranny]

12. I don't have much of a problem because I've gone

to the expense of having "privacy director" put on my phone line. Why should I have to spend my hard earned money to prevent people from bothering me in my own home? It costs me about $10-12 a month just to be left alone. The trouble is, the telemarketers are getting wise to this and are beginning to use "open" numbers that show on caller ID and more and more calls are beginning to come through again. I went from getting a dozen to 20 calls a day to zero and now it has gone up again to one or two a day. If my privacy director stops working, I'll just have to not answer my phone at all. Why am I spending all this money for a phone line that I can't answer? It would be gone in a minute if I didn't need the internet. I live in fear that telemarketers will start calling cell phone numbers and then I'll start having to pay for the privilege of receiving each of the calls.

I haven't signed up for the no-call service because, so far my privacy director service is working fairly well.

P.S. Just say NO does not work very well when you get some lonely, senile old person on the phone who wants a kind voice to talk to and winds up paying big dollars for a few minutes of having someone to talk to.

[Hanuman]

13. I sound like a frickin broken record---

I HATE IT WITH A FUCKING PASSION when judges rule against the will of the people or blatantly against the Constitution.

I don't care what side of the issue we're talking about, right or left, it doesn't matter to me.

471-8 in the house and senate. THE PEOPLE want this bill, by an unbelieveably huge margin, and one a-hole judge thinks he knows better than the 471 duly elected representatives of the people?

AAAAGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Just shoot me and put me out of my frickin misery!!!!

[Dookus]

17. To be fair...

the court didn't overturn it on any principle. It was a technical issue regarding WHICH agency (FCC or FTC) Congress authorized to create the list.

Today's list explicitly authorizes the FTC to do it.

[Hanuman]

18. True enough---

but how many court decisions based on a "technicality" are rendered which basically spit in the face of the the people?

[Butterflies]

14. It's important to me

I have an unlisted number and I still get calls every single night. When I let the machine get it, I miss calls that I would've wanted to get. When I answer it wastes my time while I wait for them to read the whole first part of their script. I can't be rude to them because I know they don't like their jobs and I feel sorry for them - they need to work. It's just a hassle for me and I don't think they have the right to bother me at home that way. I live in Virginia.

[FlaGranny]

15. I work at home and you wouldn't believe the amount of

calls you can get in a day PLUS the evening. I know I have received at least 20 in one day. I hate to be rude also.

I once got 10 phone calls from the PBA within a month, telling them each time I was not interested in contributing and to not call me any more. It doesn't do any good to tell them no.

[bluestateguy]

19. This is flawed on many levels

"Firstly, just say NO! When they call me up,after the intro I firmly and loudly say NO!"

What if I get 12 calls a day. How many times should I have to repeat myself.

"Get an answering machine and turn it on during the hours that you really dont want to be bothered. They dont leave messages ya know."

Yes, they do leave many messages, and I still have many on my machine if you need to hear them for proof. I might add that many working Americans cannot afford the addtional expense of caller ID which screens out calls.