Cranky Customer

I had the same problem with Hello Direct after ordering a device from them a number of years ago. Not only did they send me catalogs, but they sold my name to every schlock marketing outfit under the sun (I know it was Hello Direct b/c they all mispelled my name the same way). They did finally stop when I requested to be removed from their mailing list and signed up for the DMA junk mail list. Needless to say, I will never patronize Hello Direct again.

Now my biggest issue is with dinner-time calls from the shady charities that aren't covered under the Do Not Call registry laws....

Before the Do Not Call list began, I used to have a lot of fun putting on the telemarketers. Sometimes I would relate outlandish personal stories, or just start talking to them like they were my therapist. Other times I'd see just how long I could keep them on the line by simply checking in every few minutes to tell them that I'd be right with them. My very best prank went like this:

We were up north vacationing (People from Michigan go "Up north" to get away). I answered the phone at my dad's place and told the telemarketer to hang on because she wanted to talk to my dad. I then told my dad to go outside and crank up the chainsaw (after all, what's a vacation without a chainsaw in tow?) I also told him to give the most wretched scream he could muster on my cue, and then turn off the chainsaw.

I went back to the telemarketer and told her that he was out working in the yard, so I would take the cordless phone out to him. As I got close enough for her to clearly hear the chainsaw, I gave the cue. Dad screamed and then cut the saw and continued to scream. I told her "Oh my god, my dad just cut his hand off with the chainsaw! What should I do?"

"Call 911," she said. To which I replied "O.K., but I'm really interested in your product. Could you please leave me your information so that I can get back in touch with your company?" So she did. I kept her on for another 2 minutes while my dad screamed in the background as I "took down" the info. She kept telling me I should call 911 and I kept telling her how interested I was in her product. By the end she was praying for me, and I just kept thanking her for her call.

Finally I just dropped the phone while my dad and I ran away screaming.

God, I wish I could have taped that one. . .

(My guess: she's still in therapy. -rc)

They are wrong on both counts. Per the FCC, "Additionally, the established business relationship is only in effect for 18 months after your last business transaction or 3 months after your last inquiry or application"

HOWEVER, Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (1991) and FCC regulations they are also required to maintain their own DNC list:

"Company-Specific Do-Not-Call Lists

The FCC requires a person or entity placing live telephone solicitations to your home to maintain a record of your request not to receive future telephone solicitations from that person or entity. A record of your do-not-call request must be maintained for five years. This request should also stop calls from affiliated entities if you would reasonably expect them to be included, given the identification of the caller and the product being advertised. Each time you receive a call from a different person or entity, though, you must request that that person or entity not call you again."

The magic words are something like this. "Please place this number on the do-not-call list for your organization and the list(s) for the organization(s) you are soliciting on behalf of under the TCPA of 1991 and applicable FCC regulations."
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/tcpa.html

A partial solution I doscovered is a feature I signed up for from my phone company called call intercept. It will hold all calls whose number traditionally does not appear on caller id and route them to a voice mail type system. The system will identify to the caller that this call has been blocked and the caller is given the option to state their name with a brief message. If they choose to do that (most do not and hang up) they are put on hold and my phone rings a special ring and "CALL INTERCEPT" shows on my caller id.

I can then choose to listen to the brief message left and decide if I want to answer, play a sales call refusal message to the caller, or push the caller to voice mail.

I did not realize how great the service was until an error by Verizon turned off the service and I was getting these annoying calls constantly! I am a full time telecommuter so I can definitely sympathize with work interruptions.

A couple of caveats:

Friends that have their service with small private phone companies have to deal with this every time they call me.

It does not work for all sales calls if they allow a number to appear on caller id (the vast majority do not allow this).

Regardless, I would gladly pay twice as much for this service to avoid the stress!

About 14 years ago, to make people think I was not a single woman, I had my phone listed with my son's name as well as my own so the listing looked like a married couple. Soon the telemarketing targeting my then-6-year-old son began. Well, I happen to live in a state that has a "way cool" law where parents are not responsible for paying for items a minor agrees to purchase over the phone - as long as the seller knows it is a minor. So I used this to my advantage with these telemarketers: When they would ask for my son, I would give them the 3rd degree (may I say who's calling and what this is regarding) followed with "Okay, I'm going to hand the phone over to my son, who is 6 years old. Please sell him anything you want but also understand that." (then I'd tell them about the law). Every time, I'd hear "click".

I have fun with telemarketers by putting the phone on speaker and letting them talk and talk while doing something else. After wasting their time as long as I can then just say "That sounds wonderful, I would love to get your item... Do you take food stamps?" Then I get a hard hang up. They never call back with that offer.

I can't understand why even those organizations with loopholes would contact people in the "Do Not Call Registry" because obviously we're not going to bite on their offerings.

A couple of days before Christmas while I was rushing to pack for a holiday trip, Special Olympics called for a donation. Although it's a worthy cause, I won't donate through a telemarketer and politely asked to be placed on their internal Do Not Call list. The caller breathlessly said she's not allowed to do that but she'd have me talk to her supervisor and put me on hold before I could get a word in. A minute or so later she came back and said "My supervisor will be right with you." I finally lost it and shouted "Just put me on your do not call list" and slammed down the phone. The experience has left me with a negative view of an organization I once respected.

But that's nothing compared to how I feel about Nextel. As soon as I became a cell-phone customer, Nextel began telemarketing my home phone constantly--often several times a day. Customer service repeatedly broke promises to place me on the internal DNC list and ignored my e-mail request. When I again called customer service to protest this complete lack of service, the rep BS'd that they always answer e-mails but that my server had been eating their replies (something I later discovered was untrue). After blaming my server for the whole thing, he smugly declared, "See, it's not our fault and it may not even be YOUR fault." Gee, how generous! It may not be my fault that your company harasses me day and night (and what does that have to do with my e-mail server?)

Although Nextel had the prior-relationship exemption, I still filed separate complaints with the DNC registry, the Federal Trade Commission, which oversees the registry, and the Federal Communications Commission, which oversees cell phone companies. I e-mailed to inform Nextel of the complaints. No one replied (of course), but miraculously the harassment stopped almost immediately.

The sad thing is that I'd planned to switch the entire family to Nextel but abandoned the plan because of their harassment. I e-mailed to ask if what they were trying to sell me was worth the loss of my goodwill and several potential customers. Big surprise--no reply. My two-year contract is up in August. Even though Sprint has since purchased the company and I've had good experiences with Sprint as my local telephone service provider, I'm still counting the days until I can ditch Nextel. No matter who the parent company is, I never want to hear the name Nextel again.

And I still wonder if whatever these losers were so determined to sell me was worth it.

Ever since I got my new phones, I love to receive calls from telemarketers.

My new phones have a programmable "on-hold" button..So they ask for Bill Smith, or whoever, and I say, "oh yes, please hold".... Then they get the most annoying 1980's on-hold jingle I could find. It suprising how many of them are still there five minutes later.

In the UK we also have a "do-not-call" register so I figure if they phone me, they're fair game.

After graduating from college I wroked as a computer programmer for one of the big three telemarketers in the U.S. We often received requests to be put on our DNC list and these requests were taken very seriously. The company I was working for had maintained a DNC list for several years prior to the law requiring them to do so. When the new law came into existence it was no problem to comply.

What many people do not realize is that when you are contacted by a telemarketer it is often a third party company. You should also ask what company they are working for and ask to be on their internal call list.

While it is true that a "prior business relationship" allows for some calls even if you are on the national registry, there are limits (18 months) to how long that relationship remains. (See item # 32 at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/dncalrt.htm for details.) While this may seem like an inconvience it is important that businesses you are currently doing business with can contact you. However, once you have asked to be removed once, they are subject to an $11,000.00 fine if they fail to comply. The above referenced site also has a place to submit complaints.

Also of note is that calls from or on behalf of political organizations, charities, and telephone surveyors would still be permitted (item #29 from the above site).

So don't complain to your politian either. He has a loophole (as you might have suspected)!

A few years ago I blogged about a similar problem with a telemarketer, only they were not only rude, but harrassing me at illegal calling hours. To solve the problem, I did some research and found the CEO's home telephone number. I called him at his home and asked whether or not he'd like to discuss our business relationship. Not only did his wife not appreciate the phone call, but his office secretary called to help take care of the 'problem'. I haven't heard from them since.