Telemarketers

[911pcars]

If you want your phone number deleted from telemarketers' lists selling you non-Porsche items, go to this website:

http://www.donotcall.gov/

There is an initial deadline of Aug. 31. See the website.

If this works, you owe me. :-)

Sherwood Lee
http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars

[clay1g]

I just registered my numbers. Since a lot of people have already registered their numbers, I would imagine the ones who didn't will get even more calls after this list goes into effect.

[brandett]

We have this here in Sweden, works well. Not all companies follow the rules and I enjoy asking them for the name and number of their supervisor, the call always ends very fast when you tell them that you are listed in the "nix" register. A company that does not follow this will be fined.

[Adam]

We definitely need this in Australia.

Bastards are always calling at dinnertime with pushy, invasive questions about mortgages/health insurance/gym memberships and other direct marketing. I usually tell them to "hold on a minute" and then put the phone down and go eat or watch TV for half-an-hour.

I always get calls from U.S. Stockbrokers, busting my balls during work hours about heating oil futures too.

[DJB]

Adam we have one.... www.adma.com.au

[HawgRyder]

Adam is on the correct track.
The telemarketer's most valuable thing is time...if you make them hold even for a few minutes...they cannot make their quota.
So...by all means...just put the phone down and make them wait...tell them you have a knock at the door...you will be right back....check back every 5-10 minutes...if they are still there do it again.
Bob

[Zeke]

The new scam is some type of number conversion. You ask them what no. they called and they give you something else. You say that's not MY number and they say that's the number on their screen. No records of them calling you to be prosecuted on.

I don't suppose PCNA, dealers or independent supliers have ever telemarketed. Anyone ever had this? I mean, I feel free giving my no. to most things Porsche.

Anytime you dial 800 or any toll free prefix, your no. is displayed, even if you have blocked caller ID. And, of course, your name, address and no. are displayed if you dial 911.

The whole purpose of some promotions is to get people to call so they can build a list and sell it. If I absolutly for some reason had to call some promotion @ 800 xxx-xxxx, I would use a pay phone.

[RoninLB]

this is Copy & Paste


Andy Rooney's tips for telemarketers

Three Little Words That Work !!

(1)The three little words are: "Hold On, Please..."

Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off
(instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each
telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room
sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the phone company's "beep-beep-beep" tone,
you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has
efficiently completed its task.

These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.


(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one
on the other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls
and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.

This technique is used to determine the best time of day for
a "real" sales person to call back and get someone at home.

What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there,
is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times,
as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialed the
call and it kicks your number out of their system.

Since doing this, my phone calls have decreased dramatically.


(3) Another Good Idea:
When you get "ads" enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return
these "ads" with your payment. Let the sending companies throw
their own junk mail away.

When you get those "pre-approved" letters in the mail for everything
from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw
away the return envelope.

Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right?
It costs them more than the regular 37cents postage "IF" and
when they receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was
around 50 cents before! the last increase and it is according to
the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other
junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return
envelopes. One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas.
Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express.
Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything
else that day, then just send them their blank application back!

If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name
isn't on anything you send them.

You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to
just to keep them guessing!

Eventually, the banks and credit card companies will begin
getting their own junk back in the mail.

Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and
best of all they're paying for it...Twice!

Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that
e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they
need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea !

If enough people follow these tips, it will work----
I have been doing this for years, and I get very little
junk mail anymore.


THIS JUST MIGHT BE ONE E-MAIL THAT YOU WILL
WANT TO FORWARD TO YOUR FRIENDS.

[Neilk]

Texas implemented a Do Not Call List about 2 years ago and our telemarketing calls have decreased by about 90%. Unless you have lots of family members with telemarketing jobs, you'd be stupid not to register.

[Schrup]

Some good tips here. I can always tell it's a telebarker cause they are not literate enough to pronounce my name. I promptly ask them to put me on their "do not call list". This has all but eliminated the annoyance.

[Rob McKibbon]

I like the please hold line and will use it.

When I'm in the mood I use this ....... (often),
Me: "Yes, yes, Uhmm, You've caught me at a bad time right now but give me your home number and I'll call you back later."

them: "we don't give out our number; it doesn't work that way, etc."

Me: "no not your work number, your HOME number; give it to me and I'll call you at home."

them: " Ah, well, Ah .... bla bla bla"

Me: "Oh, you don't like people calling you at home, well me either; good-bye and please don't call me again."

I'm going to switch to that "Please hold a moment" line now though.

[widebody911]

I have a couple of concerns about the Do Not Call list. While I applaud the effort, in the face of the political opposition, the implementation leaves something to be desired.

Here are the issues I see

• There is no real verification when people list or de-list themselvs. I can write a perl script to handle the listing/de-listing of a number. I could then run that with a list of number, and remove anyone with which I have a grudge from the list. Any schmoe can remove - or add - any other schmoe from the list.
• When the list is given to the telemarketing companies, is the email address attached to it?
• It's too easy for a company to weasle out of a penalty; it's too easy to fake their Caller-ID information, or not provide it entirely. Yeah, we know that's illegal - how you gonna prove it?
• There shouldn't be any exceptions to the types of calls. Exempting political calls is obviously an attempt by the politicians to protect their bread and butter; telphone surveys? Those are even more of a waste of time, and will be used to sell stuff - you can guarantee it; charities should also not be exempted - those are some of the most corrupt organizations, save for the political ones. But the exemption most open to abuse is the 'existing business relationship' If I buy something from a company, that doesn't mean I want them calling me to try and sell me more crap. This will get extrapolated into scenarios such as if I buy something with my VISA, I'll get telemarketing calls from other places that accept VISA cards because of the common denominator therin. Sound like a flimsy pretext? Then you just don't understand the telemarketing biz.
• The claims process: you will have to know the real name of the company, the real phone #. These are easy for the telemarketing company to hide. They can munge the Caller ID info, and the second you ask for information about the company, they'll just hang up. I've been hung up on when I asked to be put on their Do Not Call list.
• It won't do anything about the fly-by-night boiler room operations. These companies contract to do the telemarketing for other companies. They'll just change identies and move on to avoid the heat.

Do you really want to eliminate telemarketing? You can. Wanna know how? Ok, are you ready?

DON'T BUY STUFF FROM THEM!!!!!!.

It's that simple. Telemarketing (oh, and email spam) exists because it works. It's not horribly efficient, but there's enough of an ROI to keep it going. If people weren't so stupid as to keep responding favorably to it, then it would go away of it's own accord. Nobody advertises weight loss programs by stapling flyers to kittens, do they? No, because it doesn't work!