The annoyance of aggressive telemarketers

Why are telemarketers (which is just a fancy term for phone solicitors) even allowed to do business in this country? I do not know of anyone who receives these calls who considers them beneficial to society.

Just since yesterday--a period of about 24 hours--I have received three--three!--"courtesy calls" as regarding healthcare insurance. (Even if I truly needed such insurance--which I do not, as I am fully covered--I would certainly not buy from someone hawking his--or her--goods over the phone.)

I suppose that defenders of this annoying practice might cite First Amendment protections. But even these are not absolute. The Supreme Court, for instance, has ruled that there is no right to shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater.

Can others here relate to my severe irritation at this?

 

We only let our phone ring a few times and screen our calls with "caller id". It's still annoying despite that.

 

No. Never had a problem. Have an unlisted number.

 

Unsolicited phone calls - live or automated - should be outlawed. They used to be illegal in Florida.

 

Go to the National Do Not Call Registry to stop the calls. For real.

https://www.donotcall.gov/

 

I used to find "unlisted numbers" easily with a cross reference directory.

 

Well, nothing good ever comes in over the phone unless you already know the person on the other end.

One of the latest scams is a call that a relative is in the emergency room and call the doctor at such and such a number.

If you call the number the inmate can piggyback your number to make all his long distance calls for free, or worse.

Nothing good comes in over the phone from folks you don't know.

 

I have never had a problem. I have always had an unlisted number. Guess no one wants to find me.

 

OP

I know the feeling, sort of! Almost daily I was getting a call from International (in other words, I could only block a numeric, so couldn't put it on call-blocker?). The artificial voice said at the end every time 'Press 1 for more information, or 9 to stop any more calls.' I was a-thinking it was some kind of clever scam, and that if I pressed 9 they'd have some way of ripping me off, so I didn't - until I got so fed up with it about 3 weeks ago that I did press 9, and I haven't heard from them since!!

 

Thanks.

But I have tried that--and I still get unwanted calls--almost every day.

And since most are robocalls, I cannot ask a person--a real, live person--to remove me from the calling list.

 

Of course. I give them about 3 seconds to convince me they aren't telemarketers and, if they fail, I hang up. At least the misery doesn't last long.

 

I don't mind the legitimate solicitors too much. It's the scams that bother me. My mother is 81 years old. She has gotten several calls from young men pretending to be her grandson. She didn't fall for it, but some of her senior friends have. Same with my 84 year old father-in-law.

I've been threatened by the "IRS" as well as claims that "local officials" had four warrants out for my arrest. I could clear my record if I just called these numbers.....

 

I have 30-ish numbers in my contact called SPAM. SPAM calls me a few times a week, but their ringtone is mute. I only add about one a month, now. Easy. Add yourself to "do not call" registry, and it drops dramatically, but not completely.

 

About a month or two ago, I added myself to the Do Not Call registry.

Unfortunately, however, I have noticed very little difference--if any at all--in the number of spam calls I receive every day.

I am wondering if there is some way to block certain telephone numbers. (Even if I had to pay extra for it, it would certainly be worth it, to me.)

 

My solution is terribly simple and enormously effective.

when the phone rings just answer "Hola", this activates robo calls so you can immediately hang up or confuses the telemarketer so THEy hang up. Only once did the caller know Spanish and I simply said "No Habla Espanol"...then hung up.

 

Being on the Federal and State no call lists is pointless, no one pays any attention to them.

 

Saying the words "La Migra" ("immigration") will cause most Spanish-speakers to never call back.

I had to do that when I first got my current phone number, as the number looked to have previously belonged to a Spanish-speaking person. It only took about a week of saying "La Migra" to end all of the Spanish calls. Word got around.

After that, I had various collection agencies calling that number. I made sure to never speak to them, to not give them any info that could link my name to the collection account. They gave up calling eventually ... after about 7 years.

My new cell number was interesting as well. It apparently previously belonged to a truck stop hooker, being that truckers were sending me dick pics.

 

In Bulgaria, there's not a SINGLE law to stop them telemarketer-spammers and protect people. They pull your numbers from random directories, small ads, even forums, and start buzzing ya.

I block 10 numbers - they come with another 20 new. It's endless...the journey.

 

I don't have much of a problem with the telemarketers. My problem is with scammers. Last week, one scammer called me three times and left voice mails saying that I had 4 serious charges against me from the local police.......

 

I think I would likely reply:

"Oh, really? It does seem rather odd that you are aware of this, yet the police have not yet informed me of it.

"And may I assume that you can make these charges go away, if only I will send you some money?"

 

That's actually brilliant. LOL

 

i've registered many years ago, back then it also offered to register the address to stop junk mail, worked great for many years, still does sort of, the new laws allow for 'affiliates' of places you do business with, to call you... that means, say you do business with citibank, so every single affiliate of citibank/citicorp/citigroup and their affiliates, and the affiliates of those affiliates (ad infinitum) are legally allowed to contact you via all contact points that you gave to citibank... in otherwords every sob on the planet can contact you, if they acquire your contact info from anyone of those affiliates, which you agreed to when you signed up for that citibank account...

sickening... in this day and age, the smart thing to do is place a 'freeze' with all 4 credit reporting agencies... it is now free to do so...

my smart aleck phone (android) has a built in app that allows me to report any incoming call that isn't a contact and then block the number... i haven't had a landline phone in over 21 years...

 

This is a most interesting (and informative) post.

As concerning telephone types, I do have a cellphone--a 1990s-style flip phone--but I use it only to place calls when I am away from home. For other matters, I use my landline phone.

I guess I am just old school (or a dinosaur, depending upon one's perspective).

 

The telemarketer/recording solution:

Telephone rings.
Answer with "Hola".
Automation is activated...hang up.
Live person will hang up unless Spanish speaking.
If they speak Spanish say "No habla espanol."
Hang up.

 

Can I get an AyaTrollYah???