Telemarketing fix

[GuitarStv]

I don't really like telemarketing calls.  I'm on Canada's 'Do Not Call' list of numbers that aren't supposed to get telemarketing calls.  Typically we don't get bothered at home too often.  The past two weeks though, we've been getting nearly daily calls from the same duct cleaning place.  Each time I've been saying "We're on the Do Not Call list.  Please take us off your phone list." and hanging up.  I passed information along to the CRTC already about the calls, but they don't appear to be doing anything.  This is clearly not working.

I thought about it a bit, and have decided upon a different approach for tonight.  I looked up the address of our closest police station, the name of the unit commander there, and the phone number.  The next time that the telemarketers call I'm going to book an appointment at the police station, with the unit commanders name, and tell them that they're calling on my cell phone and they should use the police number as the number for all future calls.

This is the only way I can think of to provide incentive to stop calling my house.  It wastes their time and money, and if they become a nuisance calling the police, the police can trace their number and stop them.

This is going to be pure win.

[Kazimieras]

A note for the country-wide do not call list. Did you know that if I owned a company in... let's say India... I can purchase the list for $50 from the government. Now, because I am not bound by Canadian law, as I am a company in India, I can call everyone on the list!

Here is what your legal rights are: You are allowed to ask the company to place you on their internal do not call list. If found in violation of not putting you on the list, they are subject to $5k in small claims court. Whenever I get a call I ask about their service and ask for the name of the company offering the duct cleaning. I write down the name of the company and the date. I then ask to be placed on their do not call list and say goodbye. The next day I call the company, explain the situation and how I can never do business with them because of their questionable marketing practices. Oddly they usually do an investigation afterwards and I have got a few thank yous once they find out their money was not being well spent. It has greatly reduced the number of calls I get.

[Jimbo]

Wait a sec....

You guys have landlines?

How? Why? Who?...

[Jimbo]

Just to clarify, I have never heard a good reason to keep a landline, in 2013. Not one.

Long distance calls: Google Voice/Skype.

Bundle of services: Get rid of all services but the internet. If it costs more than the bundle, it is fine, at least you don't have the annoying cable and the pesky landline. Also, shop better.

No good reasons exist since... 2007 at the very least. You guys are late in optimizing.

[Frankies Girl]

Wait a sec....

You guys have landlines?

How? Why? Who?...

Well, yes, some folks do still have landlines. I will probably always have one as I have been through several disaster situations where cell phones didn't work while the landlines did and we're talking a major city infrastructure - just out for weeks. Try going through a hurricane and having no phone with no way to communicate with loved ones to check in, or call the fire department when the neighbor's house catches fire from a downed line hitting their house...  landlines don't care if the electricity is out so no worries about charging a phone in the case of an emergency either. I also have a few older relatives that can't hear very well when I call on a cell phone - the technology is advancing, but landline quality still kicks its ass.   

I also have a house alarm and (cheap) internet hooked in through the landline.

And scary enough, telemarketers WILL call a cell phone number too if they get a hold of it...

Back on topic:

I am also on the do not call list in the US and still get occasional "telemarketer" calls. When looking up the numbers tho, it appears that they are the scammy type that won't ever stop calling since they are out of the country. We usually don't answer it unless we recognize the number, and those types rarely leave a message, so it is annoying if I'm home to hear the phone ring, but otherwise I don't care.

I do make a note of any local caller and will answer and tell them to remove the number from their database.

You know that charities can still call you even if you have a do not call listing? It is supposed to be only charities you've donated to in the past, and I almost don't want to donate to them any more when they call my house to solicit funds, and I've told them that I will stop donating if they don't remove my number.

[Spork]

Wait a sec....

You guys have landlines?

How? Why? Who?...

um... I still get oddball telemarketing calls on cell phones.  And (in the US) surveys (which don't fall under the same rules) and political spam (which fall under their own special rules and YOU CANNOT HANG UP ON).

I've also found the more questionable telemarketers usually are faking their caller-id.

[GuitarStv]

The 8$ a month for a VOIP home phone was a lot cheaper than any available cell plan . . . and do you not get telemarketing calls on your cell phone?

A note for the country-wide do not call list. Did you know that if I owned a company in... let's say India... I can purchase the list for $50 from the government. Now, because I am not bound by Canadian law, as I am a company in India, I can call everyone on the list!

Here is what your legal rights are: You are allowed to ask the company to place you on their internal do not call list. If found in violation of not putting you on the list, they are subject to $5k in small claims court. Whenever I get a call I ask about their service and ask for the name of the company offering the duct cleaning. I write down the name of the company and the date. I then ask to be placed on their do not call list and say goodbye. The next day I call the company, explain the situation and how I can never do business with them because of their questionable marketing practices. Oddly they usually do an investigation afterwards and I have got a few thank yous once they find out their money was not being well spent. It has greatly reduced the number of calls I get.

I'm aware of how crappy the DNC list enforcability is.

My plan has the same benefit as yours (company sends people to police station, wastes their time, reconsiders their telemarketing company) but requires a less input of time from me.  It has the additional benefit of not relying on the good will of the kind of company who would hire an Indian telemarketer to get around Canadian law.

[Jimbo]

I dont know if i get telemarketing calls on my cell phone. I rarely pick up. They can leave messages, but they don't. And 'faking' call id rarely falls on a number I recognize. So, not picking up. Also, I can turn off the phone when I don't want to be called.

As for a landline as a 20-30$/month give-a-sign-of-life-in-the-ever-so-frequent-hurricane insurance... Yeah, uh, ok, I'll let you ponder on that.

People should aim for less availability, I find.

But telemarketers sure disagree.

[Spudd]

I'm with Voip.ms for my land line and they have a feature that lets you add numbers to a blocked callers list. So if the same number calls you again in the future, you can choose what happens - I choose to have it receive the "number you have dialed is no longer in service" message. LOVE this feature.

[GuitarStv]

I'm with Voip.ms for my land line and they have a feature that lets you add numbers to a blocked callers list. So if the same number calls you again in the future, you can choose what happens - I choose to have it receive the "number you have dialed is no longer in service" message. LOVE this feature.

The last four times these guys called it was from different numbers (all local) according to call display.  I tried calling one back and it was a disconnected number.

[Kazimieras]

Just to clarify, I have never heard a good reason to keep a landline, in 2013. Not one.

Long distance calls: Google Voice/Skype.

Bundle of services: Get rid of all services but the internet. If it costs more than the bundle, it is fine, at least you don't have the annoying cable and the pesky landline. Also, shop better.

No good reasons exist since... 2007 at the very least. You guys are late in optimizing.

Optimization is great, it also depends what you are optimizing for. Money is only one aspect of optimization.

I do toy with the idea of doing away with it, part of it is laziness, part of it is for other reasons. Until the infrastructure hits a tipping point, from a pure reliability standpoint land lines are superior. They are more robust, harder to break, have more capacity and will work for a very extended period of time during an outage. I personally have an analogue line (with touch tone), which means I don't have the pesky annoyance of not working if the net connection is down/power is out. Also due to my home and location having a non-dry loop reduces my costs of the land line (which are quite low to begin with), and DSL is cheaper than cable in my area. So my monthly costs are on par with most VoIP service providers, only with better reliability and service quality.

And yes, I do get telemarketing calls on my cell phone. Joys of the land. I *57 them afterwards to have the number traced and blocked from my network afterwards.

[GuitarStv]

Well, it's been four days since I did this and no more daily calls.  Not one peep out of the company since.

WIN!