Is it just me or is anyone else getting almost nonstop calls from "Eastern Research" from an withheld number and they just don't care if you say "Do not call list".

sir_eccles

Pfft, I still can't get John Kerry to quit emailing me. He's like that odd person you dated once...then decided it wasn't going to work...but they're intent on having a "relationship". It's just downright creepy.

DCGaymer

How do I tell John McCain to stop calling me?

fabmandan

All of a sudden I've started to get spam calls on my pretty new cell number. Then within a week it started on my Grand Central number. I don't know what's going on but isn't it crazy expensive (relatively speaking) to do this? Anyway I discovered this website only a few days ago and sure enough, every number I've plugged in has already been reported several times. I'm not so sure what good it does, but I've entered my complaints for those numbers as well.

RogueSpear

Oh and I just found out the other number that called non-stop is the American Breast Cancer Foundation. A good org that needs to take more control over who does their telemarketing because the guy I talked to was a bastard.

lesbiansayswhat

I kept getting calls from 'Environmental Action' and I just picked up and hung up on them right away because I didn't feel like going through their song and dance. Finally I looked up the number and someone had posted an email to the headquarters. I exchanged emails with someone who tried to figure out which one of their offices belonged to the number I provided. She never got them to stop calling me so I picked up one day and listened to the song for about a minute before she stopped to let me talk. She thanked me for my donation (maybe a buck 5 years ago during college when someone stopped me on the street) and asked for a continuous monthly donation.

Me: 'No. But I do have a ton of stupid questions for you to answer to waste your time (not my exact words).'

5 minutes later she gets back on script and tells me:

'Ok, well then I want to let you know even a $10 donation would be helpful and you can call our toll-free number any time you want to cancel.'

Me: 'Well, first I want you to take me off your calling list. But if you could give me that toll-free number in case we want to make a one-time donation once we lose our fucking minds and suddenly don't remember you calling us 3 times a day at every hour for the past year (again not exact words).'

'Oh, um. Well it's only an outgoing number.'

'Oh interesting, in that case thanks for trying to trick me and take me off your list.'

[annoyed and pissy} 'Ok well thanks, bye.' Click.

It was worth it.

lesbiansayswhat

800notes.com is another good one. I found them by Googling the number of an asshole debt collector that kept making harassing phone calls at 7 am, asking for someone with my last name (it is a very common one). They were located in Manhattan and I had to explain the concept of time zones to them and how I am 3 hours behind the East Coast.

KarmaChameleon

The fact that sites like this one and whocalledus.com exist goes to show that the government chooses to use kid gloves on corporate telemarketing/debt collection operations (except for a select few to be made an example of), and the Do Not Call list is just a bone tossed out to make us feel like we have some control.

timmus

Ahhh, sorry for the double post, it didn't seem to take the first time.

moe52

I wrote an article on how to avoid sales calls:

[feedme.typepad.com]

How to avoid getting the call in the first place!

moe52

I wrote an article on how to avoid sales calls: [feedme.typepad.com]

A lot of good tips that keep you from getting the calls in the first place.

moe52

@ everybody who gets calls with a new number:

You might call your phone company and tell them not to give out your phone number. I had to do this with verizon wireless and it seems that they have an internal "Do Not Call List".

zfolwick

About a month ago I started getting daily calls on my cell phone from some car warranty renewal scammers. I googled the 800 number & found lots of complaints about calls like I was getting. It would have been good to have known about this web site then. The calls finally stopped after a couple of weeks of me politely asking to be taken off their list.

BlogsOfSteel

Another great resource is whocalled.us

Adam

Years ago we bought some Caller ID boxes that allowed us to put phone numbers on "reject." The box picks up after one ring, tells the caller we don't accept calls from their number, and hangs up on them.

We can also refuse to accept calls from blocked numbers if we choose.

Fortunately, more and more of the telemarketers now display phone numbers so we can send them off into never-never-land.

I've never understood why that Caller ID box got discontinued. It seems like just about everyone could use one.

infmom

The FCC has an online complaint submission system of their own for Do Not Call violations, spam emails, even spam text messages. I don't know if they actually do anything, but maybe that would be a good place start, in that they at least potentially have the power to take action against telemarketers.

Tachyon0118

@DCGaymer: regarding that kind of creepy relationship, there is an aspiring actor that has my identical name. Somehow I accidently ended up on the Howard Fine Acting Studio mailing list. I cannot kill Howard Fine. I've unsubscribed, blacklisted the address with filters, marked it as spam, etc... and no matter what I do I still receive a weekly update from the place.

@infmom: I searched online and sure enough every instance of a caller ID box that had a built in black list had been discontinued/wasn't available. I did however find a little program that does the exact same thing via your computer. If you're like me and leave at least one computer on 24/7, then this caller ID software with a black list should do exactly what you're looking for:

[www.gold-software.com]

Jason Fitzpatrick

@Jason Fitzpatrick: Thanks for the info on that website that's awesome.

Also try creating a folder to send the email from the Howard Fine guy. That way you get them, but you never have to see them.

I despise telemarketing companies as well but if I ever get caught in a convo with one of their workers I try to be polite, they're just trying to make money by letting the computer call you and do their script.

liquidglass

I created a similar site for Norway a couple of years ago, called Telefonterror.no ([www.telefonterror.no]).

The site is only useful if you live in Norway, or if you for some reason get called up by Norwegian telemarketers.

Judging by the response I've got on that site, it seems quite a lot of people are annoyed with telemarketers and their selling tactics.

Bjarte

In the uk you can register with the telphone preference service [www.mpsonline.org.uk]
and the Mail preference service
[www.tpsonline.org.uk]

This should reduce nuisance calls/junk mail, as the only stuff you should get is stuff for which you have registered, which you can choose to opt out of. If you get any calls, simply ask them to remove you from their list, they are legally obliged to do so.

CC

CaptainChickenpants

@CaptainChickenpants: Yup, definitely worth signing onto the TPS and MPS as they massively helped with me when I moved into a house where we didn't think to change the phone number (BIG mistake) and consequently got all the sales calls for the previous occupant.

One thing I have noticed though is that we still get the occasional "survey" call, who, when you tell them you're with the TPS, take great pleasure in saying "the TPS covers sales calls but not surveys". Bastards.

portobello_man

Would it be wrong for me to put my bosses number in there?

bms

For those getting ridiculous telemarketers calls on their mobile, if you have a smartphone (Windows or Symbian), you can download phone specific applications that you can add those numbers and even unknown/private numbers to your black list and each time they call, they'll automatically get a "busy tone" or "this number has been disconnected" ...and for those with heavy use of GC, you can use it...for home phones, I have no idea how that could be avoided..

that makes me wonder as I just order a thing called MagicJack that plugs into a USB and auto gives u a dialtone and a phone #. Hmm........thinking..

mr_oshodi

@KarmaChameleon: I forget what the specific time is, but there are laws on the books revolving around Fair Debt Collection, probably easy to find, and collections calls can't be outside some humane time range of the day. If they violate that (especially if you give them a warning), there are big penalties that you could have assessed. Wouldn't that feel good? Keep notes on when they called...

Harlan

I used to work for a place called Directions in Research, a marketing research firm. Just so you know, the do not call list only applies to sales calls. If you are on said list, you can still get called by people who are not trying to sell you anything. There is no list or any way to stop these calls unless you take their survey. It's annoying, I know. I had to give those surveys.

Sometimes they are interesting and you can easily take the surveys while you browse the web, people did that all the time for me.

Also, if you just hang up, don't answer, or be a douchebag to the person you WILL get called back. The only way to prevent yourself from being called back for that specific survey is to tell them that you're not interested AFTER you listen to their introduction or if you complete the survey.

JoshNck

While not all telemarketers are a jerk but most of them are seriously friggin annoying. I keep getting a phonecall during dinner time. And sometimes between 8 to 8.30 at night.

Playstation

A little game to play with people marketing phone accounts:

Each time I get a call on my mobile (used to be at least once a week, now more like once every couple of months) from someone who might be able to offer me a better deal, I tell them: "I was thinking about checking my tariff, but that I've just put some pots on the boil in the kitchen, could you hold a minute while I turn them off?"

Then put the phone down somewhere quiet and get on with what-ever you were already doing. They'll go away in the end and my phone records how long the call lasted. My record is 11 minutes and 25 seconds.

Rude? Perhaps, but they've called me despite being on the relevant do-not- call lists. I know two wrongs don't make a right, but one wrong doesn't either!

dspillett

[www.allowe.com]

A classic one, I don't think that telemarketeer wil ever call him again :').

tomwas54

Comment on Identify Telemarketers at CallerComplaints I use *77 to block anonymous calls, it gives them a message that you don't except anonymous/blocked calls. I found it on -- -> http://www.jdbsound.com/work/starcodes.html ---> *77 Activation, *87 Deactivation - Anonymous Call Rejection - Allows Customers to reject calls from parties who have a privacy feature that prevents the delivery of their calling number to the called party. (Note to cell phone users: *77 on some cell phone networks in some locations is reserved for State Police, as it has the alphabetical equivalent of "*SP".)

AretinaMu

I run a company that makes calls to people who go online and request to called in reference to a loan request.

We have mechanisms in place that allow people to opt-out of receiving the calls, but from some reason people do not opt-out.

We give them the ability to do this on the phone as well. Insread of opting-out people call and complain to us and online.

I think most of this has to do with lack of consumer education in the process. Some of the blame lies with companies like mine when we do not explain how to opt-out well enough.

Also, there is a big difference between telemarketers and companies that call because you have a relationship with them.

jdhuck

@dspillett: Many years ago I got an obscene phone call. The guy made a proposition and I said "That sounds like fun. Let me just check and see if my husband's asleep. He just got off the night shift on the vice squad."

I bet his phone melted from air friction on the way to being hung up.

infmom

@jdhuck: After the forth time pressing "2" to supposedly not have our business office called again about burial plot discounts for people 65 and older you start to see a pattern.

I think most of this has to do with that sort of thing.

Johnay

Here is the anti-telemarketer script:
[www.xs4all.nl]

If if you never use it, its a fun read!

r0b3rt

I think I learnt this from Consumerist but when you opt out on the do not call list - they have to give you a reference number. If they don't give you a reference number, they most likely put you on the DO NOT CALL LIST for that company only, so they can still call you on the behalf of other companies (remember the call centre is a freelancer, they get requests to make calls for several companies, so they put you on a no-call list for only that 1 company).

I've yet to get a reference number, they usually hang up too quickly for me to insist.

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