| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
So....WHY is there such a thing as this "do not call" list? F'ing WORTHLESS. I get so many crap calls and spam junk...P45 wants to de-fund something to help with the new budget, cut THAT off since it doesn't do a ••••••• thing anyway. And on a related note...why the HELL can't Apple get off their ass and put real-time caller ID on their iPhone, just like every single Android phone out there???  | ||
| Ourdee |
I just put them on the don't talk to list. If it sounds like a sales call, I hang up. I don't discuss it. | ||
| Hootowl |
They only get to call me once, then they get blocked. Also, if you call me and don't leave a message, and I don't recognize the number, you get blocked. | ||
| Court |
Pretty much what I do . . . . but I continue getting these extended warranty calls from different numbers, sometimes a couple times a day. Shouldn't they figure out, after I hang up 25 times that I'm not interested? | ||
| Hootowl |
Only if there's a human being on the other end of the phone. I don't classify telemarketers as human. | ||
| Fast1075 |
The best salesman I ever met had a motto: "They'll buy or die" meaning he would never give up. Sucker could sell ice to an Eskimo. I hate the spam calls. If I get a call where someone does not respond to "Hello?" in about 1 second, it is a spam call, and I hang up. | ||
| Sifo |
I used to work in the direct mail industry maintaining mailing lists. We did that for telemarketers too. When they first passed the DNC (do not call) law, there was a very steep punishment for ignoring it. It was well worth their while to spend the money to pass their lists against the DNC list, with the added benefit that the staff isn't wasting their time calling people who have bothered to register on the DNC list. I don't think there has ever been a prosecution for this though. Most telemarketers simply no longer spend the money to filter against the DNC list anymore. Part of that law also requires them to maintain an in house DNC list. Most reputable places still do this. Learn the phrase "please place me on your do not call list". It works frequently. There are still many crappy places that will still call you repeatedly though. The do not mail lists were far more effective at stopping junk mail. That was because it involves a real cost to send a printed piece in the mail to a customer who doesn't want it enough to ask to not get it. Economics are different with a phone call. If you got junk mail in the 80s, you almost certainly got junk that went past my desk. I worked for the two biggest direct mail companies in the 80s. | ||
| Froggy |
Many times these days, the calls are coming from overseas. It costs pretty much northing to rent the services of a call center in India and such. The robo dialer calls you, and if it detects you answer, it then tries to connect you to someone, hence the small delay before they respond, or it hangs up on you if it doesn't get through in time. Respectable companies like Sifo mentioned will put you on their DNC list if asked, but obviously the shady scammers don't care. Also given they are on a different continent, it is difficult to enforce. I haven't looked into it in years, there was a device for landlines that would emanate the same three tones you get before the "phone number is not in service" message when dialing a dead line. If you pressed it, it often tricked the robo dialer to remove you from the list. I'm sure something like that can be done with modern smartphones. | ||
| Strokizator |
I could block calls but then they'd leave voicemail. Finally had enough and asked Verizon how to delete that particular feature. Response was, "I don't know, nobody's ever asked that." They eventually figured it out. Spammers now blocked and no more annoying voicemail prompts. Interesting though, people on my contacts list can still leave a message. | ||
| Ourdee |
I get the ones that knock on the front door. I tell them I'm not buying. One today said he was gathering information. I told him I wasn't sharing. BYE! | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Yea back when I had a landline, I had an answering machine pick up the phone for me. My outgoing "message" was those three tomes. My friends and family knew of this and would just yell into the machine to pick it up. My friends and I used to compete with each other for who could keep the idiots on the line the longest. "FU! " and a hangup actually saves them time and verifies that it's a valid number. Talking very slowly and asking lots of stupid questions wastes the one thing that they have a limited amount of: man*hours. | ||
| Ourdee |
NSFW: uncensored cursing | ||
| Mnscrounger |
Wasting man hours.. back when the kids were little and the wife was doing a stint as a stay at home mom. One night after she and I had settled in with a couple margaritas, she picked up for a telemarketer who then told her her she was pre approved. (A wicked grin crossed her face, and stayed for the rest of the call.) I only heard her side, but it went something like this: "Great! our other card is nearly full.. When will it be in my mailbox?. Verify what, you called me and said I was pre approved.. Oh, okay.. I don't have any income, I'm a stay at home mom.. Yes, I am married, If I wasn't married I'd probably need a job to keep my house.. What does his income have to do with this, it's my card isn't it?.. Zero.. Zero.. Well if you need to put down a number, put down zero.. Zero is too a number.. Yes it is, where did you learn math?. Yes, he is employed.. That's HIS income, it doesn't count. You told me this is MY card.. I'm not going to give you my social security number, you called me.. You already know who I am.. You said I was pre- approved, are you LYING to me?.. I'm not sure I want to use a card from a company that would lie to me.. Well if I'm pre-approved, then send me the card!. I'm not giving you his number, it's going to be MY card!. I already told you I'm a Homemaker.. It is too a job! and it's hard, you should try it sometime.. I am calm but you just insulted my career choice.. So when do I get the card?." This went on for a while, I was snorting bubbles in my margarita every time she would answer, and tears of laughter were rolling. I think she kept him on the line for close to 10 minutes. Don't mess with my Mrs when she's been cocktailing. For that matter, it's not a good idea when she hasn't got one going either. | ||
| 86129squids |
Years ago, I kept a girl on the line long enough that I almost got a date with her! Lots of funnin', with every kind of tangential direction away from her script... and she DID "sound" cute enough!  Morons. Here lately I've been getting robocall voicemails plying me with vacation deals, but I only get half the message! | ||
| Airbozo |
Depending on my mood I will either ask to be put on the dnc list, go off on them for being an arsehole or see how long I can keep them on the phone. I asked one young lady to hold while I grabbed my account details and she was still there 10 minutes later... I have also asked if I can call them right back and I have also asked for the manager and read them the riot act. Again, depends on my mood. | ||
| Froggy |
If you want to have a little fun with them and waste their time without wasting yours, check this out - http://www.jollyrogertelco.com/ They use bots that sound damn convincing that they are human, and the bots mess with the callers until they get hung up on. | ||
| Greg_e |
My dad kept one scammer on the line for literally 2.5 hours, I was sitting there with him the whole time. They were calling at least once a week before that happened, and never called back once after that time. | ||
| Airbozo |
I like that Jolly Roger idea! I am also prone to taping postage paid envelopes from credit card companies to bricks and mail them back. My Mail lady loves me! She always chuckles when I do something crazy. Years ago I was tasked with cleaning out all the old hardware in our lab. Many mortgage and CC companies got an envelope full of screws, nuts and bolts. Several even got a bunch of heavy block off plates. You're welcome! hehe | ||
| Sifo |
At one time I would sort my junk mail into two piles. One pile had postage paid envelopes. The second pile did not. Stuff the second pile into the first piles envelopes, and drop it in the mail. At least it was likely to not go into my local landfill. | ||
| Hootowl |
That Jolly Roger guy is doing the world a favor, legal or not. |
