Telemarketers and Cell Phones? 569
jjshoe asks: "I have received one bumbling voice mail from a woman who seemed very confused as to why I wasn't there, like her auto dialer transfered her call to my cellphone in time for my voice mail, one missed call, and one in which I actually talked to the woman. My concern is that this all costs me minutes, which of course equals money. What laws are out there for me? What bills are out there waiting to head their way towards becoming laws? What can I do to be compensated for time? After I screamed at the tele-marketer lady she said she would mark me as a wrong number, but I still don't believe this is enough." Considering most tele-marketers use auto-dialers, would it be so hard to grab the definitive list of area-code/extensions that are exclusively used for cellular phones and just apply that to their dial-out lists?
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's website was the only site I could find that had any information on cellphones and solicitation.
Note the first question from 'JOHN PUHATCH':
And the answer basically amounts to, although we do have some protections, we can still be screwed:Q: Regarding the sole use of wireless phones as an alternative to a land line connection, as I have done for nearly two years: You stated that tele-marketers do not call wireless phones. If only that were the case. Tele-marketing agencies have regularly contacted me on my cell phone concerning everything from vacation homes to long-distance service. My assumption is that these agencies secure my cell phone number by buying information from the plethora of forms and applications that require home telephone numbers but leave no place for a cell phone.
Does anyone have any advice on things I can do to get these tele-marketers to stop calling on my cellphone?"'A: [...]In short, John, you lost your chance at a telemarketing-free life when you filled out those forms with your phone number. May others learn from your mistake.'
Most land-based phone companies allow anonymous-call blocks these days. Are there cellular phone companies doing anything similar?
Redirecting home phones to mobiles. (Score:3, Insightful)
In regards to time, I'll usually just say goodbye...
But time is an issue. Just think about spam, commercials, etc... but I believe it would only cloud up things if we should start making new laws. What about using existing laws about harassment.
Cash in! (Score:5, Insightful)
A good resource for this kind of thing is Junkbusters [junkbusters.org]
Two words: caller pays (Score:3, Insightful)
-_Quinn
thats nothing... (Score:4, Insightful)
hard to get a good phone exclude list (Score:2, Insightful)
That's not so easy as a lot of people forward their home phone to their cell phones. I do always take in telling the telemarketer who thought they were calling home that they have called me on my cell phone and that it's costing me money to talk to them. Some guy actually told me to send him a bill.
this is why (Score:1, Insightful)
more than you ever wanted to know about telemktg (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm not connected with this site in any way, but I've used info from there to rid myself of 90% of telemarketing calls. And I've had some fun with telemorons in the process.
Re:Don't answer (Score:3, Insightful)
I did this. They didn't hang up. But I did find out it was FirstUSA who gave out my number. After telling them I wished to be put on their no call list, they told me it would be three months before that would take effect. I told them this was unacceptable.
I also learned that these no call lists are only valid for one year at which time they can opt me right back in. Nine months of no calls by that *one* company? It was a coincidence that I was over my airtime minutes that month and paid 25 cents a minute for that nonsense. No thanks.
I promptly cancelled my credit card and the calls still came rolling in. It was satisfying to tell them why I was cancelling my card. That didn't stop the calls either. My final solution was to change my phone number. Other companies know this is my "home" phone number, yet I haven't been getting calls since.
Re:I did this for a living (Score:1, Insightful)
Why not check this [callcentercareers.com] and do a search fro "direct wireless outbound".
Cough...Sykes...Cough.
Re:Do not call list (Score:3, Insightful)
Good luck finding out who they are. Good luck finding out the correct address so you can serve them. Good luck getting a judgement, and even if you do have a judgement, good luck collecting even a single dollar from them.
Note also that this process is rather arduous, requires several inconvenient trips through traffic to the bad part of town where the courthouse always is, and many hours on your own time performing research, looking up the law, etc. Skip tracers don't work for free, either.
Re:"Put me on your do not call list." (Score:5, Insightful)
Although this has cut down on some of my phone spam volume, folks should be aware that:
1) It only has meaning for the telemarketing company that called you. When XYZ Phonespammers of Texas puts you on their DNC list, they can rename themselves to ABC Phonespammers of Texas.
2) It only has meaning for a year, then they can call you again.
Those of you lucky enough to have statewide do-not-call lists are in a somewhat better position, because all your state's telespammers are required to use it. Problem is...
3) ...your entry on the Colorado no-call list doesn't protect you from XYZ Telemarketing of Colorado opening up a call center and operating as XYZ Telemarketing of Nevada.
The only solution is a nationwide do-not-call list.
I know this solution will work because...
the DMA is scared shitless of it [dmnews.com].
Am I just being paranoid? No - my experiences with telemarketers evading the current TCPA regs mirror those of Eileen Harrington - FTC's point-person on the do-not-call issue.
Finally, in what were probably the first honest words to come out of a telemarketer's mouth in all of recorded history, we have this gem:
Re:Damn cell companies... (Score:1, Insightful)
It is called "predictive dialers" and they should be made a capitol offence. I.e., death penalty.
Here's how they work. Telescum make money based on how many people they talk to. They make no money if the scum they hire aren't talking to someone. They use a computerized system that PREDICTS how soon one of the scum is going to be done with a call and starts dialing the victim's number BEFORE there are any telescum ready to talk. The THEORY is that by the time the victim answers and says "hello", one of the scum will be done and ready to talk to them, and the computer will switch the call to them. They won't even waste time having the hear the victim say "hello", they get the call after that point. (That's why you have to say "hello" to the scum more than once. The computer detects your voice on the line and THEN passes the call to the scum who wants to scam you.)
So, what happens if the PREDICTION is wrong? Well, there is nobody available to talk to the victim. What can they do? They HANG UP. That's right, if there is no scum free to talk to the victim, the scummer's computer just hangs up.
Marvelous system, huh? You go to the trouble of trying to tell these jerks not to call you, and they just hang up before you can tell them not to call you anymore.
So, let your answering machine take the call, if they hang up there will be no message, right? WRONG. The timing of their hangup is just perfect so that your machine answers, plays its message, and you get to record the phone company recording "If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again...".
Like I said, execute the scum that use these. After the third scummer gets toasted, maybe they'll learn not to harass potential customers anymore.
Re:Impediments to telemarketing reform (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes. They are rude people who think they have a right to interrupt me and violate my privacy because they are too lazy to get an honest job. I am so sick of people saying "they're only trying to earn a living," refering to telemarketers. Elephant poachers are only trying to make a living. That doesn't excuse them! I have taken all the precautions to avoid telemarkets, and, for the most part, I only receive a call once every few months (and that is usually a wrong number). However, I still take it upon myself to give the caller the hardest time I can. My reasoning is this -- if everyone was incredibly mean and rude to telemarketers, few people would be willing to do the work and the cost of labor would be prohibitively high. Don't even get me started about the jackasses that actually buy something from telemarketers. If they would all just stop the problem would disappear.
Re:Don't answer (Score:2, Insightful)
If the USA is all out for 'may the best economic model win' then it's settled - 70% cellphone usage in the UK proves that the non-US billing scheme is the best way to increase uptake and not penalise people for owning cellphones.
This is not US-bashing (a change for me) but an honest recommendation - go petition someone. Seriously.
And believe me, I'd be just as pissed off to recieve a cold call even though they are paying if it was to my cellphone - I consider that to be my private airspace.
-Nano.
Re:Damn cell companies... (Score:2, Insightful)
There's a sub-industry within telemarketing called "voice broadcasting". These are the jerks who leave voicemail messages advertising various goods and services.
I used to work for a company who had an entire OC3 dedicated to doing this (their phone bill comes shipped on a crate -- litterally), so I know how their technology works. They get paid based on how many messages they leave. So, when a live person answers, their equipment cheerfully hangs up. Nice, huh?
Oh, and that partial message you received? I'll bet your voicemail system plays your personal greeting, and then pauses for a second and skips into an operator message that says "to leave a message, press one now or stay on the line" or some such thing. That pause between your greeting and the operator message throws things off -- it starts playing the message before your voicemail starts recording.
For fear of retribution, I can't give you any more info than that. If you do a google search on "voice broadcasting" you will probably be able to find the company responsible.