Man! If I have to rush from the shower or get out of bed one more time to answer the phone only to find that the caller is from a toll-free number – a telemarketer, for sure – I am going to scream! The only legitimate phone calls we get on our landline anymore are from our neighbors who call maybe once a month and are identified as “Private Caller” on our caller ID. Toll-free calls come multiple times throughout the morning and into the evening.
When did it become okay for telemarketers to begin barraging us again with their financial schemes and insurance offers? And let’s not forget the bogus calls from Social Security and the IRS telling us we owe money.
Over the past couple of months, these bogus calls don’t even show up as toll-free on our Caller ID. Instead, they are from a phone number with my own area code. It’s getting harder and harder to discern legitimate calls. I feel bad for people like my mom, who don’t even have Caller ID. My mom has taken to not answering her phone at all.
Just this morning – and I’m checking to make sure I get this right and I’m not exaggerating – I have received four illegitimate calls. It is 11:15 am. The morning is not yet over. By the way, I know they’re illegitimate because they did not leave a voicemail message. Telemarketers never do.
The first call was at 9:24 am from Big Sur. Caller ID actually read “Big Sur”. The next, at 10:37 am from Campbell. Big Sur again at 11:04 am. (Lately, we’ve been receiving bogus phone calls from random towns in California. We live in California.) At 11:11 am a call comes through from “Private Caller.” I know this is my next door neighbor, so I answer it. Can you believe it was a telemarketer?!
It’s no wonder that people are getting rid of their landlines. Real people don’t call on them anymore.
Do these telemarketers know me? In the past, have I given money to one of them? How do they know my name and phone number? Whose list am I on? How do I get off the list?
The current practice in my house is to not answer any calls that are toll-free or come from phone numbers or names we don’t recognize. So basically, we don’t answer the phone.
My family jokes that “Toll Free” is our best friend. She’s the only one we know who keeps in regular contact with us, calling multiple times a day. It’s funny how we – best friends that we are – actually never talk yet we maintain that close connection. We call her “Toll” now, we’ve become so familiar.
In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission implemented a the Do Not Call Registry. It was established to comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. 1991! Let’s count…twelve years to implement a law? That’s both outrageous and pitiful. And why just the FTC? Why not the Federal Communications Commission too? Did they have any input? (Frankly, I didn’t care enough to find out.)
The Do Not Call Registry gave consumers an opportunity to opt-out of receiving sales calls. Consumers could call a the FTC’s toll-free number (from the phone they wanted in the registry) and register their phone number. Poof! No more sales calls.
In my opinion, back in 2003, the FTC did a poor job in promoting the launch of this new consumer protection. I remember having to tell friends and family about it when I learned about it in 2005, two years after it was implemented, 14 years after the legislation passed that instigated the establishment of the registry. Most of my friends and family had never heard of it. I think the FTC is still doing a lackluster job in notifying consumers about the registry.
While researching the registry for this article, I learned quite a lot. I’ll share with you some information that might interest you.
There were rumors that the protection the registry gave to consumers was only temporary, that you had to renew your subscription to the Do Not Call list every five years. I just learned that this is not true. Once your phone number is on the registry, it’s there for good – unless you request that it be taken off. (Any chance of that?)
There is not a separate registry for mobile phones. Landlines and cell phone numbers are in the same Do Not Call Registry. By the way, I learned that robocalls – automated phone calls that deliver recorded messages – have always been prohibited from calling cell phones.
Once your number is in the registry, telemarketers have 31 days to take you off their list. That means it will take a month before you see any reduction in the number of sales calls you receive. It’s not immediate like I believed when I initially registered.
The registry has no impact on political calls or calls from non-profits and charitable organizations. This means that they can still call you to ask for money even though your number is in the registry. (Non-profits and charities that use telemarketing firms and robocalls, however, are not exempt from utilizing the registry. They cannot call you if your number is registered.) I don’t know about you but I detest calls from political parties and don’t think they should be exempted. Further, nothing against charities, but I don’t want their calls either.
Telemarketers are not allowed to call before 9:00 am or after 9:00 pm. I can tell you that there are companies ignoring that mandate in our house. I have been awakened by phone calls as early as 7:30 am.
Apparently, if your number is on the Do Not Call Registry and, after 31 days you’re still receiving sales calls, you can and should file a complaint with the FTC. You’ll need to know the date of the call and the company’s name or phone number in order to do so. According to the Federal Trade Commission, a telemarketer that ignores the registry could be fined up to $40,000 for each call. It would be interesting to see how much money the government has collected by busting these telemarketers. I imagine it’s not a lot. I don’t want to have to take the time to file a complaint and I imagine most of you don’t either.
You yourself can make money off illegal telemarketing calls you receive. Of course you have to prove your case in court. If you win though, you could be awarded $500 per call. But again, who wants to go through the rigamarole of filing a suit in small claims court?
I have a problem with the whole premise of the Do Not Call Registry. I don’t think consumers should have to opt out of receiving sales calls. I think all telemarketing calls – even political calls and those from charities – should be banned unless a consumer OPTS IN to receive them.
Why doesn’t the government have an opt-in registry? Because no one would opt in? Bingo! No one wants these phone calls! And a bill outlawing companies from telemarketing would probably never pass through Congress.
Is there anything good that comes from telemarketing? Sure, it provides someone – usually a machine – with a job, I suppose. But do companies actually secure a lot of business by making cold calls to individuals who didn’t ask them to call? Are the sales that significant? Do their sales even exceed the cost of making the calls?
I think the firms using telemarketing may actually be losing customers because of the nuisance factor. Of course, I never answer the phone so I don’t know what company the telemarketers are representing. Even if I do answer the phone, I hang up within the two seconds of dead air you get with automatic dialers, telling me the call is from a telemarketer.
And that’s another thing. These poor schmos who are making the calls – the ones that aren’t machines. How is their mental health? It’s got to be extremely demoralizing getting hung up on all the time. (I’m not going to take full responsibility for the declining mental health of the human telemarketers, mind you. I know you hang up on them too.)
I’ve found that not answering the phone in the first place is the way to go. Most of us have voicemail or some sort of answering machine. If it’s a legitimate call, the caller will leave a message and you can call them back. That’s my tip for maintaining the mental health of telemarketing callers: do not answer your phone. Or how about this? You put the sales caller on hold. That would be pretty funny.
Why is telemarketing legal anyway? Nobody likes it – not even the ones making the calls, I’m sure.
Years ago, I worked for a local chapter of the Boy Scouts of America. I was charged with making fund raising calls to folks who had given a financial gift to the scouts the previous year through our direct mail campaign for which I had been responsible. I dreaded it. Hated it even. I felt like apologizing before I even said hello – and these were people who had demonstrated an interest in scouting, who had given before. And listen, I majored in marketing in college, of all things! I should recognize the supposed importance of these calls.
We did not learn about telemarketing in school. The only calling we did was for a marketing research class where we had to test a questionnaire we had put together. It’s much easier to explain to whoever picks up the phone that you’re a student, you have a survey, it will only take four minutes, and that he or she would really be helping you out. No money involved. By the way, I forgot to mention that telephone surveys are also exempt from having to use the Do Not Call Registry.
Let’s ban telemarketing calls altogether. We shouldn’t have to “subscribe” to a Do Not Call registry – just don’t call me. Period.
Until this is done, I guess, my household will continue screening calls. My phone number has been on the Do Not Call Registry since 2005. I just checked. Our number is still on it. Why then have we seen an upsurge in bogus phone calls? It’s not working. ✿
To add your phone number to the registry, go to www.donotcall.gov
or call 888-382-1222 (TTY 866-290-4236)
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