Damn, I hate these people. Every fucking week! And the same stupid-ass spiel with a fucking lie about how this is the last time they will bother me.
I am a mild-tempered guy, but I am seriously considering getting a police whistle so I can blow the eardrums out of whoever is on the other end. And lest your advice to me be “call the government and report them” I have done that. Eight months ago, and no change.
Dammit PUT ME ON YOUR DO NOT CALL LIST!
Regards,
Shodan
I stupidly signed up for FreeCreditRepots-dot-com and can’t stop them from billing me every month. Unethical blood-sucking assholes.
Well, you shoulda seen that coming at you.
Like some kinda bomb. A big one.
“Hello! This is Rachel from Cardholder Services! There is no problem with your account, but…”
I get these robocalls on both my landline and cell at least weekly. The cell gets them in both English and Spanish, too. I’m on both the Indiana and federal do-not-call lists, as well. For a while, the calls stopped along with other similar scams after some legal crackdowns (anyone remember the vehicle warranty robocalls a few years ago?), but in the last few months, Rachel has been calling and waking me up far too often.
I remember the days when I would answer the phone blindly, and then for unrecognized numbers, but that memory has waned to a faint impression.
If you want me, be known or prepare to be screened. A demand of modern life.
If you have a computer that you leave on all the time, I highly recommend PhoneTray Free, a free caller ID screening program. You will need a 56k modem that decodes caller ID, but once it is set up, you can program it to hang up based on either the phone number or the caller ID. The phone rings once, then hangs up. It is very satisfying.
It also keeps a log of all your incoming calls, and generates a display of the number and caller id on your computer monitor. With one click, you can do an online search of the number to see who else has received calls from them, and who owns the number. One click adds the number to your black list, and they will never get through again.
Hell, if you have a 56k modem you probably still have a landline. No wonder you get these calls.
I have to have a landline to have burglar alarm monitoring. 
I don’t even know what the phone number is; nobody uses it except my mother-in-law, my dad (who weirdly, cannot call my cellphone because he lives in the Caymans and their local carrier won’t allow outgoing international calls to cellphones), the alarm company, and an assload of telemarketers.
Wonder if there’s a way to hook it up to Skype instead.
Some people might say they deserve it because they can choose what kind of job to work, but with the economy the way it is, I’d say cut them some slack. It’s the people who set the policy of not actually removing you from the call lists who you’re really after, and that’s not the schmuck on the phone.
I get those at work frequently. Gets no further than “This is Ra–” before I’m hanging up.
I’m sure I’ve gotten those more recently than a few years ago (again, fortunately, at work, not on my cell).
If the schmuck on the phone knows that the names aren’t being removed(which should be pretty damn obvious after the umpteenth complaint), then the schmuck on the phone is getting what she/he deserves. She/he is knowingly working for a law-breaker.
How do they *know *that, though? Maybe they have a button to push to remove people, and it just doesn’t do anything. Or maybe the person is getting removed from their lists, but not the lists of another company that uses the same recorded intro spam.
And just because someone claims to have asked to have their number removed from a list doesn’t mean they actually did.
Go after the companies that keep calling you. Push for tougher legislation against this bullshit. But don’t destroy the ears of some person who might just desperately need a job–any job–to not get thrown out of their home.
As I’ve already said, after numerous complaints from the people you dial up, you should have a very good idea as to whether or not the company cutting your paycheck is operating legally. If you’ve already decided that you are willing to participate in illegal activities to pay the bills and you’ll work any job because “the ends justify the means” however, then there are occupations out there that will give you a better return.
I just this moment got a call from Rachel at Cardholder Services.
Well, really, I got a call from Rachel at Cardholder Ser… I’m interpolating the rest.
By that reasoning, you should also be advocating walking around and kicking the shit out of undocumented workers.
The difference between our two examples?
In mine, I used reasoning.
I honestly don’t think it is logistically possible to be gang raped by rhinos.
Yet another excellent entry in the “Famous Last Words” collection.
Technically, it’s called Ooga Booga.
Undocumented workers are working for a company that’s breaking the law, and are breaking the law by doing so. Telemarketers working for companies that call people on do-not-call lists may be working for companies that break the law, if they’re based in the U.S. I’m not sure if the telemarketers themselves are breaking the law (i.e., could be personally prosecuted), or if that’s entirely on the companies themselves.
So, if you think someone should be able to cause pain to someone for working one maybe-illegal job (telemarketing for a company that doesn’t remove people from lists), you shoudl also think it’s all right to cause pain to someone for working a definitely illegal job.
IMO, in both cases, it’s the choices and actions of the companies in question that are the problem: *not *the choices and actions of their employees.