Double helping of Phone Spam

The phone rang at 9:50 last night and I was treated to a slimy pre-recorded telemarketing pitch over my answering machine as I tried to watch the climax of that evening’s West Wing. I won’t get into how the shows’ ultra-right-wing horn-bowing and posturing pisses me off every week. This week, it was the slimy telemarketer that annoyed me. The pre-recorded message for some swamp-land holiday get-away was actually sent to my answering machine twice for good measure. Apparently they were quite interested in hearing back from me.

The message urged me to call 1(800) 211-7592 each time. They really wanted to talk to me about getting lime disease with a side order of West-Nile-virus at their ramshackle tourist gulag.

Is this something that happens all of the time?? Do other companies actually leave numbers like 1(800) 211-7592 on peoples answering machines?

If someone were to call 1(800) 211-7592 and leave a slimy telemarketing pitch of their own, would that be a bad thing?

If I had actually answered, would I have been treated to the same recording urging me to call 1(800) 211-7592 ?

Also, are numbers like 1(800) 211-7592 billed to their owners on a flat rate or are they charged by volume of call traffic?

—CoffeeGuy

I would guess that if someone were to call 1(800)211-7592, that no one would answer.