I had a call today from a (Not going to post his name) calling on behalf of World Wide Communication Satellite Systems. It seems because I have a phone number they will give me a check for $50.00 and a free calling card. I stopped him at this point since it turned into a sales call and tried to obtain the ph# of the call center he was at. He didn’t understand why I needed it so I explianed the law
“A person or entity making a telephone solicitation must provide the called party with the name of the individual caller, the name of the person or entity on whose behalf the call is being made, and a telephone number or address at which the person or entity may be contacted.”
When he was still confused I asked him to the address of the center he is at and he replied with World Wide Communication Satellite Systems. I said no that is a name I want the address and again he replied with World Wide Communication Satellite Systems. This went on four more times. Then I asked him what address do you report to work at, instead of answering he hung up on me.
Enigma is a database program that helps you keep track of the telemarketer calls and it has revelant law information. You can find it at http://www.verinet.com/~geoff/Enigma/ and it’s freeware.
From their website
About Enigma
Enigma: Anti-Telemarketing Software guides its users in the fine art of telling telemarketers to stop calling. Simple and fun to use, this program will help provide you with hours of laughs (confused and frightened telemarketers not included).
I prefer not to know the laws, but rather to confuse the telemarketers in my own unique way. You know, make them feel like their time was wasted by me as much as vice versa. My favorite was when my parents got a new phone line for the internet at home. It was a line we used almost exclusively for the internet, and we didn’t give out the number to anyone. I plugged in a phone to it when we were offline every now and then because my sister tended to occupy the main phone, and I needed to make some calls. The phone would ring, however, and we knew that no one had our number, so we assumed it was telemarketers. I would answer the phone accordingly. I believe the biggest laugh I got was when I answered the phone, screaming in a loud, cracky, almost desperate voice, “ARE YOU WATCHING FAMILY FEUD???”
The best was when they would get mad at me, telling me that this was a business, and this phone line could not be used for kidding around. You know, like it was ME who called THEM. Then they’d use the word “sir” a lot with a lot of heavy emphasis and hang up.
The moral is, the secret to everlasting youth is to act really immature where applicable.
flup(!)
Once, when they called my house asking if we were interested in switching to another phone company, I denied any existence of out telephone.
Another time, when they asked for my mother, I asked them (the telemarketer) for my mother, and insisted that I had called them, not the other way around.
The most recent time, I put the phone up to the radio and turned it up, after five minutes, they were still there waiting for me to come back. I guess they don’t give up.
Once, when they called my house asking if we were interested in switching to another phone company, I denied any existence of our telephone.
Another time, when they asked for my mother, I asked them (the telemarketer) for my mother, and insisted that I had called them, not the other way around.
The most recent time, I put the phone up to the radio and turned it up, after five minutes, they were still there waiting for me to come back. I guess they don’t give up.
When I was younger and smoking a lot more dope, I used to like to pretend to be interested-- and then, when the spiel got going, speak as though I might possibly be touching myself in an inappropriate way. It was so much fun to turn the tables- You could hear them getting more and more uncomfortable, obviously wishing they could get off the phone.
One glorious day my housemate got in on the act, and we did a passable sonic impression of a couple quietly in coitus. Well, quietly at first, anyway. He was never a subtle one.
Another thing that confuses the hell out of them is a preemptive strike: “May I speak to Mr. Mudd?” “No.” “Pardon me?!” “I don’t take unsolicited calls. Good day.”
Hmmm… I wonder what the relevant Canadian legislation is.
And why the hell is Enigma nearly a meg to download? What, is the source written in an old version of Turbo PASCAL, and brute-compiled along with the interpreter? What’s up with that?
Until the state of Tennessee started a “Do Not Call” list, I used to simply tell them that, “I can’t talk right now. The police and the coroner are here.” Never heard a response on the other end when I used that little number!
