The other thread got hijacked by people discussing air charges before the conversation could (as I assumed it would) start discussing how to keep telemarketers from calling a cell phone number.
So can a cell phone user just register with the national do not call list? This is the United States BTW.
I registered mine, and it did work. The couple of calls I’ve got since then (several years ago), have ended swiftly when I confirmed that name of the company, then pointed out that this number is on the “do not call list”, and I intend to report them.
Are you currently having problems with telemarketers calling your cell phone? Unless you switched from a land line and kept the same number, you shouldn’t have a problem.
Cell phone numbers are not listed in the phone directory, and are not on the lists that telemarketers use. If you look at the Snopes link in the other thread, it points out the fallacies of the panic glurge that the OP received.
Read item 10 here: National Do Not Call Registry FAQs | Consumer Advice
Do telemarketers never simply dial all numbers in a given exchange any more? Do they all only use numbers known to not be cell phones?
Some of them just call every number in the exchange. They don’t care if they are violating the law. You don’t know who they are and they aren’t going to volunteer that information. They aren’t going to spend any money on complying with the do-not-call list. They may not even be originating the calls in the USA.
This is one thing I never understood. If you don’t know who they are (i.e. they don’t tell you), how are you going to give them any money?
You could give them a credit card number.
Not true. Somehow, both my cell phone and my Skype phone # got on some horrible telemarketing list, and I’ve been getting tons o’ calls lately. Sometimes they both ring at the exact same time, with the exact same recorded message.
I put them on the do-not-call registry about a week ago; it seems to be helping.
Just a word from a professional phone beggar!
Telemarketing ‘lists’ do not come from telephone directories anymore. They are compiled from surveys, from filling out ‘warranty’ cards when you buy a new DVD player or Playstation, from real-estate agents and local councils who pass on information about the new property you purchased and its value, from signing up for a gym or golf club membership and any number of other sources, but NOT from the old way of just ringing numbers at random.
Marketing companies now buy ‘targeted’ lists from…wait for it…LIST BROKERS, who sell their numbers to the highest bidder, depending on the required demographic and geographic target group.
IOW, if you have EVER given your cell number to ANY organisation as a way to contact you, it is now on a telemarketers phone list.
On my cell I’ve gotten Spanish telemarketing robocalls and the automated car warranty calls that seem to be so common just now.
The do not call registry can take up to 90 days to start. Also remember once you’re on it, if you do business with a company they can call you again UNLESS you specifically ask them not to.
What happens is this.
I deal with Bank of American, tell them put me on the “Do Not Call List.” They comply.
Then I do business with them and the “Do Not Call,” is an “OPT OUT” list. So somewhere in my dealings in small print, it’ll give them permission to call you again. So they do and you have to ask them all over, “do not call.”
I know I had my account at one bank and Chase bought it out. So because that bank was on the list but not Chase, when Chase bought it, they were now conducting business with me and they could call me again. So I told them “Do Not Call.” And they complied.
I noticed more and more companies get around this by making you sit through an advertising spiel before they’ll connect you to a live person to help you with your question
Yes, as others have pointed out they do call cell phones. I suppose it’s worth a shot to sign up with the Do No Call List. Nothing to lose unless they are selling the list as well.:smack: