Of course they are. And you can make some poor receptionist’s life difficult. Big man.
Seems like a good time to link to the best "I hate telemarketers! rant evar!
(You’ll notice the kind of brain power :dubious: , we’re dealing with here, folks.)
Fuck you. They have no problem making life difficult for millions of people. If they don’t want to hear from the public, their numbers shouldn’t be on the internet.
From here and probably millions of other sites, come to think of it…
I think it’s because funding authorization was given to the FTC, in the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act.
Not necessarily overstatement. It could be a veiled admission that they are soooo persuasive at tricking people into buying things they don’t need from people they don’t want to hear from, that it makes them $50B per annum.
O.K., Yahoo updated their article; it makes more sense now. It sounds like this ruling is utter bullshit and it’s not going to last long.
They can just work around the ruling, anyway:
This is good:
Anybody have a link for those?
And what do those fuckhead telemarketers have to say about it?
I hope they fine your fucking asses off.
Like hell you will. You’ve been doing such a bang-up job of it so far.:rolleyes:
Hello everybody…
THIS IS THE CORNDOG MAN CALLING FROM AT&T. I HAVE NOTICED THAT EVERYYONE OF YOU HAVE CHANGED YOUR LONG DISTANCE PROVIDER TO ANOTHER COMPANY…
NO THIS IS NOT A SALES CALL, JUST BEING A FRIEND…
My state has had a “do not call” list for several years and it is WONDERFUL!! I think I have had only two telemarketing calls in the last year or so.
The article linked to in the OP actually sounds optimistic. This seems to be a minor setback and may not even affect the outcome.
Before the law changed here, what made me the angriest was when my dad was very sick and we had an emergency. Just as I was reaching for the phone, I got a call that was a recorded message. I could not disconnect for two or three minutes. I was livid. I guess it’s a good think that I didn’t need to call 9-11.
After the phone quits ringing I wait 30 seconds to see if I get a new message. If so, I check it and if it’s a real person I call them back and say sorry, I was . . .
Now if they never leave you a message, then you’ve got problems.
Blow me, punk.
If it makes you feel affirmed to ruin some innocent receptionists day (and not have any impact at all) then you’ve got issues.
As much as I intensely dislike telemarketers, I have to agree with JC’s point here–calling the 800 numbers will have no, I repeat NO, impact on the telemarketers’ plans. None. The decisionmakers will not talk to you, so all you will be doing is harrassing an underpaid, overworked receptionist who has absolutely ZERO power to stop the direct marketing industry.
All you will accomplish is to swear at some poor woman making $9.75/hr, with no benefits. Not a worthy goal, IMO.
Okay. I’m in the wrong. Where is the rightous indignation towards Dave Barry? He has the potential to reach millions of readers and he put a number in his fucking story. OTOH, I post numbers in a thread that has just over 1000 views, and I’m the one with problems?
Who said anything about swearing? It is possible to register displeasure in a civil way. Not that I would trust most people to be civil…
Maybe if the fuckheads who run telemarketing companies need to realize that they pissed off, what is it, 50 million people who made it clear they don’t want the calls. Rolling over like a puppy isn’t exactly sending them the message in a clear manner.
And if you must know - I emailed Coldfire just after I made the post (and before JC responded) and asked him to remove the numbers if I had violated a board policy. Happy?
Frankly, yes. Though I admit I was more mad at the swearing at me than anything else.
Really, again think of the goal. The only thing that will stop it (other than government fiat) is for everyone to stop buying. The simple fact is that it’s so cheap to do that it’s insanely profitable for the firms that do it.
Oh, and I’ll lay cash down that Congress makes the DNC list happen fairly quickly regardless.
There might be a constitutional freedom of speech issue involved (I’ll let a lawyer comment on that) but the judges ruling is more procedural and can be worked around fairly simply.
What blows my mind is that telemarketers would actively seek to to block legislation that allows people who actively seek their privacy to get it. I can certainly see fighting legislation against telemarketing in general but this is just bad press. This is the kind of thing that gets grassroots types really pissed.
BTW isn’t anyone concerned that by leaving the phone disconnected for a while you will be placed on some “doesn’t immediately hang up” list?
I don’t get the freedom of speech argument. Freedom of speech doesn’t translate into guaranteed audience. I have the freedom to stand on a street corner and entreat people to do anything within the bounds of legality; doesn’t mean I have the right to go into their home to do it or the right to make them stop on the street corner and listen to me.
The only way I see a free speech argument flying is in the exceptions to the list that Congress carved out (charities, political calls, etc.) but I don’t find that line of thought particularly persuasive.
I’ll admit that I was drunk when I made the post last night and I apologize for the swearing. This shows the true evil of the TB(telemarketing bastards), as they are causing animosity between Dopers. It seems that the TB and that one judge in OK are the only people in the country who think yesterdays ruling was okay. From what I have heard, Congress did give implicit approval to the FTC for the list (granted not explicit). I do hope that Congress does act fast to overcome yestedays ruling. If the TB carries out the ‘threat’ of calling people on the no call list after that, then I may just go ahead and start calling them.
I thought it was Sauron who’s chief power was causing disruption among his enemies?
Or was that Voldemort? Hmm…