# Recorded telemarketing calls in defiance of Do Not Call list **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 22, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722 "2006-09-22T15:21:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722/1 "2006-09-22T15:21:55Z")
We seem to be getting 4 or 5 telemarketing calls a day that are recordings. They’re selling satellites, mortgages, and debt reduction. Our number is on the national Do Not Call list (I checked), and has been for some time. It seems they’re using pre-recorded messages to get around having a person on the line that you can ask for their company name, to put you on the do not call list, etc. Is anyone else getting a lot of these recorded telemarketing calls in the last few weeks? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722/2 "2006-09-22T15:48:29Z")
I am not getting them, Thank Og, but on the rare occasions I do get them, I call the Local Bell immediately to let them know and to please trace. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722/3 "2006-09-22T16:00:57Z")
Yes, we have been getting tons of calls from two particular phone numbers, from “Tracy” and “Dorothy” at “The mortgage company”. Over and over and over, obvious wardialling, of our business lines, emergency “must-answer” phones and cell phones. I have been keeping logs of the calls and sending them to the FCC, which responded that such calls to a business are not in violation of the TCPA (if they were doing this to a home number it’d be numerous violations of federal law), FCc said “Contact the FTC” which I have done, waiting to hear back from them. Having dealt with this sort of problem before I can say that you have to be very persistent, follow all the rules for documenting things, and keep following up with the agency in question in order to get some action. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2006, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722/4 "2006-09-22T16:23:36Z")
My phone company (Verizon) offers call blocking, where I can block all calls without caller ID identification, or I can block specific numbers. It costs about $5 a month, but the peace and quiet at dinner time is worth it. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722/5 "2006-09-23T13:21:34Z")
This is actually a personal/business number, so we can’t really block anonymous calls since many customers call that way. I guess the best thing is to involve the phone company. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722/6 "2006-09-23T13:27:53Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] This is actually a personal/business number, so we can’t really block anonymous calls since many customers call that way. I guess the best thing is to involve the phone company. [/QUOTE] You don’t have to block anonymous calls, it is optional. You can just block specific numbers, if you wish. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722/7 "2006-09-23T18:45:32Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] You don’t have to block anonymous calls, it is optional. You can just block specific numbers, if you wish. [/QUOTE] My cellular phone allows me to block specific numbers or anonymous calls using the handset itself. I imagine there are landline phones available capable of doing the same. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722/8 "2006-09-23T20:13:24Z")
Yeah, what’s really funny is when one of those telemarketers calls and gets my answering machine. A recorded message travels from one machine to another machine, without any human interaction until I hit the “Delete” button. But yeah, the repeated recorded calls from some smarmy sounding guy who has a VERY important matter to talk to us about (but not so important, mind you, for him to call us himself). ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722/9 "2006-09-24T04:45:46Z")
Moved to IMHO. - **xash** General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722/10 "2006-09-24T10:29:23Z")
I had this for a while: it turned out that they were calls from abroad, which are not covered by the TPS - our version of your DNC. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722/11 "2006-09-24T12:21:27Z")
Has it been 5 years yet since you registered? (You have to renew every 5 years.) I’ve been getting an increase lately so I went and re-registered. [Linky](https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722/12 "2006-09-24T19:08:59Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] You don’t have to block anonymous calls, it is optional. You can just block specific numbers, if you wish. [/QUOTE] But you can’t block specific phone numbers if you don’t know what they are. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722/13 "2006-09-24T19:14:31Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] But you can’t block specific phone numbers if you don’t know what they are. [/QUOTE] For the repetitive calls (like the one identical recorded message I got 5 times in one evening), you would have the number after the first time, in theory. That said, a lot of the time, the caller ID doesn’t spit anything out, instead saying “Incomplete Data” ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722/14 "2006-09-24T20:04:03Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] My phone company (Verizon) offers call blocking, where I can block all calls without caller ID identification, or I can block specific numbers. It costs about $5 a month, but the peace and quiet at dinner time is worth it. [/QUOTE] The only problem with this is if someone you want to allow to contact you, for whatever reason, is not caller ID-enabled. (blocked number, calling from a payphone etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recorded-telemarketing-calls-in-defiance-of-do-not-call-list/373722/15 "2006-09-24T22:16:48Z")
Here in Indiana, our state Attorney General is in the news because his policy of banning unsolicited automated political calls is the subject of a lawsuit from a Virginia company which paints itself as a valiant [defender of free speech.](http://www.wcpo.com/news/2006/local/09/23/indy_calls.html) :rolleyes: