30 years ago, I put an answering machine on the line.
Many robocalls seem to recognize a machine and hang up.
“Thanks for calling - please leave a message”. About 3 seconds and you have my ear.
Of course, I’m exceedingly anti-social so the only calls I get are junk or medical.
Yeah, I know I shouldn’t have taken that left at Albuquerque…
Bolding mine.
Was this deliberate? Because it made me laugh really hard.
dropdad was a lawyer for Greyhound, the largest US bus company and highly successful in the days before cheap airfares. They were constantly being sued for supposed monopolistic practices, so dinners were filled with talk of anti-trust cases and how much he hated Stevie Nicks’ father. In one case a fellow described The Dog that way. In court. It went down in family history.
Those calls aren’t actually from Google. It’s a company trying to get you to pay them to improve your ranking in a Google search. Fucking bastards. If you’re getting the calls on an android phone, I’ve found the Truecaller app gets rid of most of them.
I wish they’d put charities and political parties on that list, I don’t like them contacting me. Also the do not call list isn’t foolproof, when I was getting telemarketing calls and reported it to the state attorney general I got a form letter back about how the company in question was abusing some loophole in the law.
The one I hate are the people who are trying to get me to add athat warrenty to my car. The fun part is its a car that I sold 6 months ago and tell them that doesn’t stop the calls. I’ve tried everything and they won’t stop calling me. Luckily they always seem to call during business hours so I normally spend half an hour jerking them around.
The only use for our land line is to snare calls from telemarketers who “have a working relationship” with us, and other DNC loopholes. Any time I have to put a phone number in a box, I use the land line number. Then we just ignore it because no one we want to talk to calls there. Since it’s part of my bundle with the wifi and TV, it doesn’t cost us anything to have it there and very occasionally I’ll use it to fax something.
There was a recent Reddit AMA by a lawyer named Jeremy Glapion who sues companies that violate the Do Not Call Registry. He mentioned a recent news story where a woman received over $200,000 for her suit.
He talked about the “Telephone Consumer Protection Act” or “TCPA” (that applies to faxes as well). He reports that to protect people from unwanted telephone calls, the TCPA provides for an award of between $500-$1500 per call, but that the fines were different for land lines, cell, VOIP and fax.
He said “If you receive two or more telemarketing calls in a 12-month period to your cell or landline and your cell or landline number is on the Do Not Call list, that’s a separate violation, and potentially an additional $500-$1500 per call (meaning up to $3000 per call).”
He said there is nothing you can do about the scam and spoof calls. Those guys change their numbers too frequently to get to them. Blocking the number doesn’t help either for the same reason.
Of course, being Reddit, somewhere in the long thread there was also some talk about a (mythical?) guy in the midwest who makes a living suing DNC violaters and there was also some talk about how to trick companies into making violations… for which one can then sue. The attorney, of course, advised against that as unethical. He also said he doesn’t sue Mom and Pop establishments because he’s a small business owner himself and understands how hard it can be to find new business.
I had a post here at the SDMB years ago about being phone harassed by the Texas State Fraternal Order of Police. That was one weird episode- apparently calling me was very personal for some guy who worked for their fund raiser. Now I almost wish they would call me! I could use the spare change.
Hello. This is Rachel from Credit Card Services.
Not really.
Here is a bit more about what the Reddit AMA attorney Glapion said:
"Cell phones: Prerecorded voice and calls (and texts) made using an “automatic dialer” are illegal without consent. For non-telemarketing calls, the consent required can be oral or written, and simply giving your phone number = consent. For telemarketing, consent must be in writing. Political callers and charities are not exempt. This law also includes debt collectors, even for debt you owe, as well as repeated wrong number calls.
Landlines: Prerecorded telemarketing calls are illegal without express written consent.
VoIP: If you pay per minute or per call, treat like cell phones. If pay monthly for unlimited (or free), treat like landline.
Fax: Unsolicited fax advertisement? Illegal. Faxes also need a detailed opt out notice, even if solicited. If not there? Illegal."
This is probably the case he was talking about:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/07/us-twc-robocalls-idUSKCN0PH2H920150707
The last time I got a political survey I told the guy I was voting for whoever wasn’t calling me non-stop.
(I miss being able to slam the phone down on these assholes too. A nice big BANG! Pressing talk just doesn’t quite do it)
I keep getting calls from people who want to buy my time share. I have never had a time share, I don’t know where they got my number, but they won’t stop calling.
Here in the UK, they’ve found a way around it: they call from abroad.
I used to telemarket for solar energy. We were told that our auto-dialler filtered TPS numbers, but I honestly couldn’t tell you if they did.
My advice: tell them that you rent.
There wasn’t a button on our system for “doesn’t want to be called”, but there were several for “can’t modify building”. You could also pretend that it’s a business number.
It’s not as satisfying as yelling at a minimum-wage drone who doesn’t give a fuck and will treat your eloquent tirade as the background noise of the job, but it works, at least if they still use the same systems.
The No Junkmail list is a complete waste of time, as well. We’ve started keeping the recycling bin right next to mail box. It’s such a miserable waste.
And here’s a link directly to the AMA. Good reading, particularly for the OP.
I screen and I don’t answer. I’ll google the number and almost every time, it’ll come up as some sort of scammer. I figure if it’s important, the caller will leave a message. Life’s too short to answer bad phone calls.
Believe it or not, I’ve tried the “I just rent” reply. The calls are from many different sources, as if they all trade sucker lists. I’ve even denied I was the party they were calling, or that I lived at the address. They still call.
I’m going to try the “It’s a business number” next and see how far that goes.
If they ask for a home number, I’ll give the the local FBI landline.
I’m another who doesn’t answer calls from people I don’t know, ‘number not available’, or ‘unknown caller’ calls. My wife has a bad habit of giving out our number and email address to charities, and they, along with the DNC, are relentless in wanting you to send more money. If I want to send you money, I can decide to do that without anybody prompting me. In fact, calling me is a good way to insure that I’ll never send you a check again.
One of the most persistent robocallers is Synergy Acceptance Corporation. Don’t bother looking it up: they don’t have a website and there is no way to contact them. It’s one of those car loan scammers.
How many numbers can you block? My company only allows me to block 32 numbers plus calls from anonymous callers.
I finally went with NoMoreRobo.Com which is free. The phone rings once and the number is then cut off. We just avoid answering our phone on the first ring.
I suspect that the National do not call list is actually used by the criminals as a DO CALL list since they know the numbers will be good. I have no real proof of that, but I did note that my cell phone began getting unwanted calls two days after I added the number to the list.
Edit:
Unfortunately, cell phone companies do not support NoMoreRobo.