So, even after all the precautions we’ve taken, like having our phone line in a phony name, and having that phony name phone line non-published and unlisted, as well as not having the phone number printed on checks and not giving the number to anyone except close friends/family, and changing our number every so often, we STILL, on occassion, get telemarketing calls.
But what really got me today, is, today a telemarketer called and asked for my wife…using her maiden name!!!:eek:
We’ve been married for almost 23 years!!!
And we’ve had this phone number for less than 2 years! (I usually change the number every 5 years).
When that fucking guy asked for that name, I almost fainted!
“Hello, is Mr. Pkbits there? Hi, Mr. Bits, do you have a minute to talk? Good. I know you’ve been bothered by telemarketers, and that’s why we’re providing a special offer to you for a limited time to block telemarketing calls…”
Those are pretty extreme measures (some would say insane even) to avoid telemarketers. Therefor only the really determined telemarketers are going to get through. These are the ones who specifically hunt for people off lists, or get obsessed with a single individual who once pissed them off. They will find your number and keep calling. They aren’t even selling anything, they are merely trying to steal precious seconds of your life so to feed their demonic masters.
Best cure we’ve found for the fucking telemarketers, who always call at dinnertime, when the toddler is hauling the cat around the house by the tail and the teenager is having yet another crisis, and water is flowing all over the kitchen floor because someone left the water running and didn’t notice the stopper was in the sink, and the dinner rolls are burning to a crisp because I forgot to take them out of the oven, and at least three neighborhood kids are at the door trying to sell me candy bars/hoagies/pizza. . . is caller ID. If the name of the company is obviously a sales company, we don’t answer the phone, and if the caller ID says “out of area” we don’t answer the phone! Works like a charm.
I don’t have my phone non-published/unlisted under a phony name just for telemarketers. I have some other reasons too.
And it’s not very difficult to do: It takes just a single phone call to change the number and the name it’s listed under.
But this entire thread is now moot. We figure out how a telemarketer got her maiden name: last summer my wife had her 25th high school reunion. IT was put on by one of those special companies that put reunions on. Anyway, when she filled out the form to reserve tickets, she put our telephone number down (:rolleyes: Duh. I’ve told her not to do that, to give out a cell phone number instead!) The reunion questionaire was, of course, in her maiden name.
That fucking company must have sold their list to telemarketers!GRRRRRR!:mad:
This makes me think of the spam e-mail I got that was an ad for a spaminator.
To continue telemarketer bashing, the other day one got through (usually I hang up when I hear the pause before they come on) and when he said "Are you interested in . . . " I began this nonstop prattling, "No, ya know, times are tough and money’s tight right now, blah, blah, blah, the dishwasher’s on the blink, and the last time I had a vacation was – he hung up on me! It seems I’ve stumbled on a fun way to deal with those calls.
My psych teacher in high school has this feature on her phone line where a voice will come on before the ringing starts, say that the number dialed doesn’t accept solicitations, and ask the company to take the number off their list.
I forget what happens if they call anyway, but it seems to have proven effective.
They just passed this here too, and we signed up, but it does not go into effect until January 1st.
Note to people who are, or defend telemarketers: You’re hated!:MAD: The majority hates you so much, we’re actually passing laws against it! Some day, hopefully, telemarketing will be a capital offense, one which is exempt from 8th amendment protections! Call me in the middle of dinner with my family, will you? To try and sell me some shit nobody wants?BURN, MOTHER FUCKERS, BURN!
If you hate telemarketers, then you’ll likethis rant. It won’t do anything to get rid of them, unless you yell it at them when one calls, but it’ll give you a laugh.
Telemarketing is the most insidious form of new psychological warfare against the population. I imagine some angry drunk father pissed about everything and looking to take it out on the first provocation - dinner, tense silence ring, ring (conversation) Turns around and beats the living crap out of his family. Christmas dinner, loving holiday merry cheer ring, ring (hello is <so and so DEAD> relative there? Oh, I’m sorry how about <this OTHER DEAD relative>?) The automated ones are worse; they call several times per day on every line (including internet lines that nobody even knows the number of and is never used for telephone conversation), breathe gruff voice “sorry wrong number”.
Call the phone company, “Oh those are corperate calls, aparently you weren’t a business; they can’t actually talk to you, it’s against the law.”
“Can you make them stop?”
“Oh no, it’s perfectly legal; must just be a computer glitch… this happens all the time.”
Politicians can’t make voting transparent or stop telemarketing; they not only refuse to make it illegal; they charge for the option to block these calls on a system which does not work.
I’ve never known a telemarketer to call a cell phone. I could be wrong. It’s never happened to me though.
I always tell my wife that if shes in a situation dealing with a business and they need a telephone # to give her cell phone number because then if the business sells her name/number, telemarketing firms usually don’t call cell phones.
Telemarketers are like snowballs rolling down a hill. Once one calls your house, little by little more and more will call, then suddenly you’re getting 20 a day. taking extreme measures to avoid this is not unreasonable.
