<p>We are receiving multiple calls per day from telemarketers, mostly calling from 800 numbers. We don’t answer the calls, but it is annoying to be frequently interrupted by the phone ringing. I work at home and having my train of thought interrupted is a problem.</p>
<p>The “do not call” registry is a joke. We’ve been on it for years. It worked well for some years but stopped working a year or two ago.</p>
<p>Verizon says that they cannot block 800 numbers. I’ve been looking around on the web for solutions, and there are some devices in the $100 range that are supposed to be able to do it. I’m paying so much for (digital) phone service that it seems to me this capability should be available.</p>
<p>We have an answering machine on our landline and I always asked telemarketers to add us to their do not call list but this doesn’t work against automated dialers with automated pitches or in-person pitches. These haven’t been that bad lately though we have been getting a few more election-related cause because we’re in a swing-state.</p>
<p>If you can find a device to do it, then I would go with that. It seems to me that such a device would be easy to design and build. I think that this would be fairly easy to do with Google Voice but it would only filter on your Google Voice number - your landline would still be vulnerable.</p>
<p>I had a look on Android phones and there are Apps that allow you to do what you want. the iPhone looks like it can do whitelists and block calls by time. So this isn’t that hard to do - it’s just a matter of finding a programmable device to do it before your phone.</p>
<p>If you find out PLEASE let me know!!! We are also on the DNC list and have the same experience, worked great for a long time and now telemarketers just ignore it. Some of them have the “option” of press 3 to be removed from our list, which means they call twice as often now.</p>
<p>I’m sick of the calls. They’re completely pointless. Unfortunately there has to be someone somewhere who actually falls prey to whatever they’re selling or they wouldn’t be able to continue with the calls.</p>
<p>Here’s a related article about how the number of these calls has ratcheted up sharply recently and how the ‘do not call list’ is outdated and ineffective - </p>
<p>My mother used to take these calls and many got some small amounts of money from her. She screens calls through an answering machine now but she lives in somewhat of a little fear of the phone. I think that they probably sell lists of people that answer the phone. The folks on this board are generally educated and read the news and know to avoid telemarketers.</p>
<p>BTW, I received one five minutes ago from a guy that claims to do carpet cleaning. He started talking and I immediately started talking over him and just asked him to add us to their do not call list. I don’t know if he heard me or not as I was talking over his pitch but I didn’t care. I just say what I have to say and hang up.</p>
<p>I usually don’t answer calls from numbers I don’t recognize; or I’ll pick up and hang up immediately without listening to a single word just to stop the ringing. If I do answer the call, at the first indication its a telemarketer I just hang up–no goodbye, no nothing.</p>
<p>Unfortunately non-profits and political callers are exempt from the DNC list. Also many overseas boiler room operations mask it by going through 800 numbers here in the US.
At my business we have several unpublished numbers. Somebody ordered “medications” over the internet and had the, delivered to one of these postal places. For a phone number they must have made one up and it turned out to be one of our unpublished lines. Every Friday like clockwork, a gentleman with a heavy accent calls and asks for “XXX Williams” the woman who supposedly ordered the stuff. We can hear multiple voices in the background conversations…We have tried explaining that there is no one there with that name and then they ask if anybody else wants to buy some “medications” Is that illegal we ask. Oh no, they assure us, we have a doctor here to question you…Yeah, okay… Finally when they called again a few weeks ago, we told them that Ms. Williams died from some bad medications that she bought over the Internet. It stopped the calls…for a week.</p>
<p>It’s pathetic I know, but when “Rachel” calls, I sometimes opt to speak to someone, then ask them if their mother knows that they scam people for a living.</p>
<p>I hate the Robocalls the most. There isn’t even a person to yell at. Right now we are getting political calls from the party none of us is affiliated with. One particular (very rich woman running for senate in CT) candicate’s folks have called here three times in FOUR days. I finally told them that if they call again, I’m going to call the Attorney General’s office. You’d think with all of this money, their data base would be able to update a request for a household to be removed! Nope…they just keep calling.</p>
<p>Rachel is nothing short of a PITA. Why hasn’t she been shut down completely?</p>
<p>What about ‘Sarah’? That’s one of the ones who calls me every day. I can’t remember whether it’s the ‘card services’, the ‘FBI’, or one of the other ones because I hang up instantly.</p>
<p>btw - according to an article I read, if you hit any of the buttons they’ll call more because now they’ve detected a person responds to the call.</p>
<p>It’s one of the reasons (not the only one) that we keep our landline. I put that down on all applications, documents, credit cards, etc. I only give me cell phone to a very few select individuals. Someone who is legit will leave a message on the answering machine and I can call back. </p>
<p>I made a political contribution and stupidly gave my cell phone number. Then they started calling and asking for more money. But they did stop when I asked them to. This year, when I did it, I gave my land line number.</p>
<p>I don’t generally answer cell phone calls from a number I don’t recognize, but Ss and H sometimes call me using skype and that can show up as odd numbers or no number.</p>
<p>Lucky you, thumper. Fortunately, Linda hasn’t been calling my house, but there’s still time left. </p>
<p>We stopped getting Rachel calls for awhile, but this summer she was back. </p>
<p>I agree with tango14’s strategy of giving out cell phone number to only a few people, but the number of robocalls, solicitations, etc that arrive on the landline are ridiculous. And we’re on the do-not-call list.</p>
<p>Sounds like you guys get a lot more calls than we do.</p>
<p>I generally only answer calls from callers where a picture shows up on the phone. I’m moving my contacts from my old phone to my new phone and putting the pictures in. I will keep telling callers to put me on the DNC list followed by hanging up. Or letting calls go to the answering machine.</p>
<p>Many years ago we had a FAX machine call our home line each Friday night about 11:00 pm. It would call repeatedly unless we took the phone of the hook and then we would hear the obnoxious “phone of the hook” bleat. It took a couple of weeks to realize that it was a pattern and another few weeks to figure out how to stop the calls.</p>
<p>This was the days before caller ID, home fax machines, etc. We did *69, called the phone company, etc. and could not figure out how to call the company who was sending the faxes. </p>
<p>My husband finally lugged a fax machine home from work so we could receive the fax. I found out the name of the company, called them and they sheepishly told me that they were sending a report and had the wrong number.</p>
<p>We mainly get Rachel, but 3 times this weekend have gotten requests for “a national survey”. I don’t know if it’s political, but the next time they call I’m going to let them continue just to figure out who is behind it. I should get rid of the landline, but then I have to get another kind of alarm I guess.</p>