<p>Ok…this is a doozie. Some telemarketer who i could barely understand just called here asking for Mrs. My DHs first name. That amusing enough. I said clearly…PLEASE remove me from your telemarketing list…and the person said they could not do that. They needed some kind of information. I hung up.</p>
<p>So…now you can’t even ask to be removed? Sheesh!</p>
<p>I use caller ID to screen all of those annoying calls. Most of the time, they don’t leave a message. If they do, it’s usually a robocall.</p>
<p>Same here–we use caller ID and if we can’t identify the number, we let the machine pick it up.</p>
<p>I’ve been tempted to do what Seinfeld did in one of his episodes. Ask the telemarketer for his/her phone number. When asked why, say something like–because I want to call you when (fill in the blank such as–when you’re watching your favorite TV show, when you’re making dinner, when you’re sitting on the toilet, etc.).</p>
<p>I’ll top that - I get telemarketers in Chinese - dh’s last name is obviously Chinese so we get these calls hawking their low intl calling plans. I have taken to acting like I don’t understand “What? What???” and when they ask “Do you speak Chinese” in their best english, I answer them with “Wo bu hwei” which means “no I can’t” They profusely apologize and hang up. Makes me giggle but I don’t think they follow the “do not call” list at all.</p>
<p>AK–LOL! </p>
<p>We use caller id. I got so tired of all the calls at dinnertime. When we changed phone plans the new one included caller id, and now I don’t know how I lived without it!</p>
<p>If you have the phone number on your caller id - you can log in and register a complaint </p>
<p><a href=“National Do Not Call Registry”>National Do Not Call Registry;
<p>Once when I asked to be removed from a charity’s calling list (and I did ask politely), I got quizzed on WHY I did not plan to donate to this particular worthy cause. I said that I had already earmarked my charitable giving for other causes, and could I please be removed. This woman gave me a lecture on how awful I was for not donating money to her cause! It was obnoxious. Then I got another call from them a few weeks later (different caller). I told him the story, and asked to be removed, and this time it worked. But “nerve” was the right word for that first caller!</p>
<p>If you are on the National Do Not Call Registry, charities, political organizations, and telephone surveyors are still allowed to call you. So technically, the charity does not have to remove you from their list.</p>
<p>We used to, before caller ID, get cold callers trying to get us to invest with them (um no-- would not use someone we do not know from Adams housecat). They’d call the house early in the morning asking for DH by a nickname thats a shortened version of his name, and claim they were returning his call. Anyone who knows my DH knows he doesn’t go by that shortened nickname. I really REALLY hate being flat out lied to. So I would ask for their name and number and would say if he is interested he’ll call back. THey usually persisted that they were returning his call and when would he be available. I’d, in turn, persist and ask for their name and number and that he’d call back if he was interested. Thats when they’d usualy hang up in my ear. Such manners…</p>
<p>My favorite is when I get a call from a credit card co or the phone co and ask for their direct # and they tell me their system does not have incoming calls. Really? Do they pay extra for one-way phone service???</p>
<p>Yes, but any reputable charity will remove you if you ask. But I guess there are some that are not so reputable…</p>
<p>Jym626, “Adam’s house cat” was one of my mom’s favorite expressions. Thanks for reminding me of that - made me smile!</p>
<p>Sent from my SGH-T989 using CC</p>
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<p>It’s not even that. I work in non-profit development. If somebody no longer wants to be on your list and has a lovely, easy, experience getting removed from your list, you have a better chance of someday getting any sort of donation from them than if you make the process difficult and are obnoxious. And it’s not just about their donations – do you want them telling their friends about how rude a charity that their friend is on the fence about giving to was to them?</p>
<p>I don’t understand why people make it difficult. It’s not going to make those people want to donate.</p>
<p>Glad to bring a smile to you, allthisisnewtome :)</p>
<p>My mother used to tell telemarketers we were in the middle of a funeral. Then, lo and behold, in the middle of her shivah, we got a call, asking if the house was going to be on the market :eek: Tacky.
T-A-C-K-Y. It gave me GREAT pleasure to tell that real estate agent that we were in the middle of a funeral!! That actually put a smile on my face too. :)</p>
<p>Telemarketers are not allowed to block their number from caller ID. But they do it all the time or have a bogus number show up when they call (000-000-0000). Why they think I would buy a product from them when they use these tactics is beyond me.</p>
<p>A person shouldn’t have to pay extra for caller ID in order not to be harassed by telemarketers. I get three or four calls a day and I am on the Do Not Call Register. Just another law that is not being enforced.</p>
<p>On the rare occasion that I do answer a telemarketing call, I always ask the caller “WHY have you chosen to violate the do not call list which is a LAW?” They usually mumble something about not realizing our name was on it. I usually call them on that, too.</p>
<p>I think what is most frustrating is to be called my different branches of the same charity. MS does this. We contribute to MS through bike-a-thons my brother in law does. When I tell the MS society who calls we already contribute this way, I am told that theirs is a different branch and they continue to try and get me to contribute. </p>
<p>I tell them to get themselves organized and see who is already contributing that that is entirely their problem to figure out how to better communicate with each other. Financing the redundancy is clearing where some of the money goes.</p>
<p>The penalty for calling a number on the do not call list is $10,000 PER CALL! I sometimes remind the caller of that fact and, boy, does that make them fall all over themselves with apologies.</p>
<p>When I get a non-nonprofit call, I say, “I’m not interested.” They almost always continue on with their pitch without acknowledging that I spoke. I then place the phone in another room and leave it there with the telemarketer blabbing away to no one. Five minutes later, I retrieve it and that is usually the final call. And, I feel triumphant!</p>
<p>Just going a tiny bit off topic - I had never heard the expression, “The Adams house cat”, so I did a google search and found this [Re:</a> Adam’s off ox](<a href=“http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/5/messages/315.html]Re:”>http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/5/messages/315.html) but more interestingly, I found out that there is a band called, Adams House Cat!</p>
<p>I’m going to try to insert that phrase into a conversation and see what kind of reaction I get.</p>
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<p>The correct statement is “Please put me on the do-not-call list.”.</p>
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<p>It could also be a debt collector who believes that a deadbeat is at your phone number.</p>