mizzzeta: blog 
mizzzeta's blog
victory for consumers; defeat for robo-calls
Published Sep. 7, 2008
Don’t you just hate it? You’re at the dinner table, watching TV or just relaxing, when the telephone rings. You stop what you’re doing, grab the phone, and it’s a sales call! What could be more annoying? How about a sales call that’s a recorded message?
As you hang up the phone you say to yourself, “But I’m on the Do Not Call list. Why did this happen?”
It turns out there was a little exemption in federal telemarketing rules that allowed millions of people on the Do Not Call Registry to get recorded sales pitches. If you had a “business relationship” with a company, they were allowed to send you automated calls.
The Federal Trade Commission just changed the rules to close that loophole. By next year at this time, the chances of getting these unwanted robo-calls should drop dramatically.
By December, all recorded sales calls must have a simple interactive way for you to let the company know you do not want any more of them. It could be via the keypad (“push 1 to avoid future messages like this”) or by saying something into the phone.
As of September 1, 2009, companies can only make recorded sales calls to people who have agreed in writing to receive them. Digital signatures via e-mail are acceptable.
The rules say if the telemarketer does not have the technology to determine if the automated call is going to an answering machine or voicemail, the message must include a toll-free opt-out number.
Consumer groups are delighted with the new rule. “It’s a big step forward,” says Susan Grant, director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation of America. “The FTC’s action will bring some relief to consumers whose phones are being tied up and answering machines are being filled up with prerecorded sales calls.”
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GOLO member since July 3, 2007
September 8, 2008 7:08 p.m.
Now, I'm waiting on how I can opt out of junk mail without having to register my social security number. To be honest, I wish the Apex mailman that didn't deliver the bulk mail to his customers was my mailman.
GOLO member since September 19, 2008
September 8, 2008 8:51 a.m.
GOLO member since September 1, 2007
September 7, 2008 11:12 p.m.
GOLO member since January 25, 2008
September 7, 2008 7:53 p.m.
The RNC & DNC have stopped calling, haha.
GOLO member since July 2, 2007
September 7, 2008 7:45 p.m.
GOLO member since July 3, 2007
September 7, 2008 6:25 p.m.
I can certainly think of some things to say into the phone ....
I have Bellsouth ‘privacy director’, a service that is well worth the additional cost. It has reduced my marketing calls to a minimum.
I’m generally not too polite to telemarketers. If I say anything it’s “Please put me on you do not call list”. I don’t wait for a reply.
I used to string them along for a few while and then say something like “Hold on a minute, someone is at the door ....”, then go away forever.
I had one idiot call me back to continue the conversation. I did the same thing again, with a slightly different excuse ....
As an aside, something to think about: Many telemarketers are paid by the call. Wasting their time is the WORST thing you can do to them ....
For a bit of humor check out the following and play the audio file:
http://www.prankshare.com/2007/09/telemarketer-gets-scare-prank-response.html
STS
GOLO member since June 7, 2008
September 7, 2008 6:10 p.m.
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