I would like to highlight some of the distinctions between what I would call "Scam Artists" versus "Legitimate Telemarketers". I hope that people making posts in this forum will take heed of these distinctions when they relate their experiences.
Scam Artist
- Will phone you even if you are on the National or State "Do Not Call" list
- Will not honor your request to be placed on their "Company Do Not Call" list
- Will phone you with a canned message (a recording); a violation of federal law
- Will not identify themselves properly (fake company name) or will misrepresent themselves (i.e. "credit card services")
Legitimate Telemarketer
- Will abide by the National or State "Do Not Call" list
- Will honor your request to be placed on their "Company Do Not Call" list
- Will not use a canned message (recording); will greet you in person (if one is available; sometimes you'll get a silent call...)
- Will properly identify themselves within the first 5-10 seconds of the call
Scam Artists versus Real Telemarketers
You seem much more tolerant of these calls than I am. I consider all calls utilizing automated dialing machines as harassment. These machines call 5 people at a time (the max allowed by law) and the first one to pick up gets talked to. The other 4 get a hangup. I've had naps, dinner, etc. interruped by these machines and get extremely irritated each time. That's the main reason I use this program. I utilize the disconnect tone/hangup for all Out of Area; Unknown; and area codes 800,877,866, and 888 calls. The program works perfectly for me. Blocked calls I consider to be bad manners. People know who they're calling. The caller has every right to know who is calling them. The problem with limiting access to Blocked Calls is that Long Distance Prepaid Cards always come up with ""Number Blocked" on the caller ID and you might miss some legitimate calls.
Thanks for commenting on this.
In making my post I wanted to draw a distinction between reputable / disreputable callers in order to motivate a discussion about how best to deal with each type of call.
Like you, I DO get annoyed by just about any kind of telemarketing type call, especially when the Caller Name is not displayed.
I have found that callers from reputable companies WILL honour my request to be added to their internal "Do Not Call" list. And, I have found that it is pointless to try to make such a request to a scam caller (from a "disreputable" company). This is why I am so thrilled to have access to this marvellous piece of software.
I live in Canada and we won't have our nationwide "Do Not Call" list up & running until September 2008. I am concerned already that it won't be "enough", just as you are finding shortcomings with the US list.
My overriding concern right now is the fraudulent / disreputable / scam artist callers who are flauting the laws and getting away with it. I really want to deal with them...
In making my post I wanted to draw a distinction between reputable / disreputable callers in order to motivate a discussion about how best to deal with each type of call.
Like you, I DO get annoyed by just about any kind of telemarketing type call, especially when the Caller Name is not displayed.
I have found that callers from reputable companies WILL honour my request to be added to their internal "Do Not Call" list. And, I have found that it is pointless to try to make such a request to a scam caller (from a "disreputable" company). This is why I am so thrilled to have access to this marvellous piece of software.
I live in Canada and we won't have our nationwide "Do Not Call" list up & running until September 2008. I am concerned already that it won't be "enough", just as you are finding shortcomings with the US list.
My overriding concern right now is the fraudulent / disreputable / scam artist callers who are flauting the laws and getting away with it. I really want to deal with them...