Get Ready For Telemarketing Calls

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Personally, I think this is one o the biggest crocks right next to the ACLU lawsuit saying minorities couldn't figure out how to use the punch card ballots in the California recall election.

 

Thank God this lame-brain ruling doesn't impact the state-level Do Not Call lists... yet. I just registered my new phone number!

I think this ruling is as bad as the SC deciding that cigarettes shouldn't be regulated as a drug (nicotine) delivery device.

 

One of the beauties of Call ID .

Honestly, the telemarketers didn't listen to the do not call list, so why the heck do they care?

While advertising and such is fine, why call people asking them to buy some worthless piece of junk? Just about everything worth selling will have the consumers coming to the providers.

In case you can't tell, I think the Do Not Call List is a good idea.

 

I may be the only person in America who feels slightly releaved about this. Let me explain.

First of all, I don't get many of these calls. Maybe 3 or 4 in a year. I don't find them all that annoying, but maybe I'm just lucky and don't get many of these calls. Even still, I don't find it particularly difficult to respectfully say "no thanks" and hang up. When I do that, the person who called me may have not accomplished his or her goal, but at least they aren't out of a job.

I also think back to when I was in my freshman year of college (only 4 years ago...that sentance makes me sound OLD). I worked at an inbound customer service center to put myself through school. Kinda like telemarketing, but people called us. The job sucked, but hey - it's a college job. Sucking is obligatory.

This makes me think of my former coworkers. I remember the single mother with 3 kids and no education; the parapelegic Viet Nam vet who couldn't get a job anywhere else and was promoted to supervisor; the girl I knew who's parents had disowned her and the only way to put herself through school was with the good money she made working at our center. I'd heard that about a year ago the call center had switched half the staff to outbound calling.

I can't help but think that by signing up for the Do Not Call registry, I've put my former coworkers out of a job. Why? Because I can't be bothered to say "No Thanks" when Law & Order is on. Part of me hopes the registry doesn't go through. People just don't seem to realize that there are real people's livelyhoods on the line, just to spare themselves a very minor inconvenience. Makes ya think.

 

Pickpocket's livelyhoods are on the line if they don't perform their job, just beacuse someone depends on abusing us for their job doese'nt mean we should let them.

 

@ DR You might have differn outlook on this if you got a call 3 or 4 times an hour like I do in the sumer that may double so registered as soon as I could.

 

We just bought a house, so I am now thinking everysingle mortgage company in the US has called at one point during the past year. I understand companies need to sell their products, and yes, the do not call list may affect jobs. But here is why I think the whole thing has gotten out of hand and the list is needed.
When we moved here, we got about a dozen calls asking if we wanted to subscribe to the LA Times. We subscribed to another newspaper. When someone called about the LA Times, I told them that and we weren't interested. I kid you not, on one night, within 20 minutes I had another call about the LA Times. Then again about an hour later. All in all, there were four calls that night about the LA Times. The thing is there were all different companies or call centers.
I'm sure you all have gotten this one:
Ring, ring. <Elios picks up the phone> Hello?
Voice on the other end: Please hold for a very important phone call. Music plays.
You hang up and they call back minutes later.
You tell them they are not interested and they bug you asking why. Its gotten to where you have to be rude and tell them to %$%$% off or hang up on them.
To me, it constitutes harrassment. People are now allowed to have decals on their front doors saying "no soliciting" and if someone disregards that, you can have them arrested for tresspassing. The phone calls are just as bad as popup ads, wew can have programs that block them. If you run a business and own a fax machine, there is a federal law stating that a company cannot send out unsolicited faxes. So why can't we have a do not call list?
Or is this just the begining of companies being allowed to invade every aspect of our lives? Pretty soon are we going to see laws saying you have to allow pop up ads and spyware? You have to answer the phone and talk to anyone who wants to sell you something? We have to answer our door for salepeople? Will companies be allowed to have a special device that as you drive by, it broadcasts an advertisement on everysingle radiostation on your car?
Ok, I realize I may be getting a little carried away, but its gotta start (or stop) somewhere.

 

Uggh! I can't believe it was overturned!!! It amazes me that some judges think the Constitution is an ever-changing document to be interpreted by each new generation, yet if COngress sets up a regulatory agency and the action they take is not SPECIFICALLY enumerated in its powers - it's flipped! The irony!

As you can tell, I was one of the 50 million people on the Do Not Call list. My reaction from the news on my drive home? I went to Radio Shack and bought a Telezapper. This contraption claims to be able to block the auto-dialer machines and trick it into thinking the number is disconnected.

It won't work if the salesperson is calling from a single telephone or non-auto dialer system. But I'm hopeful it'll block out many of the unwanted calls I get. Like BTA, I now get more telemarketing calls than I get calls from people I want to speak to.

*crosses fingers* The guy at Radio Shack said it takes about 2-3 weeks before you stop getting calls alltogether...I hope this works!

 

It is too bad that the U.S. courts failed to do the right thing. I was kind of hoping that Canada would adopt a similar policy but I rather suspect that wont happen if the U.S. one gets derailed. If I had my say telemarketing, and fax marketing, would be illegal. There are days when I am seriously tempted to cancel my telephone service.

Death Rabbit, you are a very lucky guy. I would estimate that I normally receive at least ten telemarketing calls for every proper telephone call.

I typically receive at least a dozen calls a week from window/door/aluminum siding companies offering to give a free quote.

I have also been receiving a call a week from some guy named Boris who keeps leaving messages on my machine asking if I, on anyone I know, has need of his moving company. Boris was actually kind of amusing at first, his thick Russian accent and the amatuer level writing of his sales pitch were quite refreshing after hearing umpteen slick sales speeches, but the novelty wore off after the first half dozen calls.

I can't say that I can match Elios' newspaper tally but I generally receive at least six calls per month from the three local papers.

I normally receive two calls per month from the local cable company, one trying to get me to sign up for cable t.v. and the other for their internet service.

I receive at least one call per month from the phone company tring to get me to sign up for call waiting and other silly features I never use.

I receive at least two calls per week from credit card companies, all of whom I already have cards with. These are the second worst type of caller in my experience as they pretty well refuse to take no for an answer, forcing me to hang up on them after repeated attempts at politely trying to tell them I am not interested. Also, I have found them to be rather rude - I actually had one such jerk tell me that I was idiot after telling him I did not want to take advantage of his card's low rate debt consolidation offer. I had already politely informed him that I never carry a balance on my credit cards and that the only debt I owed was my mortgage but somehow I was still an idiot not to consolidate my credit card debts. I am a bit ashamed of the way I lost my cool and started angrily ranting back at him but that was just the last straw.

Finally, the number one on my hate list of callers who claim to be from some sort of police or firefighters' association who basically try to blackmail me into sponsoring children to go to their sporting events/magic shows etc. Like the credit card people they wont take no for an answer and seem to feel that their supposed connection to the police or fire department means that everyone should be obliged to give to them. Invariably they resort to the "how can you begrudge giving only $x for the children" I always respond "I don't, that is why I give my money to a charitable foundation that actually spends the money on the children instead of wasting it on telemarketing" which seems to really tick them off.

 

Well, I’m like Death Rabbit. We get maybe 3-4 telemarketing calls a month; a few more than D.R., but not that bad. I handle them all in the same way – as soon as they start their pitch, I just tell them I’m not interested; I give them enough time to say something like “OK, thank you”, and then I hang up. If they start pushing, I hang up anyway – if they can’t accept “no” for an answer, that’s their problem; I don’t feel the need to justify myself to them. Although I must admit that I like JSBB’s method of dealing with the “send a child to such-and-such an event” calls.

Bottom line is that I don't really need to be on a do-not-call list. But if I was getting several calls a week, that would be a different matter.

 

I think it's much ado about nothing - a slight roadbump is all.

1) For those saying the telemarketers had been ignoring the list anyways - it wasn't slated to go into effect until Oct. 1 so there was essentially no active list yet.

2) Lawmakers will grant the FTC the necessary authority to create and enforce the list.

3) I'm not sure the judge deserves the criticism he's getting. This is precisely the sort of thing I want a judge to do - interpret Congressional grants of authority to administrative agencies narrowly to prevent the vestiture of too much power into the executive branch (and I thought that the reduction of executive power would be popular on this site.)

4) I haven't read the opinion - who here has? From the little snippets in articles I've read it seems the judge may have a point - the grant of power to the FTC may have been overstepped according to some of the quotes regarding the grant of power. So, criticisms of the judge as out of control, ridiculous, etc. may be premature if we haven't bothered to read the opinion (if there was an opinion, we could read a complete transcript of his ruling barring that). So, how do we know "the courts failed to do the right thing"? Or do we really mean, "the courts failed to do that which I would find most convenient personally"?

5) Elios - the ACLU lawyers were hardly saying minorities couldn't figure out how to use punch card ballots - that's a strawman.

6) And again, this will be worked out through the legislative process. I don't know enough to say whether the judge was right or wrong but I think some of the criticism may be premature. As for me, I'd like to err on the side of not giving the executive branch too much power with the understanding that Congress can explicitly grant the authority now. I know and agree that these calls can be a hassle but I'd be more concerned about the judiciary allowing administrative agencies to overstep their grants of authority any day of the week.

Let's hear it for a prudent bench! Hip-hip hooray!

Edit- oh, and it's ironic that the complaint is so vociferous about the calls when quite clearly there is a large, silent segment who either agree to pay money out because of these calls or there are people protesting them who pay money for these calls. Otherwise they'd cease to exist.

They work.

Like spam mail. Annoying but the only reason it exists is because many people secretly reply to it and like it.

 

Laches, part of the reason the telemarketing exists and is successful is not that people want the products or services being offered, but that they are pressured into buying them. I have no problem saying no (see my previous post), but others find it more difficult. Once you feel like you have to explain your “no” answer, you are setting yourself up for being talking into purchasing something you don’t really want.

I agree with your point that we may be over-reacting because of a lack of knowledge of the reasons behind the decision, though.

 

I don't think this is even in the same ballpark. Pickpocketing is a crime. Telemarketers collect paychecks, pay taxes, and invest in retirement just like everyone else. They aren't doing anything illegal - yet. Annoying, yes. But do we actually lose anything when they call, other than time? Have we really been wronged, the way a theif would wrong you? I don't think so. That's just a poor analogy.

That said, I concede and agree that maybe my viewpoint would be drastically different were the calls 3 or 4 per day like some of you. I see the point there. Someone made a point about the machines that call and say "Please wait for an important call." I forgot about those damn things. I've worked in a place that used those as well, and they're immoral as hell. They call something like 20 numbers at a time, and the first one that picks up gets to one available caller, then the next, etc. Evil.

I've lived in only 2 places in my life; Utah and Texas. Neither place I was bombarded with these calls as apparantly most people are. Maybe Utah and Texas have different laws regarding telemarketers, I guess. I've just never considered it that big of a hassle, and frankly, always thought people who complained about it were whiny jerks. But now I see the complaints may actually be justified after all.

 

I hate telemarketing as a concept, but like DR said, they're people too! I have no problem telling them "no" and then I hang up -- quickly. They may be people but I do not owe them anything beyond a polite "no, thank you, not interested" and then I hang up -- I owe them no explanation as to why I am not interested.

 

Here's another way to look at it, BTA. Saying "no" isn't like a no call list, because at least when they call and get a no thanks, they still have a job. If there's no one to call, they have no job. Another thing is - telemarketers DO NOT like their jobs. I speak from experience when I say it's one of the crappiest jobs on earth. Janitor in a porno theater runs a close second to this little gem. They aren't telemarketers for fun. They probably can't get any other work. Most - if not all telemarketers - would immediately go out and get something better were it possible. But as you may have noticed, the economy doesn't exactly afford many people that luxury. The Do Not Call registry may be a good idea for various reasons, but the timing really sucks.

 

I will second that opinion. This brings to mind a lecture that I attended given by the highest rated economics professor in Canada. He said something along the lines of "When you hear that jobs have been lost due to downsizing you should not be upset because people are unemployed but instead you should be happy because it means that there are now more available resources that can be put towards some sort of productive use! Just don't say so to their faces unless you want to punched in the head!"

Sure it may be a temporary hardship on those who currently have telemarketing jobs but quite frankly I think that it is much more terrible that these people would be employed in a manner that serves only to make the general public miserable.

Surely to God our society can find something more worthwhile for these people to do. I would rather pay higher taxes and have these people being on the public payroll cleaning up litter or something else that is at least marginally useful then have to put up with being pestered in the sanctity of my home.

 

I'm not saying you should be happy for the "poor schleps," that wasn't really the point. I'm saying that the do not call registry will effect millions of jobs around the country, and by extension the economy as a whole. Were our economy in better shape, then I would be all for it as I agree with every point you make. I think their approach is terrible, especially from a marketing standpoint. I am aware that there are a few companies who deliberately target people they think will be suckers, like little old ladies. They either don't know or care how hated they are. To market yourself legitimately from a marketing standpoint, the last thing you want to be is hated. But that's beside the point.

My point is - and I know I'm gonna get flamed for this - the Bush administration have been very outspoken proponents of this program. IMO, it's serves their agenda by snagging Bush a few extra votes at election time next year. Which stikes me as funny because Bush keeps pounding the podium about how he's going to create all these new jobs to get the economy back on it's feet, yet he pushes a program that will effectively kill a multi-million dollar industry and put a few MORE million people out of work in this country. To me, the timing couldn't be worse. But then bad timing has been one of my biggest complaints to date about our current administration.

[ September 25, 2003, 18:32: Message edited by: Death Rabbit ]