denim

Use this link to register for the US's new "do not call" list.

I wonder just how overloaded this is gonna get today. The telemarketers say this will devastate their business. They seem to miss the point since that's the idea.

Andric

When a telemarketer calls and asks for someone by name, tell them to hold on, put the phone down as if to get that person, and leave it. Works for me.

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zer010gic

Thank you for the link.

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clues_blues

signing up now... thanks for the link.

c_b

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SaltPork

it's probably a clever telemarketers website and you are all blindly signing up to be called at 7AM everyday.

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It was like that when I got here....I swear.

Gortexfogg

I'd rather our government spend time on the economy and stuff rather than telemarketing legislation... but since it's there, why not use it!

denim

Note that the site is a little... overwhelmed, seemingly. It's taken me quite a while to get to the "is this data correct" screen with a "register" button on it, and I'm having trouble getting past it.

(edit) Okay, I got to the third screen, which says "step 3: receive e-mail".

gov135

Unfortunately, this list allows contact with you if you have had or have a relationship with the company calling.

The most annoying calls I get are from Sears and AT&T - both of whom can continue to call.

But I sure signed up, thanks.

hrdwareguy

Earlier reports today said that the list was receiving about 108 registrants per second via phone.

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denim

Imagine if they'd allowed the east coast to use the phone method.

Jesus Pimp

Sigh their servers are getting overloaded..

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rockzilla

If I blocked the telemarketers, how could I torment them? Just last week I was asked to participate in a survey about breakfast products. I told them I was a father of 6, and all my children had 'beerios' (cheerios & beer) during the week, and I made myself homemade breakfast bars out of apple cores and cigarette butts. The telemarketer didn't really appreciate it and hung up on me! If my job was to annoy people, I'd welcome someone trying to fuck with me, I'd try to make it last til the end of my shift.

Charlatan

I hate telemarketers. Generally speaking, there is a delay between answering the phone and the computer tansfering me to the telemarketer. I say hello and if I don't hear a response in the next second... I hang up.

If it's a friend with food in his mouth, unable to reply, he'll call back. Telemarketers don't.

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livingitup101

i just read about this...it said that over 60,000 people had signed up already today. they expecting over 60 million to sign up.

CanuckAlert

No doubt. The other day I had someone call me about carpet cleaning heh I freaked and said "Nice joke Kevin you ass you know I just had a flood!" The guy on the oher line said nothing for a full minute then hung up.

MacGnG

lol its gonna take days to actually get into the site! some one should deface it, that would be b funny

Go_AVS

I'd try back in a couple of days. It keeps crashing when I try to register..

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Cynthetiq

true, but internally you can request that they stop calling you or you will no longer purchase products or services from them. It's worked plenty for the cable and phone company,

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Psivage

Is this different from states do-not-call list? In Montana our Governer passed a do-not-call list as well. The thing is though the telemarkers can get that list if they paid $500 a year.

YourNeverThere

ya this is going to take forever

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rogue49

done
thank you very much.

MacGnG

just registered thanks

losfp

well, no such thing here (at least not that I'm aware of)... I'd sign up in a flash though!! It's a tough thing though, I know people who have done time in telemarketing jobs, call centres etc and it ain't easy. Once or twice I've actually participated in surveys and I do try to get rid of them politely if possible.

Still doesn't explain how they know exactly when you've just sat down at dinner and call right then!

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yatzr

i read that the state do-not-call lists will be added to the national one eventually, but it said that it'd be best to go ahead and do it yourself. And i'm pretty sure that there is no way telemarketers can call anybody on the list for a few reasons:

they are required to send caller id information and clearly state who they are and what they're selling

if they call someone on the registry, the FTC fines them $11,000 per call

so it would be easy to turn a telemarketer in...also you can go to where you registered to file complaints later on.

side note: they aren't enforcing the list until oct. 1 so it probably wouldn't be smart filing complaints tomorrow...although it would be funny

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cliv

I'm glad they passed this law. I very rarely give out my home number, but it appears it has been sold to every telemarketer in the world. At one point I was getting 2-12 calls per day with a one day record of 20 calls.

BudTheSpud

Too bad they dont have that in Canada ;; sigh...

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Vyk

The one thing I hate about telemarketers are the "spanish" ones. I have a hispanic last name and AT&T thinks I'll sign up if they have non english speaking spanish folk call my house.

umm...no. I tell the the normal ones to piss off so why would the ethnically targetted ones be any more successful?

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bermuDa

what really annoys me is when people call my mother's house to ask for my sister, and when I say she isn't here they ask for her husband (she's not married). I tell them she said she wasn't married! I'm gonna kill that bitch!! and hang up.

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bondagegirl

cool, I registered! woo hoo! I was reading about it though and they say this thing doen't restrict lond distance phone companies from calling, Those are the ones that call me at least three times a week though.
I love the way all you guys get a away from these telemarketers. I'm one of the people that hangs up if someone doesn't answer within the first two seconds.

THANKS DENIM!!!

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juanvaldes

I've been waiting...

OROIT

i hate it when telemarketers try to use their brain
they ring up and ask for my girlfriend Mrs X
i say she is not here then they say "oh is this Mr X" to which i reply "No, im Mr Z. we are not married. NOW FUCK OFF"


my girlfreind likes to fuck with them though LOL
she says stuff like "sorry i have to keep an eye on the triplets or they run rampant i cant speak right now"
or if they are selling something she say's something like "well i have 5 kids to feed so i cant really afford it especially since Bob got laid off down at the mill"

grayman

I am not putting a lot of faith in this list. Obviously someone makes money off of telemarketing, otherwise they wouldn't do it. In Illinois, they tried to pass a law banning those high interest payday loans. Everything was going well until all the payday loan places, who are making lots of money off those loans, banded together into a lobby and lined some congressmen's pockets and re-election campaigns. The bill died immediately. It seems to me that the telemarketers would do the same thing if this list was an actual threat to their livelihood. The exceptions already listed (and I've also heard that polls and charities are excluded) seem to make this list kind of inadequate. I'm sure that most telemarketers would be willing to donate 1% of their profits to a charity in order to backdoor this list. I can also hear the polls already "In regards to your long distance service, would you say you are A)Very happy or B)Ready to switch to MCI's new 5 cents a minute plan?
Anyway, I like to just chat with and argue with telemarketers, keeping them on the phone for as long as possible without buying anything, thus making their day as unprofitable as possible.

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alisa

i registered my number, my cell number, all my family's number's and got the email today saying it was confirmed....

izzzzy

thanks a lot going to check my email now

eribrav

We have had a similar law in NY for a couple of years now, and it has been wonderful. We went from multiple calls a day down to practically none.

I still think the best approach to the telemarketers is the Seinfeld approach. Ask the telemarketer for their full name and phone number so you can call them back at home to discuss their amazing offer. When they decline say<"Oh so you don't want to be bothered at home.....?"

Point made

Phaenx

I did some telemarketing, made a few good bucks. It always made my day when someone would flip out, a bit of sadism doesn't hurt in that line of work.

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Toker

Might slow them down for a while, but honestly they'll just all move to Canada, the Carribean, etc. where this law probably can't touch them.

denim

That'll cost them more, I think.

TSerra

I agree with Toker. They'll just focus on other areas. Email, fax maybe? A friend of mine received a fax advertising crap just the other day from a telemarketing agency. I wonder if that falls under the new law....

LewisCouch

I'm going to wait until the law becomes effective before signing up. I just have a bad feeling about putting my name and number in a national database that is available to too many businesses.

I just had to change my number because of a persistent and harrassing debt collector who had me confused with another person with the same name. They were absolutely relentless, and after three weeks of constant phone calls, I had the number changed to an unpublished one.

I really do hope this helps to curtail the nusiance calls, though.

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