Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - More Choices Available to Cut Sales Calls

A good article to regain your peace of mind. There are some very helpful tips below.
Glad

More Choices Available to Cut Sales Calls

July 6, 2003 09:52 PM EDT

NEW YORK - If you signed up to block those annoying telemarketing calls with the Federal Trade Commission, don't stop there.

As many as 10 million people signed up in the first three days to limit sales calls at home through a nationwide "do not call" registry, according to the FTC, which launched the service June 27.

But people who wish to reduce sales pitches across the board may want to consider additional services - some of which have been in place for years. Most other services will require more effort - and even money - than the do-not-call registry, but they could help limit companies from plugging up your mail or e-mail box, as well as reduce home phone calls.

First, start with the do-not-call registry if you haven't already done so. This government-sponsored service allows consumers to block many commercial calls by filling out a simple form at www.donotcall.gov. You also can call toll-free at 1-888-382-1222. If you register by Aug. 31, you should start receiving fewer telemarketing calls by October because telemarketers are given up to three months from the date a person registers to stop calling.

Still, you're almost certain still to get sales pitches from other areas, but you're not defenseless. For instance, you can limit junk mail by stopping those preapproved credit card offers. In place since at least 1996 has been a toll-free phone number that allows you to do just that. Call 888-567-8688, or 888-5-Optout, and the main credit bureaus - including Equifax Inc., Experian and Transunion - will stop the credit card companies from checking your credit without your approval.

You can ask to have it stopped for two years or permanently. If you choose to make it permanent, you will have to mail back a signed form they give you, said Norm Magnuson, a spokesman for Consumer Data Industry Association, a trade group for the credit bureaus.

Preapproved credit can allow people to easily shop for credit. But they can also clutter the mailbox and one's susceptibility to identity theft. Thieves are known to snatch these offers from mailboxes and garbage cans and apply for credit under a false name and address.

The Direct Marketing Association, a trade group for direct marketers in Washington, also gives people a way to reduce junk mail. Go to the Web site www.dmaconsumers.org to excuse yourself from mailing lists, e-mail lists and telephone sales pitches from DMA's 5,000 membership organizations, said Louis Mastria, a spokesman for DMA.

You have to get off lists for each medium - telephone, e-mail and mail - separately. DMA members who don't currently do business with you will be blocked for five years. You can stop e-mail solicitations free of charge online, but you have to pay $5 to scratch your name off any mail and telephone lists.

To evade this fee, you might want to mail an old-fashioned letter with your name, address and request to get on the preference service, said Mastria. To get off mailing lists free, the address is: P.O. Box 643, Carmel, N.Y., 10512. To remove your name from telephone lists free of charge, the address is P.O. Box 1559, Carmel, N.Y., 10512.

Finally, limit solicitations by asking the companies with whom you do business to not sell or share your personal information to other companies.

Companies are required to contact their customers once a year to allow them to "opt out" of having their information sold or shared. But these notices often end up in the trash because they're written in legal jargon, or they get to the point too far into the letter to keep people's attention, said Steve Blackledge, legislative director with Calpirg, a consumer advocacy group in Sacramento, Calif.

If you haven't seen any letters to opt out, "you're not alone," said Blackledge. But this also means you will have to make the effort to contact the companies yourself one-by-one, and in some cases by mail.

For help opting out, go to www.opt-out.cdt.org, created by the Center for Democracy and Technology, an activist organization in Washington.

Good luck eliminating all direct-marketing solicitations. Most services, including the FTC do-not-call list, allow for certain exceptions, usually for "existing business relationships," or companies you currently deal with. In most cases, that's a good thing - but it may also mean new mailings every time you buy someone a gift.

Also, asking a company to not share your personal information is typically ignored when it comes to a company's so-called affiliates. And for some companies, this means dozens, if not hundreds, of affiliates can legally share your personal information even if you opt out, said Blackledge.

Finally, nothing will stop fraudulent solicitations, which seem to be so prevalent in e-mail. An April report by the FTC said that the majority, or two-thirds, of all commercial e-mails contained false information of some sort. That's just not going to go away, Blackledge said.

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Copyright 2003 Associated Press.