I don't answer my home phone anymore. I'm sick and tired of being harassed by "Card Services" and the auto warranty dipwads. So I wait until the answering machine has responded and decide whether or not I'm going to pick up based on the message that is left / not left.

Asking politely or pushing the number three or whatever is NOT enough to make them go away. Period. End of discussion ... they ignore all requests for peaceful co-existence.

These are not 'innocent' people trying to make an honest living; these are dipsticks who KNOW that they are intruding and obnoxious and simply do not care.
--Bill

oops.. sorry about double post

I love that flowchart. I used to be a telemarketer (it was a foot-in-the-door type job that I used to get a start in the company) and I have to say that all someone has to do is say, politely, “I’m not interested” and 90% of the time that’s enough for them to leave you alone. If they get huffy about it, then they’re breaking laws anyway and you should definitely try out a few of these questions and get enough information to sue the company.

Telemarketing has a super high staff turnover rate because it’s very high stress, simply from people getting abusive when they’re talking to someone who’s just doing their job. The typical telemarketer is about 18 years old and female, and a lot do the job to do things like pay their way through college or get started in an industry. Please take that into consideration before you start screaming and swearing as soon as some one says “I’m from company xyz”. Try asking first to be put on the do not call list and saying you’re not interested. If that doesn’t work, feel free to swear and scream and yell as much as you like. If it’s one of the girls at my office that you’re talking to, who’s breaking the rules like that, I’d say she deserves it.

Are you F'ing kidding me?? These telemarketers aren't so stupid as to answer these questions. I *just* got called by the infamous Auto Warranty telemarketers, and as soon as I asked the first question, "can I ask whom I'm speaking with" THEY HUNG UP. They know better. And of course, the number that showed up is invalid, leaving me with no recourse. I've been dealing with them calling on average 3 times a week for months now. What's a person to do???

The questions are not visible in firefox - only in IE.

I've been called repeatedly by CARD SERVICES over the last two months. Our phone number is on the do not call list. We've requested to be removed from their call list FIVE TIMES! The last time I spoke with a dipshit "supervisor" although in hindsight it was probably just some other stupid ass loser working to pay off their warrants, child support, and support a crack habit. What I hate more than anything is how the losers are always so friggen rude telling you to shut up and listen or some shit like that. AAARRRGGGHHH....

Hey card services you suck!

I read an article about this a few weeks later, and it hit me that indeed, thats what i saw.
If i end up at another rally, i am bringing a flyswatter or a butterfly net!

Guys, relax. I'm a telemarketer and as much as it is annoying to get the calls, it is good money and it is an easy job to do. If its a telemarketer on the line, just say "take me off your list" and we are required, and instructed to do so. Also, everyone acts like it's a big conspiracy to get everyone screwed. Most telemarketers have only been doing it for a few months, the turnover rate is sky high, and we're simply given a script and told to just end the call (cordially) if you don't cooperate. If you tell us to not call them again, we put you on the do not call list. We don't have any personal stake in the company, and the commission rates are frighteningly low, so most of us don't really push towards getting a commission. The money is good enough as it is.

It's a bit panicky to immediately label this harassment. Add your name to the national do not call list, and if anyone calls tell them to put your name on the do not call list, and within a few weeks, you'll stop getting calls from telemarketers. When people are nice on the phone, (which they almost always are), it brightens my day to know that people will still put up with minor annoyances without freaking out and threatening to sue.

Just relax.

Hey everyone what's up. I share your pain with these telemarketing calls. If you have some reading time please check out my story so far.

I'm 17. I do not own a car. I don't even have a driver's permit. I use a bicycle to get around. All this sounds petty but you'll understand later. My family never uses the house phone except to call out. For this, I use a cheap $20 Virgin Mobile phone which I use with a supposed "anonymous" pre-paid plan. Only my best friends and family members have my number. I don't buy anything, or otherwise do anything at all that could ever get my number on a telemarketing list. And yet, I am constantly being woken up in the morning and at night by strange numbers on my phone. They just started appearing on my phone one day and a couple other people's phones who use Virgin Mobile. Most of these phone numbers arn't even real telephone numbers. They either lack enough digits to be considered a complete number, or have too many digits to be a real number. Some numbers are more normal looking and come from different area codes from all over the US. Other times they come from numbers beginning with country codes, which, according to multiple online sources, don't even exist.

Typically people will blindly advise me not to answer any numbers I don't know. After figuring I'm not answering the phone and being harassed anyway I decided to answer. This entity uses an automated calling system telling you things to the effect of: "Your car's warranty is going to expire, please act now and do blah blah blah to renew it before it's too late or press 1 to speak to a representative." At that point I hung up. What car? What warranty? In all the years I've been with my phone carrier, they've never given out my number and I've never been harassed until you fine people crawled out of the woodwork! Don't tell me your using legal means of getting the general public's contact information. In my area most pre-paid phones will begin with the digits 886. They must have caught on to this fact and are just dialing random 886 numbers hoping for a sale although I could be wrong. And if your a legitimate business or even god forbid, a normal telemarketing wing, why are you calling me at all hours of the day and night with fake numbers? Clearly this company is up to no good.

If I don't answer these stupid calls the dumb computer just leaves the same old car warranty spiel half-finished on my voicemail inbox and it costs me money every time I have to log in to delete them so my phone stops bothering me about it.

Finally this afternoon after coming home from going out to eat I was tired from being up late last night and went to lay down. Naturally, I got a call from them and was woken up. This time I didn't care about wasting balance money, decided enough is enough and pressed 1 to speak to a representative. When he connected he gave me his name and asked how he could help me. I told him flat out "You can help me by stop making illegal marketing calls to my mobile phone before I report you and don't give out my number to any 3rd parties because I'll be glad to tell them the same thing." I then promptly hung up.

Now, I think I made myself pretty clear in saying I know what they want and want it to stop. If they have the guts to call me again I'm first thing going to ask to speak with a supervisor or manager with a more spiced up version of what I told the representative. Then, if the calls don't stop, I intend to actually carry out with reporting them to my phone company, the BBB, the FCC, and anything else I can think of. Along with any other websites like this so hopefully we can work together and bust these people, because it seems to me they are trying make fraudulent sales and are harassing people after hours.

Anyway thanks for reading all this, I hope some people found interest or help in this post. If the problem keeps going on I'll come back here with the results and along with anything I find that can help other people with this problem.

Hey All,

My name is Brian from CallerComplaints.com.

We're trying to raise awareness around telemarketing and telephone phishing. One of the biggest issues is the prevailence of "caller ID spoofing" that allows illegal telemarketers "trick" your caller ID so you can't even file a legal complaint!

However, for some reason, this still isn't illegal unless you use it to commit fraud. click here to learn more.

Beware... just because your caller ID says "Bank of America" doesn't mean that it's true...

Hope this helps!

Brian

Unfortunately, I tried to ask these questions. When I asked for the company address, the woman said I'd need to hold for a second, and she promptly hung up. This was disappointing - I figured that telemarketers would be dissuaded from terminating their pitch so early. Then again, from a legal standpoint, it isn't a bad idea. The call was from "Card Services" wanting to offer me some refinancing. They said I needed ten grand in credit card debt. I told them I would check my balance via the computer. I promptly told the operator that I had a total of $65 in credit card debt, and I figured they'd stop calling me.

I think the art of this is to act interested, and carefully gather information one tidbit at a time.

the fact that while there is legitimate concern about "net neutrality" in terms of those who are already seated at the Internet table, there are still large gaps in the of the population not even connected to the Internet.

I'd love to be able to ask all the questions given on this page, but if I sound even the least bit inquisitive (e.g. asking the name of the company they represent), they immediately hang up. Your list of questions is excellent, but I can't help laughing trying to imagine one of these telemarking agents actually providing real answers to any of these questions, or sitting still long enough for me to even ask them. Given the potential damage that could be caused to their company if they actually provided the requested information, I'm sure the Telemarketing agents are told to simply hang up if the potential customer asks any of the above-listed questions. Telemarketers may be absolute evil - the lowest of the low, but they're not (all) stupid.

I own a business and the FCC and our fine government have given no protection to us against telemarketers. With no protection they call all day every day to businesses with no recoarse for the business. Half my phone calls each day are from companies I do not want to ever talk to. When I ask them to perminantly remove me from their list no matter how they compile their information. Half of the time I'm told no! They will call as often as they want. I find this poor business practice, but it is legal. As business owners we need to do something. I have called my local politicians and their siguestion was to change my business number. They are such smart little politicians. I'm a business you idiot, my phone number is my business!!!
If anyone has a solution please contact me.

Hello,

I get harrassing phone calls on my cellphone. As a matter of fact, i have a share plan with 3 phones and we all get harrasing recordings on our voicemails (phone provider: Sprint). They don't identify the company's name and there is "no ID" to return the phonecalls back. All i get is the actual message, which i saved, and the time of the phone call. I called Sprint trying to get more information about the phonecall, they said there is nothing they can do to help. I believe the phonecall originated as a "predator dialer".

Here is how the message goes:

"I just want a chance to add you to a growing list of satisfied customers, who appriciate a good service, and a great price!"
Please press '1' to make an appointment"

What are my options?

Thank you for your help!

Would debt collection come under the TCPA if they are using an automated dialer and leave an automated message?

I registered with the National Do Not Call Registry (http://www.donotcall.gov/) almost as soon as it was created. This definitely reduced the number of telemarketing calls I receive. However, I still receive several marketing calls each week. I'm pretty sure these calls are from companies that know they are breaking the law. The script being used by the people (or recording) calling was designed to make it seem that they represent a company with whom you have an established relationship (e.g. your credit card company), using a company name that is very generic (e.g. "card services"), and that they are calling to inform you of some problem or potential problem that needs your attention (e.g. your rates are about to increase).

I'd love to be able to ask all the questions given on this page, but if I sound even the least bit inquisitive (e.g. asking the name of the company they represent), they immediately hang up. Your list of questions is excellent, but I can't help laughing trying to imagine one of these telemarking agents actually providing real answers to any of these questions, or sitting still long enough for me to even ask them. Given the potential damage that could be caused to their company if they actually provided the requested information, I'm sure the Telemarketing agents are told to simply hang up if the potential customer asks any of the above-listed questions. Telemarketers may be absolute evil - the lowest of the low, but they're not (all) stupid.

So, the problem is how to catch these scoundrels in the act. I suppose if I was dumb enough to take advantage of whatever they were offering, there might be some way to trace it back to the company that was calling, or at least the company for whom they were making calls. But I'm sure that effort would be fraught with difficulties as well.

Any suggestions...?

I wish I could sock it to the two or three charities that call my phone each day after 8 p.m. as if I have nothing better to do. I may have once tossed them a few bucks (hence my name on the list) but no more. They lost a donation when they started calling my phone so late and so frequently.

Hello,
I read your materials on how to strike back toward telemarketers. I obviously read this information because I am having an issue with a company calling me. The company in question is not trying to contact me, rather, they are trying to contact another person, I believe, a former customer who owes them money. Each time they call, I tell them that I am not the person they are trying to reach and that they have the wrong number. I have also requested each time that they not call me again. I began taking a log of when they have called me about a month ago, and they call about once a week. Now that I have read your materials, I plan on trying the telmarketer script on them and I am in the process of obtaining a voice recorder to record future conversations.

My question is this: Since they are not trying to solicit anything to me, could I still have a case against them? How would I proceed differently than if it were just a run of the mill telemarketer?

Thanks for your time.

Im sick of these asian telemarketers who always call me pretending to be non-asian.