Tirade Tuesday: telemarketers and Bellsouth's "Privacy Director"

OK I have one for Tirade Tuesday. Bellsouth has this anti-telemarketing thing called privacy director (folks here in the group may know about it). Anyway the idea is when someone calls whose phone does not transmit their name or phone number via caller ID, their call is answered by an automated service that asks for their name and company name; after they give it, then my phone rings; when I answer, the automated service replays the person's name and company name that was just recorded seconds ago. I can now press 1 to accept the call or press 2 to reject the call. If I reject, the caller gets a pleasant automated voice saying "the party has rejected your call."

OK, so far it sounds great. But there is this one company that keeps calling me, and I keep rejecting their call. They call about 2 times a day, and so far they're up to about 15 calls. What do these people think, if they bug the living hell out of me, I'll eventually accept their call? And if I do, what kind of mood am I going to be in - will I sit and happily listen to their sales pitch and then buy their crappy product? Chances of that are very low.

That's it.

John

Reply to
jmvannoy
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You might want to be sure the kids are in bed before you play this.

Reply to
Jim Warman

Annoying really annoying have recieved calls like that 10 times yesterday from on company all the time Well,where I live I only have to contact my telephon company and ask them to block certain numbers or list my number in a list that all marketers have to follow and check before calling presumable comsumers Does your Phone company provide this Service? I mean blocking certain numbers Regards Nightmare

"JohnV@nn" skrev i meddelandet news: snipped-for-privacy@b68g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

Reply to
Nightmare

They do offer call block but I don't have the feature. Although it might be worth the $4.95 a month. :-)

Nightmare wrote:

Reply to
jmvannoy

Check with your state, in Pennsylvania we have a no call list. You sign up and telemarketers cannot call you. Or they get a VERY stiff fine. I think there may even be a national no call list.

Dave

Reply to
Deputy Dog

Oh come on!! Details. Who is it, what are they selling??

Reply to
WindsorFox

The problem is unless you are very diligent in pursuing them, if they do violate the do not call list ,nothing happens to them.

I never signed up for any do not call lists, yet through attention to not releasing my phone numbers I received very few unsolicited calls. About 2 years ago, I said, aw what the hell, they should have it working by now... I signed up, and the calls have been relentless since. I am firmly convinced that the hard core telemarketing companies are just using the do not call list to call from. The few people that actually pursue it all the way to a fine are easily affordable in their scheme...

Reply to
My Names Nobody

Don't know exactly what they're selling but the company name is Arbitron.

Reply to
jmvannoy

I'm sorry this has been your experience. We went from 4-6 calls a night to

0.And every once and a while I read or hear about a sucessfull prosecution and heavy fine.

Dave

Reply to
Deputy Dog

I'm registered on the do-not-call list but for some reason this company is ignoring it. Certain types of outfits are exempt from the do-not-call, but even if they were, I can't understand why anyone would keep calling back when I explicitly reject their call.

Reply to
jmvannoy

I'm with the Dog. I couldn't wait to sign up with both national and Pennsylvania do not call lists.

If it was me, I'd take the next call from these bozos and politely get the name of the caller, his supervisor, the branch they're calling from, the company on whose behalf they are calling. I would then tell this person in no uncertain terms to remove my name and number from their call list.

If they called again, I'd drop a dime on them. After venting my spleen, of course.

I do some marketing myself, and I'm familiar with the Direct Marketing Association. All of their members and affiliates pay careful attention to the do not call lists, and any marketer that is calling someone they know to be on that list deserves what they get. But you have every right to ask to have your name removed from their list, and they have every obligation to honor that request.

The exceptions to the do not call regulations are, of course, charities and (naturally) political candidates and organizations.

dwight

Reply to
dwight

They're doing a survey. They want your opinion on local radio stations and your listening habits.

Take the call, get your name removed from their database.

dwight

Reply to
dwight

?? I joined the La DNC as soon as the web site was up and the national DNC when it came up and I have gotten 2 calls since 2001. Both of those I filled out the proper papers and mailed in.

Reply to
WindsorFox

ROFL! You're serious?? Arbitron doesn't sell stuff. They do television and radio ratings.

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They are also not included in the DNC list coverage.

Reply to
WindsorFox

I read about a cruise company that was fined and they were the company that called me.

Reply to
WindsorFox

Arbitron is exempt and they go through a very rigorous and involved process of choosing people for their rating, so they will try pretty hard to convince you to run their rating system. I think they pay some small nominal fee to keep your diary for a week???

Reply to
WindsorFox

And marketing analysis companies like Arbitron. :-P

Reply to
WindsorFox

Arbitron is very pushy.

Reply to
Scott Van Nest

I have one of those stupid TeleZappers. You know the one they sell on TV with all the other worthless crap. It works:)

Al

Reply to
Big Al

amen to that. They have also called before 8am and after 9pm.

Reply to
jmvannoy

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