Telemarketers et al

[Jumpinbare]

My cellphone number is on the do not call registry. I get at LEAST 10 calls a day and maybe 1 is legit.
I no longer answer a number I do not recognize. Anyone who call me gets the following message:
"If you're a scammer or telemarketer, BE GONE! I screen thee by the power of voice-mail! If you actually have something to communicate with me, please leave a message at the tone."
Not one scammer or telemarketer has left a voicemail. All my contacts have distinct ringtones. I think my next step is to make the default ringtone be silence.

 

[AndyFBlues]

I always leave the ringer on my home phone off unless I'm expecting a call. If it's important they'll leave a message, and if they don't leave a message, then it couldn't have been very important.

 

[Forest Cat]

It has to be a difficult job these days, trying to talk people into buying something over the phone. I put my number in a register the authorities made, if you're in that register it's illegal to call you for telemarketing purposes. The telemarketing companies must delete your number from their lists. If they don't they could get big fines. So I never get those types of calls anymore. I almost feel a little bad for those who have that job, it's not easy to call people all day long and they get a lot of crap from people.

 

[Nitro]

My cellphone number is on the do not call registry. I get at LEAST 10 calls a day and maybe 1 is legit.
I no longer answer a number I do not recognize. Anyone who call me gets the following message:
"If you're a scammer or telemarketer, BE GONE! I screen thee by the power of voice-mail! If you actually have something to communicate with me, please leave a message at the tone."
Not one scammer or telemarketer has left a voicemail. All my contacts have distinct ringtones. I think my next step is to make the default ringtone be silence.

I once got jumped up ugly with Temple Grandin because I was answering the phone due to an important out of state call and thought she was a telemarketer

I had contacted her at her university office because I wanted to compare notes with someone else who has a visual based memory but she was out of town on a speaking engagement at the time.
I never expected her to return my call, but surprisingly enough, she did.

(We had a nice conversation after she told who she was)

 

[Cryptid]

My Android phone has a "Block Caller" feature. If I get a telemarketing call, I add that number to the feature. It works for texts, too.

However, if you can add the three "Service Disconnect" tones to the beginning of your voicemail greeting, and then just leave your phone off (checking your voicemail regularly), the autodialers used by telemarketers will record your phone as disconnected; and, since telemarketers often share their call lists, your "disconnected" number will also be shared.

Here is a link to the typical disconnect message used in the US.

Record only the first second to the beginning of your voicemail greeting, otherwise your legitimate callers may never leave a message.

This second method is more elaborate than the first, but you need to do it only once, instead of every time someone calls.

 

[Progster]

I rarely get that kind of call. If they call, they use the landline, and I have that disconnected and only use my mobile. But if they do call, I just hang up.

 

[SusanLR]

I don't get those types of calls anymore.
But the man I live with gets them all day, starting at 9am until 9pm.

I stopped answering the phone unless it is a number I know.
Everything else gets a voicemail message.
If it's important they will leave a message.
The telemarketers do not. Especially in this day and age of using recorded callers.
Not real people.
Somehow the robotic call knows not to leave a message on voicemail.
If you don't answer, eventually they stop calling.

My house companion was answering every call for a while several months ago.
He had a lot of health care issues and thought the call might be important.
Now the bombardment of telemarketers has started.
He isn't answering now either, but it will take time to get off their lists.

 

[Misty Avich]

I hate telemarketers. I mean, if I wanted double glazed windows then I'd make that decision for myself, I don't need a telemarketer to make that decision for me. I'm sure that works with most people.

 

[Judge]

It continues to be quite problematic for me when ever so often I have important business calls to deal with, where whether or not their official caller id may- or may not show up properly. Always forcing me to allow them to leave a message. And that in most cases, scammers/spammers won't usually leave such a message.

Though also in my case over several years, I'm getting far less such calls than I used to. Plus my phone carrier displays many of such calls with "spam risk" so I know right off it's a hostile call. Sadly I figure about 95% of the calls I get are of a criminal nature. Otherwise it's just a call from my cousin or brother and not much else.

 

[GrownupGirl]

How do these callers sleep at night knowing how obnoxious they are? It's like they have no moral conscience at all.

 

[Judge]

How do these callers sleep at night knowing how obnoxious they are? It's like they have no moral conscience at all.

In my experience the vast majority of theses calls (et al) are criminal scammers and identity thieves. Not employees with crappy jobs.

 

[Fino]

I block the number of every unknown call I receive. Gradually, the random calls have diminished to almost nothing.

 

[MNAus]

I just hang up. Only takes a couple of seconds. The calls are fairly predictable.
"Hi am I speaking to MNAus?"
"No, who is this?"
"This is XYZ from scamcom....."
<click>

 

[Misty Avich]

I hate the sales people in the street as well. In the city where I live, there are three women who stand in different parts of the shopping area, wanting people to buy their magazines. They've literally been doing that for years. They are foreign and I think their magazines are about their religion or something. But everyone who walks by ignores them, and I've never seen anyone buy their magazines (of course some people probably do). But my husband says they've been doing that for like 15 years, day after day. They must be bored stiff.
I figured that if you don't make eye contact and just keep walking, most sales people bug you less. If you acknowledge them with some manners, they'll step in front of you and pressure you into buying whatever they're trying to sell. So, whenever I hear the phrase ''manners cost nothing'', I don't think that is always entirely true.