OT-Does anyone else get a lot of telemarketers calling? It's annoying

[My Gal Minnie]

I get at least one call every day if not more and the call display sometimes shows out of area or area codes out of Toronto. And a lot of times it's automated recordings or dead air. Is it just me? It's really getting annoying.

[belle1627]

I get at least one call every day if not more and the call display sometimes shows out of area or area codes out of Toronto. And a lot of times it's automated recordings or dead air. Is it just me? It's really getting annoying.

Yes, and its is ridiculous!!! Every day, drives me nuts!!!!

[wee-haggis]

I get at least one call every day if not more and the call display sometimes shows out of area or area codes out of Toronto. And a lot of times it's automated recordings or dead air. Is it just me? It's really getting annoying.

Have you unlisted your number and removed it from the online White Pages ?
If you have an answering machine ,just leave it on and monitor the incoming calls.If its folk you want to talk to,they will know to say "Hello,,its me" etc in time for you to pick up.

[My Gal Minnie]

The answering machine idea is really good. I'm going to try that.

[DisneyFreak06]

My mother got a note from a friend suggesting that when you get an automated message or dead air, to keep hitting the pound key a bunch of times. It supposedly messes up their system and they stop calling. I haven't done it yet to see if it works or not, I'll check with mom to see if she's seen a difference. If anything, it must get annoying to the people on the other line.

[SaskDisNut]

I have, over the last year, told at least a couple of persistent telemarketing companies to not call me anymore. They put me on their do not call list and problem solved!

And by Sept 30th you are suppose to be able to register with the "National Do Not Call List (http://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/index-eng.html)" that most telemarketers will have to abid to. There are some organizations that can still call you like polling companies and charitable organizations, but hopefully this will eliminate the most annoying ones like those credit card companies. :headache:

Failing that, answer the phone and say "Just hold on a minute" and then walk away for while. They'll hang up eventually :rolleyes1

[siobhan1997]

Failing that, answer the phone and say "Just hold on a minute" and then walk away for while. They'll hang up eventually :rolleyes1

Exactly thats what we do put them on hold, its their dime!!!!

[Nicki828]

I get at least one call every day if not more and the call display sometimes shows out of area or area codes out of Toronto. And a lot of times it's automated recordings or dead air. Is it just me? It's really getting annoying.

Yes - pretty much every day here. I think I'll let my 6 year old answer the phone from now on.

[SandraC]

I do the "hold" thing too. I just politely say, "One moment please...." put the phone down and go on with my business.

Sometimes when I feel like "Eddie Haskle" I start chatting away like a friend called....gives me a little giggle. S

[snickerboo]

If I get one more of those debt consolidation pre-recorcorded messages that, at first, makes it sound like it's about my credit card, I will scream! I have no cc debt-stop calling here!!!!

[F4disneyfan]

I get at least one call every day if not more and the call display sometimes shows out of area or area codes out of Toronto. And a lot of times it's automated recordings or dead air. Is it just me? It's really getting annoying.


I know the TD Bank centres that make outbound calls work off an automated dialer so you will get some dead air at the front end of the call before it rings through to the rep. So this may be what is happening with other companies also.

snickerboo I love how it says to press 1 to be connected and press 3 to discontinue the calls. they stop for about a month then start again LOL.

[Valjean13]

We use Primus for our phone (and internet) and they offer a telemarketing guard at no charge. It intercepts the suspected telemarketers and gives them the option of either hanging up (without your phone ringing) or recording their business name and then letting your phone ring. When it rings, you get the recording and can choose to answer it, report it as a telemarketer (so that number will not get through again) or send it to voicemail. The best part is that you don't have to talk to the telemarketer. Since this service started (beginning of the summer) I get maybe 1 call a month that tries to get through. :cool1:

[My Gal Minnie]

We use Primus for our phone (and internet) and they offer a telemarketing guard at no charge. It intercepts the suspected telemarketers and gives them the option of either hanging up (without your phone ringing) or recording their business name and then letting your phone ring. When it rings, you get the recording and can choose to answer it, report it as a telemarketer (so that number will not get through again) or send it to voicemail. The best part is that you don't have to talk to the telemarketer. Since this service started (beginning of the summer) I get maybe 1 call a month that tries to get through. :cool1:

That's a really good idea. Bell should offer that.

[Northstar]

The ones that bug me are the market research callers. I get lots of those. And they will be exempt from the DNC registry.

Actually, the do-not-call registry strikes me as a total waste of my time, since almost all the calls I get are either from market researchers, the local newspaper trying to sell me a subscription, or charities looking for donations. All three of those are exempt!

[Donald - my hero]

My hubby drives them all nutsoid. He will let them give their entire spiel and then ask bunch of questions then shout "NO THANK YOU" he figures they practiced a long time what to say so they might as well get a chance to say the whole thing :rotfl2:

[My Gal Minnie]

I've noticed that most of the calls I get are from out of area , area codes. I wonder if using Yak's 10 10 service before I make my long distance calls is why. i think they are selling my phone number to these people. They must record the phone number when I call in. They are cheap but maybe thats how they make money.

[AndyMcV]

That's a really good idea. Bell should offer that.

Bell won't do ANYTHING unless it makes them money. :mad:

I remember a while ago this phone number kept calling our house. The display would say unknown number. When we'd pick up the phone it sounded like someone calling our house and then just putting the phone down. I could make out kids playing in the background and someone talking. We got called lots, and even messages of the same thing on our answering machine.

I called Bell and asked if they could intervene and help. Nope, nada. I asked of they could tell me how I could phone this number back or connect me to it. Nope nada. I asked what my option was and they told me that they only had one option and that was to buy another monthly package that gives me the ability to block certain numbers (up to 3 or 5 I think). I said that was rediculous that I should have to pay money to stop someone from abusing our phone line. Their response was to tell me that I should call the police and report a harrassing phone caller. Uhhh... oh kay... Eventually the calls just stopped but I was and still am really unimpressed with Bell.

[disneymath]

We use the answering maching thing when we notice the number is long distance ... it usually works pretty good as the call disconnects before the "beep".

We also tend to hang up right away on the "dead air" calls.

What drives me nuts is the various charities that come up as "private number" and then the guy/girl on the other end cheerfully asks for one of us by our first names like he's a friend or acquaintance. It's like steath telemarketing. They usually ask for my dad, who gets his revenge by listening to their spiel and then concocting some story about being recently fired, recently divorced, recently injured etc. and not being able to afford his mortgage let alone support their cause.

(That said, we do donate to various charities of our choice each year. It just seems like we get multiple calls each week from charities that we've never even really heard of.)

Yes - pretty much every day here. I think I'll let my 6 year old answer the phone from now on.

One caution ... beware of those phone calls that have a cheerful woman telling you that you've won a family vacation to Florida, the Bahamas, etc. and that to claim your prize all you need to do is "Press 9" ... I think if you actually "Press 9" you start being charged a per minute rate. (I know if I were a kid and someone told me I had won something, I would have pressed whatever number they asked me to get my prize.)

[bdoyledimou]

Within a week of returning from WDW in August, i started getting calls from some company claiming to be Uniersal Studios telling me i had won an all expences paid trip to Florida..

Een though i mentioned that i had just returned from said destination, didn't enter their contest, and had no intention of accepting their offer, they called back 3-4 times daily with the exact same spiel for 2 weeks.

It's trailed off now, but i suspect they wil start again in a month or so (once the scammers setup in a new office with new phone numbers)

[KerriMc]

my parents just switched to Rogers home phone and their phone rings differently when it is long distance calling. Every night at around dinnertime, it rings this different ring like clockwork! So mom just ignores it now. Maybe someday they'll finally give up?

I was constantly called my Citibank or National Bank (can't remember) ... but I dont' deal with them and have no idea why they call me. We are unlisted so it must just be an automated dialer ... anyways dh got them the last time and told them she doesn't live at this number anymore. They haven't called since ... who knows why :)

Since we are unlisted we don't get many and I hate them ... the dead air is the first sign that they are telemarketers and sometimes I just hang up before they can start. They always call at the worst times (making dinner, eating dinner, hustling the kids out the door, someone needs mommy's "assistance-in-the-bathroom", etc) ... I guess I could always tell them I need to go wipe my kids' butt?? LOL ... wonder if THEY would hang up or hang on for a moment?? Should try it next time :laughing:

Kerri

[fanoftinkerbell]

Sept 30th we can sign up for a DNC list, but it won't fully take effect for 31 days... Bites, but what can you do... They "Claim" it's good for 3 yrs when you put your name on it.

[seashoreCM]

They always call at the worst times (making dinner, eating dinner, hustling the kids out the door, someone needs mommy's "assistance-in-the-bathroom", etc) ... I guess I could always tell them I need to go wipe my kids' butt?? LOL ... wonder if THEY would hang up or hang on for a moment?? Should try it next time :laughing: i
As suggested before, ask them to please hold and then you put down the phone and "forget" about them.
We also tend to hang up One caution ... beware of those phone calls that have a cheerful woman telling you that you've won a family vacation to Florida, the Bahamas, etc. and that to claim your prize all you need to do is "Press 9" ... I think if you actually "Press 9" you start being charged a per minute rate.
Can they do that in Canada? They may not do that in the U.S.; if a call got charged to you in this fashion you simply dispute (repudiate) it and the phone company has to take it off your bill.

By the way, never press a whole bunch of numbers in response to someone's begging or beseeching on the other end of the line. This might cause call forwarding whereby someone, perhaps in prison, dials your number that is a local call for them and the call forwards at your expense to some other number of his choice, namely the sequence of digits you pressed.



Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

[bgula]

Try ioptout.ca. It gets you off the lists of the organizations that are exempt from the new DNC list. You can choose online who you want to exclude.

[Northstar]

Try ioptout.ca. It gets you off the lists of the organizations that are exempt from the new DNC list. You can choose online who you want to exclude.

Thank you, bgula! This is what I have been looking for.

[starrzone]

YES; we get these all the time and it is SO irritating!!! I've gotten to recognize that "dead space" as soon as the phone rings means it's a telelmarketer, and I just hang up.

My father has the BEST method for dealing with the charities that call soliciting donations. You see, he has been and still is VERY involved with charities in our community over the years, so he knows which ones are legit and which aren't. He will listen to the spiel, and then start asking questions: What was your financial status at the end of the last fiscal year? What sort of investments, if any, does your charity have? I would like more info; can you give me an address and phone number and I will call you back? (he's a chartered accountant, by the way, who used to perform audits on businesses). This usually shuts them up REAL quick and the same one rarely calls back again!

I am never rude, though I realize that for some people this is necessary if you get a telemarketer who borders on militant harassment. I wish they realize that if we wanted the product THAT much, we would go out in person and take care of it instead of trusting some stranger on the phone!!!

[disneymath]

Can they do that in Canada? They may not do that in the U.S.; if a call got charged to you in this fashion you simply dispute (repudiate) it and the phone company has to take it off your bill.



I don't know if they "can" legally do this in Canada --- I do know that we have been getting those types of calls every few months or so. I've never actually gone ahead and "pressed 9" - instead I just hang up.


My father has the BEST method for dealing with the charities that call soliciting donations. You see, he has been and still is VERY involved with charities in our community over the years, so he knows which ones are legit and which aren't. He will listen to the spiel, and then start asking questions: What was your financial status at the end of the last fiscal year? What sort of investments, if any, does your charity have? I would like more info; can you give me an address and phone number and I will call you back? (he's a chartered accountant, by the way, who used to perform audits on businesses). This usually shuts them up REAL quick and the same one rarely calls back again!

I am never rude, though I realize that for some people this is necessary if you get a telemarketer who borders on militant harassment. I wish they realize that if we wanted the product THAT much, we would go out in person and take care of it instead of trusting some stranger on the phone!!!

My mom keeps track of all her charitable donations ... she donates once per year to the charities she supports. Unfortunately, some charities call back every few weeks or so - truly annoying since she had made her intentions clear. On a few occasions, she has resorted to stating that if they insist on calling so frequently, she will stop her annual donation too!

The really pushy ones are definitely the worst ... really, what part of "Sorry, I'm not interested" is so hard to understand. It's these types of telemarketers that annoy my dad to the point where he starts making up stories just to get them to stop calling.