Registry doesn't stop all telemarketers, so some citizens fight back

Contra Costa Times ^ | 6/8/7 | Luke Stangel

[Larry Lucido]

That’s my thought exactly, but when I say that I always hear “But what if it’s an emergency?”

To which I answer:

1) If you need me in an emergency, don’t block your number

2) If you have an emergency, call 9-1-1, not me.

[Fairview]

Oh, God, that’s so funny, I just listened to it again and nearly laughed myself into an asthma attack. I need to wipe my eyes now. The best part is when Mabe is pretending he’s going to call the Littleton PD Homicide Division and says, “Now, don’t let that scare you, it’s just a formality.”

Thanks so much for that, now I have it bookmarked so I can have an asthma attack anytime I feel like it! ;-)

[Republican Red]

I was being inundated at home with spam faxes. I was getting up to 20 faxes a day on stock deals, vacation deals and ironically enough, printer cartridge deals.

I simply turned my fax to manual instead of auto-pickup and every time I got a fax call from a number I did not know I refused to accept the fax. At night I would turn the fax machine off. After three failed attempts they automatically take you off their list.

[battlegearboat]

I tell them, in my best Don Imus voice, to “get off of my phone!”

[JustaDumbBlonde]

"Caller ID works. Don’t know the number on the caller-id screen? Don’t answer the phone."

Works if you want to sit around and listen to the phone ring without answering the call. That tactic doesn't keep them from calling again, it almost ensures that they will keep calling.

We report calls to the DNC registry and answer the phone with a string of colorful language. That usually ticks off the caller so badly that will stop calling (guess they showed us, didn't they?).

[Aquinasfan]

Caller ID works. Don’t know the number on the caller-id screen? Don’t answer the phone.

Except they say "private," as do a lot of my acquaintances. I'm seriously considering not picking up "private" anymore. My acquaintances will have to talk to the answering machine.

[Slings and Arrows]

My pleasure. I would LOVE to do that to a phone spammer!

[Keith in Iowa]

Except they say "private," as do a lot of my acquaintances. I'm seriously considering not picking up "private" anymore. My acquaintances will have to talk to the answering machine.

I don't answer 'private' calls - if it's important, they can leave a voice-mail message. And the really important people in my life also have my cell phone number (which I've only given to close friends & family members) for emergencies.

[Muzzle_em]

A friend of mine, who is an evangelical Christian, told me that whenever a telemarketer calls he tells them that in order for him to listen to their speech, they have to listen to him for 2 minutes first. When they agree, he starts the converstion with “Do you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?” At that point the telemarketer will either hang up, or give him a chance to tell about Jesus. He said it is a win/win situation for him.

[boop]

I bought one of those telezappers too. It reduced my telemarketer calls by 95%. If only I could get the political pre-recorded messages to stop. I used to get non-stop messages on behalf of Baron Hill-D Indiana via a liberal union activist front group telling me to complain to the Republican Mike Sodrel’s office about high gas prices. I kept trying to contact the union to get them to stop harassing me but they don’t accept calls.

[gcruse]

“these days he tries to waste as much of a telemarketer’s time as possible.’

My feelings on the efficacy of this can best be expressed in a joke from long ago.

Bob asked Neil to watch over his herd of hogs while Bob was in town. Bob said, “If they get thirsty, you can take them down to the river for a drink.”

“Okay,” said Neil.

When Bob came back later in the day, he found a sweaty, red-faced Neil staggering out of the pig pen carrying a big boar hog.

Neil asked, “What are you doing, Bob?”

“I’m taking the hog down to the river to get a drink, like you said.”

“Well, you could just drive the whole herd down to the river, rather than carrying each pig by itself. Doesn’t it take an awful long time to water the hogs that way?”

“Sure, it takes a long time,” said Bob. “But what’s time to a pig?”

[gitmo]

I had on telemarketer talk me into buying aluminum siding. It was great! I told him what state I lived in, how much my electric bill runs in the summer and the winter, and how many square feet my home is. When he started taking down the details to close the sale, he asked me how long I’d owned my house.

I asked what did he mean. He asked what year I bought my house. I explained that I lived in a rented apartment.

The telemarketer got really upset for some reason, and hung up.

[infowarrior]

some guy who enjoys tormenting telemarketers picked up the phone and pretended to be a police detective investigating a murder, and getting the telemarketer involved and ultimately terrified as the “detective” could be heard giving orders for the police to go interrogate him about being the imaginary victim’s gay lover. I’m laughing just thinking about it. Does anyone have the link? Lord, it was funny, and I’ll bet that telemarketer never called anybody again.

I remember hearing that one recently in a maintnenance training course I was taking a few months ago... Funny as all get out!! That telemarketer never knew what hit him!!

the infowarrior