FTC Moves Forward With National Do-Not-Call List 505
netringer writes "The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is proposing some new regulations creating a national 'Do Not Call' list to keep US phones from being rung by telemarketers. Telemarketers who call a number on the list could be fined up $11,000. The new FTC rules also require that telemarketers have Caller ID enabled and limit abandoned 'hang up' calls from predictive dialers. The new rules have some loopholes, allowing calls from charities and businesses that have somehow gotten your permission or have done business with you before. The Direct Marketing Association is threatening to sue to save U.S. consumers from the potential loss of buying opportunities."
Get Off The Mailing Lists Now! (Score:5, Informative)
Loopholes? (Score:3, Informative)
From the FTC website [ftc.gov] (emphasis added):
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has amended the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) to give consumers a choice about whether they want to receive most telemarketing calls. Consumers soon will be able to put their phone numbers on a national "do not call" registry. It will be illegal for most telemarketers to call a number listed on the registry.
We'll see exactly how it holds up...
Telezapper... (Score:5, Informative)
I grabbed one of those Telezappers while I was waiting in line at Staples last week buying a UPC. Danged if the silly thing doesn't work.
It emits the three tones that the phone company plays when you dial an out of service phone number. Everyone hears it when I answer any call - but the cool part is listening to the auto-dialers automatically hangup when they "hear" it.
There ought to be some way to hack together a similar machine using an old voice modem and some sort Tone controller - kind of a hybrid box for getting long distance phone calls for free. (Anyone else remember those?)
Re:Get Off The Mailing Lists Now! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Telezapper... (Score:2, Informative)
Colorado already has similar list (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Telezapper... (Score:5, Informative)
Total cost? $5 for a cheap-ass answering machine at Wal-mart.
Re:Telezapper... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Colorado already has similar list (Score:2, Informative)
You WANT snail mail spam. (Score:3, Informative)
It works in Texas (Score:3, Informative)
I don't want call from those people either, but at least it's a hell of a lot better now than before. And definitely worth the $2.
Use a cell phone number to give out to others (Score:3, Informative)
Most telemarketers have databases of all known cell phone prefixes in the US, and will therefore NOT call them.
So if you don't give out a landline phone number, you should be fine.
Re:It's Run by the DMA (Score:5, Informative)
Indeed it is - however, having used the mail preference service since 1998, I can say without reservation that it works, and is a good thing. I still get some junk from local businesses who don't subscribe to the DMA's lists, but it's on the order of three or four pieces a month.
The service is worth every penny I spent to get on it. (I think it was $0.32 for the stamp back then)
This trick's cutting down on calls for me (Score:1, Informative)
http://home.attbi.com/~dakine/defeat.htm
and after a couple of weeks I'm starting to see a difference. Manually-dialed calls will still come in, but they tend to show up on caller ID. The "unavailable" predictive dialer ones seem to be falling for it. Recommended.
your list already is in place (Score:1, Informative)
That's all you have to say to a telemarketer. Then hang up. After a couple of weeks, your call volume should decrease to less than 1 a month. Right now, I haven't had but 2 calls in the last year. This really works.
It's on junkbusters.com. You may have heard of it.
I'm from Missouri. We've had a DON'T CALL list for (Score:5, Informative)
On the whole it works pretty good. The State Attorney General takes on a few abusers every year and almost completely recovers the cost of the service. In my opinion, it's one of the better government programs out there. I'm satisfied with the results.
Re:And They Charge You $5 (Score:3, Informative)
By the way, the response rate that snail mail requires is astonishingly low. My sister works in the marketing department of a major catalog company - they consider a 2% response rate excellent.
So if you live with someone who complains about all the catalogs but still buys from time to time, tell them this: every time they buy from a catalog they are voting to have 50 more sent to them.
Another interesting tidbit - list exchange. You know that buying from Lemurs Unlimited gets you on the mailing list of Ferrets Forever, Gerbils by Mail, and HamsterConnection. The way this works is that catalogs "rent" lists to each other. So Catalog B rents 10,000 names from Catalog A with the restriction that they can only mail to them for a certain period of time. If a rented name responds to Catalog B, B is allowed to keep mailing them. If they don't, they must stop mailing after the designated period. This is done not for spam prevention but to keep competition for good customers $ under control.
What's amusing is the way this in enforced. When Catalog A rents the list of names, they seed it with a few address of their own employees, or PO boxes, etc. They know that these customers won't respond, since they're fake. If Catalog B keeps mailing after the rental period, they start a fuss and sometimes sue.
And, yes, my sister does feel a little guilty about her job. In fact, she's quitting soon and going to grad school...
In Connecticut (Score:2, Informative)
We have had a "No Call List" for a while now. I think it has been a couple years. It was a free signup, and once you sign up the telemarketing calls just stop. (A few months after of course)
I still get calls from charities and non-profits occasionally, but I have only received ONE telemarketer phone call ever since I signed up. And I informed them that I was on the do not call list, and they just hung up since they can be fined.
A national one would be great. It really wouldn't matter here in CT that much, but hey, nothing wrong with another barrier against telemarketers!
Already on one list.. no help (Score:2, Informative)
My home phone is already listed on my state's "Do Not Call" list, I'm in Tennessee. The problem is that we still get a lot of calls.
When we confront the caller about us being on the Do Not Call list, they almost always say that they are a "phone company" and that the list does not apply to them. How do I battle that kind of intrusion? I tell them that as they can clearly see I already have a phone, and to please not call me again.. click.
What's even worse than that is the other day we found ourselves unexplainably subscribed to MCI as our "new" long distance carrier. I have had an outgoing long distance block on my phone for going on 5 years now. I never make any long distance calls from my home phone, I always make those calls on my cellphone cause I get better rates. Who the hell is MCI to just up and subscribe me to a service that I already purposely block?
Phone companies suck.
Re:It's Run by the DMA (Score:4, Informative)
Also, after just a couple of months of methodically using the "do not call" line and being a bit of a prick about it, I do not get telemarketing calls anymore. NONE. It's been literally MONTHS since I've gotten a call. Once in a while a small local company will call and want to clean my furnace ducts or something, but that's like 2 or 3 times a year.
These methods do work but you must be stubborn.
Re:Translation... (Score:2, Informative)
To be a charitable org one has to apply for and receive the charitable status from the IRS (which have nice guidelines like you cannot profit from the business of a charity - the proceeds must all go to the charitable uses)
I know - I used to be on the board of directors for a 501(c)(3) charity.
snail mail opt-out... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:It's Run by the DMA (Score:4, Informative)
The $5 is only to submit online. Just print the thing out and mail it in. Cost of a stamp today, $0.37.
As for the list being voluntary - it's observed by those who send more than 80% of the junk mail in the US. I know a little about the direct mail industry, having consulted for a mailing equipment manufacturer in the recent past.
Re:The worst telemarketters ever... (Score:3, Informative)
Thoughts from an insider (Score:3, Informative)
I am on the no call list in Georgia and it has helped some with the reputable marketers. Where this isn't going to help is the small mom and pop shops calling you (which is the majority).
The way it works is there are hundreds of fly by night call centers that rent out their agents on a per call basis. Most of these call centers are cheap, poorly run, follow no laws, and in general bill the business for each call. They set up shop, hire out 30 redneck house wives, run for a few months, then shut down and do it again elsewhere.
Whether or not this will help will depend on a few things.
1: The ability of the policing body to act quickly. If there is a 2 month delay the offending call center is probrably changed or gone and will never get fined.
2: The ability to obtain the records of who the call centers customers are and which customer the call was placed for. If they never fine the companies that actually "purchased" the call then the practice will go unabated.
The other problem is the part about if they have already done business with you. If the call center has 20 customers they are placing calls for, and you have bought something from 1 of them, they may claim that status. I know most of you are thinking "I haven't bought anything from these small places". Keep in mind that a call center may have customers ranging from the Mortgage company trying to get your business all the way to the Phone Company you use (and yes, 90% of BabyBell calls are outsourced to outside call centers).
So chances are this No Call list won't make as much difference as most people think.
Oh Yeah, this should appease the people here.....99% of Call Centers are Windows based. Databases, Web Servers, Phone Systems, Desktops, You name it. No Linux at all!
EtOH
(hope this doesn't get me fired)
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Works fine in the UK (Score:3, Informative)
You can sign up online for free (they send a letter of acknowledgement in the post) and it is backed by legislation. It isn't perfect, but I reckon that after a few months the number of unwanted calls dropped by more than 90%.
Charities are not excempt, and the only people who can legitimately still call you are companies with whom you have previously done business.
There are similar schemes for snail mail and fax junk which also seem to work well. They also have an email one, but that's a bit pointless since most spam comes from outside the UK.
In summary, I'm very happy with the system and I hope that those of you in more backward countries get a similar system soon ;-).