Is anybody else getting slammed by telemarketers? I'm on the DO NOT CALL list,

[loudsue]

and each and every day, I'm getting at least 3 solicitation calls. It seems like companies just don't care anymore whether it's legal or not to solicit. I've sent caller ID numbers and reported the calls, but if nobody is going to investigate and prosecute the calls, then they have no incentive to stop calling. I'm getting SICK of it!!

Every time republicans take charge of the congress, gas prices go up and corporations think they can act with impunity.

[virgogal]

1. All the time,on landline and cell,and both are on DNC list.

I don't think it's Republicans,it's technology.

[loudsue]

2. Me, too! Cell phone AND landline. My husband gets them on his cell, too.

We've been on DNC for years, and I recently went back on there to make sure everything was ok. There has to be some recourse.

[virgogal]

4. Last week I got about 15 missed calls on my cell. I googled

the number,and wow!!!!!

Check out 701 625-5444.

I notified the DNC list but I'm sure it's a waste of time.

[Fuddnik]

11. There's no enforcement.

I get bugged all the time by every heating and cooling company in the Tampa Bay area. I got tired of turning them in, and they keep right on calling.

[pipi_k]

3. Not exactly slammed, but more than usual since

we went from having an unpublished number (not in the book, 411 can't give it out) to a listed number.

So lately we've been getting calls from MAFOP, which is short for Mass Fraternal Order of Police, and AMVETS.

MAFOP calls but doesn't connect to a live person.

AMVETS called one day and Mr Pip answered. A woman on the other end went into the usual spiel about supporting veterans, blah blah blah and Mr P stopped her with, "Sorry, but I'm not interested". After which the woman got all snippy and outraged and and almost yelled at him, "WHAT...you don't want to support our VETERANS????" To which he answered, "Look, lady, I'm a 20 year veteran of the Air Force, so get lost". He put in 20 years there, and 18 years into the police force in a nearby city.

We're retired. On a fixed income.

People looking for donations should know better than to try and SHAME someone into donating. Wrong move. We do donate to certain causes, as much as we can afford. Just not to every jackass who calls out of the blue.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. Those two are presumably non-profit charitable organizations,

and they were exempted from the DNC laws. With those, all you can do is say clearly and repeat as necessary: I want put on your do not call list, I do not want any more calls from you.

[pipi_k]

18. One place I was getting lots of calls from..

I looked up the number for and found lots of people reporting the same thing...someone giving a big song and dance about some auto warranty or whatever.

One day they called and I was ready. I said hello, waited to be connected to a human, and when "Vinny" came on the line, I gave him a couple of nice juicy blasts from my handy dandy anti-telemarketer fart machine (sent to me by a friend).

They haven't called back since.

:7

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. I was getting "The Disabled Veterans Association will be in your neighborhood collecting

used household goods" at least three times a week.

Even if I did have things to get rid of, they'd be the last people I'd give it to, because they're so damned annoying.

Finally, after they called twice on one Sunday evening, I looked up their office in the phone book and left a message similar to the sentence above on their voice mail.

They haven't called since.

Unfortunately, a lot of the junk phone calls are recordings administered by answering services.

[Zookeeper]

6. Funny timing on this post, as we just got a call from...

an asphalt company saying that they already gave us an estimate on a new driveway, which they hadn't. We are on the DNC list, but are back to getting a couple of calls a day lately.

[lamp_shade]

8. Only from banks or companies that I do/have done business with.

[loudsue]

15. You're lucky. I'm getting them from insurance, real estate, time share,

and then a zillion non-profits, which are exempt. WHY they're exempt, I'll never know.

[SheilaT]

9. I think the DNC lists may actually expire after a year or two.

Also, I'm getting telemarketing calls that are robo calls, which is intensely annoying. I just hang up.

[quinnox]

10. I get called many times by "Catherines"

"This is Catherine's, and we have a great sale" is how it starts out and then I delete the message because I don't want to hear anymore.

My number is unpublished and unlisted. I have no idea how they got my number!

[Liquorice]

12. Yes, the calls have increased in the last couple of weeks for us too. nt

[ecstatic]

13. I finally reported two numbers yesterday

I've been on the do not call list since '06 and I'm starting to get text spam, as well as recorded voice messages :eyes:

[Contrary1]

14. I called the Indiana Attorney General after receiving multiple calls from a telemarketer.

I had told them I was on the "Do Not Call" list, but they persisted.

Isn't life sweet? Indiana collected several $10,000. fines from the company, due to so many complaints; and yet they didn't have to listen to the sales pitch a single time.

[loudsue]

16. The NC atty. generals office said they needed names and addresses, as well as telephone

numbers. Sure. Like these law-breaking companies are going to humor me with all the info I need to prosecute them.

[Curmudgeoness]

19. Does that tell you something about how much money they must make

with the scams, if they can afford to pay "several $10,000 fines"? Who falls for these things anyways? How many years have telemarketers been doing this? When will people learn?

[Contrary1]

21. Lots of folks must buy into it...

Some months after I complained about it to the Attorney General, I was sent a letter to inform me as to the outcome. I can't remember the specifics, but the company plead no contest to umpteen number of charges, and was charged $10,000. per each one.

Too bad the consumer can't collect a percentage, as they are the ones that have to endure the calls.

[spanone]

17. i've been on the DNC list for years...i get calls constantly...luckily our phone can block them

[hobbit709]

20. When was the last time you updated your number on the list.

you have to do that every couple of years.

[Cleita]

22. I'm on the no call list too and frankly I think they use

the list to get in our faces. I have taken to screening my calls with voice mail. I have told my friends and anyone I want to talk to that they will have to leave a message or call me on my cell phone. I find the telemarketers seldom leave messages and it's usually a recording.

[loudsue]

24. I think they use the DNC list for that purpose, too. That's how they know someone lives there, no?

And then they just pay the fines if they get busted. I think we need to ask congress to up the fines to $1,000,000 per offending call. And then send some really nasty prosecutors after the assholes.

[elocs]

23. Nothing. Zero. Ziltch. I only get calls from people I know or have contacted. n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

25. We used to get them all the time.

We were so fed up that when we moved into our new home, and got a new number, we unlisted it and blocked it six ways from Sunday.

We rarely hear from anyone now.

Sometimes it's a nuisance, since people who know us can't look us up in the phone book or wherever, but that's the breaks. We love our peace and quiet.

[shanti]

26. just today!

my cellphone had a call waiting number from canada. i don't know anyone in canada. my first thought was telemarketers. something must be up.

[bhikkhu]

27. That's got to be one of the worst jobs ever...

I do hang up on callers sometimes, and sometimes I can't help but laugh at the roll-out, but I always try to keep in mind that there is a real person on the other end of the line, who would probably rather have any job in the world but the one they have.

[applegrove]

28. You have to call all the charities you do business with and get them not to trade your name too.