Keith Devens .com

Entry 1767

Anti-telemarketing info

Mark Pilgrim: How to stop telemarketers and direct mailers. "Months go by and I don't get any telemarketing calls. None, as in zero."

I've been telling my dad to do something similar. Since telemarketers typically use a system that has a delay of a few seconds while it connects them to the person they're calling, you can determine with a pretty good rate of accuracy when a call is from a telemarketer if they don't answer within a second or two. My dad decided that he'd just hang up on whoever was a telemarketer, rather than deal with them.

I was recently home during the day and noticed how many telemarketers call us. I painted a scenario for my dad of a telemarketer having a list of numbers he couldn't get through to that day, and trying again the next day, or the next week, etc. Basically, all my dad was doing by not dealing with the telemarketers was increasing the number of calls we got. I told him that it's a law that if you ask them not to call you, they're not allowed to for like 10 years or they face fines.

He couldn't disagree with my logic, so he started asking to be removed from lists, and he says it already seems like we get fewer calls.

The anti-telemarketing script Mark links to also has some good information, and I should take a look at more of JunkBusters.com. Thanks Mark!

Permalink | Comments? | id 1767

13:58 (utc-5)