Are you on the Do Not Call list?
You: Signed up the first day a few years ago.
Me too. But I still get calls.
You: You do?
Yes. Not as often as I once did. I estimate that signing up for the Do Not Call list cut down my calls over 90%, but definitely not 100%.
You: Why not?
Some of the calls I receive are fund raising efforts by charities. Many other calls are political in nature.
You: Why do you get so many political calls? Are you running for office?
No. It’s just that I live in New Hampshire, home of the nation’s first primary.
You: That’s not for another three years.
Indeed, but trust me, those calls will start within two.
You: Wow, Who’s bugging you now? I mean, who else can call you once you put your number on the Do Not Call list?
According to the Do Not Call web site:
Placing your number on the National Do Not Call Registry will stop most telemarketing calls, but not all. Because of limitations in the jurisdiction of the FTC and FCC, calls from or on behalf of political organizations, charities, and telephone surveyors would still be permitted, as would calls from companies with which you have an existing business relationship, or those to whom you’ve provided express agreement in writing to receive their calls.
Alas, so I still get some calls. I previously wrote about when $print tried to save me money by calling. I thought it was a pretty good story (and one reader added his own which had me laughing pretty hard).
I was reminded of all of this earlier this morning when, while reading this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance, a carnival that featured my article Where do you get value? I discovered Taking Charge’s What part of “do not call” don’t you understand?
Tyler’s highly amusing account of several firms intense desire to try to get him out of debt he didn’t have is a must-read for anybody a) getting endless calls from a certain toll free number regardless of their level of debt or b) thinking about debt consolidation because they actually are overwhelmed with their debt burden.
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So, what are the most annoying phone calls you still get?
Tags: telemarketers, telemarketing
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