The national “Do Not Call” registry goes into operation in September, and telemarketers are beginning to worry – they say that it will devastate their industry.
The amusing thing is that when the debate began over this nationalized list, telemarketers insisted that most people like to get the unsolicited calls! Well, if people want the calls, they won’t sign up for the do not call list, and the industry will go on as usual, right? Get real. No one likes these calls, and the telemarketers, who have built an industry on annoying the hell out of people, will just have to deal with it.
And a personal little complaint – when are the telemarketers going to reimburse me for the cost of their calls to my cell phone? Or for the monthly cost of the call block service to keep them from calling me?
Oh, and one more thing – who’s laughing all the way to the bank? The big phone companies, who sit in the middle like arms dealers who sell to both sides. They give telemarketers all the phone numbers. Then they charge individuals monthly fees to NOT give out their phone number. They give individuals Caller ID. Then they give telemarketers anonymous calling. Then they sell individuals call block. Where does it end?
Gene, aeons ago you asked above “when are the telemarketers going to reimburse me for the cost of their calls to my cell phone?”
My answer: when you sue them under the TCPA (47 USC 227) & obtain a judgment for a minimum of $500. Here’s the scoop.
In addition to forbidding various obnoxious practices (junk faxes, pre-recorded shill messages to your home phone for a commercial purpose), the TCPA says that
“It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States (A) to make any call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party) using any automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice
[…]
(iii) TO ANY TELEPHONE NUMBER ASSIGNED TO A paging service, CELLULAR TELEPHONE SERVICE, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call ….” 18 USC 227(b)(1)(iii) (emphasis added).
Note: this forbids NOT ONLY making prerecorded calls to your cell BUT ALSO the use of any autodialer capable of doing random or sequential wardialing. (See 227(a)(1), which defines “automatic telephone dialing system.”)
I only don’t want the marketers to call me and bother I also want a way to block the collection
agency’s from bothering me. I would like to know how I can block them from calling me twenty five time a week, that is about 4-5 time per day.
I have no sympathy for those who are bedeviled by collection calls – it’s very easy to make those stop. Pay your bills on time and be a responsible adult.