The Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission have joined in the wonderfully commendable Do-Not-Call Registry, whereby we may all cut down on one of life’s most insufferable annoyances: telephone solicitors.
Very sadly, however, telephone calls from politicians, religious and charitable organizations are exempt.
This will exempt all those Republican candidates in Northern Virginia who, before their June primary, put their infuriating pre-recorded pitches onto my phone line 16 times. I was able to reach one of them and she replied she was on a limited budget. I suggested she ought to try radio advertising, because she had just lost my vote.
Perhaps she and the other politicians and all religious and charity telephone solicitation plans will be made aware of just how much they offend so many of the American people that the first four days of results of the new FTC Hotline for “Do-Not-Call” requests: 10 million. At one point, 150 numbers per second!
If that fails to dissuade such exempted solicitors, the registry should be changed to include politicos, charities and religious as well.
For even the best cause should not be entitled to violate the privacy of homes by unsolicited solicitations.
Two of these telephone solicitation organizations, the Direct Marketing Association and the Teleservices Association have both filed lawsuits. And it is actually claimed that this Do Not Call Registry denies this $200 billion-a-year industry the right of free speech!
This frivolous legal idiocy ignores the long established legal maxim that your legal right to swing your fist ends at the point of my nose.
Beginning July 7, in all states east of the Mississippi, you can telephone toll free 1-888-382-1222 and ask your phone number to be added to the Do Not Call Registry. If you register by August 31, telemarketers must stop calling you by Oct. 1st – or they can get fined up to $11,000 for each call. You can also add your phone number to the registry online at the Do Not Call website.
After August 31, if you call and register, the telemarketers have 3 months to stop calling you. One exception is any company with whom you have done business is exempt for 18 months after your last purchase or transaction with them.
President Bush spoke on behalf of tens of millions of Americans whose dinner times have been recurrently disrupted by unknown and uninvited telephone voices – who usually begin their script by mispronouncing your name and then asking: “How ARE you?” (To which, when I have time to explain: “I am troubled by gas – which comes, I think from my last operation – which I’d like to tell you about” – which usually evokes a distinct CLICK).
The president, in a Rose Garden speech, said: “Unwanted telemarketing calls are intrusive, they are annoying and they’re all too common.”
Then, there is Andy Rooney’s tips for telemarketers.
Three little words that work!
(1) The three little words are “hold on, please …”
Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time consuming that boiler-room sales would grind to a halt.
Then, when you eventually hear the phone company’s beep-beep-beep tone, you know it’s time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.
These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.
(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?
This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.
This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a “real” salesperson to call back and get someone at home.
What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialed the call and kicks your number out of their system.
Since doing this, my phone calls have decreased dramatically.
