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Anyone found any effective counter-telemarketer measures?
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 11:55 am    Post subject: Anyone found any effective counter-telemarketer measures? Reply with quote

If anyone finds even a partial solution to any telemarketers, especially Cardholder Services and their credit card interest rate lowering scam, please post it.

Despite our being on the permanent national Do Not Call (DNC) registry, at least 80% of our phone calls are from TMs and politicians (the latter, of course, exempted themselves from the DNC registry restrictions). Cardholder Services has called after we're in bed, WAY before dawn, and at any time of the day, 3 or 4 times every week, for many years. They use fake Caller IDs and many phone numbers, and the federal government has convicted a handful of them, but their whack-a-mole game lives on forever. So far I've tried the following, with no discernible impact on the rate of the calls:
1. I've called BS on their lies, including:
a. They do NOT work for VISA, MC, etc.
b. Their robocalls DO violate federal law.
c. They can NOT lower our interest rates.
d. They DO charge money, in significant amounts, for their scam.

2. I engage them as long as I can with questions, baiting them with huge estimates of our credit card debt. Then when I sense they're about to hang up, I laugh and tell them I have zero debt and this is just payback.

3. I tell 'em I need to dig up our records to see which card has the greatest balance and interest, that I'm sure it's at least $10,000 and 18%, and ask them to hold while I dig. Then when I sense they're about to hang up, I laugh and ... . Nailed one this way for almost 10 minutes before 6 AM today. When I added #1, he boasted that it won't do a bit of good, and gloated that they will outlast us. Only when I told him that I'm recording this did I get an instant hangup.

Some get very angry at me -- to my delight -- for wasting their time. Most just hang up or incorrectly insist "That's illegal" when I say I'm recording them.

4. Freon and bicycle horns. I'm sure their headsets have volume limiters, but they get the message and it blots theirs out.

5. When I am so inclined, like when I'm rushed or after 5 or 6 such calls in a day, I just start spewing a loud and clear, very profane, explanation of why I'm cursing them out. When I hear them reading excuses and scripts over my invective, I just raise the volume. (Sorry about that one, Sis.)

6. As for the ENDLESS political calls, I demand to be put on a DNC list and truthfully inform them that they are the reason I quit the Republican Party and will never donate one more cent to any politician. That has helped. Several thousand calls and mailings, my ass!

7. Call blocker helps with the ones who use only one or two phone numbers.

8. Caller ID helps with the very few who don't spoof theirs. Too many legitimate callers' IDs read "Incoming Call" to let all calls go to Voice Mail. Besides, my Voice Mail message contains antispam measures that could deter legitimate calls.

9. Only three people on the planet have my cell phone number legitimately, and I don't even use its messaging features, yet I STILL get an occasional spam call or message on it. Free Caribbean vacation, my ass!

Too bad those muffers aren't as easily PLONKED as their counterparts here!
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swchandler



Joined: 08 Nov 1993
Posts: 10588

PostPosted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 12:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just a few things for you to consider. Why even consider answering the phone before 9:00 AM? Leave it on mute, and check your messages later in the morning when it is more convenient. If I receive a call during the day or evening, and there is any pause after my hello, I simply hang up. Why waste any time on robo-calls? Lastly, if I answer, and it's a computer recording, I immediately hang up. There's never any value in computer generated calls.
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KGB-NP



Joined: 25 Jul 2001
Posts: 2856

PostPosted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 12:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dude,
Those calls are an endless source of amusement for me. If I don't have the time then I just hang up. If I'm in the office, it's on the speaker phone and a contest to see who folds first. It only drives you nuts if you let it. I've been crying laughing at their expense.
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

reinerehlers wrote:
Those calls are an endless source of amusement for me. If I don't have the time then I just hang up.

Same here. But when I am expecting an important phone call and am not at a phone, or am busy, or eating, or just hung up from the last such call, or am told by a TM not to answer MY freaking phone if I don't want [illegal] TM calls, or don't HAVE a GD mortgage, or they argue when I ask not to be called -- which pretty much covers the 24 hours in every day -- I'm not so blase about it.


Last edited by isobars on Tue Dec 23, 2014 1:13 pm; edited 1 time in total
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jp5



Joined: 19 May 1998
Posts: 3394
Location: OnUr6

PostPosted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 1:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

We ditched our land line for exactly this reason.
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nw30



Joined: 21 Dec 2008
Posts: 6485
Location: The eye of the universe, Cen. Cal. coast

PostPosted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 1:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I always let my machine answer my land line phone (which I have to keep for work), after I got tired of doing this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3aCL8PIOuM
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KGB-NP



Joined: 25 Jul 2001
Posts: 2856

PostPosted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 9:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

See......hours of fun! You just have to get creative. Here's some suggestions:
http://www.lotsofjokes.com/telemarketer_fun.asp
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swchandler



Joined: 08 Nov 1993
Posts: 10588

PostPosted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 10:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sounds to me like you're playing the fool by waiting for that perfect phone call that makes your day. Are you looking to win the lottery?
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KGB-NP



Joined: 25 Jul 2001
Posts: 2856

PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 5:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why because I choose not to let it upset me, and have fun with it instead? First off, I'm not waiting for the perfect phone call. If I'm sitting in my office working on CAD plans and bored, I might as well break the monotony and have some fun. Many times I've had the TM caller laughing at the end too, so maybe I've given them a break from their monotony too.

AND

If some dude from faux Microsoft is calling me to try to suck me, or mostly elderly or gullible people to do a remote log in onto my computer, to steal private information.....or.....trying to steal credit card information AKA commit a crime. I wouldn't be too upset if I hurt their precious little feelings.

I'll tell you what is foolish, and I'm guilty of it too. Wasting endless hours on here, writing an endless barrage of self righteous fluff accusing each other of whatever and actually believing it makes a lick of a difference in the grand scheme of things. Have you won at that lottery yet? If not, "Sounds to me like you're playing the fool by waiting for that perfect....."
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swchandler



Joined: 08 Nov 1993
Posts: 10588

PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 12:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

reinerehlers, my last post wasn't directed at you.
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