Posted on 08/20/2008 5:35:53 PM PDT by HAL9000
Excerpt -
Responding to a wave of consumer complaints, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it will bar telemarketers from making prerecorded sales calls unless a consumer explicitly agrees to receive such calls.The FTC also will require all recorded sales calls to provide an opt-out feature to allow consumers to place themselves on the caller's do-not-call list immediately.
~ snip ~
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Do they sell black boxes that will send a loud, ear shattering tone over the phone line when you push a button?
I tell my 8 year old that Christmas has been cancelled. Same sound comes out of her.
I wish you could teach her what Christmas is really about.
I hope Santa brings you a sense of humor.
bttt
His tagline should have given you a clue!
Oh, I correctly perceived your attempt at humor.
Still wondering why you thought it was funny.
Or a lump of coal. wadda jerk
Normally I avoid explaining the obvious. But I will try.
When an eight year old girl suffers anything resembling a disturbance in her emotional fabric, they shriek in a very high, very loud voice that sounds similar to the device the original poster called a "black box".
I was juxtaposing the two, which should have resulted in a spontaneous jiggly feeling in your diaphragm. Obviously, your brain processed the two as being completely unrelated.
Not your fault, of course. We all have deficiencies.
How would such a black box cause any upset to a prerecorded call possibly a black box type device?
Here in Michigan, the law already existing on the book states that telemarketers utilizing pre-recorded announcements without the receiving party's approval constitutes prima facie evidence of intent to violate the commercial telemarketing law. Fines are punishable by $200 per offense + attorney fee's.
Over the last few months I've been barraged with telemarketers pre-recoreded announcements for Dish Network, Satelite TV, etc. I've repeatedly and every single time requested to be put on the do not call list (either by selection of the do-not-call option - if available (which it usually isn't) - or connect to a live human and directly request that I be removed from their call list). Sometimes I get notified automatically that I've been removed from the call list (usually pressing that option does nothing), and if I choose to connect to a live human, my request is greeted with either "Yes, sir, immediately.", or the more usual rude immediate disconnection sound & then dead air.
With caller ID its revealed that each and every satellite TV telemarking calls I've received since 17 Jul originate from different area code and exchange numbers (quite a few of them are identified as cellular calls). Nevertheless, the recorded announcment messages (and deals offered) are virtually identical.
I was thinking more in terms of real live telemarketers.
But I was actually thinking that telemarketing firms should be required to put in place a method for detecting when a person they’ve called pushes the number 1, automatically removing their name and number from their dial list and disconnecting the call.
No automated system in place, no permit to do business as a telemarketer.
That's strange because my seven year old got over that two or three years ago. But then I guess neurological development occurs at different rates in different children, as does intellectual and moral development, which results in a suppression of those primal brain stem impulses in the quick learners.
Then we can scientifically note that it is not an inherited trait.
Thank God.. I have been bombarded by prerecorded calls selling phony extended auto warranties for nearly a year. I actually spoke with their representatives several times and said I was on the Do Not Call Registry and not to call me. They typically hang up immediately if I ask the name of the company offering these warranties and their address. I have filed complaints with the Do Not Call Registry and my State Attorney General’s consumer fraud office without relief. With caller ID I have found they keep switching locations...sometimes calling from a Michigan phone number and lately from numbers in California...these are likely to be spoofed numbers to conceal where they really are from. I hope they get nailed.
I’ve been getting the auto warranty calls on my cell phone. I can’t imagine how they got that number and it’s annoying as he*#.
When I have the time I use the Abe Simpson method:
One trick is to tell them stories that don’t go anywhere. Like the time I took the fairy to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe so I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them. Give me five bees for a quarter you’d say. Now where were we, oh ya. The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn’t have white onions because if the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones.”
I get the same warranty calls in California...I’ve tried every trick in the book to get a call back number but they won’t give one. Sure wish someone could nail them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.