Gadgets Get Sales Callers Through (Telemarketers find way around TeleZapper, Caller ID)

Charlotte Observer ^ | Fri, Feb. 28, 2003 | JIM KRANE

[Between the Lines]

NEW YORK - A telemarketing tool that penetrates home privacy defenses is upping the ante in a technology battle between sales callers and consumers seeking shelter from unsolicited calls.

Castel Inc., a maker of automated dialing technology, boasts that its DirectQuest software is immune to the TeleZapper, a $40 gadget designed to thwart sales calls by faking the tones of a disconnected number.

Beverly, Mass.-based Castel has been mailing brochures to telemarketers and other prospective customers touting the software, which also includes a feature that lets salespeople transmit any phone number or text message to residents' caller ID displays.

That second component allows DirectQuest to dodge such phone company privacy services as SBC's Privacy Manager and Sprint's Privacy ID, both of which reject calls that don't provide caller ID information.

Castel's software is built for the high-volume "predictive dialers" that use multiple lines to phone residential numbers and connect salespeople to people who answer.

"It's a privacy arms race," said Robert Bulmash of the privacy group Private Citizen, based in Naperville, Ill. "The industry is crowing that, `We don't want to call people that don't want to be called,' and at the same time it's calling them."

Consumer privacy devices will increasingly lose effectiveness as telemarketing firms switch to the new dialing technology -- which costs roughly $2,700 per calling operator, said Bulmash.

Royal Electronics Inc., which manufactures the TeleZapper, says millions have been sold. The device is designed to trick predictive dialers into dropping the call by playing the three shrill tones of a disconnected number.

The privacy services sold by phone companies target another weakness of the predictive dialer: their inability to transmit caller ID.

Castel Chief Executive Geoff Burr labels as "unsophisticated" dialers that succumb to privacy devices. "Serious professional operations don't use that equipment -- or they won't be for long," he said.

Walter Elicker, Castel's marketing director, said privacy gadgets don't just thwart telemarketers but also bill collectors who use predictive dialers. "Collections people want to make ... certain they're not fooled by these kinds of devices," he said.

A more effective means of blocking sales calls lies with the emerging federal Do Not Call list as well as similar lists kept by some two dozen U.S. states, Burr said.

The Federal Trade Commission has said its Do Not Call list will begin collecting names this summer and be in operation by the fall. Telemarketers who phone listed numbers can be fined up to $11,000 for each violation.

Effectiveness of Do Not Call lists, at least for now, is a pipe dream, Bulmash said. The FTC doesn't regulate telemarketing-heavy industries like long-distance phone companies, banks, airlines and insurance companies.

State lists, too, often make exemptions for funeral homes and car dealers. No agency can prevent phone calls by political campaigns, charities and surveyors.

Predictive dialers fueled huge growth in telemarketing.

A Federal Communications Commission memo says telemarketers attempt 104 million calls a day to U.S. businesses and consumers. Sales revenue rose from about $435 billion in 1990 to around $660 billion in 2001.

Telemarketing advocates fear Do Not Call lists could devastate those revenues and the jobs that depend on them.

[exnavy]

Multiple post alert.

[exnavy]

Multiple post alert.

[Peace4EarthNow]

Unbelievable....why can't these telemarketers realize that people are getting these blocking devices & signing up for these Do Not Call lists because they don't want to be bothered by them?

And now the telemarketers are trying to find ways to get around those blocking devices? Do they honestly think they will find a willing customer on the other end after all that?

[Paul Atreides]

The height of arrogance among telemarketers is that they are now having recordings call people up and giving sales pitches! They think we have nothing better to do with our time than to listen to a recorded message and WAIT for some salesman to take time out of his day for us?!!

[MizSterious]

Certainly not in our household! When we don't want to be bothered, we let the answering machine get the calls. Telemarketers hardly ever leave messages. I think we'll continue that policy. To my knowledge, there is no device that can force us to pick up the phone if we don't want to.

[Between the Lines]

"Do they honestly think they will find a willing customer on the other end after all that?"

Many of the people who rely on these devices to protect them are the type who can not say no to a salesman.

[Lil'freeper]

The Federal Trade Commission has said its Do Not Call list will begin collecting names this summer and be in operation by the fall. Telemarketers who phone listed numbers can be fined up to $11,000 for each violation.

oooooh, I can't wait!! Shame the 'victims' can't get a cut of that 11K.

[M. Peach]

Does anyone know how to get on these "do not call" lists?

[M. Peach]

Apparently it is working or they wouldn't keep going in the direction. If they weren't making money on it - it would stop...

[MizSterious]

"Many of the people who rely on these devices to protect them are the type who can not say no to a salesman."

Nonsense. Most of us would just like to be free of these annoying calls. When my brother in law was in the hospital near death, we felt we had to run pick up the phone, even if it meant getting out of the shower, leaving the dinner to dry on the stove, or running indoors to get it--imagine our chagrine when it wasn't an update on his health, but another &*%$#@!! telemarketer.

They have NO right to intrude on my life as they try to do. It has nothing to do with "saying no." I have no trouble with saying that. I just shouldn't have to interrupt my life every time someone wants to sell aluminum siding to insurance.

[templar]

Do they honestly think they will find a willing customer on the other end after all that?

Yes. That's why they do it.

[templar]

They have NO right to intrude on my life as they try to do.

You can put up a No Trespasing/No Soliciting sign on your gate or door, but your telephone is nearly defenseless.

[meisterbrewer]

Here's a letter I sent to my representative after reading this yesterday. Feel free to cut and paste and send to yours.

Representative ?,

I'm not sure where you stand on the telemarketing issues facing our state, but I thought you would be the best person to contact with my concerns.

There is quite a bit going on with telemarketing no-call lists right now, both at the state and federal level. I welcome the restrictions. In fact, I don't think they go far enough. But I'll take any protections I can get. Anyway, I hope you are on the side of the private citizen in this matter and suspect you are, given your background and other policy beliefs.

The reason I am writing is because a recent article I read (see below) reveals a side of the debate that I think must be addressed. Namely, the assertion of the telemarketing industry that they will not call those that don't want to be called. Really? If that is so, then why the unusually expensive outlay of money ($2700 per operator) for software that circumvents protections that private citizens have installed to rid themselves of calls.

If a citizen has gone to the trouble to pay $30 to $40 for a device that eliminates unwanted calls, wouldn't you think that that investment would be evidence enough to the telemarketers that the person doesn't want calls? It is, of course, and the telemarketers know it. But the arrogance of these individuals is astounding. Instead of taking a no for a no, they have gone to the trouble to develop methods of beating the protections installed by private citizens. As one individual in the article put it, this is an "arms race." Is that really how we want our home phone communications, and rights to privacy, to be characterized? As an arms race? Do I really have to go to war to have a decent family meal without interruptions?!

I know you are busy, but this is an issue that I think a majority of your constituents can identify with. And I bet that an overwhelming majority would favor anything you can do to help us out. Please give me back my peaceful dinners!

Thanks,

[Gorzaloon]

Telemarketing advocates fear Do Not Call lists could devastate those revenues and the jobs that depend on them.

Tough. One of the things we shout before hanging up is "GET A REAL JOB!"

Get a real job.

[meisterbrewer]

Here's a letter I sent to my representative after reading this yesterday. Feel free to cut and paste and send to yours.

Representative ?,

I'm not sure where you stand on the telemarketing issues facing our state, but I thought you would be the best person to contact with my concerns.

There is quite a bit going on with telemarketing no-call lists right now, both at the state and federal level. I welcome the restrictions. In fact, I don't think they go far enough. But I'll take any protections I can get. Anyway, I hope you are on the side of the private citizen in this matter and suspect you are, given your background and other policy beliefs.

The reason I am writing is because a recent article I read (see below) reveals a side of the debate that I think must be addressed. Namely, the assertion of the telemarketing industry that they will not call those that don't want to be called. Really? If that is so, then why the unusually expensive outlay of money ($2700 per operator) for software that circumvents protections that private citizens have installed to rid themselves of calls.

If a citizen has gone to the trouble to pay $30 to $40 for a device that eliminates unwanted calls, wouldn't you think that that investment would be evidence enough to the telemarketers that the person doesn't want calls? It is, of course, and the telemarketers know it. But the arrogance of these individuals is astounding. Instead of taking a no for a no, they have gone to the trouble to develop methods of beating the protections installed by private citizens. As one individual in the article put it, this is an "arms race." Is that really how we want our home phone communications, and rights to privacy, to be characterized? As an arms race? Do I really have to go to war to have a decent family meal without interruptions?!

I know you are busy, but this is an issue that I think a majority of your constituents can identify with. And I bet that an overwhelming majority would favor anything you can do to help us out. Please give me back my peaceful dinners!

Thanks,

[Gorzaloon]

Telemarketing advocates fear Do Not Call lists could devastate those revenues and the jobs that depend on them.

Tough. One of the things we shout before hanging up is "GET A REAL JOB!"

Get a real job.

[tm22721]

If everybody got voicemail and a PVR we could drive these marketing scumbags out of business.

BUMP

[arjay]

To to www.clarkhoward.com. He has a section there where you can register to have your name off telemarketing lists. I did so some time ago and almost never get a telemarketing call.

[tm22721]

If everybody got voicemail and a PVR we could drive these marketing scumbags out of business.

BUMP