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Hanging up on telemarketers
October 1, 2004
There was a rash of complaints to federal regulators 18 months ago when telemarketers were confused by new rules allowing people to transfer their home telephone numbers to cell phones, which then started ringing with telemarketing calls. Then in March, BellCanada cellular customers were targeted by a company pitching a low-cost trip to Mexico. The same message has recently surfaced in San Francisco.
"What can be done about this?" cell phone user Ben Wexlar, who received a telemarketing call, wondered in a News.com forum.
Not much, unfortunately. Just about the only recourse a consumer has is to subscribe to the National Do Not Call Registry.
Cell phones are just too juicy a target for some telemarketers to ignore. There are now more cell phones on the planet than land lines. And calls to cell phones lead to a more targeted audience because the home phone can be answered by any number of people. A cell phone, on the other hand, typically is answered by only one person.
But the telemarketers' sweet spot is a very sore spot for consumers. "Your cell phone is your portable communications, it's much more personal," said Federal Trade Commission spokeswoman Jen Schwartzman. "The last thing you want to hear from is a telemarketer when you're stepping out of the commuter train in the morning."
For their part, telemarketers suggest that what cell phone users are now experiencing is largely unintended. They say telemarketers aren't targeting cell phones, but sometimes mistakes happen. "So many of our customers are switching to cell phones," and provide the dealer with a cell phone number, causing the confusion, said Paul Cleaver, the owner of a Lexington, Ky., Dodge dealership that uses telemarketing.
In the most wide-scale telemarketing cases, cell phone customers in the same area code are getting the same calls on the same day, according to several accounts. That suggests the use of auto dialers, which is what BellCanada says happened when many of its cell phone customers were hit with telemarketing calls in March. It's unclear who was actually making the travel pitch. The North American Numbering Plan Administration, which administers phone numbers, did not respond to a request for information about the origin of the calls.
Aggravation aside, the telemarketing calls to cell phones are most likely illegal. Federal rules forbid using automated dialing machines to reach any phones, such as a cell phone, in which incoming calls cost the subscriber money. Under the rules, telemarketers are allowed to dial each number by hand, but that would be ridiculously labor-intensive, said Rosemary Kimball, a Federal Communications Commission spokeswoman.
Cell phone providers and their subscribers aren't entirely helpless. Verizon Wireless last year won a permanent injunction stopping a Rhode Island resident from sending unsolicited text messages touting real estate deals to Verizon customers.
The most immediate option for consumers is to sign on with the Do Not Call Registry on the Internet or call 1-888-382-1222 from the phone number to be registered.
The Do Not Call database does not distinguish between cell and land-line phone numbers, but Schwartzman figures many cell phone customers are among the 34 million numbers added since January. The registry received 9 million new sign-ups alone the week a privately generated e-mail warned of telemarketers eating up subscribers' minutes with unwanted calls, she said.
In many cases, that list is the consumer's only recourse. "After the unpleasantry (of getting a telemarketing call on a cell phone), I called my carrier, Verizon Wireless, to report it, and of course they could only suggest that I sign my number up on the www.donotcall.gov list," wrote someone named Diana at popular cell phone Internet chat room CellBanter.com.
Calling a telephone registered on the Do Not Call list can open a telemarketer to a fine of up to $500 for each call, which triples to $1,500 if the telemarketer can be shown to have deliberately skirted state and federal anti-telemarketing laws.
States can also file civil lawsuits against telemarketers, and the FCC can levy fines against telemarketers after investigations generated by civilian complaints, which can be made via e-mail at fccinfo@fcc.gov, or on the Web.
Telemarketers are also dialing an increasing number of European cell phone subscribers, potentially another marketing gold mine because in some locations cell phones outnumber people. "From our research experience, I can tell you that these kinds of calls are an increasing issue," Torsten Brodt, of the University of St. Gallen's Institute for Media and Communications Management, wrote to News.com.
The institute has yet to study telemarketing specifically, but has investigated something related to it: the number of unsolicited e-mail pitches being sent to cell phones. Mobile spam, as it is known, is also all but outlawed in the U.S. primarily because operators typically charge a fee to receive any kind of text message. More than a quarter of North American cell phone subscribers received some form of mobile spam, according to data St. Gallen's Institute published in February.
For its part, a cell phone industry group says operators are leaning on technological tricks, such as installing software that detects text messaging between cell phones, to help spot telemarketing pestilence such as mobile spam.
"We're doing what we can to ensure that wireless numbers don't get in the hands of telemarketers," said a spokeswoman for CTIA, the wireless association. "No operator is giving wireless numbers to telemarketers."
See more CNET content tagged:
telemarketing, cell phone, spokeswoman, BellSouth Corp., phone number
I was recently called on home phone and I told guy that I put my number on "Do not call list",which he started arguing that those rules do not apply to them or something.
Well I HANG UP on guy.
Reason I am on "Do no call list" is cuz I do NOT want any telemarketing calls coming to my phone.
Period.
You call and I hang up.Easy fix.
Why are telemarketers still thinking they can convince me to do something I do not want?
She come to my house, and she kick it; now my dog need operation! WHY DID SHE DO IT!
Most of them fail to see the irony.
Who are these people that are facilitating this method of sales?
Stop it please!
Why won't congress do something useful and outlaw this garbage?
Recieving a telemarketing call on your cell phone I will not tolerate, and I don't care what the experts say. It's bad enough on my home phone, but on my cell phone? I'll send the telemarketer a bill for calling me. It's just like SPIM, where the cell operator charges your $0.10 for each SMS text message that you open, and you find out it was SPIM (Text Message Spam), and you have to pay for it.
The reason why telemarketers have not started calling cell phones is the possibility of a major consumer backlash and government intervention in response to public outcry that this would cause. Remember some months back when they said that SPIM was going to be a major problem? I haven't seen or heard anything materialize yet. I don't think this will pan out either.
Anyways, the way that I handle telemarketing calls depends on the situation.
1) I tell them that I am not interested.
2) If they don't listen, then what I will do is set the reciever down and go do something else and let them talk to themselves. Time is money, right?
3) If they really tick me off, I'll insult their mother, upbringing, them, their company, and/or their product, etc before I slam the phone down on them. Then I'll forward the number to the DSL line where there is a very loud modem waiting for them to call.
4) If I'm feeling really ticked off, I'll transfer their call to the police or some other law enforcement agency. Knowing these telemarketers, I wouldn't be suprized if they tried to sell something to whoever picks up the phone. The last one I transfered to the local FBI field office.
And the one that really irks me: You get a phone call, and when you answer it, you get a recording stating to please wait for the next available operator. In otherwords, they call you, then put you on hold. Talk about rude, that will garuntee that there will not be a sale. Sometimes I'll just hang on so I can chew out the operator for working for such a moronic comany. Othertimes, I'll just transfer them somewhere else, such as the local police or FBI field office.
And as a public service for the environment I'll point out that a list of this type also exists for junk snail-mail. The National Direct Marketing Association promised the government they would keep and use a "do not mail" list in exchange for not being regulated, and it works very well--in 5 years I've gotten almost no junk mail not generated by my own activity with companies. Here's info on how to get on that list: http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist
This is what makes the telemarketing thing so bad, you actually pay to receive calls you don't want.
Whether you pay in cash or minutes is irrelevant, but it just goes to show how bad US and I'm guessing Canadian customers are treated compared with other countries.
You guys have almost no real consumer rights and no regulatory body to punish telecoms companies when they rip you off (the FCC is bought and paid for, so you've got no protection there).
Put it this way, would you pay to receive incomming calls on a land line? So why are you paying to receive calls on a cell phone?
In Europe they consider it bad enough that cell phone calls cost more than regular land line calls, and are close to forcing networks to charge similar fees.
The only answer is for the FCC to be scrapped, replaced with a true independent body for each area of communications, each with real power to regulate and force consumer friendliness.
The idea here is that government is supposed to represent the people that pay for it, and act in their best interests, not the other way round.
So if cell phone networks can't be trusted to treat their customers properly, they need to be slapped down. The same applies to telemarketers, cable companies, satellite comms etc.
And no I'm not saying such a system would be without corruption and couldn't be influenced by corporate business, but it would work better than the existing setup.
Ofcourse things are far from perfect in any country, but sometimes it's better to put up with a few extra government agencies, than put up with being stiffed by everyone you connect to and through.
Calls to a European cell phone, even within the same country cost an exhorbitant amount, often 40-50c per minute. Do you really want your friends and associates who call you to have to pay $24 for a one hour ccall to your phone? Under the north american system, the person who owns the cell phone is the person responsible for paying for airtime used on his own cell phone. That puts the responsibility with the person who made the decision to switch to a cell phone, rather than someone else who had no say in the matter.
Somebody's going to pay for the airtime use on your cell phone afterall. Are you the one responsible for your own airtime, or is it your friends and family who call your cell phone?
The effect of the US/Canadian system is that all your friends and associates can call you for free. And all it costs you is minutes from your minute allotment. (And increasingly, it doesn't cost anything if you have an unlimited plan (such as Virgin Mobiles $49.95 unlimted USA plan).
The answer is, NO, as if it is ANY OF THEIR F'ING BUSINESS!!!!
Here's how I deal with MR firms. When they call, I ask for their name, phone#, company name, address, website, etc. Make it as inconvenient for them as possible. They have to tell you this info by law, and they hate to do it because it burns up their time. Then ask to speak to their supervisor. Strongly state to this person that you want to be on their do not call list. Hang up. Now go to their company's website. Look for contact info including 800#s. Now call them up using their 800# and ask to speak to the VP or Director of Marketing. Now grill him/her. Tell him what he is doing is unethical because it violates the spirit of the DNC law. Ask him how he can sleep at night. Ask him if he believes in God, and if God approves of what he us doing. Make it PERSONAL. Now reiterate that you want to immediately be put on their DNC list. Hang up. Now, if you still crave satisfaction, and have access you to your own demon dialer, repeatedly call their 800#s. You can also use their dial-by-name vmail directory to get the names of other people in their company. Call these numbers and leave nasty messages. As a further act of shaming them, you can put their name on your website along with their dirty tricks. When their prospects use Google, your site will come up along with theirs. Turn their own tactics back on them!
Basically people, you need to stop acting like sheep, and stop merely complaining. You need to get aggressive with these people and make their life unpleasant. Waste THEIR time. It does work. And if enough people do this it will make it uneconomical for them to keep doing it. The market research companies' time is expensive, they have bigger fish to fry, and they need a measure of respectability to continue in business. If their customers find out they are wasting their marketing dollars by calling people who do not want to be called, they will stop using these firms.
- by Jagerbarr67 May 21, 2009 1:31 AM PDT
- this is so bull **** i am paying for my cell phone to get called by ******* people all day and night i use my cell phone as my alarm and now i cant because ******* people keep calling me while i pay for them to talk to me there needs to be a law for stealing minutes from me every day
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