Do Not Call

telemarketing (Photo credit: Stitch)

Do you remember the "Do Not Call" registry to stop unwanted telemarketing calls?  When that registry became active, I registered my phone number right away.  In fact, I just verified that my phone number was registered on the Do Not Call List on July 1, 2003.  It was so nice to have an end to unwanted telemarketers calling the house constantly.

Being on the list worked great for several years.  More and more, however, it just seems that companies are just ignoring the list and coming up with whatever technique they can to get around it.  I double checked the official Do Not Call website, and according to the site the only organizations that can call are charities, political organizations, and business that you have a business relationship.

I constantly am receiving calls from charitable organizations.  I do not mind that so much, and I know that they are just doing their job, but when I say that I am not in a position to make a charitable donation at this time, then that should end the call.  Now that we are in an election year, I imagine there will be a constant barrage of robocalls.  I know there were prior to the primary.

Unfortunately, I have been getting a lot of unwanted calls from businesses these days.  People calling me to tell me they will be in the neighborhood giving free estimates on new windows and wanting to stop by to give me an estimate.  No, I do not want you to come by and I am on the Do Not Call list.  If I wanted to get an estimate on windows I would have called you.  Leave me the hell alone.

Take tonight for instance.  I had a flat tire after work so I dropped my car off at NTB to get a couple new tires.  I was expecting their call, so when the phone rang, I answered.  It was not NTB.  The lady on the other end of the line proceeded to launch into a spiel about my electrical energy supply company.  The conversation went something like this:

Me: I am on the Do Not Call List

Her: I am not a solicitor.  I am a customer service representative

Me: Do I currently do business with you?

Her: I don't believe so.

Me: Then it sounds like you are trying to sell me on a new electrical supplier.  Good night. click


Yeah, I know I don't have to answer the phone when these idiots call.  But, like I said, I was expecting a phone call, and unfortunately, the caller ID isn't very clear on the phone where I was sitting so I had to answer this particular call.  Since I was already in a bad mood from changing a tire and needing two new tires, I was more than happy to treat the caller rudely.

Related articles

• FTC takes action to protect Do Not Call list numbers - will "Rachel" from cardholder services stop calling? (jennstrathman.com)
• FTC Action Puts Robocallers Out of the Telemarketing Business (ftc.gov)

Wrong Number

Image via WikipediaOK, it is easy to dial a wrong number.  With the virtual keypad of my android powered phone, it is easy for me to hit the 7 key instead of the 4 key when dialing home.  There have also been times when I was scrolling through my contacts and accidentally dialed a number by mistake.  However, I usually am fairly quick at realizing my error.

I have had a couple of exchanges via text messaging with people who texted the wrong number and no matter what I did, I could not convince them that they were mistaken.  One such episode was so humorous to me that I had to blog about it nearly two years ago.  If you follow this link, you can read verbatim our text conversation. 

Eventually, my wrong number texters figured out their mistake and stopped texting me.  The question is, how many times do you have to dial a wrong number before you finally figure out that you are not reaching your intended recipient.  My wife has been having a very persistent problem caller for a couple weeks now on her cell phone.

The caller ID on her phone has been registering an odd number of digits that make us thing the call is originating from another country.  We have both answered the phone and could not understand the person on the other end, and he could not understand us.  I finally figured out that he was speaking Spanish when he told me "No entendiendo."

You would think that after reaching the number on more than a few occasions and not understanding the person you are speaking with that the realization would hit you are dialing a wrong number.  My wife went to the Verizon Wireless store and they helped her download a call blocking app for her phone.  So far today, it has blocked his calls three times.  I wish I new enough Spanish to tell him, "Dumbass, you have a wrong number."

Related articles

• Why we need to say that i'm sorry when you dial a wrong number (wiki.answers.com)
• wrong number (shinyfork.wordpress.com)