I'm being phone spammed!!

    • Gold Top Dog

    I'm being phone spammed!!

    I seem destined to always be assigned a former business phone number.  Last one used to belong to a bank and people got mighty testy that I was NOT the bank.....now it's something else and they will ARGUE with me that the PHONE BOOK says that this is in fact Century Tel and why won't I let them speak to Mr. Z?????  OYE!!  That's gripe number one.
     
    So, now for the past two weeks, a vendor for Dish Network has been calling.  I envision a boiler room type operation in the Phillipines.  These men do not speak English well, and their supervisor is no better.  They must be using some sort of auto-dialer because my phone will ring 7 or 8 times with no one there before finally when I answer there is actually a body on the other end.  They have decided that DH's FIRST name is his last and so are asking for him bass ackwards and they just don't seem to grasp that I ALREADY HAVE DISH NETWORK and they can't sell it to me again!  I've talked to the supervisor, I've demanded that they put  my number on the do not call list....we ARE on the national do not call list for all the good THAT does....but day after day after day they are harrassing me...and that's REALLY how I feel......like I'm being harrassed.  They are more persistent than bill collectors!  I'm at the point now that I'm actually threatening to sue them if they don't leave me alone.  I did that today and not 30 minutes later THEY CALLED AGAIN!!  It shows up normally as an unknown caller, but today it was an 800 number and when I tried to call it back, the call wouldn't go through.  I'm pulling my hair out here!
     
    Anyone got any ideas??
    • Gold Top Dog
    Can you make a note of the 800 number, call your phone company and tell them you are being harassed, and ask them to block it?  Not sure how easy that is over there.  Other than that I would just start hanging up on them EVERY TIME they call.  I am not being much help, am I?  LOL.
     
    I feel your pain....my last number was the former number of a pretty shady used car dealership....noooo fun. 
     
    Kate
    • Gold Top Dog
    OK so i did this once, and it worked!:

    There was this guy that was trying to get me to buy some carpet cleaning service (he used to call literally 5 times a day)and I always hung up on him before, but one day, i decided to get back at them, so I spent 3 hours getting more and more information and making "oohs and aahs" over the company.So at the end I said "Thats sounds like a really nice product, but sorry, im not interested." He was so POed he hung up and never called back. Its time consuming but works every time.[:D]
    • Gold Top Dog
    There used to be a website that had all sorts of entertaining things to say.  Things like (after dragging it out) "That sounds great, I'll just have to check with my parole officer.  Part of my sentancing is that I can't buy things from a telemarketer because of what happened last time."  Sadly, I've lost the website, if it still exists.
     
    Here's something:
    [linkhttp://www.netmegs.com/koncepts/telemark.htm]http://www.netmegs.com/koncepts/telemark.htm[/link]
    • Gold Top Dog
    I use a similar technique to the one mentioned above.  Telemarketers are not supposed to hang up first.  So, when they ask for me I ask them to hold on...after about 8-10 minutes I answer and thank them for waiting.  I let them pitch the product.  I then keep repeating "I don't understand..."  They reexplain...I repeat "I don't understand..."  They reexplain...I repeat "I don't understand"...
     
    They normally hang up on about the 4th or 5th time.  I used to get calls every hour.  I haven't gotten one in months.   People that waste the telemarketers time are called "strokers".  They have a list of strokers that moves between companies.  It costs them a fortune when a good stroker gets a hold of them. 
     
    I just enjoy thinking about the other people they can't call that day because I have wasted so much of there time. It's kind of a public service.
    • Gold Top Dog
    ORIGINAL: glenmar
    ....we ARE on the national do not call list for all the good THAT does....

     
    Doesn't the national list have a website where you can report them? I reported a couple of  places that called here after we got on the state Do Not Call list, and I never heard from them again.  As an added interest, one of those I reported was Dish Network. 
    • Gold Top Dog
    micksmom is right you need to sign up on the do not call list on the website if any telemarketer calls you once you are registered you report them and they are fined viola
    • Gold Top Dog
    Dang it, if they spoke enough english I'd have a blast with them.
     
    A few minutes ago I got yet another call for Century Tel.....
     
    Me:  Hello
    Him:  Oh good, you're still open
    Me:  I beg your pardon?
    Him:  Isn't this Century Tel
    Me:  No, it isn't.  You've reached a private residence
    Him: Is this.....starts reeling off phone number
    Me:  Sir, yes it is, but I promise you that this is a private residence and NOT a business
    Him:  Well, you're a rude f'ing b*tch.  How do you know what number I was gonna say?
    Me:  Because I hear it at least a dozen times a day.
    Him:  Well if this isn't Century Tel, why the hell is it listed in the phone book at this number?
    Me:  I'm sure I cant' tell you that.  Perhaps someone made an inputting error?
    Him:  F*** that!  I just paid money to get this number from directory!!
    Me:  Yep, ya got me.  I'm in cahoots with the phone company.  I get 10% of every wrong number they give out, because it is SOOOO worth a nickle to be abused by someone who dialed my number in error.
    Him:  well, best not repeat that one......
     
    • Silver
    We get lots of  telemarketing calls too they always seem to be when your about to eat dinner so now my other half asks them if they can waite a minute he has to get something off the stove and puts the phone down and walks away. About ten minutes later he will pick the phone up and just hang up.
     
     
    • Gold Top Dog
    Poor Glenda! [X(][:@] I think the *do not call registry* is mainly to block computer generated calls from telemarketers, but it sounds like this is just a matter of dialing a number that has probably been changed. Maybe you could try blowing a loud whistle in their ear.

    Joyce
    • Gold Top Dog
    Glenda ask for their company name... then ask for their managers name... then ask for their full name... this will scare them.  Then say you are on the DO NOT CALL list and were told to report the co.s and employees that call anyway as they are cracking down.  I guarantee they wont give you their name.  They will hang up and likely not call back.
     
    There is a way each person can remove your name from the list.  I was a telemarketer for 3 weeks lol.  Worst job on earth.  Anyway... ask lots of personal info of them as if your going to report.  I betcha itll work.
     
    I like what Mic said... my brother in law just says hold on and goes back later and says hello... if theyre still there he says hold on again... keep doing this until they hang up...  My father in law asks for their home number so he can call them at home later lmao.
     
    But seriously I think the first thing I said will prompt them to erase your name instead of leaving it on the list which means it will just get rotated and another person will call you.  The computers dial... if you remove it from the comp. it wont.  They have that power.
    • Gold Top Dog
    If you can sound like a fax machine the computer would delete it itself...lol but that would be hard.
    • Gold Top Dog
    as for the numbers that are blocking their caller id info... you can get a service from the phone company (at least it is available from bellsouth) that requires that all callers with blocked info announce themselves before the call goes through. usually this will deter them. we did have a few that would announce who they were, but when your phone rings it says this is so and so do you wish to accept their call and then there are a few options to choose from. we had this before the do not call registry and it worked very well. however, after the do not call registry was inacted the majority of telemarketers have an "unblocked" number. it will show up as a valid number but try calling them back... no one will answer (i tried).

    on my cell phone i constantly get calls for someone named rosemary moore. i believe she must be in pretty bad debt as i get most of the calls around the begining and end of the month. i have not gotten anyone as abusive as you, at least not yet. i have had many of them to confirm the number, so as far as i can tell either this is her old number or she gives it out as a phony number. either way i am getting tired of getting her calls. i usually only get calls from people i know on my cell phone and have considered just hitting ignore when a number shows up that isnt recognized, but it is my work phone so i would hate if my boss was calling from some unrecognized phone and i hit ignore.[:D]

    edit: you can also block numbers. so if you are getting calls from the same number all the time you can block it. might be a thought for the dish network people (if the number shows up as the same all the time).
    • Gold Top Dog
    Oh, I get it now Glenda.  We had that problem when I was a kid.  Seems like my mom got tired of it and finally started saying "No, this is a private residence.  If you were a valued customer, they'd have given you the correct phone number.  I suggest you start looking for a new xxx company"  Or some such.
    • Gold Top Dog
    We used must have a number that is similar to some businesses. We used to get calls asking if we were a certain hotel. After telling the people we were not, and that they had called a private residence (and this was years ago, so many times they were talking to a child). If they called a second time, we would pretend to make them reservations, bang around on a keyboard, ask the relevant questions, etc. We thought we were hillarious, and I bet they were pissed when they showed up at the hotel and didn't have a reservation.
    I forget where else it was that we used to get phone calls for, but we got so fed up one day, that we put my sister on the phone, she was little, and we just let her babble until they hung up, and they never called again.