Stumbled on a telemarketing secret? (1 Viewer)

[Citizen87645]

I set my answering machine to pick up at six rings instead of four because I like to check caller ID before I answer and sometimes I can't get to the phone, check it and answer within four rings. So I've noticed that any telemarketing type calls quit ringing after four rings, whereas before the answering machine would pick up and maybe it would record a hang up or a bit of the office noise. So, it's proved to be a secondary filtering method, at the very least eliminating those times when I think a friend has called me and I find it's just a click and dialtone from a telemarketer.

 

[Scott L]

People still get telemarketing calls?

 

[Lynda-Marie]

I don't know about your area, Guo, but here in Washington State, it was 3 rings. I'd hear the first ring, get up to answer the phone on the second, hear the third ring on the way to the phone, and pick it up just in time to hear a loud click.

Scott, there are some telemarketers out there that just "don't get" the national "Do Not Call List" idea. They seem to think that everyone wants to be called about the most inane things in the world, which is why they challenged the Do Not Call List idea. Telemarketing is an industry I wish would just curl up and die.

 

[MarkMel]

It's all done by auto dialers. The parameters are set within the auto dialer's application program.

 

[MarkMel]

We're on the national do not call list, but now we get calls from charity organizations and survey companies. I guess those are exempted from the list.

 

[ZacharyTait]

From the Do Not Call website:

Because of limitations in the jurisdiction of the FTC and FCC, calls from or on behalf of political organizations, charities, and telephone surveyors would still be permitted, as would calls from companies with which you have an existing business relationship, or those to whom you’ve provided express agreement in writing to receive their calls.