Telemarketers calling Cellphones (1 Viewer)

[JonZ]

I dont know if this type of thing is allowed here at HTF. If not I guess the admins will lock or delete the thread.

I just wanted to pass this along as I cant believe this will actually be happening.


"On Feb. 5th 2006, all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls. ...YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS...


To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222. It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years.

You can also go to https://www.donotcall.gov/"

 

[Chris Lockwood]

Nope. No offense, Jon, but I wish people would take 30 seconds & do some research before passing on misinformation like this:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/cell411.asp

My sister constantly forwards stuff like this to everyone she knows. 80% of the time I reply with a Snopes "false" link... yet she still hasn't figured out to try searching before forwarding.

 

[Colton]

Those scum buckets just don't know when to stop.

Thanks for the heads-up.

- Colton

 

[Eric_L]

Those fatherless wipers of other peoples bottomes. May their hearts rot in the fire of a thousand hells with worms and bats and locusts and other crawly things.

Oh, thanks Chris.

 

[Carl Johnson]

I know that my cell phone provider charges by the minute to check voice mail, but it's not typical to be charged for messages received is it?

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> I know that my cell phone provider charges by the minute to check voice mail, but it's not typical to be charged for messages received is it?

Not that I've ever heard of. Since you pay by the minute, it wouldn't be fair to charge you for minutes out of your control. Someone could leave you a bunch of messages just to run up your bill.

 

[JonZ]

I didnt know about that site. Ill have to look through it.

I did call it before posting and belived it to be the real thing as I called a similar number a few years ago for my home phone and havent received a single, not one, telemarketing call since.

That was about 3 years ago.

 

[Lynda-Marie]

Speaking of telemarketers and telemarketing, I think it should be BLINDINGLY obvious by now that NO ONE wants the calls at odd hours and the sales pitches for weird things. Give it up and let the industry DIE already!

The same thing for all those inane porno, dick enhancement, and viagra spams I get every day.

 

[Colton]

Dick enhancements ... for women? :b

- Colton

 

[Paul McElligott]

Chris, we must be brothers, because my sister does the same thing.

To summarize the Snopes link:

Cell phone numbers are not being released to telemarketers.

The cell phone companies are putting together a 411 director of cell phone numbers, which some people fear could lead to their numbers being given to marketers.

This directory is "opt-in," meaning that if you do not specificially request to be included, you will not be.

 

[Lynda-Marie]

Yes, Colton, despite using e mail names as miladyblue or other variations, I am CONSTANTLY getting dick enhancement or Viagra ads in my junk e mail box. Of course, my brother keeps getting ads for boob enlargements and keeping his man satisfied, so I guess the spammers are either confused, or trying to make us unhappy with perceived shortcomings of our partners.

The only problems with the above is that neither of us are gay, and we are both single.

I suppose I am hijacking the thread a little, and for that I apologize. But spam is just telemarketing on the Internet as far as I am concerned. Before the advent of the Do Not Call List, I would get calls for the weirdest stuff imaginable. Spam is just Internet telemarketing.

However, I would like to talk to Mr. Mobutu about the millions I stand to make if I send him my retirement fund...

 

[EugeneR]

I think the continued existence of telemarketing and spam are proof positive that they indeed work. When you are talking about spam, you have to keep in mind that it is so cheap to spam millions of addresses that even a .0001 response rate, which translates into thousands of people, makes spam a very worthwhile and cost-effective means of advertising.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I don't put ANYTHING past telemarketers, and so I added my cell number to the Do Not Call list as soon as I got my cell.

They are the paparazzi for the common man, a scourge that engages in a practice that while legal is simultaniously the bane of our existance and just will not go away or give us peace!

 

[Jeff D Han]

I couldn't agree more, John. I LOATHE telemarketers. If
I didn't need the phone for work purposes or the internet,
I wouldn't have one. When one of those maggots call, my
blood pressure rises a few points. I just don't want to
be bothered.

A little off topic, but I consider the phone to be an instrument for annoyance. I've had my current number for
4 years now, and I still get people calling trying to
reach some other guy, and this after I put my name on
the message. I just put a new message on the machine-
"You have reached (full name). If you are trying to reach
me, please leave your message at the tone. If you are trying to reach anybody else, you have the wrong number.
Please hang up and try again." I wouldn't be a bit surprised if I still get these people calling for that
same guy, because people are people (clueless).

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Jeff,
if you want a good laugh, seek out a comedy CD called 'Tom Mabe's Revenge on the Telemarketers'.

This guy, Tom Mabe, hates them with a mad burning passion and so he likes to turn the tables on them when they call, he welcomes them in fact and takes great delight in torturing them LOL.

 

[LarryDavenport]

Let me know if the dick enhancer works (not that I need it).

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Just to review:

The National Do Not Call Registry and the associated number (and website) are real. The nonsene about all cell phones numbers being given or sold to telemarketers by the cell phone companies is an urban legend, an old one.

The NDRCR has nothing to do with cell phones in particular, it is a way of opting out of telemarketing calls for any phones. (Telemarketers are required to purchase and use the list, and can be fined for calling people on it more than once. They get one "free" mistake, but if they call again after you've warned them once, they have to pay up and you get a piece of the fine. )

BTW, somebody needs to schedule the HTF family reunion because my sister and one of my uncles are also addicted to mass-mailing every bogus "news" story, fake virus warning and urban legend that comes in over the transom. I still e-mail them the Snopes links (and use "reply to all" to warn all the other folks on their mailing list) but they never bother to check.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I'll have to check out that CD- I don't have my name on the do-not-call list because I like to mess with telemarketers whenever they call me. I got a call recently asking me to subscribe to the local paper- they would give me a free subscription for a couple weeks then start charging me, so they asked for my address so they could start delivering the free papers. I started to sound nuts and told them I wasn't going to give them my address because the rabbits were coming to get me, and if I gave them my address it would help them find me. When she said she didn't believe that, I told her to keep watching the paper.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

One of the funniest bits on that CD is when Tom Mabe got a call from a funeral home who was trying to sell him his own burial plot, Mabe led this poor son of a bitch to believe that just as he called he was on the verge of committing suicide and then capped it off with a simple sound effect of a gun going off and then...silence.

 

[Linda Thompson]

Momentary tangent:



Lynda-Marie, this woot's for you:

http://www.woot.com/Blog/Default.aspx

Read the "Vivitar Vivicam 8.1MP Digital Camera" section.

Just one more reason why I love woot...their daily comedy product write-ups have literally had me laughing out loud on many occasions. They've also had me purchasing the products on TOO many occasions...like the Gyration mouse from a couple days ago.

"Hi, my name's Linda, and I'm a woot-a-holic..."