[smarino]

We've been getting a lot of telemarketing calls to our home recently here in Florida, even though we've been registered on the National Do Not Call list for quite a while. They block their numbers so you cannot report them. Is anyone else having this problem? It's beyond aggravating, especially as we have a sick family member, and we're always on the alert for doctors, medical labs, pharmacists, etc calling.

Is anyone else having this problem? I wish there were a better solution, because the Do Not Call Registry is just not working at all for us. If anyone has any good ideas to keep these creeps away, I'm open to suggestions. I also registered us on the Florida Do Not Call list recently too (didn't even know there was such a thing until I researched it), but it's too early to get any effect from that, assuming there will even be any. Probably a good reason to go to Skype?

[macrodome2]

"Rachel from card holder services" has never heard of the DNC list. She and her cabal just change numbers and keep calling. The only think I can recommend, is if you can get the number they are calling from (it will come up on a cell phone) go to the web and find the federal and state complaint forms and fill one out each time they call. I've been doing this- it only takes a couple of minutes the questions are short.

On a positive note, they come in waves and if you don't answer they will give up. If you need to know if it's a doctor- get caller id. Most of the calls come from out of the area- area codes.

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by smarino

We've been getting a lot of telemarketing calls to our home recently here in Florida, even though we've been registered on the National Do Not Call list for quite a while. They block their numbers so you cannot report them. Is anyone else having this problem? It's beyond aggravating, especially as we have a sick family member, and we're always on the alert for doctors, medical labs, pharmacists, etc calling.

Is anyone else having this problem? I wish there were a better solution, because the Do Not Call Registry is just not working at all for us. If anyone has any good ideas to keep these creeps away, I'm open to suggestions. I also registered us on the Florida Do Not Call list recently too (didn't even know there was such a thing until I researched it), but it's too early to get any effect from that, assuming there will even be any. Probably a good reason to go to Skype?

Get a phone that you can block calls on and block the number. Unfortunately there isn't enough room on the list to do all of them.

Not answering does not help. Sometimes the same number calls here 5 or 6 times.

The other thing is if you actually do business with that company, they have the right to call. So if Visa calls and you have a Visa card it is within the law. Non profit places and politicians are also legal. Getting a lot from the vets wanting to pick up our unused stuff, the police association begging for money, and politicians right now.

[StarfishKey]

Report them. What they are doing is illegal, and if reported they can get in a lot of trouble.
Block the number from your phone, and generally speaking, don't pick up any number that is Private or that you don't know. Doctors and pharmacists generally will not call from numbers marked "Private," and if it is important someone will leave a message anyway and you can call them right back. If someone calls you from an 800/888/866 number, it's rare that that call is so important you need to speak to them right away - usually calling back will be fine. But doctors and pharmacists, etc. don't usually call from 800 numbers.
If people reported these to the Do Not Call Registry, there would be a lot fewer of them.

While we're on the subject, everyone make sure to sign up with https://www.optoutprescreen.com/, which is the Federal Trade Commission's link to remove yourself from junk mail entirely - you can do it for 5 years, or better yet, forever. It helps prevent identity theft, saves time with junk mail, and helps the environment too! This is the companion to signing up with the National Do Not Call Registry.

Somehow the Republican Party in FL got my number and I am LIVID - they have called several different times to ask me to volunteer my time for them (that will be a very COLD day in hell!), despite assuring me each time that they had removed me from their list. I have also been spammed with their stupid junk mail. I have absolutely no respect for them whatsoever. I have gotten nothing from the Democrats at all. Go figure...

[d4g4m]

Easy and simple solution. Don't answer the phone if the caller is not identified. Verizon keeps calling trying to get me to switch to FIOS. I don't answer the call. And the ringer is off most of the time.

[Rabflmom]

Originally Posted by StarfishKey

Report them. What they are doing is illegal, and if reported they can get in a lot of trouble.
Block the number from your phone, and generally speaking, don't pick up any number that is Private or that you don't know. Doctors and pharmacists generally will not call from numbers marked "Private," and if it is important someone will leave a message anyway and you can call them right back. If someone calls you from an 800/888/866 number, it's rare that that call is so important you need to speak to them right away - usually calling back will be fine. But doctors and pharmacists, etc. don't usually call from 800 numbers.
If people reported these to the Do Not Call Registry, there would be a lot fewer of them.

While we're on the subject, everyone make sure to sign up with https://www.optoutprescreen.com/, which is the Federal Trade Commission's link to remove yourself from junk mail entirely - you can do it for 5 years, or better yet, forever. It helps prevent identity theft, saves time with junk mail, and helps the environment too! This is the companion to signing up with the National Do Not Call Registry.

Somehow the Republican Party in FL got my number and I am LIVID - they have called several different times to ask me to volunteer my time for them (that will be a very COLD day in hell!), despite assuring me each time that they had removed me from their list. I have also been spammed with their stupid junk mail. I have absolutely no respect for them whatsoever. I have gotten nothing from the Democrats at all. Go figure...

Unfortunately the voter list of Florida is public and has been posted all over the internet by many companies, too. Found my name, phone, voting number, when I registered, and what party I declared just tonight by accident. VEry sarcastic answers on how to get it removed and how can it be legal questions on the site. Scary.

Wait till you get close to 65 and you get all the medicare supplement crap in the mail everyday....and now finding out you get it every year during the time you can change. and then you get all the hearing aide and burial mail.

[smarino]

That may be the best solution, just don't answer the phone if it's not a known number. But it won't help when it's medical labs, doctors, etc. I can't remember everyone's phone number. I guess I'll just have to turn the ringer way down (tape over the little speaker maybe) and ck my messages on the machine a few times a day. Years ago I had a little box that sent out a recorded message to the caller saying that we did not accept telemarketing calls, and forced the caller to press a button on their phone in order to connect w/ ours, then it would ring. That took care of the robocalls, but it was a cumbersome interface, and just didn't work as well as it was supposed to. I wish we were just getting political calls, but it's businesses a lot of the time trying to sell us things. AT&T (grrrr) offers a form of call blocking, and you can put these people's phone numbers on it, but you're right, it's limited to 50 numbers, and the telemarketer robocall software constantly changes their outgoing calling numbers to defeat that.

For what it's worth, we've had maybe five times the telemarketing calls (since we moved to Florida three years ago) than we had after living four years in New Mexico. I hate those police association calls, and from my understanding, they are not allowed to call. They're not a legitimate charity or political entity. There's a lot of info on those scammers on the web. Same w/ the vets, etc. We NEVER donate any money on the telephone. Who knows who those people really are? When we lived in Tucson, I only used our land line for the internet, and we had two Tracfones w/ unlimited long distance calling for our phones. That worked out the best, but they don't have the same deal where we live here and it's too expensive to go that route. Mythical deity of your choosing help you if you needed Tracfone customer service though!

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by smarino

We've been getting a lot of telemarketing calls to our home recently here in Florida, even though we've been registered on the National Do Not Call list for quite a while. They block their numbers so you cannot report them. Is anyone else having this problem? It's beyond aggravating, especially as we have a sick family member, and we're always on the alert for doctors, medical labs, pharmacists, etc calling.

Is anyone else having this problem? I wish there were a better solution, because the Do Not Call Registry is just not working at all for us. If anyone has any good ideas to keep these creeps away, I'm open to suggestions. I also registered us on the Florida Do Not Call list recently too (didn't even know there was such a thing until I researched it), but it's too early to get any effect from that, assuming there will even be any. Probably a good reason to go to Skype?

Yes- we get endless numbers of calls, and we tell each one that we're on the Do Not Call List, and they promise not to call again. Then they call again. The problem is, there are exemptions to that list, ( see link)
and the telemarketers know this, and figure they can call with impunity.

This includes political calls, solicitations for charity, phone surveyors, or those businesses who have a previous relationship with someone they call. Often those callers soliciting business will pretend they have such a relationship ( "I'm returning your phone call", responding to your email, or something like that, of course, you never heard of the company), and figure they'll skate past the list that way. And we have an unlisted number too, but they never answer me when I ask them how they got that number.

How to stop them? Well, I generally hang up unceremoniously on callers who are obviously soliciting, I block certain phone numbers, but that doesn't stop them from calling back under other numbers. I guess there's always blowing a police whistle into the receiver if they're persistant, but I haven't tried that with a soliciter yet.

[kmarc]

Uh, I hope you all realize you have to renew your status on the Do Not Call list every so often?

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by macrodome2

"Rachel from card holder services" has never heard of the DNC list. She and her cabal just change numbers and keep calling. The only think I can recommend, is if you can get the number they are calling from (it will come up on a cell phone) go to the web and find the federal and state complaint forms and fill one out each time they call. I've been doing this- it only takes a couple of minutes the questions are short.

On a positive note, they come in waves and if you don't answer they will give up. If you need to know if it's a doctor- get caller id. Most of the calls come from out of the area- area codes.

Is that the gal that calls and states that she's "calling about your (unnamed) credit card?" Obviously a fishing expedition, since she doesn't know which card she's calling about, apparently, and calls people (like us) who have no issues with our credit cards.