Do-Not-Call Registry Where Are You?
Posted by Keelan on June 26th, 2007
I don’t have a home telephone. My wife and I decided several years ago that since we both have cells, there wasn’t much point in having three phones for two of us.
Unfortunately, we still get the occasional telemarketing call. I can only imagine how many calls people with land lines get, but I have to say getting telemarketing calls on your cell is really annoying. Particularly the ones where they are selling home (land line) phone plans or features, when my household has already decided we don’t want/need a land line.
I usually hang up during the three second delay between the time I say ‘Hello’ and the person calling mispronounces my name.
I currently hang-up because I know the Do-Not-Call Registry is not in place. I can’t wait to be able to stay on the line and immediately ask to be added to their do-no-call list.
Why is the CRTC taking so long to implement the Do-Not-Call Registry?
In his post today, a version also ran in the Ottawa Citizen, Michael Geist says:
The unconscionable delay is part of a larger trend of Ottawa failing to set reasonable ground rules to protect Canadians from unwanted marketing. Not only does Canada trail badly in the creation of a do-not-call registry, but it also stands virtually alone among developed countries in not taking any legislative steps to address the mounting spam problem. Given the near-universal public support for a do-not-call registry, the existence of a law mandating its creation, and successful implementations around the world, there is no valid excuse for leaving this call on hold.
July 26th, 2007 » 9:55 pm
Nice little reg trick. Thanks
August 16th, 2007 » 4:44 pm
I am receiving a lot of calls from telemarketers. Please tell me how to make it stop. It is so annoying. I have been receiving a lot of calls about life insurance, etc. I tell them no thank you and they keep calling back. I have even called the number back and got a answering machine asking if I want to be removed and to put in my home phone number. I do this but I end up with the telemarketer from a different phone number calling. It is driving me crazy. It feels like it will never stop.
Thank you for you time
Sherry
November 23rd, 2007 » 10:16 am
No, I don’t think it would ever stop. Telemarketers have been chasing us around for decades and, yes, now they can reach us on our cell phones, too. I guess we would have to get used to it and implement the kind of ‘wait-three-seconds-and-hang-up’ measures that Keelan has described above. There is not a lot we can do. I mean, what can we do about all those spam emails? Nothing. Fortunately, these calls from telemarketers are not that frequent. So far…
December 17th, 2007 » 6:01 pm
I found out from a colleague, after this post, that telemarketers are not allowed to call your cell phone because you are charged for air time unlike a land line. I’ve told a couple of telemarkers they were reaching me on my cell phone and the calls have since decreased.
December 18th, 2007 » 11:24 am
Hello Keelan, that’s an interesting point, but I am still a bit sceptical. I am glad that you’ve had a positive experience with telemarketers’ calls decreasing, but I don’t think many of them would really care. I mean they should know that you are being charged for air time in the first place. But they still call you. They surely keep calling me…
February 23rd, 2008 » 4:49 pm
I am so sick and tired of all these calls waking me up on my day off especially around 7:00 AM CST. Lately I am not able to hang up on them and be terribly rude, which is not like me, but now I am getting a recording about Canadian Bonded Credit giving me a # to call back to as it says it is Extremely Urgent and Important! I tried to call back to ask for their manager and ask what name they were looking for (don’t ask me why) but I can’t get through on the number they have given me. No matter whose name they would say I have been a bit successful in telling them have the wrong person and hang up!
This is so damn frustrating after working long hours and finally able to sleep a bit and startled by one of these calls.