How to restrain telemarketers

You've got enough of those annoying telemarketing phone calls, haven't you? No matter what time is it, whatever you do they could call you wasting your precious free time. They interrupt your dinner, your reading of an interesting book, your favorite TV show, your work etc. You want to stop it, don't you? The good news is that you can do it by following few simple steps:

1. First of all, no matter how angry you might be, you better answer the phone. Ignoring it doesn't work for they will call your number again and again. Keep in mind that telemarketers are ordinary people. This is their job and they are trying to earn some money for their living and families, so be polite but firm and avoid rude swearing.
2. Pick up the phone when it rings and let the other person start talking. Telemarketers follow their script. You keep calm.
3. After few seconds, interrupt and ask the person for his/her name and the company name they work for. Once the caller is identified they became more careful with their actions.
4. Tell them that you are not interested in the stuff they are promoting and fire up the question: Did I ask you to call me? - it makes them understand that it is an unwanted call.
5. Politely but firmly ask them: Please do me a favor. Delete / remove this number from all your lists and do not call this number again.

It should work in most cases. Telemarketers will accept your request because their goal is to sell not to upset people. Also a business must abide with the law. In the U.S.A. Congress first passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in 1991 in response to consumer concerns about the growing number of unsolicited telephone marketing calls to their homes and the increasing use of automated and prerecorded messages. In response, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules that require anyone making a telephone solicitation call to your home to provide his or her name, the name of the person or entity on whose behalf the call is being made, and a telephone number or address at which that person or entity can be contacted. The original rules also prohibit telephone solicitation calls to your home before 8 am or after 9 pm, and require telemarketers to comply with any do-not-call request you make directly to the caller during a solicitation call. FCC requires a person or entity placing voice telephone solicitations to your home to maintain a record of your direct request to that caller not to receive future telephone solicitations from them. The calling company must honor your do-not-call request for five years.

In June 2003, the FCC supplemented its original rules implementing the TCPA and together with the Federal Trade Commission established the national Do-Not-Call Registry.


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