Plotting Revenge on Telemarketers

I don't know what it is about nearing the end of winter that brings all the telemarketers out from under their rocks.  We are getting bombarded with their calls on our land line and a few on our cell phones.  Not only are they irritating but they do cost us money especially the minutes on my cell phone.  Unfortunately, the CRTC has about much power as a wet noodle when it comes to telemarketers so these cretins are allowed to pester us anytime they please.  So, I'm plotting my revenge.

Don't get me wrong, of things to be doing aside of plotting revenge against telemarketers but my mind tends to wander a bit when I'm knitting or puttering around the house.  NCC (newspaper call centre) has been calling daily even though I told them to remove our number so that's a good one to start the revenge on.  Now, they are worse than any debt collection agency and when I asked them to remove our number he told me he couldn't.  So, I came up with several plans of attack, some of them a bit less likely to get me in trouble than others.  Finally, I went above his head and called the newspaper he was pimping, told them what happened and why I would never subscribe to their newspaper or any others owned by their head company as long as they were associated with NCC.  I declined leaving my phone number under the circumstances but did leave my name.  Then, I put NCC on call block on our phones.  Then as the final touch, I blogged about it because everyone should know they have the right to privacy in their homes, free of telemarketers interrupting whatever they may be doing. 

If you are suddenly getting a rash of telemarketing calls, it means your phone number somehow got onto a telemarketer list that is being sold to telemarketers.  Don't panic!  This does happen from time to time.  Telemarketers do not have the right to cost you time or money or even get your knickers in a knot.  If you are being bothered by a telemarketer, always go above them.  Complain to the company they are selling for and tell them why you won't be buying from them.  Call block them and if they get through by changing the number, block them again.  Note that call blocking won't work for telemarketers using a voice over system (eg. the number starts with VO) or systems like Skype.  Use caller ID and don't answer their calls although this does tend to encourage them to call back at a later time.  Do not put your phone number on the national do not call list as that list gets sold to telemarketers so the number of calls actually increases.  Pester the CRTC and file complaints.  My husband frequently gets telemarketers at the office.  His policy is when they start their sales pitch he says no thank-you.  When the go into the second angle, he says no thank-you again.  When they start the third angle, they hear the click.  I, on the other hand, tend to play around with them if I'm in the mood and if not and I recognize the number, it goes unanswered.  It's hard to not answer especially on the cell phone because you never know if it may be someone frantically trying to get a hold of you from another number. 

A Couple of New Tactics Telemarketers are Using

Oh my gosh, I so detest telemarketers!  For years, they have bothered us on our land line even though we were on the Canadian Do Not Call List which is a total joke.  The CRTC really muffed this one up.  So when we moved, we got a new land line phone number.  Within 24 hours we started calls from a debt collection agency looking for the previous owners of our new phone number.  Man, they were beyond nasty so I blocking the calls.  Apparently our number went out onto Canada 411, something I quickly corrected.   Then as part of our move, I switched my cell phone to a pay as you go so now I had the great pleasure of paying for a debt collector to call my cell so I finally reported them to the CRTC.  The problem is all these phone numbers are recycled so if you happen to get one where the previous owner didn't pay whatever bill, you will get calls, very nasty calls even if you tell them you don't know that person but it does cost you money.  The simple solution is to not answer if you don't know the number.  Now I only answer my cell if I know the number. I set up a system with our kids that works well.  But now the telemarketers have a couple of new tactics they are using.

First, according to the CRTC newspapers can contact you for subscriptions.  It doesn't matter that we live in an electronic age where we can get information at our finger tips without ever using paper, apparently they can.  So, NCC (Newspaper Call Centre) has been pestering the living daylights out of us, calling multiple times daily as late as 9:30 PM.  I asked them to remove our phone number from their call list yet they persist.  Finally, I call blocked them.  This is really easy to do with our built in call block on our phone system and doesn't cost us anything.  All I have to do is hit menu, call list, save number to call block.  Easy, peasy. 

So, today I get a call from caller ID VO3081250500041 Out of Area.  I answered it an it was a telemarketer!  The guy went into his script then I interrupted and said I don't talk to telemarketers.  He said he wasn't a telemarketer.  I asked him if he was selling anything?  He answered yes.  I told him to quit wasting my time and hung up.  Now, this call is obviously from a Voice Over through the internet which means you cannot call block it by conventional means (eg. phone service, onboard features).  Now, I just heard of a popular online service that lets you make all the free calls you want in Canada and US in addition to the popular Skype.  If this is the case, the telemarketers have the upper hand for the time being.

Aggressively Dealing with a Skuzzball Telemarketer

The phone rang today with an important call from 1-403-255-8807 telling me they could lower my credit card interest.  Now first off, this is a huge scam so I'm writing this post as a warning to others.  Do not give them any information!  Report them to the CRTC and to Phonebusters.  What they do is charge your credit card a substantial fee then phone (although there have been reports of this being false) your credit card company requesting a lower interest rate.  When the credit card company says no, they report back to you after enough time has lapsed so as to not be able to reverse the charge on your credit card that they cannot get your rate lowered.  They have your money and you have just been scammed big time to the tune if reports are correct of $600 to $800! 


Here's how the conversation went:

representative: We have great news!  We can lower your current credit card interest rate to 6%
me:  How did you get this phone number? (It's a new phone number as we just moved.)

representative: My supervisor gave it to me.
me: Well your supervisor should not have given you our phone number.  Please remove it.

representative: No, no, no!
me: By law under the CRTC you are required to remove our phone number from your call list.

representative: No, no, no!  We are giving you a great deal like a sale.  (By now I am rolling my eyes!)
me: I don't need a deal.

representative: Yes you do because our records show you have a good credit history and pay your bills on time.
me: How did you get my credit history?  I did not give authorization for you to get any credit history!

representative: My supervisor gave it to me.
me:  Well your supervisor does not have the authorization to get my credit history.

representative:  Yes, yes, yes.  Credit history is public for anyone to get. (Bullsh*t!)
me: What is my name? (like I expected him to come back with one)

representative: Umm... (I cut him off.)
me: Here's a clue.  F-off and don't call here again! (I'm sure they will try calling again)

I seldom curse but this guy ticked me off and the knowledge that they will lure someone into their trap today made me madder!  I reported them to the CRTC and the appropriate fraud investigation units.  If they ever call this house again I will report them again but since I now have them on call block, I doubt they will get through without changing where they are calling from.  There is a good possibility of that because fraudulent scumbags do that just so they can rip others off there hard earned dollars.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

A Bit of Telemarketer Fun

We spent a bit of time at our vacation home from September 19 to October 6.  Considering we spent the first two weeks of September moving into our new home I was beyond exhausted so believe me was in no mood to deal with telemarketers, let alone American telemarketers who are considerably more forceful, abrasive and down right rude in comparison to Canadian telemarketers.  Anyway, a roofing telemarketer called and unfortunately I answered.  This person insisted the roof inspection was a mandatory one so I went back and forth a couple of times but was just too tired.  They insisted we be at our home on at 4 PM a week ago Monday.  Hey, no problem because we come all the way from Canada to get a sales pitch.  They told me to be sure I called the guard house to let them in.  That gave me a brilliant idea.  Since they didn't want to take no for an answer I called the guard house and told them what happened.  G who is a real sweetheart said don't worry, if you don't want them in, they aren't getting in.  He also told me this particular company was well known in our resort for the heavy handed sales tactics and shoddy workmanship.  So, they didn't get in which is one nice feature of a gated community.  Hopefully now they comprehend the meaning of the word no!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

Centennial Windows is the Biggsest Skuzzy Telemarketers There Is

I hate, absolutely detest telemarketers.  Our phone number is on Canada's Do Not Call List (that's a flipping joke) and we have call block.  Despite numerous phone calls from Centennial Window (1-1-519-963-0831) both before and AFTER signing up for the DNC List we continue to get calls so today when I got yet another other one, I used *67 and called them back.  The stupid and I do mean stupid telemarketer on the other end seemed to think I would be foolish enough to give them our phone number so they could check to see if they were calling us.  Hello!  You just called me and I called you back.  I don't make a habit of calling telemarketers for something to do! 

So I did not give them my phone number but I did head over to the CRTC to file a complaint.  They are so annoying that there is no way I would ever consider buying windows from them anyway.  They are truly pathetic bottom feeders!  I would never, ever do business with Centennial Windows given their shoddy business practices.  I will be so glad that this phone number will cease to exist as soon as we move and that time is moving closer as I type.  Oh I know at some point they may find our new phone number then I will have to fight back once again simply because they are bottom feeder telemarketers.  Absolutely disgusting!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011

The Persistent Telemarketer

Over the past two month, actually since arriving home from our winter vacation on January 9th, we have had the great pleasure of receiving two to three calls daily from 1-855-422-0416.  After the first couple of calls I Googled to find that the number was indeed a telemarketer who had got our phone number from CAA.  Well isn't that just special!  See we are on Canada's National Do Not Call Registry which is about the biggest farce the CRTC has come up with yet.  For a government agency that is suppose to protect the rights of consumers the get a big FAIL.  In reality what happens is the CRTC sells the list to telemarketers who are supposed to add your number to their do not call list, and perhaps some do.  But then those telemarketers turn around and sell that list to other telemarketers to recoup their costs so you get bombarded with calls from the second telemarketer.  Now that we have established the CRTC are nothing but a bunch of total nincompoops and for so many more reasons than just the do not call registry, onto our current persistent telemarketer.

We bought a new phone system in November of 2009.  It has all the onboard features that you would have to pay for from your telephone provider.  The only thing needed to make them work is subscribing to your telephone provider's Caller ID.  When I add a phone number to my blocked caller list on our phone, if that number calls again it rings once for the Caller ID to recognize it then disconnects the caller and shows on the caller list as an arrow with a line through it rather than just the arrow for calls that are not blocked.  A log is kept of these calls as well so I can easily check to see if a blocked number keeps calling in the event a complaint needs to be filed. 

Since January this number has called two to three times a day except for Sundays.  Now either it is one very dimwitted who can't get it through that one brain cell that obviously we are using some type of block so they will never get through to us or they are using some type of autodialer.  I thought the CRTC said no autodialers but it's not like they will do anything about it.  Today after two calls I used *67 to call the number.  It is the EMS Contact Centre for Comperaction or something like that calling us with a very interesting offer and they will call us back again according to their message.  Let's see the 62 plus calls they have made here since January 10 that have been automatically disconnected by our phone system is not clue enough we are not interested?  Honestly, how dumb are these people?

Garden Gnome
©2006-2011