Robo-calls

I just got the strangest advertising call. After I answered with, "Hello", a nice sounding guy says, "Hi, this is Bill, how are you today?". Sounds like a real person talking. I didn't answer because I got one of these a while back. So the 'recorded robo-guy' says, "Hi, are you there?", I answer, "What do you want?" and of course it's not on the list of 'expected' answers, so the robo-guy tries again, "How are you today?". I finally just let it hang up. Not gonna play the advertising game with a robot! So strange. Very clever though.

Has anyone else gotten one of these and if so, did you actually find out what they wanted?

Wow, can't say I've ever gotten one of those. Although I did get several from an "unknown" source that after the answering machine did its thing, where a person kept saying, "Hello? Hello? Anyone there?" It could have been an interactive robo-call.

I was so amazed when I got a letter from my Attorney General's Office telling me that as a result of one of the on-line complaint forms I filled out, a company was fined $250,000 and agreed to abide by the Missouri Do Not Call law. I just reported 4 more of them in the last two days... who knows. Maybe they'll get another one.

You go, Drac!

I've been getting all sorts of calls which I either don't answer or tell them "I'm on the Do Not Call List."

Do you have caller ID Sorta? You can enter the number here and see what others say about it. I block the spam calls on my phone. THey usually use the same #.

Ana

Sigh. Don't have caller ID, but I can look up who called afterwards. It shows on my Cox list on the computer. Sometimes the calls are so annoying and they won't take no for an answer. They are still yakking when I hang up. I really hate the ones who as for information like do I own my home, which credit cards do I have, do I have a security system! Like I would really tell them any of that??? Most calls are from 'home improvement' places and those who want to install solar panels. They ask for me by name, so it's gotta be from a source but they won't tell me where they got my number.

The robo-caller sure is fun though. Wonder whose voice they used? Sounds like a very nice guy.

If you're on the Do Not Call list, you can report these to the CA attorney general's office. Maybe you will get lucky like I did and have one of them prosecuted and have to pay a fine. It won't stop them, but it still feels good!

http://ag.ca.gov/donotcall/dnc_complaint.php

Answering machines are extremely nice if you have caller ID. If I don't recognize the number, the phone keeps ringing. If I do decide to answer a call from an unknown number, if they don't start talking right after I say "hello," I hang up after the second "hello." And for those who are trying to sell something, the moment they say something about a product they're selling and say no thank you and hang up. Even if they're still talking. I even told one, one time, to take me off their calling list. Once upon a time it bothered me to hang up on someone before they hung up. Not any more.

I'm with you Homer. I am now hanging up on lots of people as soon as I determine it's not a 'real' call for something I ordered, or need to know. Wish I had caller ID, but it's costly and a pain to have to look at my tiny phone screen to see the number. Some of the callers give you an option to push a number to remove you from the 'list' but I've found most of that is just for 'my' benefit and they still call. One day I got the SAME caller gal, from the same number, selling a service from a DIFFERENT company. Probably the same company with a different operating name. That one was fun. I think she suddenly remembered calling me 15 minutes earlier. And yup, I really hate the 'dead line' that you get while the caller is deciding which line to answer on the other end. Hello...hello...hello...buzzzzz, dead line.

I received a call center call, could hear all those background voices, from a guy with marbles in his mouth--hint hint--who had the gall to tell me my computer was sending out error messages. I know my computer does send reports to those who I've granted permission, but I've yet to figure out how a computer can send out error messages when it's not turned on. I suspect that guy, and others like him, was banking on me being someone recently born.

As to the dead air, Sorta, I actually think it's the time between when robo-caller makes contact and the human realizes it. Still in all, if I say "hello" twice and no one replies, I hang up.

What's sad is that there are quite enough people who have been "recently born" to make these call centers profitable.

That's a very apt description - recently born.

I like that, 'recently born'. New catch phrase?

I don't like the "How are you" calls. Who are they to care? I've moved from answering nicely to rudely and now all I do is hang up.

I'm with you Rowan. When they start out with 'how are you today?' I automatically either snap back with 'what are you selling?' or hang up. Depends on my mood. Actually sometimes they say that at the check-out line at my local supermarket. I know them well enough now to say, "You really don't want to know" and then I smile. Hopefully they will retrain to not ask.

I remember going in there just after leaving my Dad who was taken away to the funeral home. He'd been in nursing care for 2 years and finally 'went home'. I felt lousy, but needed something for Mom. They cheerily asked me how I was and I not so cheerily answered, "you know, you really shouldn't ask that unless you know that nothing bad has just happened". They looked at me strangely and I explained my Dad just died about 15 minutes before and they all were so sorry. Guess it wasn't all bad, but sometimes, you just shouldn't ask a question you don't wanna know the answer to.

Same goes for the much over used, "Have a Nice Day!" Maybe the next caller who asks how I am today, will get a happy 'Have a Nice Day', as I hang up on them.

I only do fast food once in a blue moon on the way home from the bowling alley. I usually do the drive through at Taco Belle because it's convenient. I get SO aggravated when they ask, "How are you?" I always answer, "Fine" and then sit there and wait. One night, I finally said, "Hello, is anyone there?" The girl said, "I was waiting for you to order." I know she's just doing what she's been trained and told to do, but I was exasperated and said, "But you just asked how I was, not what I wanted to order." I should tell the company how stupid I think it is.

Oh, the fun I had with telemarketers who were calling my mother before she went to the nursing home. I would ask them, "Why are you calling this number?" To which someone with a thick accent would tell me they wanted to offer diabetic supplies or some such. I'd then inform them the number was on the Do Not Call List and I was immediately reporting the call to the Attorney General's Office. I told them to take my mothers number out of their database and it was amazing how many of them actually did.

I usually ask for the name and address of the firm, saying that I need it so that I can file a complaint as we are on the do not call list. They always hang up quickly. Unfortunately, the laws around the do not call act are toothless, and the telemarketers have discovered that there is no risk to them for violating it.

Anyone getting cell phone calls? I have gotten 3, claiming to be calling from AT&T. Can't hardly understand what they say, something about $200, then I hang up. The funny part of it is, they are 800 numbers but the rest of the numbers were different on all three. I know of at least 2 other people who have received these on their cell phones. I'd like to know who to report them to at AT&T.

Bets

Interesting Bets. I keep my cell turned off. I only carry it for emergencies. Every time I turn it on, I get a 'message' which I listen to (costs me minutes to do) and it turns out that the messages are from somewhere that wants ME to call THEM. Looked up the number and it is to a PRISON! Oh clever people. AND the per minute charges are horrendous. Something about an automatic reverse charge call no matter how you do it. Evil plan. I never called thank goodness but they sure make it sound important. It says something about "You are being sued, if you fail to call us back immediately, you will be arrested, etc."

I need to charge the phone today, so I'll see if one says anything about AT&T. Might be the carrier they are using for this scam.

There are other sayings other than recently born. Like, just fell off the cabbage truck, wasn't born yesterday, and a few others which are hiding in my mangled gray cells.

I have received a few cell phone calls from numbers I didn't recognize. I don't carry my cell phone with me when I'm home, so by the time I get to my cell phone the call has ended. If there's an associated area code I'll get out the phone book to see which State the call originated, to give me a better idea if the call is from family. So far none have been from family, and they are immediately deleted.

I remember another phone call which the caller asked for my wife. This one of those times when I asked what it was in reference to, and received a reply that it was for my wife. "Not born yesterday" I asked again and received the same reply. So, I told the lady not interested and hung up. I'm like many of you, if the first words out of the callers' mouth sounds like they're about to try and sell me something, "not interested" and hang up.

Yup, Homer. Saturday I took a call for my EX who hasn't lived here since 2000. Gal asked for him so I just quickly said, 'can I take a message?'. I figured maybe it was something important or someone from his past who didn't know about the divorce. So she asked if I was 'Mrs...' and I answered sure. So it turned out to be a place that wanted to UPdate our Living Trust. Hummmm. WE never had a living trust. I guess he does. Ha. I took her number and said I would give him the message. Turns out to be a reputable place, phone checks out and it's a legal business, local, that he must have done something with without telling me. Interesting to say the least. Sometimes it pays to play along if you have the time. Usually I don't have the time or temperament.

As T. Boone Pickens said, "I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night."

We had a call late this afternoon, an 800 number, which my wife was going to let the answering machine answer. Because I've about reached my limit on 800 numbers, I picked up the phone and it was a guy from the company who provides my wifes' RA medication. This is one of those times it was good to answer the phone instead of ignoring it. And had it been another one of those 800 can we sell you something, they would've been told to put our number on their do not call list and I'd have hung up.

It seems to me companies like the one which handles my wifes' medications should make sure their caller ID states the company name. Not their 800 number, which doesn't mean a thing to me. To me, 800 numbers mean calling center.

Me too, Homer6. If they start leaving a message and it's a legitimate call, then I will answer.

I know some people have their caller ID set so the person they're calling can't see the callers' name, which in a way is fine. But if it's a company/corporation/business, why wouldn't they be proud to announce who they are? It might help alleviate many missed calls.

Some sneaky companies change their 'names' on the called ID so you don't recognize them. A 'home improvement' group (legit) comes up with several different names when I see them. They also use different numbers, but they all come back to the same address. Aggressive guys. Been after me for 4 years.

AND worse yet, Scam on my tenant's. Little mom stopped me today and said someone called about windows. Dunno if they were the 'microsoft virus' stuff or real windows. She told them she was a renter and they asked her HOW MUCH she paid each month! Thank goodness she didn't tell them anything, but she was concerned. I told her to just hang up next time. BUT then she told me her son (58) is sending money about twice a month to the 'Policeman's Fund'! OUR Fire and Police never call for money. This is a total scam and he is thinking he's helping someone. He's unemployed, barely making it and he's being scammed. I must talk to him in person. Mom probably won't explain it correctly. We have TV warnings about the Police and Fire, etc. not soliciting by phone and to beware if you get a call. He must have missed the announcements. Sigh.

Homer, I do have a couple acquaintances that call and have their name and number blocked. They quickly found out if they want to speak to me you will have to show who you are. Never understood why they do that especially since I have their number.

I use a facility available from my phone company (for a small cost) which "tells" anyone who calls without showing their number that their call won't be put through until they do.

We too have family who block their caller ID, and as usual, we miss their call because our caller ID displays "Unknown caller." In our house, "Unknown caller" means the answering machine goes to work.

That's interesting, Mad. It's something I'd never heard of before. But it is a very good way to cut down frivolous calls. Hopefully.

I'd pay to have it!

We had a call this morning, an unknown caller. Like 800 numbers, these are reaching the top of my limit so I answered the phone. As I said in an earlier post, I said "hello" twice and received no reply so I hung up. I'm guessing it was from a company using automated callers, with a human sitting there trying to play catchup when a call is answered. Ah, well, to bad. They missed my morning attitude to these type callers.

I've received calls saying I won a trip. I say thank you very much, just send me the tickets, and I hang up. The tickets never arrive.

A friend of mine also received a call similar to this. She was told she had to pick them up at a downtown hotel where she would be celebrated with a dinner. She actually did go but had to sit through a presentation where the group wanted to sell her a Florida property. She got fed up and wanted to leave early but they tried to bar her from leaving until the presentation was over. That is scary. I would have whipped out my cell phone and called the police saying I was being held against my will.

Yesterday, I got another 'frequent' caller from someone who said she was working 'with' our local power company and was offering to lower my rates IF I paid over 100 bucks a month for my power bills. I told her I wasn't even close to that and said I'd like my phone number removed from their list. Soooo today they call AGAIN. This time to 'verify' information before removing my name. I was not about to tell her details of the exact amount of my bills nor anything else. She was on the verge of being very pushy and wouldn't remove my name unless I answered her question. So I asked if she could mail me something instead. She agreed and I'm anxiously waiting for the 'advertising' she will mail me. She already had my address (I wouldn't give it to her), but she told me the correct info.

So then I called my power company and they confirmed this was a telemarketer and had nothing to do with my power bills or anything else. They try to convince you they work for your area's power provider, but are actually selling solar panel systems.

Then I looked up the phone number on my caller list and found that I get calls from very similar numbers from the same city nearby frequently. Checked on the web and found a million complaints about this company which goes by about 6 different titles that they know of. Reputable company, but very pushy.

Also found out that if you get 'nasty' with them, they will make your life miserable. One guy gets calls now every morning at 8:15am and they are all hangups or dead lines. I get the picture. This gal today wasn't nice and wasn't taking no for an answer. Can hardly wait till I get the 'brochure'.

But here's the deal... the law is that unless you have a previous business relationship with the company, they are in violation of the Do Not Call laws. If you report them to the CA AGO, they may get a conviction like I got here in MO. There are also "rules" that they cannot call before 9:00 am too. So they are in violation of several provisions of the national Do Not Call law. Report 'em!

We get calls once in a while with the number 1.111.111.1111. Never have answered them. Thank you U-Verse for caller ID.

I've even gotten them with 0-000-000-0000! They are technically required by the Do Not Call law to display a number and zero is a number!

Something else in today's electronic environment. With electronic telephone switches, all calls are recorded. That is, calls from one place to another are recorded. So even if someone just calls and hangs up, that call is recorded. This means if you're receiving a lot of calls that are hang ups or a dead line, the call back to the caller is logged on the phone company's equipment. And can be retrieved by the proper authorities. So if you're getting these type calls, start by contacting your phone company and let them know what's happening. If they aren't any help, then contact your state corporation commission, or whoever regulates the phone industry. Somewhere, someone is working to put a stop to this garbage.

I got a call yesterday and the phone number was 123 456 7890. I laughed when I saw it. I just let my answering machine get my calls now. If it's someone I know, they'll leave a message.

If your state's Attorney General's Office doesn't have a reporting mechanism, report these calls here...

FCC Do Not Call Complaints

Thanks Drac....I usually only answer numbers I recognize now...

I don't answer them either - I find if I do, they tend to call back several times a day. Maybe something to do with them now knowing there is a human at the end of the call. But after the successful prosecution of one of my reported numbers, I now report them all.