Thursday, January 11, 2007

Telemarketers and spammers

Between the emails for boner pills and the automated calls I now get on my cell phone... which feature a quiet phone line, in hopes you will call them back at the 800 number that appears on your CID... I'm about fed up.

Oh, let's not forget that my mailbox is filled daily with reams of waste. Coupons I never use, fake checks from mortgage companies and credit cards, things that look hand-written so I will open them. God, people. Leave me alone. Because of these tactics, I'll buy the OTHER guys' products before I will buy yours, don't you understand that?

My email address (which I've never used for anything except sending and receiving mail from my clients) now gets 10 to 20 pieces of spam every day. Where do they get my information?

I am generally a "less government, fewer laws" kind of guy. But the more invasive these marketing tactics become, the more I'm in favor of regulation. Missouri has a "no-call" list, which has been fairly effective. Now, the bastards have begun calling my cell phone. The cell number I've had for years, the one everyone knows, has now been violated. I feel like a crime victim.

I'm pissed.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I put my cell phone on a "Do Not Call" List of some sort. It's been successful so far. I'm not sure if it was state or federal though.

Anonymous said...

The no call list we used for our cell phones is 888-382-1222. I think it might be the same as the national number for the land-line phones. You can also go here.

I put our cell numbers on it just before they released cell numbers to telemarketers; we've not received a single telemarketing call on either of our cell phones. Our land line phone number has been on the no-call list for years and we get a couple of survey calls a year, but no telemarketers.

I get very little spam on my email addresses (I have 3), but I haven't yet figured out how to stop the junk snail mail.

Anonymous said...

That link didn't work, but it's: http://www.donotcall.gov

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the people who don't want to call DO, and the people who you'd like to call (like before they show up unannounced at your door) DON'T!

Anonymous said...

The 'do not call' list works somewhat, for a while, but it's not perfect. Meanwhile, when they call, you can always tell them you are deceased. It really confuses the kids making $5.15/hr.

Lee Ann said...

I agree, so aggravating! Some companies (which will remain a nameless cable company that goes into chartered areas)have even started sending text messages when a big fight is coming on HBO! UGH!
At least with junk mail, you can mail it back to different companies!

Anonymous said...

I keep getting phone solitations from Indian people trying to sell pharmaceuticals (drugs) over the phone. My cell phone.

They actually called me 93 times one day. How do I know it was them? They stealth thier caller ID somehow with something like "901 22" that makes no sense.

I've asked them to stop politely, I've screamed at them, I've even stooped to blowing an air horn into their ear-- and they still call. (Usually about 5 times / day.)

Recently I began telling them that "Mike is dead-- he won't be needing any drugs. He O.D.'d on prescriptions." The last caller simply said, "Oh my God." and he kept trying to make the sale.

Sheesh.

Anonymous said...

I get the same and hate it so much. Feel for you, it truly sucks. Hope you can chill through it.