Stop Annoying Phone Calls. Dead.
Do you still get annoying phone calls, even though your number is on the U.S. Government’s “Do Not Call” list?
You can still legally be called by any political group, survey company, and non-profit outfit that cares to pester you.
Calls claiming to ‘lower your credit card interest’ are total scams, often from another country, so they don’t have to stop, even if you ask. I tell them, “That sounds great. He just went next door. I’ll go get him. I’ll be right back” and set the phone down. Time is the one thing they hate to lose. They’ll stop calling.
All automated sales robo-calls must now be authorized by you, in writing, in advance. The rest are now illegal and carry a federal fine of $16,000 per phone call. There are exceptions for purely informational calls — your next dental appointment, your flight’s been cancelled, a few others.
There’s a fun, easy way to make sure the rest stop calling you. Permanently.
Political callers usually ask for someone by name because they’ve donated money in the past, but you don’t even have to say you’re somebody else.
Interrupt them and announce in a happy voice . . .
“I’m so glad you called our Consumer Information and Marketing Hotline Service. The fee for using this service is $100 for the first minute and $100 for each additional minute. In order to continue, I’ll need your credit card number, or a company purchase order, or we can arrange financing for you.”
Or, use some variation; their company must pay you the $100, or they still haven’t paid their bill from the last time they called, or ask for the employee’s full name and business address so you can send them the bill personally, etc. They bothered you. Have some fun.
Smart folks will hang up and take you off their list. (In all honesty, you can just politely ask them to take your name off their list, but this really is much more fun. There’s very rarely reason to be rude.)
Dummies will apologize and say they made a mistake; they didn’t know.
Continue your ruse and tell them, “That’s OK. I just need an email from your manager, stating that you didn’t know about the fee for our service, and I’ll tear up the bill.”
Drop a letter from your email address so their message will bounce and they’ll waste their time, knowing they don’t dare call you for a correct address.
If they ever call back for any reason, they can’t claim ignorance, so demand your payment!
