Stop the Telephone Solicitor

It's 5: 36pm and you're putting the food on the table for your family's evening meal. The phone rings. Everyone looks hesitantly at everyone else. Who's going to pick up the phone this time? Everyone can guess what the phone call is about. You're tempted to let the answering machine catch it but you're tentatively waiting for call from your boss. You pick up the phone and say, "Hello." Your family, who have taken their seats at the table, take one look at your face and all shake their heads. Their guess was right. You listen to a little of the spiel before you slam down the phone whispering obscenities toward the contraption.

My husband and I have been doing this for so long that we can't even remember when we started the ritual. We had called our telephone company to make sure that we had opted for filtered calls. It turned out that the telephone company had every residency on this option but it wasn't doing very much for the clients. The telephone company suggested that we add caller id to our account. Because of our financial situation, this wasn't feasible and it wouldn't stop the telemarketers from calling anyway. All that would do is just give us the phone number of the telemarketing company.

Many of the unsolicited calls are recordings these days. If you have the patience to wait until the end of the message, chances are you will be given the option to not receive calls from that particular company again. Did you get another call after that? Choose the option to speak to their representative about the product or service that the call was about. Explain to that person that you do not wish to receive any further calls from that company and that any future calls may result in a lawsuit.

Register with the Do Not Call Registry at 1-888-382-1222 toll free or at www.donotcall.gov. If you have already registered, has it been 5 years? If so, you need to re-register. If your state has its own registry, you need to take part in this too. You can go to www.ataconnect.org/public/compliance/donotcallbystate.php to find the list of states that have this.

Don't be afraid to complain. It seems that there are so many people who are reluctant to call the phone number or write the letter and mail it to the company trying to sell their product or service. Unless you speak up, no one is going to know that the phone calls are annoying you. Two places where you are sure to get a sympathetic ear are your state consumer office and the FTC (go to www.donotcall.gov and click on "File a Complaint").