Driven crazy by telemarketers
May 6, 2010 7:56 AM Subscribe
My cell phone has been exploding with calls from Indian pharmacy telemarketers in the past couple days -- as in, upwards of 20 calls a day. The numbers are all either "Unavailable" or "000-000-0000." I've asked a few of them to take me off their lists but, as expected, that was totally ineffectual. Do I have any recourse but to change my number if this keeps up?
I didn't think the Do Not Call registry works if the caller is out of the US.
posted by jerseygirl at 8:00 AM on May 6, 2010
posted by jerseygirl at 8:00 AM on May 6, 2010
I'm getting these too, and am just ignoring any "unknown name/unknown numbers".
posted by jquinby at 8:06 AM on May 6, 2010
posted by jquinby at 8:06 AM on May 6, 2010
Forward your number to a non-existent number for a couple of days. If they're using auto-dialers they'll log your number as a bad number, and should stop calling.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:11 AM on May 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by blue_beetle at 8:11 AM on May 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
I set 000-000-0000 and "unavailable" to have a silent ring. They don't leave messages, so the only hassle to me is that I see I missed a call, but then I go, "oh, right, it was those assholes again."
In my experience they call over and over for a short period, and then the calls go away for a while.
In the rare case someone called from an "unavailable" number and I actually wanted to talk to them, they could still leave a message and I could call back. But I don't think that's happened in a long, long time.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:23 AM on May 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
In my experience they call over and over for a short period, and then the calls go away for a while.
In the rare case someone called from an "unavailable" number and I actually wanted to talk to them, they could still leave a message and I could call back. But I don't think that's happened in a long, long time.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:23 AM on May 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
I just implemented this, so I don't know if it works yet, but my work phone gets these, so as it is an 800 #, I've jotted it down and plan to call it back and put it on hold - hopefully for a very, very long time. Hopefully if it is costing them money, they'll delete the number.
posted by cestmoi15 at 9:30 AM on May 6, 2010
posted by cestmoi15 at 9:30 AM on May 6, 2010
On my Android phone, I can send those numbers directly to voicemail if I add them as a contact. Probably other phones can do this too.
posted by zvs at 10:46 AM on May 6, 2010
posted by zvs at 10:46 AM on May 6, 2010
What I do when this has happened to me is to turn my phone on silent, check it often for voicemail. And as noted above, most of these people will not leave voicemail, and will give up in fairly short order if you ignore them.
Good luck.
posted by dancestoblue at 12:31 PM on May 6, 2010
Good luck.
posted by dancestoblue at 12:31 PM on May 6, 2010
No solution here, but wanted to chime in that I've been getting tons of the same call, too.
posted by dzaz at 1:05 PM on May 6, 2010
posted by dzaz at 1:05 PM on May 6, 2010
most of these people will not leave voicemail, and will give up in fairly short order if you ignore them.
Or they just keep at it -- a week and counting, so far. Which doesn't really bother me (yay silent ringtones), but this group does appear to be unusually persistant. Since they're overseas they don't have to worry about any of the usual anti-telemarketing laws.
posted by aramaic at 1:18 PM on May 6, 2010
Or they just keep at it -- a week and counting, so far. Which doesn't really bother me (yay silent ringtones), but this group does appear to be unusually persistant. Since they're overseas they don't have to worry about any of the usual anti-telemarketing laws.
posted by aramaic at 1:18 PM on May 6, 2010
Send 'em to voicemail and have the disconnected phone line tones play at the beginning of your voicemail recording.
posted by defcom1 at 4:45 PM on May 6, 2010
posted by defcom1 at 4:45 PM on May 6, 2010
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posted by anniecat at 7:59 AM on May 6, 2010