Many Lakewood residents – despite being registered with the Federal Do Not Call Registry – are still getting swamped with various telemarketing calls, sometimes at the worst hours of the day – bedtime.
One victim of the annoying calls says he received a call from an organization during the evening hours, and when he told the caller to remove their number from the list, the woman responded, “I’ll call again”, and then hung up the phone on the homeowner.
If you’re getting annoyed by the calls however, you’re not alone. But to make things worse, if the calls are from a ‘non-profit’ organization, they may not stop any time soon.
According to the FCC, the Do-Not-Call registry does not prevent all unwanted calls. It does not cover the following:
- calls from organizations with which you have established a business relationship;
- calls for which you have given prior written permission;
- calls which are not commercial or do not include unsolicited advertisements;
- calls by or on behalf of tax-exempt non-profit organizations
“What is frustrating, is that many times these call centers which send out automated calls, don’t even have an operator on the other line, so you pick up the phone and it just continues ringing”, says another victim.
In many cases, there is no option at the end of the phone call to remove yourself from the annoying list either.
So what can you do?
If you haven’t yet, you may register your residential telephone number, including wireless numbers, on the national Do-Not-Call registry by telephone or by Internet at no cost. Consumers can register on-line for the national do-not-call registry by going to http://www.donotcall.gov/. To register by telephone, call 1-888-382-1222.
How to complain?
In addition to complaints alleging violations of the national do-not-call list, you may also file a complaint against a telemarketer who is calling for a commercial purpose (e.g., not charitable organizations) IF:
- The telemarketer calls before 8 AM or after 9 PM; OR
- The telemarketer leaves a message, but fails to leave a phone number that you can call to sign up for their company specific do-not-call list; OR
- You receive a telemarketing call from a company that you have previously requested not call you; OR
- The telemarketing firm fails to identify itself; OR
- You receive a pre-recorded commercial message from someone with whom you do not have an established business relationship and to whom you have not given permission to call you.
You can file a complaint by telephone to 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322). TLS.
just this shabbos our phone rang 5 times from these kind of phone calls…
How often do u have to sign up for the Do not call? cause for a while it stoped but then started up again.
To Moshe B it is supposed to be good for 5 years, but in reality it is a joke. Your complaint is just registered with nothing else that is done.
just tell them ur the police station and they’ll leave you alone
Lately they call my cellphone as well! Where did they get that from??
“Didn’t pay those bills” Good Luck with those collection calls, their non stop!!
For a while I kept getting calls from a collection agency for the person that had my home phone # before me, there was nothing for me to do to convince them that they no longer have this # till one day I threatened I’m calling Police, next time they called, That was the last I heard from them!
My phone has call block on it. Stops them dead in there tracks.
how about those calls that when you pick up the phone you hear a click and it’s over. that’s even more upsetting.
i once heard if you pick up the phone and hear a click its telemarketing company trying to see whens best to call you and if you press # or * a couple of times it messes up their system and doesnt call you. not sure if its true but i do it anyways cuz it doesnt hurt…