Community Chat

[Jordan2]

I have posted about this before in the Electronics Forum. My mother is elderly and receives so many "scam" calls and just annoying calls daily. The only time she didn't get any was Christmas Eve through Sunday. She has Caller ID on her phone and also the number comes up on her TV screen. She is savvy enough to not pick up if she doesn't recognize the number. Anyway I had to call TWC today and the customer service rep was going to give her a call back. Sometimes they aren't calling from TWC itself but from another place where calls are routed to them(he never called). The phone rang twice today and I had to answer thinking it might be him. The first call comes up with a phone number but no name. When I picked it up no one said anything at first. She was asking for Mrs. so and so (she knew my mother's name) and said she was calling from M.A.D.D. Then someone else called, came up private caller. He too knew my mothers name and said he was calling from the police department for the widows and children fund. I would like to know how they can get away with these calls when my mother is on the Do Not Call list. Also my mother has an unlisted number and I don't know how they know her name.She also gets the call where they threaten her with arrest if she doesn't call to sort the problem out.Most times if we don't pick up there is no message. left. I'm sorry for the long rant, I just wish there was something that could be done. I have called the FTC to report certain calls but there isn't anything that they can do.

[SharkE]

let it go to answering machine what I do. I also bought 'ad block' from HSN. if I don't recognize the number or if it's a out of state # I push on 'block call' and it prevents them from calling again and the blocked # goes on the list that the machine keeps track of to prevent recalls.

[Krimpette]

As I understand it, charities are exempt from the DoNot Call list.  Not a good decision from my point of view, since I, too, get innundated with those calls.  I never, ever answer the phone unless I recognize the caller.  I figure if I miss a "real" call, they'll leave me a message.  

[Kachina624]

First,  the "do not call"  list is a useless joke.   Don't expect it to do anything and you won't be disappointed.   Have you contacted your local phone company for help?   I did,  and they put a recording on my line.   It says,  "this number doesn't take sales calls.   If this is a sales call,  hang up and add this to your do not call list.   If it is not a sales call,  press one to continue",  then my phone rings.

I get very few sales calls and so far no political or charity calls.   Once in a while some obnoxious smart a$$ salesperson will get through and I ream him out good.  I sometimes go several weeks without a single unwanted call. 

[SharkE]

after we signed up on the national Do Not Call registry and the local State one it helped a ton. Most of my calls come from idiots wanting the same person who I have told them 10 times "wrong number" and I block the out of state call and they just get another phone and try again. Merry go round.

[Jordan2]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

First,  the "do not call"  list is a useless joke.   Don't expect it to do anything and you won't be disappointed.   Have you contacted your local phone company for help?   I did,  and they put a recording on my line.   It says,  "this number doesn't take sales calls.   If this is a sales call,  hang up and add this to your do not call list.   If it is not a sales call,  press one to continue",  then my phone rings.

I get very few sales calls and so far no political or charity calls.   Once in a while some obnoxious smart a$$ salesperson will get through and I ream him out good.  I sometimes go several weeks without a single unwanted call. 

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I didn't know you could call your phone provider for help. I was thinking of getting the call blocker that I've seen on HSN. I'm worried that I won't know how to hook it up or how to use it.

[denisemb]

Between sharke's suggestion (doing the State call registry along with the National) and purchasing a Panasonic DEC 6.0 cordless & corded (4 phones total) answering and call blocking system from another channel, we've pretty much gotten rid of most of our unwanted calls. 

Only drawback to the Panasonic system is that even when you block a call it will ring once and then say "caller blocked".  But my husband gets a kick out of "foiling" them, LOL.  It also has a call announcing system for family/friends after the second ring so you know who's calling.  We love it, best $100 ever spent.

[curlywhitedog]

The Do Not Call list is a joke.  The callers that respect it are few and far between. Charities (real and fake) are exempt, as are political calls. Anyone you've ever done business with in the past is also exempt, although if you ask them to remove your name from their list, most will oblige.

About a year ago I bought a Call Blocker from Amazon, best thing I ever did. Calls that get blocked don't get through a second time (although they do ring once) and then the call disconnects and what the caller on the other end hears is his own dial tone.  Problem is that these pieces of garbage just cycle on to the next of their phone numbers as if by call #10 you're finally going to give in and pick up.  Nothing makes me more insane than that.  I have a horn I'd love to use, problem is, most of these calls are robo calls with no one on the other end for 10 seconds or more and I'm not wasting that much time waiting for some cretin to pick up the phone.

Here's a tip...the 866 "area code" (which is not even a real area code) is a dead give away for a spam call.

Maria

[JustJazzmom]

Also want to add that if your mother's phone is on a VOIP instead of a true landline, then you can go to nomorobo.com and see if your mother's line is compatible with this call blocking system. It's free and if it's a scam phone call, it rings once then stops.

[Lucky Charm]

I got hit so many times this month from charities, free cruises, and a couple other places.  I got more of those calls than personal calls some days!

So I let them all go to voice mail, called the numbers back from caller ID and one even provided me with the Do Not Call list.  I went thru the prompts to be removed and lo and behold, I haven't been bothered once. 

So last night I unsubscribed to about 15 businesses that just hit me over and over almost every day with emails.

Relief once again!

I done cleaned house!!