do-not-call list not such a good idea?
I’m starting to think that maybe being on the Do Not Call list is not such a good idea. We didn’t have a telemarketing problem before, I just put our number on the list as a just-in-case. And that’s when our telemarketing problems started.
We put our number on the list after the official start date, so there was a two-month period before it went into effect for us. This was supposedly to give telemarketers time to acquire a recent list that would have our name on it. But instead what (apparently) happened was that all the telemarketing companies acquired the list immediately, and then for the next two months considered it a handy directory of numbers to call. I can picture their train of thought now:
Because we went from having zero telemarketing calls, to one every couple of days or so, until that preliminary period ended. But the problems didn’t start there.
There are several classes of calls that the Do-Not-Call list doesn’t cover. They don’t stop non-profit companies or political campaign calls. And they don’t stop surveys. So now we’re getting more unwanted calls than ever — it’s just that they are what the government has decided are ‘good’ calls, instead of bad ones. But the line is getting grayer and grayer.
For instance, I’ve gotten several calls with a recording on the other line saying that they are calling on behalf of such-and-such company, and could we help them with a survey? Would we take advantage of their new such-and-such service? Here’s what our new service offers….
It’s basically nothing more than a telemarketing call, but by wrapping their message in a ’survey’ they can get away with it. So now, once again, the Do-Not-Call list is simply acting as a handy directory for companies that want to use telemarketing. How nice that everybody got together and put their numbers on this list for them to take advantage of….