Re: [privacy] FTC Hangs Up on Telemarketers' Pitch

[Blanchard_Michael () emc com]

 I get an awful lot of survey calls at home.  I've started doing the same thing that I used to do with telemarketers.  
I play a little game of "how long can I keep them on the phone".  20 minutes once with a telemarketer on the phone, 
they're not supposed to spend more than 10.  I almost turned it into an art form, not letting them get a word in edge 
wise and when they did get a word in, I'd start to spill out all kinds of meaningless dribble about whatever word they 
just said and wherever my overactive imagination took me during my dribble tirade.  I was always careful not to be 
vulgar or rude, however.  
  The survey callers must have quite a bit of info on me, as even though they are all pretty quick to hang up right at 
that ten minute mark, I almost always receive a dollar or two in the mail as a "thank you" and as a bribe to call them 
back and respond to the survey.  I just give the cash (it's always one or two crisp dollar bills) to the kids and never 
call back.
   It's fun to see how much personal information I can get out of the callers.

  I'd just wish they'd stop calling... I'd be happy to stop playing my little game....

 Mike B


Michael P. Blanchard 
Antivirus / Security Engineer, CISSP, GCIH, CCSA-NGX, MCSE
Office of Information Security & Risk Management 
EMC ² Corporation 
4400 Computer Dr. 
Westboro, MA 01580 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Drsolly [mailto:drsollyp () drsolly com] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 12:12 PM
To: Blanchard, Michael (InfoSec)
Cc: rms () bsf-llc com; privacy () whitestar linuxbox org
Subject: RE: [privacy] FTC Hangs Up on Telemarketers' Pitch

On Tue, 17 Oct 2006 Blanchard_Michael () emc com wrote:

>  If you ask me, the "do not call" list is backwards...  There should be an "ok to call" list that people have to opt 
> into , instead of a "do not call" list that people have to opt out of.  
>
>  130 million people opting out of telemarketing calls is a HUGE
> statement saying that pretty much no-one wants these types of calls.  I
> only wish that there was a way to opt out of the charity, political, and
> any other unsolicited phone call....

Here's what I do.

I ask to talk to the supervisor, and then the manager, and work my way up 
the chain as far as possible. I explain to them that, although I do 
understand that they are legally permitted to call me, the fact that I'm 
on the DNC list means that they know that I don't want to be called, and 
that politeness requires that they respect my wishes. Since they are being 
impolite to me, I'm going to be difficult.

I also talk to their PR department, and if I can discover the home phone 
number of their top person, I call him at home, apologising for the 
intrusion, but explaining that it's very important to me that I talk to 
him. Even if he doesn't want me to. And I hope that I haven't interrupted 
anything important that he was doing.

If it's a charity, then I explain to them that I'm putting them on my "Do 
Not Donate" list, even if I donated to them in the past.

If it's political, I explain that their unwanted phone call has given me 
a reason to vote for their competition, even though I had planned to vote 
for them before they called.

And if it's a survey, I explain to them that I'm a member of the 
organisation that deliberately gives wrong answers to unsolicited 
telephone surveys, because we believe that if enough people do this, the 
surveyers will be forced to find an alternative method of surveying.

Then I call them again, the next day, and ask to be put on their "do not 
call" list.

Then I call them again the next day, to check that I've been put on their 
"Do not call" list.

All very politely, and reasonably.

And so on, until I get tired of talking to them. It's immaterial if 
they're tired of talking to me.

Apply the test of "what would happen if a lot of people did this", and you 
can see that what I'm doing is a good idea.

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