Good point. Some place used to sell that on late night tv, and it was also on the web for free.
The tone is the one you hear when you get a recording that says "OOOOOOeee. The number you have called is not in service." But you only want to play the tone, not the words, which will confuse your friends. :) I didn't know what the squealing was for until I heard about this.
My brother recorded the whole thing and made it his answering machine message. The first time I called I thought I dialed the wrong number, the second time I figured it out and waited for the beep. About a year later they came out with that thing for sale. I told him about it and he said "no shit, I haven't been getting many of those calls anymore!"
For over a year now I keep getting these calls for some woman who owes a lot of people a lot of money. If I tell them not to call they often hang up and call the next day. What I do now is get all the information about them that I can. Sometimes I act as if I'm going to give the person their message! I write down the name of the company and a number to reply to and the callers name. Stay friendly with them. When I'm finish getting the info. I jokingly tell them that I really don't know the person, but I recorded our conversation and I would sue the living shit out of them if this persons name ever shows up on my credit report or if they call again. Works pretty good!
LOL.
I had an early phone machine that was just an 8-track player with a casette deck in the same box, and a circuit board to relate them to each other. The 8-track tape was the outgoing message, and a piece of metal tape made it stop after one play.
The cassette recorded the message and started immediately. I thought I would be very bored hearing my own outgoing message over and over when I played my messages, but strangely, I never tired of my own voice.
But it was fun machine. It had no "beep". I had to make my own. For a while, I hit a wok with a wooden spoon and said "Please leave a message at the sound of the gong."
Sometimes I just said "Beep".
If I just said "PLease leave a message now", some people got all stymied. They wanted a beep.
But best of all was the message that said. "Hello..........Who is this?...............Why did you call?........." They htought it it was a real person on the phone and I got to hear everything they said, including when they figured out it was a machine talking to them.
I used to have a lot of fun with telemarketers and such but it took up too much of my time so I finally got a cheap answering machine and used the disconnected number message as my greeting, the unsolicited calls trickled off and finally stopped. Here's a link to a disconnected number message that you can put on your answering machine or keep handy on a hand held tape recorder to play into the phone when you see a jerk on your caller ID.
TDD
I bought a MagicJack several years ago when they first came out. The gadget quit working but for $20 a year I keep the phone number and give it out to anyone who is likely to violate my privacy like banks, hospitals, insurance companies and especially government agencies. The number rings and goes to voice-mail which is sent to my Email address as a wave file along with the Caller ID information, time and date. If I need to speak to the person, I call them back from a prepaid cellphone that I keep turned off unless I'm using it. You have to pay for privacy but it's not expensive if you're creative.
TDD
You might try forwarding your number to another that IS out of service. How you find such a number is a mystery.
Kurt Ullman wrote in news:KJKdnatiS5fYodfRnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:
I use a freeware program call Phone Tray Free
There are options to match on all calls marked "Private Number", "Out of Area", Local, Long Distance, and "Toll Free". You can also match on exact numbers or use a wildcard to match on any combination. For example, you can use the wildcard char "?" to catch all numbers matching 800-555-????. This is very useful with telemarketers who own a block of numbers that they call from.
Dee
Been there, done that. Last company I worked at I had access to the company phone system, and the more persistent telemarketers were added to a special blacklist that got that recording. They STILL kept calling, some 3-4 times a day, despite that trick recording.
No help to me. I have the TW bundle which includes phone for a 2 yr contract. I can't cancel the phone w/o paying more. And I do have a Goggle Voice number.
As soon as the SIT tones became widespread public knowledge a lot of auto dialers stopped paying attention to them.
Can't you have them give you a new phone number?
Perce
I had a similar problem. I got a second cell phone about 9 months ago. I got many calls from from bill collectors for "Michelle Smith" the apparent previous user of the phone number.
I recommend you avoid all the cute solutions, such as pretending to be the person in question, getting a message to them, or being in the bathroom.
Your best bet it to answer the calls. Tell them you recently acquired the phone number, and that the person they are looking for has never been at your location, you've never met the person they're looking for, and that the person they are looking for never will be at your location.
Other than the date when I received the new phone number from my cellular carrier, I refused to give any other information about myself, such as my name or address. Nonetheless, every collector agreed to stop calling.
Google the phone numbers, then you should be able to find out which collection agency you're dealing with.
The problem is that the scum collection agency then sells the debt to yet another collection agency. So you get to repeat the process.
Eventually, they all get the message. It has now been 23 days since I got a call for "Michelle Smith".
Don't throw around your phone number to people that don't need it. For example Lowe's and Auto Zone, who like to tie your purchases to your phone number.
Don't enter contests. The entry form is used as a tool to collect your personal data.
Check the fine print of all your bank accounts, credit cards, and insurance. Or call them up. Find the contact to remove you from all "special offers", marketing, and information sharing.
Inform every caller that you are on the DNC list, and speak the magic words, "Place me on your Do Not Call List".
Report every violation, every time, to the Federal DNC list and your state list (they probably have a website too).
_Mother of all Phone Pranks_ by Tom Mabe
Contact the Federal Trade Commission. We went round and round with ATT, made a complaint, and within two weeks a supervisor personally called and apologized, the debt was wiped out, and we got an $80 check.
I do not know your circumstances, if the calls are warranted, or what, but it seems as though they are over the top. The FTC WILL get their attention, particularly if the calls are interstate, and if they are in fact doing something wrong.
Steve
visit my blog at
Find out their number. Make a fax of gobbledygook, and make it in a loop, taping the ends of the sheets together on your fax. Dial their number at an hour where they will not be there, or where they will be out for the weekend. Send fax. It will keep looping, using up all the toner and/or paper on the other end and blocking them from business.
It's adolescent youtube stuff, but it works.
Steve
visit my blog at
Incurring a *massive* long-distance charge on your phone bill...
Nonsense. You really think businesses still receive faxes on paper? There must a few, still, but come on. Wake up, Steve, it's not 1985 any more.
More nonsense. You really think they only have one phone line?
Yes, it is. It's also illegal.
No, it doesn't. You're an idiot.
I've heard that at least a dozen times, and crack up every time I hear it.
Steve
visit my blog at
I have free long distance, so that disproves your last point. I don't know where you live, but if you're paying for long distance, you must be in the sticks. Are you on a dial up still?
I have a paper powered fax machine. I guess I'm an idiot on that angle, too.
Seems to me you have reflected your own inadequacies while trying to expose mine.
The OP was asking for ideas. You don't like mine, but he might. The worst thing you can do to hurt a telemarketer is take up some of their time in unfruitful effort. Write it down so you don't forget it.
I love ya, Doug. Even though you're a little off.
Steve
visit my blog at
I notice you didn't say anything about that point...
Therefore, everyone does. You're an idiot.
Yep. Especially if you think that businesses still use them. Like I said, there may be a few... but wake up, Steve. It's not 1985 any more.
You did a very good job of exposing your inadequacies all by yourself.
Only if he's an idiot too, or still stuck in 7th grade.
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