Recently we have been getting numerous phone calls that as soon as you answer only has a recording with a -sweet_ woman's voice saying: "Sorry I dialed the wrong number."
You hear this before you get a chance to say anything and there is an immediat4 hang up! Is this a new way telemarketers are getting back at folks who are on the national l do not call list?
There are several of these calls received each a day! If they know they dialed the wrong number before you answer, why do they dial the wrong number in the beginning?
Interesting. I have never had a call like that, but do get plenty of those annoying telemarketer calls where when you answer the telephone, there is dead silence and then (it seems like 10 seconds) someone says "Hello, is this Mister So and So?". I think if I had to get calls from telemarketers, I would rather get the type you are getting that doesn't keep you hanging on the line waiting to see if someone is at the other end of the line.
How do you get their fax number? In over twelve years I've never gotten a junk fax with a return number on it and when I use caller ID the numbers are blocked.
MOST of the ones I receive have fax-back numbers where you fill in the blanks and send back to them. Usually a different number from the origination number. (I block all fax that don't have CSID *and* CID.)
My answer to junk faxers is to send them 10 pages of solid black (easy to do with WinFax, gets their attention right away :)
...Jim Thompson
Better than that Jim!....skotch tape 4 black sheets of paper end to end and then form it in a loop through your fax machine so it runs continuosly. Then hit send and go to bed....LOL....Jim
WinFax is computer-based, no machinery. So I could send hundreds of pages, no sweat. But I figured that at about 10 pages the recipient would notice. (Black sheets use toner ;-)
Legally, CSID is required, but seems to be unenforced.
There is a device called the Tele Zapper, which gives computer calls a disconnected # signal, so your # is removed from their list. It works in reducing calls. The best way is changing your # every year or so and go unlisted. Now I get one call a year from solicitors, I used to get 5 a day.
Telemarketers use an automated dialing system from which your number has been dialed. If you don't pick up (or your answering machine does) it immediatly hangs up and dials the next number on the list. The telemark goon just waits for you to pick up after a 2-3 second delay.
If after the first second no one replys to you, start pressing the pound sign (or any other key I think) very fast for a couple seconds. It signals the telegoons listing computer that your number is invalid and removes it. Trust me, it works like a charm! : )
Wish this were so, but the FTC only requires that they have a toll free number that can be called to remove your fax number from their list.
Of the faxes I get, about 2/3rds have a working number. The rest either have no number, a smartass answer on the other end -- "You have reached our fax removal number. Good bye" -- or are busy for days on end, or are out of service.
And calling the toll-free number and entering your fax number gets you off only THAT company's list. You are still on the for-sale commercial list.
Sometimes I get taken off a fax list for one type of fax from company "A" but then get the same fax from company "B". Then the other day I got one from a company with a UK return address and a US 800 number for removal that didn't work.
And I have NEVER gotten a junk fax with a return fax number or originating fax number on it. None of the ads I get want a response.
I did get one last week with a 900 number offering to take me off the fax list for a $3.25 a minute telephone call that would take 3-5 minutes. This was the sole purpose of the fax -- petty extortion.
And I agree with another poster to this thread that sending back a black page or 4 sounds fun, but the faxes are almost certainly sent by computer, not by paper-driven office fax machines. Even if a junk faxer was so stupid as to use a regular office fax to send their junk fax, their machine would be running all the time sending faxes around the country so you would never get through. So I doubt the stories of sending back faxes. It sounds good but I doubt it works or even happened.
One thing that has given me a bit of satisfaction with the recorded messages that give their spiel and then ask you to press the one button now. Please, press the one button now. This only works if you get the number on caller ID.
The consecutive numbers are dialed by a computer. If you press one, you are transferred to a salesperson. If you continually dial the number, eventually, you will ring in just as the computer makes a connection. Now you have them. Lay the receiver down and go to bed. It will stay connected until a live person checks to see why there is no one pressing the one button.
You guys are hilarious. Is lint collecting and watching grass grow getting boring?
It must be nice to have so much free time that you can mess with telemarketers. They really don't care of you do this, nor does it really beat them out of anything.
Most phone systems will simply time out and drop the call.
Do you guys also perpetuate the old wives tale that says adding an extra penny to your phone bill crashes the phone company's billing systems?
But I do know that staple, spindle, and mutilate really does get a credit card company's attention. Many years ago (when statements were punched cards) I had a credit balance become an owed balance. No amount of calling cured the problem. But punching the hell out of the bill plus adding some big-ass staples sure did. They called me and said, "Please don't do that again". But they fixed the balance problem ;-)
Take about eight sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 paper and tape them together length wise to form a sheet approximately 8 1/2 x 88. With a felt pen, draw a line in the along the length of the sheet. Dial the fax number and start this sheet feeding through your fax machine. When it gets partially through, bring the one end to meet the other and tape them together, making a loop which will keep the fax going until the other machine runs out of paper. And don't forget to disable caller ID on your machine. Now I must go and clean the lint out of my belly button.
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