Unwanted Phone Calls

[goldstar]

Is it just me or has anyone else been experiencing unwanted phone calls pushing products, lower electric bills, lower interest rates on your credit cards, etc. ? I'm now getting them on my cell phone during the day and it's annoying. At least on my cell I can take the time to block the respective phone # but it's often tough to do when you're up on an extension ladder or in an attic. If anyone else has a better solution please post it here.

I had a conversation with one of my friends recently regarding Verizon and their offering of a service to block these unwanted calls. His theory is that Verizon has been accommodating these aggressive phone-sales companies so that Verizon, in turn, can provide the call-blocking service to their customers for a monthly fee. I don't usually buy into this cloak-and-dagger stuff but this seems like it could be true.

 

[hbiss]

I don't believe it either. What I do is assign a different (normal) ringtone to the numbers in my contact list and another (actually a duck quack) for all others. So now when a telemarketer calls I look around and say "there's those ducks again". Yeah, I know that there will be legitimate calls from people who are not in my list, but I usually know who I just gave my number out to. So a quick look when I'm expecting a call is better than having to look all the time.

-Hal

 

[kwired]

I don't believe it either. What I do is assign a different (normal) ringtone to the numbers in my contact list and another (actually a duck quack) for all others. So now when a telemarketer calls I look around and say "there's those ducks again". Yeah, I know that there will be legitimate calls from people who are not in my list, but I usually know who I just gave my number out to. So a quick look when I'm expecting a call is better than having to look all the time.

-Hal

And those that are truly desired calls to you will hopefully leave you a message and you can call them back. Most telemarketers and/or scammers don't leave messages, they move on to another potential target.

 

[Fulthrotl]

Is it just me or has anyone else been experiencing unwanted phone calls pushing products, lower electric bills, lower interest rates on your credit cards, etc. ? I'm now getting them on my cell phone during the day and it's annoying. At least on my cell I can take the time to block the respective phone # but it's often tough to do when you're up on an extension ladder or in an attic. If anyone else has a better solution please post it here.

I had a conversation with one of my friends recently regarding Verizon and their offering of a service to block these unwanted calls. His theory is that Verizon has been accommodating these aggressive phone-sales companies so that Verizon, in turn, can provide the call-blocking service to their customers for a monthly fee. I don't usually buy into this cloak-and-dagger stuff but this seems like it could be true.

my current cellphone number i've had since 1999.
it's my primary contact number.
so it's been passed around. i get anywhere from 5~15
robocalls a day.

used to be it was mostly from US pharmacy, and father manassas,
the electronic preacher. they have faded out the last two years,
and now it's just robocalls, from spoofed numbers.

i have three lines of defense. the first is blocking specific numbers
on iphone. create a contact, name it A1 so it's at the top of the dialing
directory, easy to find, and download a silent ringtone, as iphone doesn't
have a silent ringtone by default. turn off all annunciation from the blocked
contact. add numbers as they call you. i'm up to about 300 now.

second is youmail. it does blocking. enable that.

third is nomorobo, at the app store. a continuously updating block on half
a million telemarketers. from the app store.

here's what half a days worth of robocalls looked like yesterday. it amounted
to a dozen by the end of the day. none of them i even knew arrived.

 

[cowboyjwc]

We keep a land line, just to have a number to put down when they require one, but we never answer it, anyone we want to talk to has our numbers.

One problem I have is that I'm on a 24hr call list here at work and when PD or FD calls the number comes up as some weird number and it never seems to be the same one twice, so I've missed a few of those call.

 

[69gp]

Its a pain getting calls at home and now on the cell. About a year ago I read an article where a guy in the UK kept getting calls. He got fed up and got another phone line that was equal to what we have for a 900 number. You know you need to pay to call it. Well when he got unsolicited calls he would tell them to call him on his 900 number. Pretty sure he was getting somewhere around $3.00 a minute. Heck I would talk to them all day long at that rate.

 

[Coppersmith]

About a year ago I read an article where a guy in the UK kept getting calls. He got fed up and got another phone line that was equal to what we have for a 900 number. You know you need to pay to call it. Well when he got unsolicited calls he would tell them to call him on his 900 number. Pretty sure he was getting somewhere around $3.00 a minute. Heck I would talk to them all day long at that rate.

Brilliant!

 

[Cow]

my current cellphone number i've had since 1999.
it's my primary contact number.
so it's been passed around. i get anywhere from 5~15
robocalls a day.

used to be it was mostly from US pharmacy, and father manassas,
the electronic preacher. they have faded out the last two years,
and now it's just robocalls, from spoofed numbers.

i have three lines of defense. the first is blocking specific numbers
on iphone. create a contact, name it A1 so it's at the top of the dialing
directory, easy to find, and download a silent ringtone, as iphone doesn't
have a silent ringtone by default. turn off all annunciation from the blocked
contact. add numbers as they call you. i'm up to about 300 now.

second is youmail. it does blocking. enable that.

third is nomorobo, at the app store. a continuously updating block on half
a million telemarketers. from the app store.

here's what half a days worth of robocalls looked like yesterday. it amounted
to a dozen by the end of the day. none of them i even knew arrived.

View attachment 18120

View attachment 18121

I use extreme call blocker. I'm only up to 54 blocked numbers so far.

It seems Jill forgot to arm the security system yesterday, she might need a friendly reminder to remember to do that.....:angel:

 

[JFletcher]

Its a pain getting calls at home and now on the cell. About a year ago I read an article where a guy in the UK kept getting calls. He got fed up and got another phone line that was equal to what we have for a 900 number. You know you need to pay to call it. Well when he got unsolicited calls he would tell them to call him on his 900 number. Pretty sure he was getting somewhere around $3.00 a minute. Heck I would talk to them all day long at that rate.

hahaha nice. I'd talk all night long.

 

[infinity]

My strategy is that unless it's someone from my contacts I simply never answer the phone. Important callers will leave a voicemail, spammers don't. I then block the numbers of all unknown callers.

 

[Coppersmith]

My strategy is that unless it's someone from my contacts I simply never answer the phone. Important callers will leave a voicemail, spammers don't. I then block the numbers of all unknown callers.

Unfortunately, it's been my experience that potential clients don't leave messages and don't call back if I don't answer. They just call the next guy on the list so I am forced to answer every call except those I have already marked in my contact list as "spammer", "sales", or "idiot".

 

[kwired]

Its a pain getting calls at home and now on the cell. About a year ago I read an article where a guy in the UK kept getting calls. He got fed up and got another phone line that was equal to what we have for a 900 number. You know you need to pay to call it. Well when he got unsolicited calls he would tell them to call him on his 900 number. Pretty sure he was getting somewhere around $3.00 a minute. Heck I would talk to them all day long at that rate.

And those telemarketers or scammers actually call back on a 900 number?

 

[tom baker]

I use Hiya, it was posted here in the campfire chat, as a call blocker, works great

 

[maleka]

Register your phone number at www.donotcall.gov and you won't get any calls. I never had a call since I registered my numbers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[hbiss]

Hang in there, you will. Telemarketers couldn't care less about the do not call list. About the only telemarketers that abide by the list are the few honest ones.

-Hal

 

[ramsy]

View attachment 18121

Consumer reports highest rated call blocker for landlines for several years, been using Nomorobo since it became available on cell phone networks.

However, call blockers don't prevent price shoppers, competitors, or license-board stings from constantly busting my balls, and wasting my time on the phone.

My clients claim no one else answers the phone, so my competitors lose minor repairs & quick-fix emergencies to voicemail, but perhaps not larger project requiring competative bids.

If the demand for minor-service work tolerated voicemail, it may be the best solution to unsolicited calls.

 

[kwired]

Register your phone number at www.donotcall.gov and you won't get any calls. I never had a call since I registered my numbers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Might work for reducing legitimate telemarketers, but for scammers it won't matter at all. Some (maybe even most) scammers aren't even located in the US.

 

[Coppersmith]

Register your phone number at www.donotcall.gov and you won't get any calls. I never had a call since I registered my numbers.

Hmmm. You must be luckier than me. I've been registered on the do not call list for years and I get a dozen telemarketing calls a day.

 

[ramsy]

Do Not Call registry only works when you report and prosecute the callers.

Taking such time & effort eventually gets your number on the bad guys black list.

The poor single Mom working from home, hired as an independant contractor, is most likely the person fined, not the principle dirt bag.

 

[hbiss]

A few months ago I read that they nabbed some slimeball whose organization was responsible for over a trillion robo calls over something like a ten year period. All they did was tell him to cease and desist otherwise next time there will be big fines.

Betcha he just moved his operation off shore.

-Hal