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One of the things I get contacted about a lot are the bloody foreign call centers. Generally, there are two different methods for these. The first one are folks who are selling non-domestic products and services (e.g. resorts in Mexico or pharmaceutical products shipped from India. These folks have not a care in the world as to the National Do Not Call Registry or your rights in general. They know that there is nothing that you can do. You cannot take them to court as they are not selling a domestic product or service. The best thing to do with these chuckleheads is to politely say something like "I am too poor to go on a vacation now or ever. Sorry".
The second batch are folks (generally from call centers in India) who are call to do pre-screens for a U.S. based product or service. With the current housing market, mortgage brokers are turning to these folks to make cold calls (frequently to folks registered on the Do Not Call Registry) to you, verify information and then pass you on to your local mortgage broker. My understanding is that these leads frequently cost the local mortgage brokers up to $120 each.
There is a gentleman in Arizona that I have been speaking with who has been inundated with calls from the second group. On my advice, he started giving them information so he could get at the local mortgage brokers. He was actually informed by one of these brokers that they do this to avoid the liability of making calls to folks on the Do Not Call Registry. Too bad for this chucklehead that the law states quite specifically that they (the mortgage brokers) are liable for their contractors behavior. And this guy admitted it. Now this fellow in Arizona is looking at filing four claims against firms in Arizona. I shall keep you informed.
(Petition Taken Offline).
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I noticed that The Chronicle has written an article about the egregious telemarketers. Good article, Ryan. Leads me to think again about the National Do Not Call Registry and the enforcement levels associated with it.
As my regular visitors know, I have been pushing a petition to get Congress to facilitate a private right of action on violations of the Do Not Call Registry. I recently got into a discussion with people on an email distribution list who have a decidedly different focus than I do (they make little distinction between telemarketers who comply with the law and the egregious violators - one of them actually said that they wanted to destroy the industry). I have been discussing with folks the possibility of reducing the current $11,000 fine for violations of the Do Not Call Registry to $500 and making it available to the general populace as an easy claim to make in Small Claims Court - creating low-hanging fruit wherein folks could go after the folks who call, despite your being on the Do Not Call Registry. What are your thoughts? Please contact me here.
(Petition Taken Offline).
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A (relatively new) friend of mine - Amy Alkon - and I have spoken periodically, yet briefly, over the past several weeks about a friend of hers who was coming down to the final days of life due to lung cancer. Amy was but one of an army of close friends who gladly helped out with all the small things needed by those who are in such situations. I recall thinking that whenever it is my time to depart, I hope that I have just 50% of the support she was receiving.
Today, she died.
I found out about it when hitting Amy's blog and right at that time, I received an email from Amy giving me the news directly. It suddenly hit me who her friend was! Cathy Seipp! Writing for the online version of my favorite magazine, National Review, she always made me laugh. Bright, incisive and, well... so many other things. I did not know her personally, but I did know her writing. When an individual can get glowing praise from not only the élite of the conservative media, but also the very left-leaning Susan Estrich, you know she did something right. We are the better for her having been here as long as she was...
(Petition Taken Offline).
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In an effort to get the truth behind the assertions of those who assert that the
Do Not Call Registry has had a significant impact, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the FTC, asking for information as to the total number of numbers registered, total number of complaints and total number of enforcement actions. Although I was not provided with all the data that I requested (with no explanation as to the missing information), the information was quite illuminating. I shall be providing more data in the coming days, but the short story is that out of 2,884,474 registered complaints, the FTC and the Justice Department has brought only 25 cases. Even considering that some of these almost 3 million were either not applicable (e.g. political/charity calls) or were multiple complaints against the same entity, only 25 actions? Deplorable...
(Petition Taken Offline).
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Tonight was my second time on KSL's Nightside. For all the visitors in their listening area (they are based out of Utah), you need to listen to their show. They share the same mentality that I do (standing up for your rights and not letting anybody tell you different). Practical, no-nonsense guys. Hey Jon: go after those newspaper telemarketers if they do not get the message. Give me a call and I will walk you through it (grin).
(Petition Taken Offline).
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As some can attest, the actions that folks such as myself feel we must take (against the worst of the telemarketers) can result in some pretty hefty costs (whether such is in court or as a result of actions by federal or state authorities). Whether violations occured due to ignorance of the TCPA, improperly trained sales associates, difficulty in managing
the internal Do Not Call Lists and requests for Do Not Call Policies or a proper scrub of your leads against the Federal Do Not Call Registry and/or the state Do Not Call Registries (where such are in existence), you are still legally required to comply with the TCPA
I was contacted by
the Sales and Marketing Director for a firm (Contact Center Compliance) whose whole purpose is to provide software and services to call centers and firms who make telemarketing calls. I queried him at length (from operational, procedural and technical facets) as to their capabilities, cost structures, etc. I have decided to endorse their service. (In the interests of full disclosure, I do get a small cut - all of which gets donated to Papermill Creek Childrens Corner via the PayPal donation link setup for such.)
The prices are extremely reasonable to ensure compliance, so I suggest you at least check them out.
(Petition Taken Offline).
Write your Member of Congress
I received an email directly from somebody who works in the telemarketing industry. Read on and enjoy:
Why are you promoting such rudeness and hatred towards people who are just trying to make a decent living? I work as a teleservice specialist with a non-profit, and it sickens me when I get people on the phone who use all sorts of juvenile tricks to get me to hang up. Should I sue them, too, when they use air horns in my ears and I suffer hearing loss? Or should I just sue you?
Seriously. Does it make you feel better to torment people who are just trying to do their JOBS? If so, then I think you should stop focusing so much on making teleservice specialists hate their jobs, and more on yourself and why you're so spiteful, because frankly, I do believe that qualifies you as being a sadistic bastard.
I just pray I never get you or any of your cronies on the phone. But you probably think too highly of yourself to donate to any non-profit organization. Hopefully that's the case.
My response to her:
"Hey Kikki: If you bothered to read the website materials, I advocate going after those who egregiously violate the TCPA. I have heard the arguments regarding telemarketers just trying to make a living. Most are honest and follow the law. Others do not. If they cannot be bothered to follow the laws, than they are fair game.
As to my level of charity giving: once again, if you had bothered to read the website content, you will see that I donate the vast amount that I get from settlements [editor: and judgments]. Additionally, I contribute 15% of my income to charitable causes.
Before you open your mouth, you may wish to check your bloody premises."
(Petition Taken Offline).
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A common question I get is how to deal with Junk Faxes. Getting woken up at 2:00 AM because a fax comes in is rather annoying. Finding out that it is nothing more than a spam fax promoting some bloody vacation or mortgage or toner cartidge refill just sends folks through the roof. I have been *saying* that I would put together a whole section on this, yet have found that client commitments have taken up most of my time. Not being the kind of guy who likes to re-invent the wheel for no good reason, I point all interested parties to JunkFax.org. EVERYTHING you need on how to Take Back Your Fax Machine appears to be here in great detail.
(Petition Taken Offline).
Write your Member of Congress
A healthy dose of the email which I get centers upon folks who are seeking help from calls that just will not stop. One such individual in Florida contacted me as she was getting calls several times a night (in the middle of the night), waking her and her family. These calls - going on for months - were auto-dialed calls, thus nobody was on the other end when answered. With the data she provided to me, I contacted Ceridian - a human resources solutions provider. Passing on the data provided to me, I implored them to do something about this matter. All I can say is that they were extremely professional. The calls immediately stopped and it turned out it was a small error in their payroll data collection systems. They quickly owned up to their error and sent a nice letter of apology to the folks who had had their sleep disturbed for months. If Ceridian's response to this situation is any indication of their normal services, I highly suggest all applicable businesses to consider their services and products.
(Petition Taken Offline).
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Steve Brubaker (Senior VP of InfoCision - a major provider of telemarketing services) posted on his blog a half-rant against the efforts of myself and others and a half-warning to his fellow industry professionals. I responded to his posting and urge others to do likewise, if they are so inclined. The article in question (as well as others on his blog) provides an illuminating view of the industry and their approach. It is the same thing I have heard a dozen times, and helps to explain why the industry is viewed in such a poor light.
(Addendum: I find it mildly humorous that Mr. Brubaker could not be bothered to contact me directly, but I suppose such is the nature of blogs...)
(Petition Taken Offline).
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Those who visit this site on a regular basis or who have heard me on the radio or seen me on TV know that one of the things that drives me nuts is the fact that since the inception of the Do Not Call Registry, the total number of unwanted telemarketing calls that I have received has actually increased. (By the way, *still* no response from my Member of the U.S. House of Representatives.) I have received numerous e-mails about this. Yes the calls from the large telemarketing firms and their clients has decreased (they are a big fat enforcement target), but the smaller firms know they can get away with making the calls. Jan Burch posted this comment in the Telemarketing Horror Stories area of this site. I like her idea of keeping a whistle by the telephone. I had been thinking of purchasing some air horns (you know...the kind used at high school basketball games) to keep by the phone. Maybe I should buy a gross, brand them with KillsTheCalls.com and sell them on this site (chuckling).
(Petition Taken Offline).
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Good day, folks. Quick break from work to post an update. My Member of the U.S. House of Representatives is Doris Matsui. I faxed to both her district office and her office in D.C. this letter. This was a couple days ago. In my experience, legislator's (federal and state) are quite responsive to their constituent's requests (especially when such constituents follow up the facsimile with a telephone call *and* have received news coverage nationally and within the legislator's district). Thus far, I have received nothing from Rep. Matsui's office. Keep referring your friends to the petition!
(Petition Taken Offline).
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For my Sacramento-area neighbors, KOVR CBS 13 News shall be running a story tonight on the 10:00 o'clock news about my efforts. For those outside the viewing area, you should be able to view streaming video tomorrow.
(Petition Taken Offline).
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I was contacted by Congressman Doolittle's office again today. It seems that folks are complaining to the Congressman about the routine violation of the provisions of the TCPA which govern the Do Not Call Registry. (Also read my information on political calls.) Many of you folks can certainly attest to this problem. I ask you to sign the petition I have created here and that you also send a message directly to your Member of Congress. To maximize the effect, inform your Member that although the Do Not Call Registy has eliminated some calls, there are still a great number of calls which are getting through. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need any help.
(Petition Taken Offline).
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Hey folks, I was contacted by an Orlando television station that is interested in examining these issues. If there is anybody in Florida who has either filed suit against egregious telemarketers or is planning to do such (and wishes to talk to the press), please contact me via the Contact link above so that I may get you connected. Many thanks.
(Petition Taken Offline).
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Just a quick note: An interview I did with CBS 5 News in Phoenix, Arizona shall be broadcast tonight on the 10:00 o'clock news. For those outside the viewing area, you should be able to view streaming video tomorrow (they have already added a preview on their site).
(Petition Taken Offline).
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As I get the time, I am modifying existing code for a web-based and a Windows-based application which shall enable you to log your calls and share data (e.g. intelligence on telemarketing firms) with other users. I am hoping to have these ready by Wednesday, but paying gigs come first, so there may be a delay on this. Additionally, you will see that I changed the side bar a bit. I moved the google ads down so that they were not quite so intrusive. I added a download FireFox button (any Windows user who does not use FireFox as their primary browser is doomed to slow-loading web pages and security holes galore), an In The News set of links as well as a Related Resources section.
(Petition Taken Offline).
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I have been asked by many if I make any money off this site. I do make a little money off the advertisements on your right, but that goes towards my bandwidth (and now the prizes for the contest). Any additional monies that I make off this site shall be given to a project that was near and dear to my late mother's heart - Papermill Creek Children's Corner. Several folks have asked if they can contribute to the services I am providing on this website. As the ad revenue is just above self-supporting, I thank you for your offer, but would instead ask that you consider contributing to Papermill Creek. 
(Petition Taken Offline).
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I scraped a little code off of one of my other sites and added a new fun little facility wherein you folks could add you own Telemarketing Horror Stories. Write about those pesky telemarketers who would not leave you alone! You can also add information on (website, phone number) for the company in question so that you can share the intelligence you have gathered with other.
Let me know what you think. Add your Horror Story here, or view the horror stories from the link at the top of each page or from here.
(Petition Taken Offline).
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(Keep them coming: 338 thus far.)
Still getting good traffic and am helping a lot of people. I have had a few successes helping folks out in the past few days (including stopping calls coming in all night long, thus disturbing the sleep of one poor lady - to quote her: "thank God it's over!").
I have decided to stage a contest. Although I am not making much on the google AdSense on my site, I am making enough to cover my bandwidth plus a tiny bit extra which I am going to utilize to purchase some t-shirts or mugs. In an effort to motivate folks to pass the word and get people to sign the petition, as of March 15, 2007, the top ten referring e-mail addresses shall receive a free Kill The Calls t-shirt or mug or the like. (I shall canvass the winners on March 16 and see which way they want to go.) All that you need to do, is copy and paste the language provided (after you sign the petition) into an email and ship it to 500 of your closest friends (grin). I am hopeful that we can garner at least 50,000 signatories by that time, so get cracking! (For those who wish to participate, yet have already signed the petition, simply forward on the website address and ask them to submit YOUR email in the referring e-mail field.)
I want to thank all for your support and let you know that I am still making my way through the emails.
(Petition Taken Offline).
Write your Member of Congress
(Keep them coming: 254 signatures in just a few hours.)
Well folks, I was able to find a few moments to create an online petition. The purpose of this petition is two-fold.
1. Garner support for HR 479 so that we can make political and campaign oriented calls subject to the National Do Not Call Registry, and
2. Garner support towards enabling violations of the National Do Not Call Registry to be prosecuted as a Private Right of Action. If we can persuade Congress to go for this (against the wishes of the telemarketing industry), than it would allow us to sue the egregious telemarketers for up to $11,000 per phone call they make to us when we are listed on the National Do Not Call Registry. Presently, only the government can sue these folks. Obviously, the government only goes after the big fish, leaving the rest to torment us with no relief.
(Petition Taken Offline).
Write your Member of Congress
Hey folks, please check out this page on political calls. I am attempting to garner support for a bill currently before Congress and would appreciate it you folks could help me out!
Quick update, as I am slammed. National Public Radio interview has been done. I have completed three radio interviews thus far. I have another one tonight and next week I am being interviewed by a CBS affiliate in Arizona. For those who have contacted me, please be patient. I have a bucket-load of client obligations that I have to meet, so it could be a few days before I get back to you. Thanks for all the support and spread the word as to how you can take your phone back!
Yesterday was a bit crazy due to the MSNBC.com article about my efforts and this website. Due to client needs (I am a Windows software and web developer), I was not able to keep up with even 10% of all the email I received. I shall do my best to get back to all of you in the next few days. Note on the junk faxes: Yes these are illegal. I am working with some folks (as I am slammed with my real work at the moment) to provide this data to you as quickly as possible. Please stay tuned.
I am being interviewed tomorrow by Jim Zarroli of National Public Radio. I am not sure when the interview will be broadcast, but I shall provide appropriate times and links when such is provided to me.
I just did a radio interview on the Mike and Dave Show on 1190 KEX in Portland, Oregon. For all those who live there, I beleive it will broadcast today between 4:00 and 7:00.
Due to my linking to them on this website, I got a nice e-mail from SFC (Ret) Marty Horn, the head of AnySoldier.com. For those of you who are not aware of these folks, you need to educate yourselves. Started as a family effort to help Sergeant Brian Horn of the 173rd Airborne Brigade (508th Infantry) take care of his unit, these folks have done wonders for bringing a little bit of home to our soldiers, sailors and marines stationed overseas. I utilize a good percentage of the proceeds from my efforts against the egregious telemarketers to support our troops, and I highly suggest that you do as well. They have a facility for searching for members of the military who make requests for some pretty basic items. You get the info, go to costco and ship off a box or two via Priority Mail. Skip the movies this week and help these men and women to remember the little comforts of home. Whether you have family serving in Iraq or Afghanistan (as we do) or not, this is a more than worthy program.
Well folks, this site has experienced some crazy traffic today. A great deal of emails have come through as well. I want to mention a few things while I am taking a few minutes break from work. Many people are wondering about junk faxes. Yes, there are provisions for such. I shall be adding information on such in the next several days. Another IMPORTANT thing to note: As I mention elsewhere on this site, there are many jurisdictions and each will have its own rules. I have been quite properly corrected that some small claims courts explicitly allow attorneys to repesent the telemarketers who will be the future defendants in your case(s). As mentioned elsewhere, check your local court rules. If you are unsure of the specifics, you can usually get some guidance from the clerks (procedural guidance only) as well as referrals to local small claims advisory entities where such exist. I am not an attorney, so follow the adage of "trust, but verify". Subtleties in local court rules can trip you up.
I have received complaints about the google ads to your right. I *know* that some of them benefit the telemarketing industry. I am examining different means to attempt to filter such out, but as the content on this site is all about telemarketers, Google's logic believes that a significant portion of the visitors may be looking for telemarketing services. For those who say I should have no ads at all and just provide the information in an ad-free environment, let me be clear: the traffic on this site has now gone into the multi-gigabyte range. This costs me money. If somebody comes here looking for information and finds a relevant advertisement, great! Win-win scenario. As grandpa Chet used to say: TANSTAAFL.
One of the big complaints I have heard about today are the political calls which come with greatly increasing frequency as Election Day nears. Currently said calls are allowed under the TCPA and the Do Not Call Registry. Congressman John Doolittle is sponsoring a bill in the new 110th Congress (H.R. 479) which would curtail this obnoxious behavior. I spoke with one his folks in the D.C. office about this today and he is sending me some information in the next few days which I shall post to the site when it comes in.
Well, this site has been featured at MSNBC's Red Tape Chronicles. I am slammed today with client work, but I decided to check my server logs. All I can say is wow! I have received a bucketload of e-mails (from "thanks for passing on the info" to "you go get-em" to "how do I do the same"). I shall endeavour to respond to all of them. Please read the appropriate sections of this site for help. I shall be posting some more information in the coming days (e.g. how the TCPA relates to cell phones and facsimiles), as well as more tools (e.g. ability to create an account here to track your telemarketing calls). Thanks for visiting and pass the word on to all. The only way we are going to teach these folks that they must comply with the law is if we make it unprofitable for them to break it!
Well, the site is about four days old. Not much traffic yet except for some small bleed over from one of my other sites - YouStoleMyTime.com. Tomorrow, the Bob Sullivan of MSNBC is running his regular Red Tape Chronicles, and the story is about how you can get back at the telemarketers by taking them to court. I will not have a chance to check my server logs until late morning, so I am curious to see the article and what effect it has upon my traffic. My understanding is that Bob is going to provide some reference to this humble site.
I have tried to tweak the content and some of the AdSense stuff to minimize the number of ads I am displaying that directly benefit those that invade our homes through the telephone, but thus far such as not been all that effective. I shall continue to work on this as I can. Of course, if you are looking for telemarketing services, you can click on them, but... You will also note that I removed the context ads. I had not looked at these pages for a few days and when somebody pointed out the page, I saw it looked like a bloody link farm. When I get the chance, I shall re-examine the tool. Is always a balance between the annoyance factor for the visitors and attempting to maximize revenue to help pay for hosting.
As you are browsing through this site, remember that I am not selling anything. No e-books, memberships, etc. My only purpose is to get the scumbags who refuse to respect our privacy and violate the law in doing so. I am not trying to convince you of anything except to educate yourself on your rights under the law. Please send me your feedback on how I can improve the site. If you have specific questions as to suing the bloody telemarketers, contact me via the link at the top of my page and I shall get back to you as soon as possible.
A few years ago, I became supremely sick of the massive number of telephone calls I would receive from telemarketers. My standard response was to curse them and hang up on them. As we all know, such tactics do not work. Those companies that are attempting to sell you a new garage door, a mortgage refinance, a new furnace or who knows what else are persistent. They will keep calling until they make a sale. As we all do, in frustration I looked on the internet for information. I learned that one can actually sue telemarketers. Unfortunately, many of the websites will give you only a little bit of information and then ask you to buy an e-book or purchase a subscription. Being the kind of guy that I am, I delved into the code and figured it out myself.
Many people believe that by placing their telephone number(s) on the National Do Not Call Registry they shall be insulated from the intrusive telemarketing calls that have plagued us the past few decades. Although the Do Not Call Registry has had some beneficial impact, it is not by any means the panacea that some may have envisioned. In fact in many cases, I would see the practical results of the Do Not Call Registry to be a total joke. Unless the company making the telephone calls is making enough calls to numbers listed on the Do Not Call Registry to warrant a multitude of complaints to the appropriate authorities, nobody is going to do a bloody thing about going after these firms (trust me...been down that road...gave it up as a lost cause).
Luckily for those of us who are besieged by the bloody mortgage firms wanting us to "refinance before the interest rates go through the roof!", the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 gives us the right of private action. This means that we can sue the crap out of those telemarketers who just do not understand the meaning of No!
As I have told friends, associates and (recently) Bob Sullivan of MSNBC, despite first thoughts, it is not at all difficult to pursue legal action against those telemarketers who refuse to acknowledge your (just) demands to be left alone. In fact it is actually pretty bloody easy! As long as you know the law (which is - surprisingly - clear and brief) and follow some pretty basic steps, you stand an excellent chance at lining your pocket with potentially a few thousand dollars with maybe an hour of total time invested and about $50 in court fees.
I am not a bloody attorney! I am certainly not giving legal advice. Unfortunately, I must make such a statement for two reasons: 1) I really have no desire to get in trouble with the Bar Association and 2) I need to protect myself from the random nutjob who comes to this site, files 10 lawsuits in small claims court, loses them all due to their incompetence and then tries to blame me. There are no guarantees in life and as my grandfather used to say: "there's no such thing as a free lunch".
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April 16, 2007 , 2007 --> Foreign Call Centers 