Scam Telephone Calls

[PatchOBlack]

While there is little that can be done about most Robo-dialing/pre-recorded telemarketing calls, I do have a standard procedure if I get a phone solicitation. First, I start of polite as long as the person on the other end is polite. Second, as soon as I can, I let the employee know that I don't accept phone solicitations of any kind, including polls, or ones dealing with politics or non-profit groups. Third, I ask that my number be removed from their calling list, and be placed on their "do not call" list.

Now, on that last one, I have occasionally had the caller tell me that they are exempt from the do not call list. That is when I clarify that I wish to be placed on their company or organizations do not call list, which if I remember correctly, they must legally have. So far, that seems to do the trick, though if I were to have further problems, I would start asking for additional information, such as contact information for the company that does the calling (not just the origination they are calling on behalf of), hopefully getting a mailing address. I might also ask to speak to a supervisor, and go up the line of management if I was still not satisfied.

[felinefan]

I've had people say they can't take my number off the call list, and also some will say they can't give out or don't have information as to the actual address. They lie! Stupid boiler room callers.

Oh, and no legitimate religious organization will call and tell you they know you're going through a rough patch and ask for a donation. Donations are voluntary, otherwise they aren't donations. It would surprise you how many scammers use the cloak of religion to nail you. Years ago, there was this guy who had Christian decals and bumper stickers plastered all over his car. He would troll neighborhoods looking for people who needed his services, or looked like they did. I forget his exact line of work. Anyway, he charged high rates for what he did, and performed shoddy work. His victims said that they saw the stickers on his truck and thought a guy that religious must be trustworthy.
The Bible says don't believe every spirit, but test them to see if they are of God. The same goes for any business that has a religious appearance. Legit Christian businesses will gladly answer all your questions, no matter how nosy; the ones that aren't but are pretending to be will give you shifty answers and get upset if you get a little too inquinsitive.

[DisneyMom]

While there is little that can be done about most Robo-dialing/pre-recorded telemarketing calls, I do have a standard procedure if I get a phone solicitation. First, I start of polite as long as the person on the other end is polite. Second, as soon as I can, I let the employee know that I don't accept phone solicitations of any kind, including polls, or ones dealing with politics or non-profit groups. Third, I ask that my number be removed from their calling list, and be placed on their "do not call" list.

Now, on that last one, I have occasionally had the caller tell me that they are exempt from the do not call list. That is when I clarify that I wish to be placed on their company or organizations do not call list, which if I remember correctly, they must legally have. So far, that seems to do the trick, though if I were to have further problems, I would start asking for additional information, such as contact information for the company that does the calling (not just the origination they are calling on behalf of), hopefully getting a mailing address. I might also ask to speak to a supervisor, and go up the line of management if I was still not satisfied.

Before the Do Not Call list, I used to deflect unwanted calls by pretending I was the babysitter and had no authority in the home to obtain services.This worked well until a carpet cleaner's business called-
Me-Hello?
Carpet Cleaner-Hello! This is Acme Cleaners, are you the Lady of the House?
Me- No, I'm just the Babysitter :D:
Carpet Cleaner- Oh! Well....are the carpets in the house you are sitting at really dirty????
Me(shocked)Whaaaaa? Nope, they're clean! Click.

[hobie16]

Before the Do Not Call list, I used to deflect unwanted calls by pretending I was the babysitter and had no authority in the home to obtain services.This worked well until a carpet cleaner's business called-
Me-Hello?
Carpet Cleaner-Hello! This is Acme Cleaners, are you the Lady of the House?
Me- No, I'm just the Babysitter :D:
Carpet Cleaner- Oh! Well....are the carpets in the house you are sitting at really dirty????
Me(shocked)Whaaaaa? Nope, they're clean! Click.

Me(shocked)Whaaaaa? Lemme ask the YouTube kitties.

[shilohmm]

His victims said that they saw the stickers on his truck and thought a guy that religious must be trustworthy.
.

Which is a bad theory, at least from the Christian perspective -- first, because often as not, the most religious guys are the Bad Guys (the Pharisees were gonzo religious), but secondly, because while people who become Christians may be on the path to perfection, but they haven't gotten there yet, and some of them start a loooooong ways away! :D:

[BRWombat]

I had this thought a few weeks back, and this thread brings it back to me: I wonder just how much Caller ID has screwed up the accuracy of telephone polling? It seems to me that they're only getting the opinions of people who take calls from unknown numbers -- which may not be the best and brightest among us!

[felinefan]

Which is a bad theory, at least from the Christian perspective -- first, because often as not, the most religious guys are the Bad Guys (the Pharisees were gonzo religious), but secondly, because while people who become Christians may be on the path to perfection, but they haven't gotten there yet, and some of them start a loooooong ways away! :D:

This is true. Back in the 70s, there was this guy named Bill Gothard who held these Institutes in Basic Youth Conflicts, and I went to four of them. One of the things they gave you for attending the conference was a button reading, PBPGIFWMY; which stood for Please Be Patient, God Isn't Finished With Me Yet. We need to remember none of us, religious or not, is perfect, so we need to cut each other a little slack sometimes, and at other times we need to rebuke and correct them when they do something stupid. Wisdom is knowing the difference.

[DisneyMom]

This is true. Back in the 70s, there was this guy named Bill Gothard who held these Institutes in Basic Youth Conflicts, and I went to four of them. One of the things they gave you for attending the conference was a button reading, PBPGIFWMY; which stood for Please Be Patient, God Isn't Finished With Me Yet. We need to remember none of us, religious or not, is perfect, so we need to cut each other a little slack sometimes, and at other times we need to rebuke and correct them when they do something stupid. Wisdom is knowing the difference.

That's why we're here at SGT. Rebukement a-plenty! :D:

[shilohmm]

I wonder just how much Caller ID has screwed up the accuracy of telephone polling?

I'm guessing they've never been terrifically accurate, because some types of people wouldn't put up with them. My husband and brother won't; husband politely but firmly tells them he doesn't have time, brother just hangs up on them. And I knew a lot of people who always had the answering machine pick up long before caller I.D. was common (if they heard someone they wanted to talk to, they'd pick up).

But I wonder if the polls have a "peer pressure" influence so that, even if they're inaccurate at the time of the polling, by the time of the vote (or whatever), the results of the poll have caused a shift toward whatever the poll indicated. It's pretty clear that sort of thing happened with Kinsey reports -- other, more scientific studies, done at the same time had very different results (a number of them showed that the average college male was still a virgin, for instance), however since Kinsey's were so broadly reported, sexual practices have shifted pretty hard in the direction of his inaccurate results. :p:

[WEDFan]

How the sampling is achieved has a lot more effect on poll accuracy than whether people opt out. The people who wil refuse to pick up on a blocked number or will refuse to participate in a poll tend to be pretty evenly distributed across multiple demographic dimensions. The correlation with a particular political view or whatnot is probably pretty low. You can really slant a poll through your selection criteria. And all these polls that "self select", eg "Question of the Day" polls, have huge margin of errors to the point of being pretty useless.