“Do Not Call” list blocked?
Dammit. Just as I was looking forward to going a few days without someone trying to sell me long distance service :
- A federal judge has ruled that the Federal Trade Commission overstepped its authority in creating the national “do-not-call” list against telemarketers.
The ruling Tuesday came in a lawsuit brought by telemarketers who challenged the list of 50 million people who said they do not want to receive business solicitation calls. The list was to go into effect Oct. 1.
U.S. District Judge Lee R. West said the main issue in the case was “whether the FTC had the authority to promulgate a national do-not-call registry. The court finds it did not.”
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., and Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., said Wednesday they were confident the ruling would be overturned and believe Congress did give the FTC the necessary authority.
I hope that if there was a strong legal basis for this ruling, Congress will be quick to close whatever loophole the telemarketers are taking advantage of. Luckily for us, a “Do Not Call” list seems like one of those ideas that’s so popular that the corporate whores in both parties would be afraid to oppose it.
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ummm… caveat: im not defending companies that so blantantly abuse this marketing tactic.
now, have you noticed that nafta and gatt and the wto and trade policy embraced by regan/bushI/clinton/bushII has pushed all of the good jobs for less than masters degree labor out of the country? if telemarketing goes… where do the telemarketers go? wall-mart?
i made good money telemarketing back in college. many of my friends still do. a lot of these companies offer good health benefits and 401(k). and there must be something to it. companies don’t spend millions on a phone campaign if they don’t get anything out of it.
i want a world where telemarketing isnt the only good job most of high school and undergrad american can have. we used to have it. instead of a “do not call” list, how about just prosecuting abusers and trying to bring jobs back to the us?
since i cant believe this is an issue that im not responding to the left of you for once, i’ll close with a lefty swipe. kucinich has offered up an infrastructure rebuilding public works project. it would employ a large section of those telemarketers and put them to good use. but that wacky kucinich, he’s just too radical…
Comment by josh — September 24, 2003 @ 12:21 pm
I’m currently telemarketing as a stopgap measure to keep funds flowing into the house (no, I wasn’t laid off because of Bushenomics, don’t worry; it’s a long story) while trying to get another, better job. I hate telemarketers and I hate telemarketing, but you only need a pulse to get the job.
The biggest problem per se with telemarketing is how poorly most of them deliver the script. It’s just so rote and robotically mechanical. I make the people laugh when I call, I get them talking about their interests, the weather, whatever. We call for magazine renewals. You call people about Reader’s Digest, you’re calling a lot of old people who get about zero visitors a day.
I still hate the job, but people who get mad and curse at me and call me “dickface” and “asshole” just make me laugh. I actually try to egg them on subtly. “Gee, sir, it sounds to me like you might be a little on the mad side about this,” I told a guy who had just said, “You better hope I don’t fucking find you, you disgusting little fucking puke.”
Yes, people say those things to me. Daily. Now, some folks might not have the stomach for that kind of abuse. But it’s absolutely hysterical to me.
The simplest things you can do when called by a telemarketer are:
1.) Ask to be put on the Do Not Call list. Each company has to keep one of these and abide by it. Just interrupt them early on, politely ask to be put on the list, and thank them.
2.) Tell them they have a wrong number. They’ll note that and you won’t be called by them any more.
3.) Simply tell them you are not interested.
Hanging up just gets you put on the Unavailable list and you’ll get called again.
One last note: the person being called, the specific person being asked for, is the person who has to request being put on the Do Not Call list. If you are that person’s spouse and you ask them to do that, it doesn’t matter legally. They can keep on calling until that person says not to to them. (Which is why I hand you the Wrong Number option). If you want, fake talking to someone in the room and then report your comments back to the telemarketer.
Comment by j — September 25, 2003 @ 6:08 am