Why doesnt the Do Not Call List frakkin' work?

[Fairy]

I'm so tired of getting these calls. Some are local sales, some are national sales, some are blatant violations. I'm not talking charity, I know they get to call me. I mean:

"Do you pay too much in health insurance?"

"May I talk with Mrs. <MangledLastName>" "What's this regarding." "Well, I'm calling to renew your magazine." "My subscription isn't due for renewal." "Well, we can renew it cheaper."

And the really nasty ones calling about my credit card and how to do soemthing to it I can't figure out, as we don't carry any revolving credit. I finally pushed "2" to talk with someone once and said never to call me again, and they started aggressively calling me names and I said I knew who they were and I would have them sued for harrassment, and they said they knew where I lived and to watch my back. And their automated system calls ALL the time.

How do these people get away with this? The Do Not Call List DOESN'T WORK. This is not a bitch. It's a genuine questions asking why. Can someone please explain why it doesn't work.

[lizzywednesday]

Do Not Call expires after 3 or 5 years; it's not permanent.

Go to donotcall.gov and check your numbers and try re-upping.

They will not notify you ahead of time; you're supposed to keep track. (YEAH RIGHT!)

[Indianamom2]

First, thanks for the link to the do not call registry. I decided to verify my registration and found that it wasn't listed (I KNOW I called and had my name added...I am 100% certain.) It definitely should be now.:bighand:

However, it appears that although registrations once expired, they apparently don't anymore (There's a link at the top of the homepage. I didn't read it, but I'm guessing that's why mine was no longer listed since it's been at least 5 years.)

I've been getting those automated credit card calls a lot lately and wondering why too.

Christina

[elliput]

When I had a land line, I never answered anything that said "out of area" or "private" on the caller id. If it was someone who really needed to talk to me about something important, they would leave a message.

Made a record of the callers who are not complying and report them.

[lizzywednesday]

...
However, it appears that although registrations once expired, they apparently don't anymore (There's a link at the top of the homepage. I didn't read it, but I'm guessing that's why mine was no longer listed since it's been at least 5 years.)

...

Good to know it doesn't expire ... the expiration + self-reminding stunk.

I hate getting sales calls because I use a cell phone for my primary number and don't like having to use minutes for non-essential phone calls! (I mean, really, why should I be on a sales call when my sister could call me ANY MINUTE to tell me she's in labor?????)

[Fairy]

Oh, this last one called my cellphone. They're actually finding me on my cell now.

[lizzywednesday]

Oh, this last one called my cellphone. They're actually finding me on my cell now.

Is your cell number registered?

If not, register it. (My primary phone is my cell. It has been registered since I purchased it. I hate sales calls.)

[Snow mom]

I thought they were allowed to call with the recorded messages where they say "press XYZ to speak to someone." Also, I know any company you have formerly done business with is allowed to call. The DNC registry is pretty useless. My favorite annoying phone thing though is that my phone number is still listed in places under it's former owner (we've had the number for at least 3 1/2 years). We get calls all. the. time. for this woman, often from creditors but once we got a 5 minute message on our answering machine from her aunt.

[kijip]

First off, about the ones that mention your credit card, they are assuming everyone (presumably everyone that will actually act on the calls) has them and calling everyone with the same auto-message. I get calls on our home line telling me they can

*reduce my (non-existent) credit card debt
*catch me up on my (always paid on time/not past due) mortgage
*Lower my (non-existent) car payment
*get me out of my (again non-existent) student loan debt

We pretty much assume that ANYONE calling the home number is a robo-call.

The main one we get is for windows and the last caller did not even ask or say what they are calling about, just "Hello, we are going to be visiting you on Weds, what time would work for you, we have 10AM, 11AM..." me: "What? Who is this?" them: "ABC Window Estimate blah blah" me: Click.

I try not to be rude for actual callers because I figure they are making peanuts and have very very tedious jobs but I would like to be able to slap the owners of the companies. Upside the head. With fines. Whatever.

It's frustrating and yes, we are on the do not call list. I don't have a lot of faith that it works.