Telemarketer Phone Drop

We get bunches of telemarketing calls. I'm talking LOTS. And they usually call during the baby's nap time. I've mentioned on here several times what a light napper she is, so that is not a good thing. Or they call during supper. Or on Saturday morning. Or in the evening at 8:59 pm. Or Sunday afternoon. Did I mention they call us a lot? If it weren't for telemarketers, my phone would probably only ring about twice a week or so. Supposedly I'm on the "Do Not Call" list, but that doesn't stop the "charity" calls. And I'm TERRIBLE at saying no if they get me in person. But my personal favorite is the one that actually does leave a message by someone who is obviously from India: "Halloo. Thees is not a sales call. Eet ees important that you call us at thees number, 888-***-****. When calling, please reference thee following number, (automated voice spells out a number)." Notice that not once did they identify who they are or tell us why it's so important we call. Yeah, right, I'll get right on that call back. We get this one at least 4 times a week. I figure if it really is someone we need to speak to, they can leave me a message telling me who they are or write me a letter. So. I've developed a system, you might say. You have to have caller ID for this to work, however, and it doesn't keep them from trying again, but it does keep me from having to talk to them.

When the phone rings, I check the ID. If it says "unknown name" and has an 800 or 888 number, I simply hit the "phone on" button and immediately hit the "phone off" button. Viola, the phone stops ringing, no annoying hang-up message on the machine and I didn't have to agonize through a telemarketer's required 4 denials before hanging up. Now if I could just figure out a way to keep them from calling at all.......

The really pesky groups have come up with a new one, though, that foils me once in a while: their ID comes up "unknown name" but no number is listed. That's a pain, because that's also how my husband's work number shows up. We've worked around that one, too. I go ahead and let those calls ring through and D. will start to leave a message so I'll know it's him and I can pick up. Otherwise, it's an annoying hang up on the machine from someone I probably don't want to talk to anyway. So, yes, we screen calls. But we do pick up for family and friends if we are home for them, so if a friend or family member gets the machine, we are either out or outside and can't get to the phone right when it rings. But we do call them back.