OT: abusive calls penalty

It's part of the do-not-call legislation. You must tell the caller to add you to their do-not-call list. The caller must comply. Keep a record. If they call again it's easy money in small claims court.

Does not apply to charities.

The FCC should have info...

"Some states permit you to file law suits in state court against persons or entities violating the do-not-call rules. You may be awarded $500 in damages or actual monetary loss, whichever is greater. The amount may be tripled if you are able to show that the caller violated the rules willfully and knowingly. Filing a complaint with the FCC does not prevent you from also bringing a suit in state court."

Cheers, James Arthur

Good luck finding them, identifying what state they're from (if they're even in the US), and getting your $30 from them if you can grasp enough smoke to bring to court.

I haven't done it but it's not so hard as these things go.

Keep a log. The phone company has records with full details of who called and when. Those can be subpoenaed. If the defendant doesn't show, you win by default judgement.

Cheers, James Arthur

Getting a judgment and collecting on it are two entirely different things.

Sign up for the "selectable-call-blocking" feature at your phone company. But that doesn't always work for anonymous/out-of-area stuff, so I block that as well, except I turn it off when I'm expecting a call from my doctor after hours.

My latest game is to play along, in Tom Mabe style. When we get down to signing me up for something, I cuss them out and hang up.

They rarely call back because I've wasted their time that they could have used to try and con someone else.

...Jim Thompson

My biggest problem is that, evidently, the prior holder of my phone number (Mr. Barbeque) evidently left town with a lot of unpaid bills. I get 2-3 calls a week asking for him, obviously from bill collectors. The worst are recordings that basically say "If you ain't this person, hang up. If you listen you admit you is this person..."

Drives me crazy!

Charlie

I just answer every computer-generated question with "f*ck-head" ;-)

In your case you could probably get the phone company to change your number, for free.

...Jim Thompson

ve

When I'm feeling playful, I put the phone on speaker and mute and listen how long it takes them to give up.

True, but in many states, one can have the court freeze all of their bank accounts until payment is made... Another possible option is to have a "keeper" (sheriff) posted at the cash register that collects money until judgement is satisfied... That option is really satisfying if the store continually ignored your requests...

That tactic might work if they actually allow you to talk longer than

I can usually squeeze in several minutes before they even suspect ;-)

...Jim Thompson

In some states, one can go to the police and have them put a tracer on the line (usually for no longer than 2 weeks). 3 or more calls is considered abusive and they will be *told* (i think by the phone company) to cease and desist; patterns will be determined (eg: 75 percent are bill collector agencies, 10 percent are marketeers); usually the bulk of the callers are contacted and also told to stop. Get their names and addresses - and send them a form letter saying that you are giving them legal notice to cease and desist the harassing calls. If a particular caller is really nasty, use *registered* mail with receipt request (green form that sticks on back of letter). Certified mail is useless, as there is no record - it is plain first class; if it gets lost before delivery, it may take months for your CongressCritter to (be still my heart!) get the postmaster to refund your postage. Been there, done that.

Changing phone numbers, having unlisted number, do-not-call list; absolutely none of that, and no combination works. In fact, i think most of the callers USE the fed DNC list for calling...

You are wrong about Certified (with Return Receipt). It's the same as Registered except for insurance and tracking features.

...Jim Thompson

I once dreamed about making a gadget that would pick up the phone and challenge the caller: "Hey, if you're a human, hit the key now," then ring 'em through.

Instead I answer and if there's the slightest delay from them--meaning it's a machine waiting to detect my voice-- I just hang up.

For a while I used another trick... you can record the three tones from the out-of service message [1] as the out-going message on your answering machine.

When the auto-dialer dials up it interprets the tones and marks yours as a dead number, not to be called again. Works great, but confuses the innocent, human callers.

Cheers, James Arthur ~~~~~~~~~~~~ [1] " We're sorry, but the number you have dialed is not in service." Sequence: , about 380mS each.

My oldest son is the chief software guru for the world's largest call-center organization... Dell, most US Banks, etc.

He says get the company name... that requires you to hang in there long enough to almost start to complete the business/purchase arrangements.

Once you know who's calling, advise them not to call again.

Most won't, because the fines ARE heavy.

Follow-up with a complaint to the Feds.

...Jim Thompson

My son has that tone sequence automatically occurring.

What I'm contemplating is a box which blanks the first ring, reads the caller ID, if it's 800.., 866, or whatever, or a number on my black-list, it answers then hangs up... so I'm not disturbed at all.

Since this procedure loses the caller-ID for desired calls... I allow "good" calls to ring through on the second ring, but the caller-ID isn't repeated... I'm looking for a way to store CID and insert it after the second ring.

Any ideas?

...Jim Thompson

I have been on the so-called do not call list for a few years; it is useless. I have an un-listed number; useless. I have changed my number as well; useless.

After quite a bit of CFR searching, i found 47CFR227(b)(3)(B) states the amount of #500 for *each* violation, and includes a not about treble damages under certain conditions ("willfully" as interpreted by the court).

Nope; it is first class and if it gets lost in transit, tough shit. As i said, it happened to me and it took the CongresCritter about a month or so to get the Postmaster to refund the postage.