When the number comes up on caller ID, and you google it on the computer, they must tell you where the call is coming from and what is the company name.

"The Government is offering money to anyone who can come up with a viable plan to get rid of telemarketers."

Where did you hear this? I simply cannot imagine that this is true. Although I cannot stand telemarketers, the fact is that telemarketing is legal. If the government truly wanted "to get rid of telemarketers," Congress would simply enact a law that would make telemarketing illegal.

While, I, too, am not crazy about telemarketers, I cannot imagine the government wants to get rid of a job that employs many, many people who otherwise might have no options at all. Doesn't make a bit of sense to me. I'd much rather they had the possibility of a job rather than sitting around the house, doing nothing, and living off the dole. It would be extremely short-sighted of the government if that statement ends up being true. Where did you get that info?

I found this at The Huffngton Post...an on-line 'rag'.

FTC Offers $50,000 Prize For Anyone Who Can Stop Robocalls ...not telemarketers.

See link for the rag's story. I didn't research to try and find an actual 'reliable source'. No time now.

Here is a link that might be useful: FTC Offers $50,000 Prize For Anyone Who Can Stop Robocalls

I went to Sue's link and read the article. Put on your thinking caps, and come up with a workable solution.

I am not really that bothered by robo calls. I'm on the do not call list and seldom get any calls. I don't have Caller ID, simply because I'm (1) too tight to pay for it, and (2) if I did get a call from a number I don't recognize, I would still answer it on the off chance someone in my family might have been in an accident, not able to make a call, and some stranger was making the call. Could happen.

When I changed to DirectTV, I had 2-3 robo calls about the time the installer would be here. None of those calls turned out to be right. In an email to DirectTV, I asked not to have any robo calls. Their reply was "we have marked your account to not be contacted for sales and/or marketing calls, but will make calls if needed in regard to any business." Very nice and appreciated. I know that calls can be made from businesses that you have dealt with, but try asking them politely not to make any more. That could happen, too.

Thanks, Sue, for the link.

This Sue

A lot of telemarketers are calling from Countries like Pakistan where they don't have to follow the rules of Canada and the States. Also they are calling from fake phone numbers that can not be easily traced.

I signed up for the "do not call" about five years ago, and I am never bothered by them. But.....my kids say that when they call me, they get the message that I do not accept telemarketer calls! They should be used to it by now!

We had to pay to be put on the no call list and we still get calls on our house phone and our cell phones.We have Caller ID and if we don't answer they will continue calling until we do.

Curious,to my knowledge there has never been a charge to be put on the no call list. Who did you pay and why?

I was wondering about that--paying to be on the do-no-call, as well.

So I popped onto the Do Not Call.gov site. There is still no charge, but they have a scam warning in red at the top of the homepage that there are scammers calling/soliciting people. It's not the real DNC list. So if you paid to get on the list, you may want to report that--it's not legit, and maybe you could help catch a crook.

"We had to pay to be put on the no call list "
??
There is no fee to be placed on the official do not call list!

If people would just not answer their phones when a telemarketer calls there would soon be no telemarketers. What is hard about that?

If people would just not answer their phones when a telemarketer calls there would soon be no telemarketers. What is hard about that?

Some of my legitimate calls just show long distance with no number.....hard to tell if they are telemarketers or not.

I hate it when they call & ask for my husband. I ask "Can I help you?" and they say no, they will call again. I'm thinking good luck with that! He died 2 yrs. ago. I figure if they won't say what they want then I am not telling them he has passed away.

Suzie--that works if you ONLY get calls from people whose #'s you have memorized. I get a lot of legitimate business and personal calls from unidentified (sometimes even blocked) #'s. If I just didn't answer unfamiliar #'s, I'd be out a lot of money. So I do answer all calls, whether I know the number or not. Being on the DNC list, I almost never get telemarketer calls anyway.

Your do not call list bust be better in the States than in Canada. We get at least 2-3 unwanted calls a day.

"If people would just not answer their phones when a telemarketer calls there would soon be no telemarketers."

I'm not psychic... I don't know when a telemarketers calls.

A little snarky, LuAnn? I look at caller id. If it doesn't register or if it is an unknown number, I lat my machine pick it up. If someone starts to leave a message and I decide I want to take the call, I pick it up. I would guess that 99% of the times those unregistered or unknown numbers do turn out to be telemarketers.

I'm not psychic, either. But then, that doesn't require one to be. Sheesh.

My mistake. I saw the message on the news and thought that they said the Government. I too thought that would be a little over the top for the Government. Also, Jim says that we did not have to pay to be on the no call list. I do know that we are on the no call list and that it doesn't work.I am not remembering much of anything right now and don't know if it is Chemo Brain,getting old,or a lot on my mind right now.

Not snarky at all..

as azzalea said: "Suzie--that works if you ONLY get calls from people whose #'s you have memorized. I get a lot of legitimate business and personal calls from unidentified (sometimes even blocked) #'s. If I just didn't answer unfamiliar #'s, I'd be out a lot of money. So I do answer all calls, whether I know the number or not. "

Since we are not psychic, unless we answer, we cannot know that an unknown number is a telemarketer!

PLUS, not everyone has caller ID.

Nor does everyone have an answering machine--I don't.

I get so annoyed with telemarketers but, when I do, I try to remember that my niece put herself through college by telemarketing.

if anyone paid to be put on a do not call list and used a credit card be watching for fraudulent charges or identity theft,since that is a scam.

You can register on the national list as well as the one for your state.

Here is a link that might be useful: national do not call list

My mistake. I thought that caller IDs and answering machines were standard these days. In fact, I am surprised that you don 't have a machine, Azzalea, given the business calls you get.

I learn something new here at KT every day and apologize for my assumptions about caller ID and answering machines. They are invaluable to me. For one thing, they help keep telemarketers out of my hair!

I say "I'm sorry. I'm unemployed" (True-I'm retired) and hang up. One called me back once right after, but that only happened once. They usually quit. It's not rude to hang up-they are being rude interrupting you and annoying you!

Jannie, don't even listen to them. The minute you know it's a telemarketer (hint: listen for pause after you say "hello", that's a telemarketer call because they're working a whole bank of phones) hang up. Don't listen to the spiel, don't make excuses, just hang up.

If NOBODY answered them, then they would have to stop calling. Robocalls cost money to set up and if they simply got NO response whatsoever from anyone, then what would be the point... Make it illegal to answer them... Okay.. I know it is far fetched.. but so is flying to the moon...

" Make it illegal to answer them."
Really?
Answering my phone will be illegal?
I guess your law will force people to get answering machines and caller ID too....

Suzie--first of all, we just use cell phones--so while they take messages, I don't know of a way to listen to the message then break in.

Business calls? I'm talking about the usual household business we all conduct--drs offices, insurance, stores, delivery people, the newspaper I write for, our lawyer, accountant, etc.--all usually have multiple #'s these days. It's not possible to know them all by memory, nor to program all into the phone. And then there's my hobby--cooking contest sponsors never leave messages when they're calling to tell you you've won--you HAVE to answer the phone to get the message. If you miss their call too many times, they go down to the next name on the list--so not answering the phone can mean potentially a lot of lost money to me.

I have an answering machine but I'm not going to pay extra for caller ID. I either let the machine get the calls or if I'm in a bad mood & happen to get one of them, I let them go through all of their speal, then just simply hang up! Might as well waste their time too!

THE WORST OFFENDERS----> POLITICIANS!~

I thought I was going to chuck the phone right out the window this year. It started in the summer. Good gravy it was awful!

They are not subject to the DNC list either. B@$t@rds! lol I think I may have yelled that at them a few times too.

ok, Uncle! Alright already!

I don't think of myself as up-to-date with technology, but (obviouly erroneously) thought that caller ID (which I do NOT pay for) and answering machines were state of the art in the mid-90's.

I guess I feel that if you have a problem (ie telemarketers) and there is an easy, inexpensive, logical solution that one chooses not to act upon, one shouldn't complain about the problem.

Sort of like when someone posts here about the ads, and lots of posters jump on that person telling them to use a different browser. I don't choose to use a different browser, so I never complain about the ads.

I never complain about telemarketers, as I very very rarely get called by them.
I never even got the Credit Card Services one that most people get ad nauseum.

How do you get around not paying for caller ID? We do not have it as DH does not want to pay more.

This post was edited by LuAnn_in_PA on Mon, Jan 14, 13 at 15:53

I suspect robo calls are dialing very fast. Perhaps the phone company's equipment could be set to stop recognizing speed dialing? Aside from telemarketers, is there some important function that *needs* to use speed dialing? If so, could it have an override 'code'? (Our city police department calls residents with warnings, to ask for help finding a missing person, etc. -- maybe twice a year.)

We don't have caller ID. If we did, wouldn't I still have to go TO the phone to know who was calling? I'm ready to cancel our land line if only to stop the annoyance of telemarketers. We are on the Do Not Call List. We NEVER buy anything this way. It's a complete waste of everyone's time.

Chisue, almost everyone uses speed dialing on their home/cell phones. That's memory.

My answering machine speaks the caller ID aloud.

My caller ID pop's up on the TV (via the Dish receiver) - love that feature!

OK. Thanks sushipup and iowagirl. Maybe 'legit' calls could 'speed' at a lower speed? Come 'registered'? The phone companies could learn to deflect high volumes being dialed from one source?

Ah, nevermind!

I do not have an answering machine nor Caller ID. I'm on the state do not call list and can't remember the last time I got a telemarketeer call. Now, politicians, yes, but I just put the receiver down and walk away and go back later and hang up. Let them talk to themselves for awhile.

Read about it before, too. I wonder why the authorities can't do anything about this harassment. We have laws that these callers violate so why not impose penalties?

This is probably the reason why these telemarketers continue to harass people with calls. I bet they believe they're invincible against the law. This is proved by the continuous rise in the number of complaints posted at Callercenter.com.

If people would quit buying from telescammers they wouldn't call. But it works. Same with fundraising. It works. They call people and give the political hysteria and people break out the checkbooks. Which means you'll get called again and again.

Plus you put yourselves on calling lists often. ANY time you give a phone number out you risk getting scum calls and that includes doctors, dentists and otherwise. Any time you call a toll-free number, you give them your number (and no, you can't block it) *and* you give them permission to call you since you're establishing a relationship by calling them first. If you call those numbers on real estate signs, yup, you're going to get calls.

Do not call lists are not the end-all, be-all. Yes they help, but it has to be a business that will honor the DNC list for it to be effective. The ones that just buy/sell/trade lists back and forth don't use it.

This nonsense is pushing me to cancel our land line. I seldom get impersonal calls on my cell. That would probably change if I needed to call out on the cell after canceling the land, eh? Gah!