Yep, and I let it go to voicemail, and the recording says something along the line of "please press 3 for a live representative on how to save on your auto insurance" or some such crap.

My DM got tired of that so she set it up with the phone company, that if the callers full info does not come through then the call is blocked. Any one in the family or the church knows you dial *?? and it allows their info and the call to come through. saved her much frustration. Good luck, l.marie

my dh was getting sales calls from hunting land sales people and got tired of it. he has to answer his phone because he is in grad school & classmates often call and he's vetting job offers. i got him to assign a certain ring to that sales # so now he doesn't have to bother answering. if i were you i'd assign all the people you want to hear from rings and let all the other's come in on the reg ring.

absolutely nothing could get me to answer my cell outside of work hours, even my personal #. i average 60 calls an hour at work i'm not in a hurry to speak on it when i don't have too...everyone knows that and either gets me on work, texts me or leaves voice mail after wk hrs, i get to it eventually. if it's an emergency they can call my dh. ~ liz

Block them, that's what we have done, both on my home number and my office lines.

Not all blocked numbers are telemarketers so blocking it wouldn't solve the OP's problem. But at the same time, are you answering the phone to see who is calling? Many people won't leave a message so it could be someone you would talk to.

One thing that could help in certain aspects is a talking caller ID. Then if it's an unknown you don't have to take your hands out of the meatloaf.

We got rid of voice mail for this reason. Bought a phone with an answering machine. If an unknown # or blocked # calls us, we let it go to the answering machine. We can hear them leave a message. If it's someone we want to talk to, we can pick up, otherwise they can either hang up or leave a message. Nice thing about answering machines: people can't leave 20 minute voice mails.

Country Sunshine (I like your screen name, Makes me think of a singer I used to like, Dotty West) But I digress....That is a frustrating situation. Everyday the phone would ring at just about the same time everyday, I would answer it and I could tell someone was on the line, but they wouldn't say anything. After a week or so of this, I finally said, This is getting boring, at least talk dirty so your call would be interesting. They never called again. LOL

Sure it will, Cynic, for the most part. If they have to unblock their number it will show up on caller i.d. and one doesn't answer it. And since most telemarketers use a computer program to place calls the computer just moves on when it hits the rejected call.

Dotmom, be wary. We were getting those calls, then we were robbed as was another home in the neighborhood who had the same experience. It was the thief trying to figure out when we got home from work and when the house was empty.

The old "bait & switch", some never let go, do they?
Solutions abound.

I think I have a great solution where I can talk and not worry about my wet hands, etc... I can look and see who it is and then hit speaker phone and ta da... there we have it...

Sometimes the most irritating problems has such simple solutions...

Thanks for your input..

Carolyn

Frugal me ...

... won't pay extra to the phone co. for "Caller ID".

Hey! Wait a minute! You own shares in the phone co!

o j