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About those annoying phone calls...


BLACK BART

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Does anybody know (for sure) what the deal is with those calls you get where no one answers when you say "hello"? It's not a hang-up; just silence until you hang up.

A client told me it's an enhanced sales gimmick wherein a robo-computer calls and is programmed to distinguish between real (human) answers, no answers, and voice-mail answers.  How they can do that, I don't know; since the automated systems at credit card companies frequently say "Sorry, I didn't get that - please repeat or key in your account number."

Anyway, this guy says the idea is that the computer weeds out no answers/voice-mails and then later the talented, real salesfolk call the redacted list. That way they don't waste their precious :D time (just ours) on no-possibility calls and only have to work the live herd (us).  

This rationale sounds reasonable - I can't think of what else it might be.

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I have started answering no-caller-ID calls at home (and on my cell) with "who are you and what do you want?" because apparently if they start with "is this X?" and you say yes, that is then taken as consent to be called.  If they won't start by self-identifying, I want nothing to do with them.  Then I congratulate them; telling them their phone call has cost their company $20K when I report them to the FCC for calling a number on the do not call list.  I generally don't get all the way through that before they've hung up on me...  but it's still a LOT more fun than just hanging up on them.

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Hubby thinks their robots dial many more calls than can be answered at any one time by their call center employees, counting on answering machines, etc.  So sometimes you or another real human answers but, thank the Lord, no employee is available quickly enough to bug you and you have silence.

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2 minutes ago, Lion EA said:

Hubby thinks their robots dial many more calls than can be answered at any one time by their call center employees, counting on answering machines, etc.  So sometimes you or another real human answers but, thank the Lord, no employee is available quickly enough to bug you and you have silence.

This is the explanation I was given by someone who used to work in a call center, basically.  We always wait at least two rings before answering, and this usually means someone else answers before we do and gets the sales pitch, while we get silence.  The no one there calls are annoying and time wasting, but not as much as the ones where the salesperson is actually on the line. 

I like Catherine's solution too.  I used to, before the do not call list, answer my phone at home with "we do not accept telephone solicitations at this number."  I think the formal language threw them off stride, because quite often they just hung up after that. 

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1 hour ago, Jack from Ohio said:

The "Do not call registry" is a toothless, worthless, paper tiger with no enforcement capability whatsoever.

Well, yeah - but it still makes them hang up FAST.  And I get to use an announcer's super-perky type of voice, too.  Y'know, of the type that says "call before midnight tonight and get - for NO additional charge! - the Ronco combination turnip masher and diaper steamer - just pay shipping!"

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11 hours ago, Jack from Ohio said:

The "Do not call registry" is a toothless, worthless, paper tiger with no enforcement capability whatsoever.

Sure it is!  Typical of worthless legislation, those politicians in my state were smiling on TV when this "Do not Call" was legislated.  The result is what happens when politicians want to pass a popular law, but never come up with any enforcement money.

In recent days, the cellphone companies have been on TV telling everyone that they are going to stop robocalls on cellphones.  In the conversion from land-lines to cell-phones, the phone companies are now reaping financial objectives they were never able to achieve in decades worth of land-lines:  namely the ability to charge by the minute for local calls!  Cellular customers who now look at the "caller ID" are simply not answering the phone, whereas without the robocalls they would routinely answer the phone and accumulate minutes.

Since there is a negative economic impact to huge multinational fortune 500 companies, my guess is the providers will be more successful than government efforts.  Note that the same providers are not acting to protect land-lines, as the economic benefits do not exist.

My wife and I receive at least 15 calls a day from unwanted callers.  I tell her to not even answer the phone to hang up, because it verifies that the caller has reached a working number.

 

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When I don' t recognize the number, I put it on speaker and don't say anything when I answer.  If the call holds with no one speaking on the other end, I just leave the call connected on speaker.  Eventually it hangs up, but at least I've saved one or two other people from getting an annoying call.  

If there's a live person on the other end who speaks up, then no matter what they say, I respond with what Katherine recommends - "who are you and why are you calling?"  That keeps control in my hands. It also gives me chance to tell them to put me on the "do not call" list, although I know it's pretty much a waste of time to utter those words. 

I handle the "your computer's infected and we need to fix it" calls quite differently if I have some time, because they're a real danger to some people.  I have some fun with those guys.

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I don't get too many at home, but on my work phone, easily a dozen or more each week.  Since most of my clients use email rather than call, I virtually never answer the business phone.  If I see it's a local number, I might, but even then a lot of times it's robocalls.  Drives me nuts.

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IMO, when there is silence it means it was a robocall and they don't have any available salespeople to take your call so it's silence. You may eventually get a salesperson on the line. The computers are constantly dialing even if nobody is currently ready, in anticipation that when you pick up someone will actually be available.

 

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On my Iphone, I downloaded and installed a free program called "Hiya" that will block known scam or fraudulent numbers, and since installation, I haven't had any of those calls on my cell.  My landline is different, however, I enter those suspicious numbers into Hiya and it tells you if it's a scam or involved with fraud and gives reports that other callers have written on those numbers.  I then take those numbers and block them on my landline which is a business line so I can't register it for DO NOT CALL. I have a couple of other local businesses so I really need to answer all calls..... especially the ones that use a local prefix number.  Lately, I've been seeing on the caller ID of the landline...... "Invalid Number".....I've seen that ID several times on different numbers.  I know there is a way that a caller can make the caller ID appear as if someone locally is calling you when the call is really coming from Timbucktoo......now I'm wondering if the phone company (ATT) has found a way to identify those type of callers.??

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