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<h3>The Menace of Telemarketers</h3>
 
When did we become a nation of sheep so willing 
to accept invasion of privacy as a natural part 
of life that we are forced to cower in the corner 
when our telephone caller ID shows an 800 or 
restricted number (not available)? 
 
Is it not enough that we are inundated day after 
day with junk mail (even though it keeps the 
postal workers gainfully employed) and junk e- 
mail, that now our last viable means of 
communication has become as cluttered as our mail 
boxes? 
 
Is there no recourse? 
 
Sure, you can register with \"Do Not Call\" 
registries, but unscrupulous marketing companies 
see this as yet another opportunity to latch on 
to a list of potential consumers who feel they 
can not say no. 
 
Confused? Allow me to edify. After you register 
with the \"Do Not Call\" Registry, telemarketers 
have 31 days from the date you register to stop 
calling you. How do they know to stop calling 
you? They receive your phone number as part of 
the \"Do Not Call\" Registry Program: INCLUDING THE 
DATES YOU ARE OPEN GAME. 
 
Am I the only one who sees the flaw in this logic? 
 
 
Then, of course, is the even more hideous 
Automated Telemarketer. This is a practice where 
a prerecorded sales message is left on your 
answering machine. Apparently, even a 
telemarketers time is more valuable than that of 
a private citizen\'s. 
 
Is this practice illegal? Why yes, yes it is. 
 
Which is why, if you pick up the phone as opposed 
to the answering machine, you will get hung up on. 
 Boy, nothing gets me in the mood for \"impluse 
buying\" more than prank phone calls. 
 
Of course you can file a complaint with the FTC; 
however, per their site: 
 
\"To file a complaint, you must know either the 
name or telephone number of the company that 
called you, and the date the company called you. 
Do not call complaints will be entered into the 
FTC\'s Consumer Sentinel system, a secure, online 
database available to more than 1,000 civil and 
criminal law enforcement agencies. While the FTC 
does not resolve individual consumer problems, 
your complaint will help us investigate the 
company and could lead to law enforcement action.\" 
 
 
The operative phrase being \"could lead to law 
enforcement action\". Oddly enough, I\'m not 
feeling all that encouraged. 
 
Realistically, the legal verbage on what you can 
do would make a professor cry. 
 
BE NOT DISCOURAGED! 
 
During my many wanderings through the internet in 
search of answers, I have found a truly awesome 
site published, interestingly enough, by a Lawyer. 
: 
http://www.panix.com/~eck/telemarket.html; How To 
Make A Telemarketer Cry, is well written, 
interesting, and humorous, but more importantly, 
fun to read, and easy to understand. 
 
Like many people, my main source of relief from 
annoying telemarketing calls is verbalizing my 
complaints; i.e. complaining. Now I\'m beginning 
to believe it\'s time to take a more proactive 
stance. Telemarketers beware! Perhaps if 
companies utilizing these annoying services where 
sued each time they broke the law, telemarketers 
might well join the Gray Wolf on the list of 
Endangered Species. 
 
I don\'t know about you, but from now on, I\'m 
keeping pen and paper next to my phone. 
Author Info
 
Alice Hart 
Article Source: <a href="http://www.articlehub.net">Article Hub.net</a>

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