Latest method of amusement.

ProDarwin wrote: I don't get this. Why berkeley with them?

because its fun

KyAllroad wrote: You have a home phone??! What's life like back there in 1998?

believe it or not, not all of us live in a city where we can have internet access without a phone line. I know... crazy.

ProDarwin wrote: I don't get this. Why berkeley with them? Just politely pass on whatever they are offering and go on with your life. Or just don't answer.

Because at this point, they're not even telemarketers. They're scammers. Big difference, legally and in properly dealing with. The do not call registry cuts out telemarketers,and it does nothing for scammers.

I added premium caller id to my cell phone, that gives me billing names of numbers calling, as well as mr number that does a good job sorting out spam calls and blocking them.

But I've also picked up an air horn because at this point, berkeley the scammers, harassing me will lead to blown out ear drums.

Mr number does a great job cutting down the calls that actually get through, and I highly recommend it for a free Android app.

In case anyone was wondering, asking how to work for a calling company not bound by fcc regulations is good at making them hang up too. I'm genuinely interested though, because I could make a killing on the phone if I didn't have to follow regulation.

ProDarwin wrote:

dculberson wrote: In reply to ProDarwin: You must not get many of these calls. This isn't the old days. These telemarketers are hungry. They won't respond to politeness. I've had them refuse to take no for an answer, ignore repeated requests to be put on their do not call list, and even call me back when I finally hung up on them in frustration. I've not bothered to mess with them but I can certainly sympathize.

I get maybe a couple a week. "I'm not interested." Click. 2/3 of the time, the call comes up on my phone as "Marked as spam" so I just don't answer.

I get about 2-3 per day, 7 days a week until the NCL kicks in again.

ProDarwin wrote: I don't get this. Why berkeley with them?

Well, telemarketers are usually scammers these days that pray on the elderly and the like in attempts to scare them into giving out information that can be used to steal their money/identity. Therefore, telemarketers are scummy pieces of human filth and deserve to be berkeleyed with.

But an even better reason is that every minute you keep these chuckleberkeleys on the phone is a minute that they can't use to steal from someone.

We tend to get lots of calls from services wanting to clean our air ducts. They are doomed to disappointment, however, because this house has never had any air ducts. From the accents, these people are calling from somewhere like Sri Lanka or Bangladesh, and I respect them for working at a thankless job in the middle of the night, cold-calling people on the other side of the world. That said, however, why can't they take the number off their list once they know it's a waste of their time? Also, WTH is up with the business model of air-duct cleaning if this is the preferred form of marketing?

Aggressive on the phone, when they are selling something I don't want, is meaningless. Phone rings, I answer, if I can't tell in five seconds that its worthwhile, click. No yell, no goodbye, no response. I have only ever had one call back.

I politely say that I am not interested. If they continue, I say excuse me, but I just told you that I am not interested and I am hanging up. Then I hang up. They don't call back.

I got one of the - "We are from Revenue Canada" calls and I told them to get lost (and not nicely) as that one is a total scam.

But how else can I purchase ROBOT INSURANCE? I need to make my home and my family safe from robot attacks.

Remember, people denying the existence of robots, may be robots themselves.

In reply to NGTD: I don't know if it's possible to have a "more than total" scam, but the last call I got from those fake Revenue Canada people wanted me to call back to a number in Minneapolis. Frankly, anybody who falls for that deserves it.

I just remembered there's a way to automate berkeleying with these guys...Lenny!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/XSoOrlh5i1k

Yeah, it is sometimes fun to play with them. When I don't feel like messing with them I hang up. Several years ago I used to get a lot of calls trying to sell me life insurance. Used to ask them in their terminology would this cover frequent aerial flight as a crewmember? I was a helicopter flight crewmember. They would hang up quickly. Recently I got a call telling me my computer were infected with a virus and he could help me get rid of it. I responded Oh no, a computer virus, I've been hacked. Oh wait, can you hack a computer that is turned off? He mumbled something and hung up. Once on of those extended car warranty companies called about extending the warranty on my car, I asked how much would it cost for a warranty on my 1963 MG Midget and 1970 Opel GT. They got the hint and hung up. When I get them at work or on my work blackberry I ask them where did you get this number, this is a secure military phone line (not really a secure line but it is military) it gets them off very quickly.

Just got rid of my home phone 2 months ago. Going to miss not being able to mess with my wife's friends. She and all her friends are Korean and they can be very gullible. They call and ask to speak to my wife and I tell them no. Some hang up and some ask why, I tell them she's not home so you can't talk to her. I really messed with the pastors' wife, I told her my wife is on a date or out messing around on me. She freaked out and drove all over town to find my wife at church prepping for the next days service and told her I was home mad about her messing around. Wife just laughed. She's used to me.

OMFG...why hasnt Lenny been turned into an app yet?!? The ducks...good lord the ducks!!!!!!

I turned off my home phone years ago, because I was spending $50 a month just for telemarketers to call me. No one else used my land line. But before that, I used to love to mess with them. Sometimes I'd tell them a hard luck story of how a telemarketer stole my ID and I ended up homeless, in jail, or both. I gave them the telemarketing version of a country music song. Or I tearfully told them that their product killed my dog. Often, I'd turn the tables and try to sell them something. "Are you sure? It's a really nice couch, good price. Do you have someone else there that needs a couch?"

Shortly before the housing bubble burst, I used to get a lot of calls from lenders trying to convince me to refi my house and take money out. Finally, I asked one, "Why in the world would I take money out of my house to buy something that I can't afford? Wouldn't that be a huge financial mistake?" He acknowledged that it would be, thanked me, and hung up.