If you hate robo-calls on your telephone from advertisers, lenders and debt collectors, take heart. Consumer groups, the AARP, Consumers Union and Maine’s Attorney General William J. Schneider have successfully campaigned to keep the pesky things off cellphones.
They joined in opposition to a bill in Congress that would have allowed those automated calls on mobile phones. Two congressmen, Reps. Lee Terry, R-Neb. and Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., had introduced the bill with the mild-sounding title, “Mobile Informational Call Act of 2011” at the request of 16 banking, business and educational institutions, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They argued that the bill would level the playing field, since robo-calls are permitted on landline phones.
The backers of the bill expected it to sail right through. After all, who could be against “information”? But to their surprise, a torrent of opposition erupted. The AARP lobbied legislators. The powerful National Association of Attorneys General said the bill would “undermine federal and state efforts to shield consumers from a flood of solicitation, marketing, debt collection and other unwanted calls and texts to their cellphones” in a letter signed by 54 attorneys general including Maine’s Mr. Schneider.
Terry and Towns quickly saw that “there is no hope for this legislation” and sent a letter to that effect to the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
No wonder that consumers fought back against these calls. The phone rings and you get a recorded voice calling probably at random, and of course there is no way to talk back, even to tell the speaker to get lost or that you have no interest. To make matters worse, you may have to pay a fee for the incoming call.
Landline robo-calls are still permitted, but there is some recourse. The National Do Not Call Registry gives you a choice about whether or not to receive telemarketing calls at home. However, political campaign calls are exempt from restriction. If a robo-caller gets through, the victim can sue for up to $1,500 per violation. And the Supreme Couurt says you can now sue in federal as well as state courts.
If you want to get even with candidates who keep bothering you, try reverserobocall.com for a service that lets you place your own robo-calls and get right back at them.
Modern commuications have their twists and turns. Some may torment you, but some of them are on your side.
Begin rant. Automated calling or robo calling shouldn’t be allowed in this state. And I do mean ANY automated calls, including from doctor’s offices and/or collectors. It is an unwelcome intrusion into the home with little or no recourse. When I’m in charge of the world, there won’t even be calling equipment manufactured that has the capability to inflict such torment, inconvenience, and disruption on the telephones that we victims get to pay for so these ceaseless uncaring machines can whir day and night on their “rounds”. And PS, if your campaign calls me I absolutely will not vote for you, especially if it calls me 10+ times with well-known voices. So, save your breath, oh wait…you don’t have breath! You’re a recording!
End rant.
Announcements confirming medical apppointments or that prescriptions are ready are fine. So far (knock on wood) the crap hasn’t invded my cell phone but they do still come on the land line. Anyone else have problems with “Rachel” from Credit Card Services or whatever who assures you there is no problem with your accounts but …? Impossible to pin down since the calls come from many numbers all over the country.
I have a way to get back at Rachel. I press to speak to a live person and then immediately hit star and pound keys and they get a shreak in their ears. Hasnt stoped these jerks completely but it does give me some satisfaction. Thankfully, she hasnt invaded my cell phone.
My policy: I refuse to vote for any candidate that robocalls me. Immediate disqualification.
Paying for robo calls on your cell phone? That would almost be as foolish as paying to watch commercials on T.V….
Sign up on the do not call list
I detest robo calls! I’m a “shift” worker. My day, evening, night begins with a two hour call from my employer, which can come any time during a 24 hour period, to come to work. In the past few years I have had to mute the three telephones in my home to avoid these &$% robo calls. It’s not a big deal muting the phones but I shouldn’t have to do that. Five years ago I signed up with the “Do Not Call Registry” for both my land line and cell phone. This is a great service but it does take a while to ween robo callers, bill collectors, etc from calling. As I’m sure many of you have done, I have gone from being nice to full blown rants with these robo “people.” Most irritating are the ones who when they call display their phone number on my caller ID. When I attempt to call them back the call “cannot be completed as dialed” or is forever busy. The ones I do get through to….when I explain why I am calling I get hung up on. I asked one caller for their phone number and would return the call at 3:00AM and her reply to me was, “Sir, we are not open in the middle of the night.” DUH! This after telling her she was interrupting me in my “middle of the night.” Doesn’t matter, another hang up. Then there’s the ones who promise to remove your number. Very few follow through. On my days off I turn my land line back on. It has gotten to the point where after several years of reporting these calls I am seeing a difference in the number of calls but new ones appear on a weekly basis. Thank God my work will call me on my cell phone but even on it I get a few robo calls. I admit I’m a stubborn old cuss and don’t feel I should have to mute my home phones but robo calls got the better of me. Even on my day off robo calls are annoying. I wouldn’t have a land line if I didn’t need it to call international. Anyway, thanks for listening
A side note….I’m on my third new phone number in two years. So, if any of you are Tyrone Powell or Yolanda Malone, please pay your #!*&! bills. Your bill collectors don’t believe I am not you or a family member of yours. Very soon I am going to become you and make your lives even more miserable by admitting I am you and we’ll go from there.
You can sue the company thats calling you about a bill collectors an win that happen to a person that changed phone numbers . that person kept telling them that they had the wrong number but they did not believe him so he sued an won
The argument shouldn’t be that because these calls are allowed on land line phones they should be allowed on cell phones. The argument should be why are they allowed at all. This is not a “free speech” issue. I pay for my phone connection and I do not see how that gives anyone the right to call me when I do not want to talk with them.