There seems to be a roumor that after proper notification, repetitive
callers can be subject to a $300 fine / judgement per call.
Where can i find that (or any othe amount)?

Robert Baer wrote:

There seems to be a roumor that after proper notification,
repetitive callers can be subject to a $300 fine / judgement per call.
Where can i find that (or any othe amount)?


It's part of the do-not-call legislation. You must tell the
caller to add you to their do-not-call list. The caller must
comply. Keep a record. If they call again it's easy money
in small claims court.

Does not apply to charities.

The FCC should have info...

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/tcpa.html

"Some states permit you to file law suits in
state court against persons or entities violating
the do-not-call rules. You may be awarded $500
in damages or actual monetary loss, whichever
is greater. The amount may be tripled if you
are able to show that the caller violated the
rules willfully and knowingly. Filing a complaint
with the FCC does not prevent you from also
bringing a suit in state court."

Cheers,
James Arthur
I have been on the so-called do not call list for a few years; it is

On Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:33:09 -0700, Robert Baer
robertbaer at (no spam) localnet.com> wrote:


Charlie E. wrote:


[snip]

My biggest problem is that, evidently, the prior holder of my phone
number (Mr. Barbeque) evidently left town with a lot of unpaid bills.
I get 2-3 calls a week asking for him, obviously from bill collectors.
The worst are recordings that basically say "If you ain't this person,
hang up. If you listen you admit you is this person..."

Drives me crazy!

Charlie

In some states, one can go to the police and have them put a tracer
on the line (usually for no longer than 2 weeks).
3 or more calls is considered abusive and they will be *told* (i
think by the phone company) to cease and desist; patterns will be
determined (eg: 75 percent are bill collector agencies, 10 percent are
marketeers); usually the bulk of the callers are contacted and also told
to stop.
Get their names and addresses - and send them a form letter saying
that you are giving them legal notice to cease and desist the harassing
calls.
If a particular caller is really nasty, use *registered* mail with
receipt request (green form that sticks on back of letter).
Certified mail is useless, as there is no record - it is plain first
class; if it gets lost before delivery, it may take months for your
CongressCritter to (be still my heart!) get the postmaster to refund
your postage.
Been there, done that.


You are wrong about Certified (with Return Receipt). It's the same as
Registered except for insurance and tracking features.

...Jim Thompson
Nope; it is first class and if it gets lost in transit, tough shit.

Robert Baer wrote:

Jim Thompson wrote:


I just answer every computer-generated question with "fuck-head" ;-)

In your case you could probably get the phone company to change your
number, for free.

...Jim Thompson

Changing phone numbers, having unlisted number, do-not-call list;
absolutely none of that, and no combination works.


I once dreamed about making a gadget that would pick up the
phone and challenge the caller: "Hey, if you're a human,
hit the <random #> key now," then ring 'em through.

Instead I answer and if there's the slightest delay from
them--meaning it's a machine waiting to detect my voice--
I just hang up.

For a while I used another trick... you can record the three
tones from the out-of service message [1] as the out-going message
on your answering machine.

When the auto-dialer dials up it interprets the tones and marks
yours as a dead number, not to be called again. Works great,
but confuses the innocent, human callers.

Cheers,
James Arthur
~~~~~~~~~~~~
[1] "<beep1 beep2 beep3> We're sorry, but the number you have dialed is
not in service." Sequence: <913.8 Hz tone> <1,370.6 Hz> <1776.7 Hz>,
about 380mS each.
OOOoooohhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:35:47 -0700, Robert Baer
robertbaer at (no spam) localnet.com> wrote:


Jim Thompson wrote:


On Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:28:57 GMT, Charlie E. <edmondson at (no spam) ieee.org
wrote:



On Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:13:55 -0700, Jim Thompson
To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-Icon at (no spam) My-Web-Site.com> wrote:



On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:59:12 -0700, Robert Baer
robertbaer at (no spam) localnet.com> wrote:



There seems to be a roumor that after proper notification, repetitive
callers can be subject to a $300 fine / judgement per call.
Where can i find that (or any othe amount)?

Sign up for the "selectable-call-blocking" feature at your phone
company. But that doesn't always work for anonymous/out-of-area
stuff, so I block that as well, except I turn it off when I'm
expecting a call from my doctor after hours.

My latest game is to play along, in Tom Mabe style. When we get down
to signing me up for something, I cuss them out and hang up.

They rarely call back because I've wasted their time that they could
have used to try and con someone else.

...Jim Thompson

My biggest problem is that, evidently, the prior holder of my phone
number (Mr. Barbeque) evidently left town with a lot of unpaid bills.
I get 2-3 calls a week asking for him, obviously from bill collectors.
The worst are recordings that basically say "If you ain't this person,
hang up. If you listen you admit you is this person..."

Drives me crazy!

Charlie


I just answer every computer-generated question with "fuck-head" ;-)

In your case you could probably get the phone company to change your
number, for free.

...Jim Thompson

Changing phone numbers, having unlisted number, do-not-call list;
absolutely none of that, and no combination works.
In fact, i think most of the callers USE the fed DNC list for calling...


My oldest son is the chief software guru for the world's largest
call-center organization... Dell, most US Banks, etc.

He says get the company name... that requires you to hang in there
long enough to almost start to complete the business/purchase
arrangements.

Once you know who's calling, advise them not to call again.

Most won't, because the fines ARE heavy.

Follow-up with a complaint to the Feds.

...Jim Thompson
Hard to say anything in one second or less.

On Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:05:09 GMT, James Arthur
bogusabdsqy at (no spam) verizon.net> wrote:

Robert Baer wrote:
Jim Thompson wrote:

I just answer every computer-generated question with "fuck-head" ;-)

In your case you could probably get the phone company to change your
number, for free.

...Jim Thompson
Changing phone numbers, having unlisted number, do-not-call list;
absolutely none of that, and no combination works.
I once dreamed about making a gadget that would pick up the
phone and challenge the caller: "Hey, if you're a human,
hit the <random #> key now," then ring 'em through.

Instead I answer and if there's the slightest delay from
them--meaning it's a machine waiting to detect my voice--
I just hang up.

For a while I used another trick... you can record the three
tones from the out-of service message [1] as the out-going message
on your answering machine.

When the auto-dialer dials up it interprets the tones and marks
yours as a dead number, not to be called again. Works great,
but confuses the innocent, human callers.

Cheers,
James Arthur
~~~~~~~~~~~~
[1] "<beep1 beep2 beep3> We're sorry, but the number you have dialed is
not in service." Sequence: <913.8 Hz tone> <1,370.6 Hz> <1776.7 Hz>,
about 380mS each.

My son has that tone sequence automatically occurring.

What I'm contemplating is a box which blanks the first ring, reads the
caller ID, if it's 800.., 866, or whatever, or a number on my
black-list, it answers then hangs up... so I'm not disturbed at all.

Since this procedure loses the caller-ID for desired calls... I allow
"good" calls to ring through on the second ring, but the caller-ID
isn't repeated... I'm looking for a way to store CID and insert it
after the second ring.

Any ideas?

...Jim Thompson
Use a PIC ?