May 22, 2014
My understanding is that machines dial numbers to record which are active/ answered. Telemarketers save time by working the active numbers. Friends tell me not to answer such calls. I do not know if that is a solution to the ever-increasing frequency of unsolicited calls but I'll tell you what might have worked with one group of "Global Pharmacy" callers who have been calling me every month ever since I purchased a prescription following an operation three years ago.
At first I was friendly but firm that I wanted to be taken off their solicitation list. They always said they would do that. Then for several months I tried the ploy of leading them in conversation to waste their time. Did not deter them. Then I tried threats including calls to executives at the Global Pharmacy in the home office in Canada. Got good lip service including claims that the prescription information had been stolen from the factory in India by desperate employees. The calls continued from their Mumbai, India, source.
Recently I may have found the key. When the India Indians call me --they are all Indian despite their names, Alex, Jim, Joe ... one had a specially fancy English name; I asked him to spell it and he couldn't -- when they call I say (if you are an advocate of "politically correct" do not read further), "Whenever I see an Indian on the street now I wonder to myself are they all stupid and unethical or are just the telemarketers?"
I asked "Alex" why he would want Americans to think that of his compatriots. He answered in his heavy accent, "Because we are stupid and unethical." The group has not called me since.
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