Readers increasingly fear that the Do-Not-Call Registry is losing its effectiveness as telemarketers come up with more and more tricks to avoid being penalized. A reader's recent experience left a trail back to one culprit -- his cable company, Charter Communications.
"I'm on the Do-Not-Call list, but in the last month or so I'm getting calls non-stop," the reader wrote. "What I'm really curious abou
Readers increasingly fear that the Do-Not-Call Registry is losing its effectiveness as telemarketers come up with more and more tricks to avoid being penalized. A reader's recent experience left a trail back to one culprit -- his cable company, Charter Communications.
"I'm on the Do-Not-Call list, but in the last month or so I'm getting calls non-stop," the reader wrote. "What I'm really curious about is who are these call centers that ring my phone off the hook, never leave a message, and call four or five times a day when they start blanketing my number? Are they legit? Why do they not leave a message, and why do they call non-stop when you're obviously not going to talk to them? Who is hiring them? Have they found a legal way to get around the Do-Not-Call list, making it the phone equivalent of yes-you-can-spam for cold calls?"
The reader was getting so frustrated that he bought caller ID - at a $100 per year - so he could try to screen the calls. One of the telemarketers that kept calling him appeared to be in the 305 area code and was identified as "Publishers Dire" (for "Direct" perhaps) But another number blasting him with phone calls -- 888-438-2427 -- was more readily identifiable. It's Charter.
Given its recent attempt to let NebuAd display targeted ads on broadband customers' computers, we know Charter doesn't exactly put a high priority on customer privacy. And one of the big loopholes in the Do-Not-Call list system is that companies with whom you have an existing business relationship can call you. Of course, they are supposed take you off their telemarketing lists if you request it, but how can you do so if, as in the reader's case, they never even leave a message identifying themselves?
And this certainly has to make the reader wonder whether the Miami telemarketer and others who have been harassing him are also calling him either or Charter's behest or because Charter has sold them his number. "Since I am a Charter customer, I knew some of these calls are quasi-legal," the reader wrote. "Every few month Charter goes on a phone service for that telephone service that no one seems to want. It doesn't seem right that these call centers can keep doing this and I can do nothing about it. It just makes me curious if the Do-Not-Call list is going to be completely ineffective soon."
Who is messing with your privacy? Write me at Foster@gripe2ed.com and maybe we can make their actions a little more public.
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