Telemarketers and salesmen: Right to invade your home???

[ditchdj]

It seems that the argument I hear in favor of these salespeople is that they have a First Amendment right to literally shove advertising into every single tiny nook and cranny in our lives. We MUST be allowed to be hounded to buy something at anytime, even if we're in the "privacy" of our own homes. I dont see it that way. The way I see it is that I think of my home as my own territory, my own country. When you intrude uninvited into MY "country" you're here illegally and you've violated my sovereignty.
My phone line also counts as part of it as well. The ONLY way you can reach into my home uninvited is through the internet (since I can block users from contacting me on the net through settings anyway).

[Scottya21]

It always seems odd to me that people get so incensed about this issue, when they generally waste a maximum of a couple seconds of your time for you to say "no thanks" and hang up (or slam the door in their face). But yes, it's annoying.

As far as the privacy of your house extending into your phone, interesting concept... do *you* own the phoneline? I think it's really the phone company, and they offer you service , or something? *shrug*

[rahmota]

Scotty say it takes 5 seconds to recognize a telemarketer and then hang up on him. Not even saying boo to them. Multiply that by 20-30 times a day (about average for some people that are popular on those lists) over an entire week. that is about 2 minutes a day 15 minutes a week or so. True doesnt seem like a lot but imagine a kid poking you in the arm going hey wanna buy this? Hey wanna buy this? For that entire time. Not a grievious crime but definately an annoyance. Some people dont want to put up with that annoyance especially in their own homes which is supposed to be a bastion of personal space and privacy from which none may enter without permission.

So I like the old concept of the motte and bailey where the walls of my castle are my zone. You may have the right to approach the gate but I have the right to pull the drawbridge up and say nee! to you.

As for the phone lines. I own from the box into the home. The phone company owns from the box to the road. The interface box is half and half. So yes I do own the phoneline inside my house. And can do whatever I want to with it including caller id, answering device, filters etc...

[Scottya21]

Of course, here in the U.S. at least there's the do-not-call list... I hear there are loopholes, but it's a start.

If you really want a bastion, you could turn off the phone. Or screen with an answering machine. Perhaps the privelege of having a phone comes with certain entanglements in this day and age. Kind of like internet pages, where things are generally paid for with ads.

I also wonder, if *companies* aren't allowed to solicit on the phone, what about private citizens? Do I have to have your explicit permission to phone your home, or can I call you if I have a good reason?

Just thoughts.

[ditchdj]

As a matter of fact yesterday when I wasnt home some stupid punk decided to rip off my "No Soliciting" sign and throw it on the ground and hang up a Sigecom advertisement on my front door. You approve of that Scotty??? How would you feel? Did you know that you can be arrested for trespassing if you went to someone's door selling something if there's a no soliciting sign and you chose to disregard it???? The thing that burns me up is the lack of respect. Personally I dont care what people do, just as long as it doesnt negatively affect me.

[rahmota]

They actually took down your no soliciting sign and replaced it with a company logo? Good grief. where are the mutant ill tempered sea bass when you need them.

That right there is Criminal Tresspass (which technicaly under Ohio law is anytime someone is on private property without permission of the owner posted or not, posting just gives you more legal leverage for misdemeaner charges) charges and vandalism charges right there. Especially if they damaged the sign or the item the sign was mounted onto. The first is generally a midemeaner but the second is a variable depending on cost of items damaged under Ohio Law.

I've had people tear down my No hunting/No tresspassing signs thinking that my farm is a giant wildlife area but then I have also chased people off at gunpoint (Gods I love living in the country) often enough that I have the local rep of being that gun nut you better ask permission to be on his land beofer going on there or he'll shoot you. Which works for the most part better than the signs. But I still have the signs up to remind people that this land is my land, not your land.

And I'll go with DitchDj about the respect thing. This is my land, my property. My home and hearth. You want to come here and be welcomed then respect me, respect my wishes and respect my property. Do that and I will treat you well according to who wand what you are here for. A business person is goign to be treated different than a close friend or family. To translate that into redneck you wanna come in my house dont spit on me, talk down to me or kick my dog unless you want to be goign to a proctologist to get my boot out of somewhere. i go to your house I'm not going to be kickign your dog (unless he pees on me or something but still) or disrespecting you. Thats what pushy telemarketers and folks like what did DJ's porch do. they are not respecting your privacy, your home, your property or your wishes.

What they are doing is wrong on many different levels. We go out in public we expect to have a certain degree of immersion in advertising and a certain lessoning in privacy. That is the cost of going out into the world. When we come home though that is our sanctum sanctorum. Our sanctuary where we can relax, unwind and lower our personal shields within the walls of our fortress keeping the barbarians out. In a perfect world that phrase would not have to be taken quite so litterally.

[ditchdj]

I just reported it to Sigecom and the lady was really nice about it and told me that someone in sales will be contacting me about the incident later this week.

[rahmota]

Well good luck with that. I hope they do accept responsibility for that. I doubt it will do much but hey one can hope.

[Seshat]

Thread necromancy! WhoooOOOOOOoooooo!

Ahem.

I've been thinking about telemarketing and such recently, and I've got a point I rarely see made in telemarketing discussions.

It takes 'five seconds' to deal with them, according to most of the 'pro' side. Well, aside from the fact that it never does - what about the handicapped?

Some disabilities (including mine) operate according to the Spoon Theory. Every activity takes a certain amount of energy and effort (analogised to 'spoons', and you have a limited amount of effort ('number of spoons').

For me, getting to the phone, listening to the spiel, trying to figure out if this person is a telemarketer or is a genuine call, and then trying to get the telemarketer to actually listen to 'Please take me off your list and never call again', is effort I resent.

And I don't think it's fair or reasonable to expect me to get an answering machine and screen my calls just because someone else thinks they're entitled to call random numbers. Whoever thinks that can buy the damn answering machines for me and everyone else who doesn't want to be marketed to, thank you very much.

I pay for phone service for my benefit, not for the telemarketing companies'. But call-screening answering machines are for the telemarketing companies' benefit, not for mine - they're a reason those companies think they can continue to operate, after all.

Not to mention that checking the messages on the machine and scrolling through any telemarketing messages is another spoon or two lost. Spent for the benefit of these other companies, not for me.

And I've got a long list of things that I do need. An answering machine shouldn't be one of them.

So yeah - I really do resent spending money and effort for the benefit of greedy bastards who make a profit off wasting other peoples' lives. And some of us have less effective-life than others - every 'spoon' is precious to me.

[NightAngel]

I don't get telemarketing calls anymore. I never answer my phone unless I know the number on my Caller ID. Period. Never.
I also never check my voice mail... so they can't leave messages because the box is full.
When I get home I check to see if anyone called and if they did I simply call them back.

After about a year of never answering- they all stopped calling.

My phone sits in blissful silence 99% of the time.

As far as it goes- I understand that it's a job and that people have to pay their bills somehow. However, to be completely truthful, I absolutely can't stand being called by telemarketers either.
I always try and be nice.
Unless they keep calling after I've told them not to... then I get mad. I'll admit it.

[AFPheonix]

I don't have a landline, so I don't get hardly any telemarketing calls at all. However, it annoys the living hell out of me when I get the occasional recorded call on my cell. I usually do answer my phone now that I don't have crazy church people calling me, because I've got ads out on several of my horses and I don't want to miss calls from potential buyers.
If it was a warm body I could tell them to take my phone off the list since it's kind of illegal to be soliciting on my cell, but it never is a person, only a recorded message.

[rahmota]

Get the name of the company and report them to the state attorney general's office as it is more than kinda illegal its downright illegal to telemarket mobile phones.

There's just no excuse for telemarketing and any "profit" generated by it has to be offset by the illtempers and feelings generated by it too. You haave to wonder why companies still do it (aside from its cheap and they can program a computer to do it)

[Seshat]

Get the name of the company and report them to the state attorney general's office as it is more than kinda illegal its downright illegal to telemarket mobile phones.

Getting the name of the company is well-nigh impossible. I've tried, many times.

I'm actually getting telemarketing calls from the States, and when I tell the caller that they've reached a person in Australia, they're shocked. Evidence, to me, that signing up for our country's Do Not Call list isn't going to stop the rot - and I'm ineligible to sign up for the US Do Not Call list, not being in the States.

Listening to my husband or flatmate on a telemarketer call often goes like this:
"I want your company name and I want to speak to your supervisor."
"Please tell me the name of your company."
"It shouldn't be hard: who's employing you?"
"Who's paying your paycheck - that's your company."
"No, I don't want to hear about the offer. Just tell - heck, just transfer me to your supervisor."
"Your supervisor."
"Yes, I want to talk to your supervisor."
"Don't swear at me. Just transfer me to your supervisor."
(sigh) "They hung up."


(We gave up on 'Take me off your list.' Most of the actual call agents either didn't understand it or couldn't do it.)

[AFPheonix]

I can't even imagine how an auto dialer would be allowed to dial country codes and foreign phone numbers. How odd.

[protege]

I don't get many telemarketers calling me either. Mainly, because I'm never home What few I get, take my "I'm not interested" politely, and don't call back. Those that are rude, or call back multiple times, I go after with both barrels. Sorry, but I don't take kindly to having my time wasted.

What took the cake though, was the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette calling my workplace *multiple* times all damn day trying to get new subscribers. We must have gotten several dozen calls from those idiots. After about the third one, I was pissed, and the gloves came off. I remember telling the guy that we'd gotten several calls, we weren't interested, and to quit calling. Didn't stop them--it took multiple requests for supervisors, and the threat of not only pressing harassment charges, but canceling our own home subscriptions as well. That did the trick