Oops. To continue, the linked article states that there were over 140,000 complaints to the BBB, which would lead me to believe that there were at least that many to state and federal agencies. And nothing substantive happened until it bothered one of our overlords.

What I find annoying is that Telephone companies sell you caller ID, then they make it so that the caller ID can be spoofed. I also find it very annoying when private individuals block the reporting of their caller ID.

Scam: Telemarketers with No Number or Location

I recommend to always press "1", or whatever number leads to the live representative. Lay the phone down if you don't want to use any of your time. Say "Wait a second while I turn down the TV" if you want to burn a bit more of their time. String them along with false stories if you feel like it. You owe them nothing, and they have already broken the law. Give them no real information.

They provide key press 2 ("delete your phone number") to speed up the transition to their next call when you aren't interested. It doesn't do anything for you, and it frees up their line.

They call hundreds of people with robot dialers to get one live response. If everyone pressed "1", they would be out of business. They couldn't handle all of the useless live responses.

Of course politicians and charities have exempted themselves from regulation. They want the money, after all, and don't mind bothering 200 people to get one contributor. Again, listen to a short introduction, agree that you will listen to their recorded message, then set the phone down after the message starts. This ties up one of their lines for a while. The worst thing is to quickly hang up, which minimizes the cost to them, after they have already bothered you.

I have set my phone line to block private name/private number calls. I just wish I could do the same thing with unknown number calls. When I get a blocked number call, the caller gets a recording and my phone doesn't even ring. Why would I want to answer the phone if I don't know who it is? More than half the time I don't answer it, anyway, that's what answering machines and voicemail are for.

If I want to call someone I don't want to have my number I call through Google Voice. You can set that to send a particular number straight to a custom voicemail or to a no service recording.

"that's what answering machines and voicemail are for.'

My messages are transcibed straight to email. I love it. No listening through long inane messages anymore. I pick up the phone for maybe 3 people most of the time.

> I recommend to always press "1", or whatever
> number leads to the live representative. Lay the
> phone down if you don't want to use any of your
> time. Say "Wait a second while I turn down the
> TV" if you want to burn a bit more of their time.

No no no... These people are making minimum wage, and their time is worthless: Telemarketing firms are paying the lowest rates for phone service they can find... And you can bet the phone companies are giving bulk rates to these loyal customers.

Nope, the best response is to mindfuck their employees.

Now, vulgar sexual taunts are always a good opening salvo. When they're sufficiently tart, the "representative" is stunned into receptive silence for a few seconds.

That's when you start speculating on how low their wages are, how they've been having trouble dealing with this harsh economy, and how their lives just aren't working out so well... Their fatherless children are acting out, their friendships are fraying, the car needs expensive parts, etc.

On a good day, you'll get a third shot. Maybe the representative is so spiritually listless that he can't muster the will to disconnect. Or if you've struck a nerve, they'll say something defensive and then go mute again, as if expecting you to apologize. A favorite goes: "No! I'm making $9 an hour!", to which the best response is "Darlin', in my case, you won't earn that money unless you give full-discharge oral to your supervisor... And I think we both know he wants that from you." That's an important theme, whatever the particulars of your narrative. Because we can be certain that the supervisor is a wretched, wretched person.

KNOW THIS! ——

I've only had to do this twice this year! Once in about April, and I had no more calls until early December, when I had two in one afternoon.

* GET THE PICTURE? *

These people are not calling randomly, and just happening to connect to you. Someone out there is maintaining a database of people who cause more trouble than they're worth.

It's better to be on that list than the Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call registry.

Interest rates mean little to those who are smart enough to pay in full every month.

I recommend using the card only once or twice a month, anyway, for multiple reasons. As Jim Cramer says, paying cash hurts, which is all the more reason to do it. At least, you'll think twice about buying X at all.