Within 24 hours, the calls stopped except for one from American Express. I knew they had the wrong number, as the person they were calling was one digit off from mine. However, I couldn't talk to a recording, so I had to wait until they got mad enough, they put a real person on the call. Did HE get an earful.

I was getting calls from 4 different groups @ 4 times/day...all recordings. I know what you are going thru.

The silence is wonderful.

for both home and cell numbers.

I've reported violators.

Still, the calls keep coming from (see below) those weasels who change their numbers every month or so.

It's hard to sort out, because they've gotten clever. There is a loop hole in the law which allows organizations with whom you already have a relationship, to call you. So your magazine can call you about your subscription. Of course they can outsource that call to an outfit that can ask you if you want to renew your subscription early. Your credit card company can outsource various services that are for sale in connection with your account.

Then there are the "information" calls, which don't technically try to sell you anything. They are informing you that there is a federal program to improve the energy efficiency of your home. They aren't selling anything, but would you be interested in a FREE home energy audit to see if you qualify? What do you think happens if you say yes?

Then there is the one "informing" you that you've "won" a free cruise/hotel stay/flight. Of course, if you move on, well, there is the small detail of what you have to buy in conjunction with this "free" trip. But of course they didn't call to sell you anything, they just called to "inform" you that you had "won".

Her elusive owners were tracked down and prosecuted, according to one of the consumer blogs I read.

Those were coming in thick and furious for awhile.

that starts with an "FBI warning" about home break-ins. I must have received about 4 of those in the last week, between my cell and my landline.

and LIE.
Their opening pitch is that my neighbor gave them my name (that would never happen)
because she has a home security system.( true, but NOT the one they are selling door to door).

And here I thought Rachel was calling me personally.

And I had just re-registered my name with the registry last summer.

I joined right away, but in the last two years I get a least 10 calls a week from "company's" that seem to be a front for a scam to get information from the me. I also have caller ID, so I don't pick up, that has help decrease the calls I've been getting lately. (cross my fingers)

I always check the number that was called on the internet and there are sites that keep records and pass the information on who's the caller. You could try doing that if you get the number they are calling from. Problem with trying to block these numbers is they just change the blocked numbers.

I can't be sure it's not associated with changing the status of our phone # here.

For years we paid for the privilege of having a number that was both unlisted in the directories, and unavailable even if someone called Information (411).

Five bucks a month, and it still didn't stop those telemarketers using automatic # dialing.

So we got rid of it, and now we're getting all kinds of telemarketing calls. Direct consequences of changing the status, or more telemarketers making calls? I don't know.

One particular place I'm totally disgusted with involves a company that is hawking home security systems. Seems like every month it's from a different phone number, although when the answering machine picks up, the same message with the same female voice is there.

I honestly don't know what to do about it. I do a google search for the numbers, which brings me to online complaint sites where people stupidly insist that putting our numbers on the Do Not Call registry will stop these calls.

No. It doesn't work when they change the numbers they're calling from on a monthly basis.

I know that it might not stop random phish dialers
but
the phone company always asks "what name do you want your number under"
and
I always used a silly fake name
something J. Westerall McGillycutty.
people who wanted my number to call me, I told them to look the number up under the fake name
it was memorable enough for them to find it
but sure helped slow down the marketing calls
"Is this Mrs. MCGillycutty?" being a dead giveaway.
So when i got those calls, if I was in the mood I would give out a long story about how she had died when a herd of cows was spooked by the semi truck crashing thru the gate.......
or whatever
and ring off, declaring myself "just too choked up" to talk.

It made for amusing moments.

No Name. Callers asking for Mr. No-nah-meh were quickly dispatched.

I've been getting way too many calls lately: cancer, home security, upgrading my home energy-use system. It's obnoxious and they don't stop.

They're supposed to not call anyone on that list.

You can try reporting any sales calls you get, despite being on the list, to the utilities commission in your state. Some states have their own laws.

I've been on the DNC list since the beginning, and for a while it helped. However, it seems to come in waves. Sometimes it goes for a few days with hardly a call, then there are several days where I get a dozen calls a day or more. They're either total scams (I've looked up the number) or extremely persistent charitable organisations I've donated to in the past but by now so dislike I'll never give them a dime again.

The worst are those robocalls that leave messages. I get the voicemails transcribed and sent to me via SMS which costs me money. Some of those bastards cost me 50 cents per call.

I don't even look up when the landline rings anymore. I've got talking Caller ID.

the DNC is routinely ignored and basically worthless.
Now, I am reading reports of phone scams calling cell phones.

My only defense is an answering machine set to go on after the 4th ring.
Robocalls do not ring past the 3rd ring, for the most part, it seems.

The majority of these calls are coming from Canada. A fluke of how the telephone system rolled out, Canada and the US share the same phone system, so calls between the two are very cheap. And since the caller isn't in the US, they aren't subject to US law.

If it makes you feel any better, Canadians receive the majority of their calls from the US for the same reason.

I always felt (coming out of the Bush Administration) that all this did was put your number on a list that could at some point be sold or distributed through changes in rules or whatever. Never trusted it, so I never added my number to the list. The only contact I ever receive is from my cell phone company through a text every couple of months.

BUT, I never give out my number. I don't use it for rewards cards, etc.. Maybe that helps.

I've never heard of anyone who has signed up saying they ended up receiving fewer calls.

Telemarketers jump the gun so I renew about every three years. Caller ID is a godsend. Any legit caller will leave a message. Telemarketers hang up after three or four rings.

Used to have to renew.

The calling number flashes across my TV screen. If I don't recognize the number I never answer. If it is important the caller can leave a message on my voice mail.

This is what they say about it:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-222-555-7777

I did about 5 years ago, and got a Microcell mini-tower from AT&T that gives 911 my home location in case they need to find me in emergency.

Haven't had a tele-marketer call since.

I was gonna post essentially the same thing after getting 2 calls this morning.
I too joined the DNC list numerous times, but the calls keep coming.
Now, I pick up and either say the person they are looking for is dead or I yell at them to never call again.

because violators aren't pursued and fined. Not sure, but I think that's what happened.

Thank God. I was going through phases where I was getting at least four a day, even with the DNC list.

....are selling your phone number to telemarketers and making you check off on it by saying you can't use your product unless you do.

That's a fact. They can say it's not happening, but it is.

Forget the poor person trying to earn a living. Lets hook up Robo-dialers to interrupt the CEO's and owners of these firms lives.

i continually get calls.....continually.

saying that they would be coming through my neighborhood with their truck to pick up donations of used household goods.

Finally, I got fed up with a call that came while I was working on deadline, so I as soon as I was finished, I called their number as listed in the phone book. It was after hours and no one was there, but I gave their answering machine an earful, saying that because of their robocalls, I would NEVER, EVER donate to them, and in fact, when my brothers and I got rid of the last of our mother's household goods, we purposely donated them elsewhere.

You know, they never bothered me again.

a "courtesy" or "service" call, which isn't under DNC.

Some states require you to renew your DNC every year (or every few years) - double check that your number is still in all of the requisite databases - including Federal.

Alternatively, look into a Call Butler service. Google should have options - not sure what is current as I dropped my landline a few years ago.

that you spoke to them before, or filled out a request card.

It's amazing how many contractors seem to think the DNC doesn't apply to them.

We usually point out that we would never hire someone we know to be a liar.

but i report every call.

https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx?panel=2

ignored.

When corporations own all the levers of power, and the media NOT reporting that fact... **it happens!

Or from debt collectors.

The nice Indian guys from Microsoft Security have stopped calling me since I started laughing at them and making fun of them.

The debt collectors are my most annoying - they are harvesting my number out of the listing where it is listed with my first initial and last name. So I get every variation of first name and "csziggy" known to man. When I confront them with this practice, they inevitably claim that the debtor gave them this number. After 30 or so calls of the same nature from different debt collectors for different debtors, I say BS on that.

One debt collector tried to tell me the debtor had this number before I did. BS again - I've had this number for over thirty years. Another tried to convince me the debtor was a relative. I told him I am the family genealogist and no one by that first name was known in the family for five hundred years - which is completely true.

I have the time and the disposition to call the debt collectors back and give them a hard time about this BS - and take up their time which costs them money. Money they will never collect by calling my number ever in a lifetime.

I also put in a complaint at the FTC toll free number (877-382-4357) and the nice lady there was real interested in this pattern of abuse by debt collectors. She wants me to call her with every debt collector who calls my number with the same BS story. I'd lost the paper with the case number and just found it - maybe I'll start doing that!