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For weeks now I have been receiving fax calls on my house line, a number I've had for over twenty years and now ported to VOIP; somehow, at some point, it got included on a telemarketing fax CD.

I get them 3-4 times a day, each repeated 3 times, starting at 6 AM. Being awaken by the cheerful chirping of a fax when answering the phone isn't my cup of tea: Nobody calls me at six, so when it rings I always think there is some kind of emergency!

I finally decided to do something about this problem, and using the caller ID number as starting point, Google kindly provides me with the main number and name of the offending company.

The receptionist was not so receptive to my request: Seems they have many employees, and no interest in tracking down who is sending what, because they are very, very busy. Goodbye.

OK. Fine by me. One great advantage of my VOIP provider (Primus, for anyone who cares) is that their base package includes many interesting features, including the possibility to redirect any number to another. Thirty seconds later, I had the fax number redirected to the receptionist's number.

Since the redirection happens at the exchange, it will of course be a bit more difficult for them to track down the origin of these new, annoying calls than if they had been willing to listen to my complaint. They had their chance, and blew it.

I call this forcing corporate responsibility.

Get it? Now all the fax spammers are sending faxes to the receptionist at the company that bought the guy's telephone number, the receptionist that said they were too busy to remove his number, using the fax machine they're too busy to remove from their list. It's like a delicious irony cake wrapped in irony ice cream and topped with chocolate irony sprinkles! Let's see how long it takes for them to remove that number now. Congrats to you, Pat, you are our consumer action hero of the week!

(Photo: Getty)

I recommend suing telemarketers. I just beat one in Santa Monica Small Claims. And they sent their New York corporate counsel! (They're a huge international company.)

Anyway, I couldn't have done it without the help of a guy in Sacramento—a total stranger who went out of his way to advise me. His name's André-Tascha Lammé, and I found him through his site, KillTheCalls.com

He started it after he was getting 30 calls a day from mortgage brokers. He doesn't do this for a living or anything. Like me, he was just pissed off that they were using his phone and eating his time.

killthecalls.com

P.S. If it's an out-of-state company and you're in California, they have to have an "agent for service of process" on file with the Secretary of State. You look that agent up on the SOS's website and then just have the court serve them certified mail for $15. To sue them in L.A. and maybe in California, you have to have that in-state address—they can't be sued at an out-state one. But legally, if they're doing biz in the state, they must have the AFSOP.

Before all of you start contacting Mr. Lammé directly, you should check out his website, which has a lot of advice on how to successfully take a telemarketer to small claims court.

(Photo: Getty)

"If you don't want to get contacted if somebody wins, then don't put your name in it. That was just such a girl thing to do. Wimp," the telemarketer yelled.

Whited said he called the company to complain, but not much happened.

"Someone that I spoke with said that it might have been her 400th hang up and she was just frustrated herself but that's not my fault," Whited said

We think her tirade seems pretty gentle, considering the things we can imagine someone saying, but then again our brains have been seared by the vulgarity of the Internet.

And as for the telemarketer, if all Whited did was hang up on her then we're surprised she'd take it so hard. She should read some of the things our commenters say they've said/done to telemarketers.

"Angry telemarketer calls back, berates man after he hangs up" [WIS News 10] (Thanks to Megan!)

Of course, there are still exceptions.

Health care-related calls subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 are still allowed, as are charitable fundraising robocalls made to members of the nonprofit charitable organization for which the call is placed, or to people who previously donated to it. The fundraising calls must still include an automated opt-out, however.

The strict limits won't stop robocalls from political campaigns, either."Political calls are not placed for the purpose of inducing purchases of goods or services, and therefore are not 'telemarketing' within the meaning of the TSR," the FTC notes in a footnote of the amendment.

If you feel plagued by telemarketers, try the tips in our past posts for getting them to stop calling your, or for dealing with them effectively when they keep doing it.

"FTC all but bans robocalls" [CNET] (Thanks to Jason!)

It's important to understand that if you have a business relationship with the company, they are allowed to call you for 18 months after your last purchase, delivery, or payment. However, if you tell them to add you to their own personal "do not call list" they are supposed to stop calling, even if your number is not registered on the do not call list.

So, let's say that you're sure that Whatever, INC. is ignoring the Do Not Call list and they've called you more than once over a 12 month period.

What can you do?

Well, we're not lawyers, and let's face it, we don't even watch Law & Order, so we decided to ask renowned smarty-pants consumer lawyer Sam Glover for some guidance.

He pointed us to a section of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act Of 1991 that deals with a consumer's right to seek damages from Do Not Call scofflaws. Here it is:

(5) Private right of action

A person who has received more than one telephone call within any 12-month period by or on behalf of the same entity in violation of the regulations prescribed under this subsection may, if otherwise permitted by the laws or rules of court of a State bring in an appropriate court of that State—

(A) an action based on a violation of the regulations prescribed under this subsection to enjoin such violation,
(B) an action to recover for actual monetary loss from such a violation, or to receive up to $500 in damages for each such violation, whichever is greater, or
(C) both such actions.

It shall be an affirmative defense in any action brought under this paragraph that the defendant has established and implemented, with due care, reasonable practices and procedures to effectively prevent telephone solicitations in violation of the regulations prescribed under this subsection. If the court finds that the defendant willfully or knowingly violated the regulations prescribed under this subsection, the court may, in its discretion, increase the amount of the award to an amount equal to not more than 3 times the amount available under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph.

Sounds to us like it might be a lot of fun to file a lawsuit in small claims court if you can prove that the telemarketer contacted you more than once in 12 months. You could get your phone records from the phone company and start recording your calls.

Here's some information about small claims court and how to use it.

Anyone tried this? Let us know what happened! tips@consumerist.com

Caveat Emptor Blog
Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 [Wikipedia]
§ 227. Restrictions on use of telephone equipment [ Cornell University Law School]
(Photo: amyadoyzie )

The secret, apparently, is to make every third or fourth yes mean something entirely new through the magic of inflection—but you'll have to stay committed to it even when the telemarketer catches on, which may result in a self-inflicted insult.

"How to torment telemarketers with one word" [YouTube via Neatorama]

Hello,

I recently have been victimized by telemarketers identifying themselves as parties involved with the Richmond police department. On two separate occasions, the requests for donations far exceeded any norm that i have ever experienced. It's appalling to think that these are individuals representing police officers that I respect and support in every way I possibly can.

Phone call number one took place earlier in the week requesting donations for a program that hands out bears to children that have been victims to, or present at a crime. I explained to the caller that I was not in the position to donate the requested amount given my recent move to my new home; he said something to the effect of "some of these children don't even have homes". That's a sad fact agreeably, but that's by no means an appropriate "sales tactic". I actually forgot about it after a day or so until a call I received tonight. In hindsight, I wish I would have spoken with the individuals supervisor, but this is the next appropriate measure.

I answered a call at about 8:55 as i was walking in the door and received a call from an individual once again identifying themselves as a party working with the Richmond police department. This time, the individual was requesting donations for k-9's that go school to school to educate children on drug services; I informed the individual that the call was a little late and he proceeded to say " is it past your bed time? ", It's rather presumptuous of this individual to assume we are all on his sleep schedule. After explaining to the gentleman that it wasn't past my bedtime, its just a late hour to be calling me, he said "Ok little guy, you get to bed." I thanked him for his sarcasm and hung up the phone.

Can you please assist in identifying the parties that are handling these requests. They need to be given a manual, some training, or be held to some standards before they harass the general public. Remember, these people are using your good name - I may potentially never donate to the police department again due to this interaction.

Why are these individuals calling so late and or using these abrasive tactics?

Thank you for any assistance you can provide,
Chris [redacted]

We recommend first checking with the police department to confirm that these telemarketers are legit and not part of some phishing scam. If they are legit, they most likely work for a telemarketing company and operate on commission which might explain their rude tactics. If they were volunteering for the police department in this capacity it seems unlikely they would be behaving in this manner. The next logical step is to file complaint with the Richmond Police department whether this be a scam or legitimate telemarketing gone wild. Since Virgina uses the "1 party consent law" regarding the recording of phone calls, you could record some compelling evidence which could be used to expose these obnoxious callers. This type of evidence could be very powerful in trying to teach these jerks some manners since the police probably would not want to be associated with such unprofessionalism.

(Photo: Getty)

Earlier today I got a call from a Chase telemarketer.  He called to inform me about a great Fraud Protection service.  The caller vaguely described what was covered over the next minute as he read his prepared script.  Toward the end of the script, he said that Chase would be sending an informational brochure and that I would have the opportunity to review the information with my family before I proceeded with the purchase of the Fraud Protection service.
 
At this point, I initiated the end of the conversation by saying: "I'll review the materials when it comes in the mail".
 
Chase telemarketer mumbled: "Ok, I'll charge you $7 and ship the information out to [Address]".
 
I cut him off mid sentence and asked him to repeat and clarify to make sure what just happened.  He indeed signed me up without my permission.
 
I proceeded to tell him "NO" in a strong and firm voice.  "I did not agree to pay anything, I did not agree for any service".
 
I politely requested that he send me the information, and not sign me up for the fraud protection.
 
At this point, I was about to hang up the phone when he came back with "Mr. XXXX, don't you know that some one's identity is stolen every 4 minutes"
 
I replied, "No, I don't want the service"
 
Chase telemarketer rudely cuts me off: "but Mr.  XXXX, what are you going to do when someone steals your identity?"
 
"No, Didn't you hear me?"
 
Chase telemarketer cuts me off again, "but you arent safe...."
 
I slam the phone down.
 
You just lost another customer Chase.
 
Now I have to call back and make sure that he didn't sign me up.  I feel like I need protection from Chase's employees from stealing my identity rather than some stranger who might steal my credit card or something to that effect.

(Photo: jebb)

"YIKES!!!!" wrote one Wachovia executive in 2005, warning colleagues that an account used by telemarketers had drawn 4,500 complaints in just two months. "DOUBLE YIKES!!!!" she added. "There is more, but nothing more that I want to put into a note."

However, Wachovia continued processing fraudulent transactions for that account and others, partly because the bank charged fraud artists a large fee every time a victim spotted a bogus transaction and demanded their money back. One company alone paid Wachovia about $1.5 million over 11 months, according to investigators.

"We are making a ton of money from them," wrote Linda Pera, a Wachovia executive, in 2005 about a company that was later accused by federal prosecutors of helping steal up to $142 million.

In late 2003, a Wachovia executive announced to colleagues via e-mail that her unit, because of AmeriNet, had seen "an increase in our annual revenue projection."

• In 2004, Wachovia "held a lunch for the owner of a payment processor that the bank knew had drawn thousands of previous complaints." The company was sued by the FTC last year for bilking $69 million from retirees and other victims.


• An internal Wachovia fraud investigator pointed out that Suntasia's returned check rate was 79%, slightly higher than the 2.5% that regulators say indicates a high probability of fraud. Despite this, Wachovia continued to do business with Suntasia until the company was forced to close by a court order last year.


• Citizens Bank contacted Wachovia in 2006 and asked them to investigate a fraud-related account that was triggering high numbers of complaints from their customers. Wachovia left the account open until a court order forced it closed.

(Thanks to jbcrasher!)

"Papers Show Wachovia Knew of Thefts" [New York Times]

RELATED
"infoUSA Marketed Lists Of "Gullible" Seniors To Known Scammers, Wachvoia Processed The Unsigned Checks"
(Photo: Getty)

SIT-VC.WAV [Art Of Hacking]

"If you want a telemarketer to stop calling you, do not say "Quit calling me" or "Don't call me again." In some companies, Reps are informed under strict guidelines to only delete records if the customer specifically requests they do so. Telemarketers are only required to put you on the "Do Not Call" list if you SPECIFICALLY request to be put on it. Be clear about this and ask for written documentation to be mailed to you if they have your mailing address, but don't provide it to them if they do not."

Furthermore, if you're on the National Do Not Call list, you can report the infraction to the FCC here. An important caveat is this technique will only work for non-skeezy, non-fly-by-night telemarketing operations.

(Photo: Getty)

Bluegreen says it has set up hundreds of similar kiosks in malls and other public venues across the country. Between the kiosks and its Internet marketing efforts, the Boca Raton (Fla.) company estimates it rakes in as many as 4.5 million "leads" each year, which it and more than a dozen of its affiliates use for telemarketing. David Bidgood, Bluegreen's senior vice-president of national sales and marketing, takes umbrage at any suggestion that his company is deceiving consumers with the sweepstakes. "We're doing [the sweepstakes] to try and make phone calls," he says. "[The fine print] is there. They should read it, but most people don't."

Congress is preparing to reauthorize the Do-Not-Call List, presenting the perfect opportunity to close the loophole with an easy and reasonable fix. As suggested by the AARP, the standard of "established business relationship,"should be changed to "ongoing business relationship." Problem solved.

Skirting the Do Not Call Registry [BusinessWeek]
(Photo: Getty Images)

Numerous consumers have begun to complain online (read the comments, too) about receiving telemarketing pitches on their phone number within days of installation, referring to them by name, before they even had time to give the number to anyone. In some cases, the telemarketers asked for the person by a misspelled variant of the their name, the same wrong name that appears on their Comcast bill.

Consumerist reader Kevin writes, "I was receiving calls from telemarketers within 3 days of installing my digital voice line in my house. It got so bad that I just unplugged the phone."

Undoubtedly, new subscribers will open their first bills to find a "marketing fee" surcharge for the pleasure.

Comcast sells your new phone number [Messaging..... Technology...... Life.....]
(Photo: Getty)

I just got yet ANOTHER call from a third party selling life insurance policies for BoA. Sometime last month, I told them to stop calling me, and that just because I bank with BoA (I had...I terminated that week before last for reasons unrelated to this) doesn't mean they're allowed to keep calling despite my telling them to stop. If I had access to our call records at the moment, I'd list the time, date, and duration of each call, as well as the date I told them to stop.

I quit being amenable on the day they called for the third time before 3pm...

So today, as soon as I heard 'insurance' and 'Bank of America', I said, "Ma'am, allow me to interrupt. I know that you personally probably don't have access to your company's do-not-call list, but I'm on it. What's the proper name of the company for which you're calling, and a corporate contact number?" [Sitel, 304.697.3000; What shows up on called ID is Not Provided, 800.448.2755; when you call that second number, you get a BoA greeting that allows you to opt out of these calls by pressing two.] According to the FCC, telemarketers have to transmit caller ID information:

"If you have caller ID, a telemarketer is required to transmit or display its phone number and, if available, its name or the name and phone number of the company for which it is selling products. The display must include a phone number that you can call during regular business hours to ask that the company no longer call you."

Once she provided me that, I asked for the call center manager's name, and said to her 'and I don't necessarily mean your immediate supervisor. I want whoever heads the call center from which you're calling'. I didn't want her to think that I was going after her, and for her to keep information from me to try and cover her ass.

A Donald Sims got on the phone, named Demi Roseman as the call center supervisor, and said that they at Sitel were calling on behalf of Interaction Insurance Services, 866.879.0179. He was cordial, and although he tried to be wily by spouting off the name and number as quickly as possible, he did repeat both when I asked him to.

I hate Bank of America so much.

Because right now, North Carolina has a relatively awesome attorney general, I'm not only filing with the FCC: I'm filing a complaint with the AGs office. Even if the federal gov't won't do anything with the information I've gathered, Roy Cooper's office will.

I know it's not a 'BoA carbombed my dead grandmother's house' story, but it seems it has been a while since I've seen a post about dealing with wayward telemarketers, so maybe at some point in the future, this will be something you can use.

If anything interesting comes of this, I can either send you an update out of the blue, or wait for a request from yall. I know you're busy. At any rate, with stuff like this, I make the calls at my computer so I can email myself notes on the call immediately.

Lessons learned:

• Telemarketers have to transmit Caller ID
• If you're on the do-not-call-list and they won't stop calling you, ask for the call center supervisor and get the place's name and number. Be persistent and don't let them get away with fast-talking if you can't understand them.
• Use this information to file complaints with the FCC through the Do-Not-Call Service.

See, getting on the do-not-call list is only one-half of fighting unwanted telemarketers. The other half is reporting those who fail to comply.

(Photo: amyadoyzie)

According to F.M.I. saying the words, "If you ever call me again, I'm going to contact my lawyer." Should get you blacklisted not just from the survey they've been calling you about, but their entire system. Read all the delicious details inside.

F.M.I. writes:

I worked for one of the largest phone survey companies in the country, and I thought I'd share some tips on how to avoid getting those pesky calls in the middle of dinner.

Survey firms don't have to abide by the do not call list, since they're not selling anything, so getting them to leave you alone can be a bit of a pain. Simply telling them "No thanks" generally won't cut it.

When we call, we have a few tools at our disposal: we can start the survey, set up a callback time, mark the call as a "soft refusal" or a "hard refusal". Most of the time, we don't count the call as a refusal unless we are talking to the person that qualifies for the survey, usually a specific person given to us by the company we're calling for or a person who meets a certain criteria (such as the female with the most recent birthday).

If you aren't the person who qualifies, you just hang up, or give some excuse to why you can't do it, you're scheduled for a callback. The general rule for most surveys is 7 or 8 calls before we stop bugging you. So if you just hang up every time we ask you to do a survey, expect to hear from us several more times.

If you are the qualified person and say "no", we mark that as a "soft" refusal. Soft refusals are called back again a few days later. After 2 soft refusals, you generally won't get called again on that survey. If you get very angry or start cursing, you get marked as a "hard" refusal and aren't called again for that survey.

However, any of those three methods will just get you off of our list for that particular survey. Even asking us to put you on our "do not call list" will just remove you from that survey. The only surefire way to get off our lists forever is say something along the lines of "If you ever call me again, I'm going to contact my lawyer". You'll get an apology and be blacklisted from all of our systems. Of course, you'll have to do it with each company that calls you, but it should help make dinnertime a bit more peaceful.

-Former Meal Interrupter

(Photo:stopnlook)

The agency said the program's primary goal of reducing unwanted telemarketing calls is succeeding, largely due to a "high degree of compliance by telemarketers." The report notes that while roughly 1.15 million complaints were received in fiscal 2006 from 374,937 registered phone numbers, that was the equivalent of only about one-quarter of 1 percent of the numbers in the database.

Add yourself to the list by registering at DoNotCall.gov, or by calling 1-888-382-1222. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

Do Not Call list grew by 25M in 2006 [AP]
Register Your Home Or Mobile Phone Number [FTC]
(Photo: chuckp)

The 3 basic steps are:

1. Log the calls
2. Know and follow the local Small Claims Court rules
3. Prepare Your Case and Be Ready for Court

He goes into much more detail on his site about what each of these entail. Check it out.

Here's a list of local small claims court info.

Inside, we uploaded a sample form you can keep a couple of copies of by your phone for taking notes. — BEN POPKEN

Kill The Calls [via Consumerism Commentary]

Click to enlarge

• Phone solicitations: donotcall.gov
• Junk snail mail: Direct Marketing Association
• Email: Just mark it as spam. Don't try to unsubscribe, spammers use that to confirm a live hit and sell the results to their friends.
• Credit card offers: OptOutPrescreen.com
• Doubleclick ad cookies: Ad Cookie Opt-out
• Lexis Nexis public database: Opt Out of Lexis Nexis
• Companies without online optouts: printable forms here.

— BEN POPKEN

Don't Call. Don't Write. Let Me Be. [NYT via Lifehacker]

What can we do to get these places to feel our pain? I have been checking out the website www.whocalled.us and found some info out on my number that keeps calling me. With email, address, phone numbers I was thinking of signing all these people up to as many free offers as I can find. But I thought maybe you guys would have some better advice on what to do.

-Nick

Dear Nick,

While signing up the company for bestiality subscriptions might make you feel righteous, it certainly won't teach the telemarketer a lesson or solve your problem...

Here's a thought: pick up the phone. Ask them to take you off their list. You might be amazed at how well this works.

If it doesn't, use that contact information you have to call them or write them a letter with your request. Also, you've already signed up for the Do-Not-Call (DNC) list, which is great. Now, employ the second function of the DNC and report the offending telemarketer here or by calling 1-888-382-1222.

If they still don't stop, you might take a lesson from this reader...

Most consumer problems are best addressed with head-on action, not hiding under a pillow and concocting fiendish revenge strategies.

A string of online pharmacies wouldn't stop calling reader Cajun in Cullyforneeya, every day, for six months. He had never done business with them and repeatedly asked to be removed from their list. The FTC didn't do anything about his complaint either.

He he took matters into his own hands.

Cajun answered all the calls and fucked with the discount drug telemarketers'. Towards the end of the call he reveals he's been recording the call the whole time and demands to be removed (again). They hang up shortly afterwards.

Finally, one day, the calls stopped.

Here are some of the best recordings. He gets the reps to help him find generic versions of Methamphetamine, Catnip, and Hemorrhoidal cream.

Hats off to you, Cajun in Cullyforneeya, you are man among voles.

Mr. Mabe makes a profession out of pranking telemarketers. Wonder if he signs up for every free offer he can to keep a steady of stream of incoming sales calls.

(Thanks to Guts on Parade!)

We suggest Creative Bastard puts a longer space between his looped comments. He says this is but the first, he's going to set the machine up and make a podcast of the best ones "over a fortnight." We can't wait!

"Free Phone!" [Creative Bastard] (Thanks to Wade!)

UPDATE: The file's creator has revealed the phone call was entirely simulated. The technology is real but the recording is a joke.

First you need to place your phone number on the National Do-Not-Call registry by visiting http://donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222. And then,

"Every time you get a call you consider junk, just ask the questions in this script. If they answer no, you may be able to sue them."

You got a script? We got a script too, buddy.

(Thanks to Wade!)

"Soon after I received many more calls "confirming" my information," says Anya.

Sometime later she checked her checking account. Over $200 a month she had no idea about was being withdrawn. Multiple companies kept calling her up saying she owed numbers between $800 and $8,000 a month for magazines.

Anya closed her bank accounts and "settled" with the smallest one for $600.

Today, the same company called her and says she owes over $270 but will "settle" for $150. She wants to know if we have any ideas for getting rid of them when they call. Sure we do, inside...

1) Tell them fuck off.
2) Report the calls to the police as harassing.
3) Check out our posts (1 and 2) about dealing with bad collectors.
4) Get a lawyer to send them a cease and desist letter.
5) Change your phone number.

Anya... please don't buy anything from a telemarketer. You were completely scammed. All those "confirmation" calls were somebody or somebodies recording you as they tricked you into saying "yes" and handing over your billing info. They then went and signed you up for bogus magazine subscriptions. We're sorry that this happened to you but now you need to buck up and stand up for yourself.

Her full letter below.

Hi, I have signed up for this company one unlucky day as I answered the call of a telemarketer. Soon after I received many more calls "confirming" my information. They had all my info except my debit card. The amount I agreed to (I don't exactly remember now) was somewhere between 14 and 44 dollars a month.

When I finally checked my bank statement - I had close to 200 dollars a month being withdrawn from my account. I closed my accounts and began receiving phone calls from what ended up being like 10 different companies each stating that I have a balance with them between 800 and 8000 dollars! For Magazines?!!!!!

Finally I decided that I am not answering any more phone calls. The only one I agreed to pay out was the above named company which also had the "smallest" amount of supposed debt. I was shocked to find out that I owe them supposedly over 700 dollars!!! It was a very tough time for me and I did not have the time to think through all that was going on. It was easier just to pay the "settlement of $600 even though I had to put that on credit card. That was about 2 years ago.

Today I was once again contacted by the same company saying that I owe them over $270 but they will settle for $150. This is getting ridiculous. I wonder if there will be any way of getting rid of them. If you have any suggestions - please help. Your advice will be greatly appreciated. (I don't know what to do. I destroyed all records after getting married because I have not heard from them in about 2 years and I thought this nightmare was over!)"

Download MP3 here.

A description really won't do this call justice. So just listen as, over eight minutes, an insane cat lady calls a telemarketer a terrorist, a rapist, an Iraqi insurgent, a murderer, a serial killer, a criminal, a sexual abuser, a hater, hurter and life deserter. And that's just twenty seconds of the phone call. She also claims to have had an appendix rupture due to telemarketing calls and that she can produce an incriminating list of hundreds of people who have been murdered by telemarketers. That's another ten seconds.

And it goes on and on and on, interrupted only occasionally by Alex's calm, hilarious responses and a sound from the woman's throat sounding very much like the regurgitation of her entire esophagus.

Through it all, Alex is unflappable. Scummy profession aside, he's our new hero: smooth as silk, sarcastic yet polite. We love his understated response to being accused of being a serial rapist: "Wow! That's a pretty harsh accusation!" The woman uses this as a segue to tell him about a friend who was gang raped by telemarketers; Alex doesn't even blink. What's cooler than being cool? Ice cold!

There's a strange logic about the entire recording that becomes clear after the second or third listen. We recommend listening to it again and again. This is the second best thing we've ever posted. Thanks, Nick!

Crazy Telemarketer Call [YTMND]

So this is where all that emergency money got appropriated to:

"[Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann] Minner's office says the Department of Homeland Security has placed the hot line numbers on the federal government's Do Not Call Registry, in an attempt to thwart the telemarketers."

Let us know how that works out.

"Telemarketers Tie Up Emergency Phones" [WTOP]

"Call-center workers in India are having nervous breakdowns after being abused by fed-up Australians.

"Some companies are regretting outsourcing this business to India because of the damage it does to their products' reputation," said James Organ, director of Australian research organisation Callcentres.net"

The article goes on to suggest that racism and xenopobia may play some part in the former former and present British colonies' frustration with Indian telemarketers.

We think, however, annoyance is a universal language.

"We're Stressing Indian Callers" [The Sunday Mail via Digg]