Reader Deon is confused by all the telemarketers calling him and sending him letters, asking if he wants to sell his timeshare. The confusion largely stems from the fact that he doesn’t own a timeshare. He’s tried getting off their lists but it seems his name and number as a “hot lead” keep getting sold around.

Deon writes:

Hi Ben,

I visit Consumerist several times each day, and you are my go-to site for most information. I don’t have a tip, but rather a question.

For the past year or two, I have been receiving mailings and, more recently, phone calls regarding my time share. I do not own a time share. I have never owned a time share. Nor has anyone in my family.

The pitch is that they assume I want to unload it. (It’s a pretty good indication that this “investment” is a bad one if there is an entire industry devoted to helping you get rid of it.)

I do not know how I got on the mailing/phone list for this particular niche. A year ago I followed Consumerist’s advice and opted out of DMA mailings, and I’ve been on the Indiana Do Not Call Registry for as long as it has been in operation.

So my question is two-fold: Does anyone else in Consumerist land (without time shares) get time share mail, and how do I get off of the lists? I’ve been asking the telemarketers to put me on their in-house Do Not Call list, but I don’t know how effective that is.

Any guidance you and the Consumerists can provide would be very helpful.

Thanks,

Deon

That’s certainly odd. Sounds like you somehow got on some list of leads that is getting sold (and probably resold). I think what you can start doing is when they call you to start asking questions to find out who sold them your name. You will probably have to be very aggressive and ask for supervisors, but if you can keep tracing it back, getting off their lists and then finding out who sold them the list and keep working your way up the tree, maybe you can cut down on the unwanted telemarketing at the source.

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