DEAR SUN SPOTS: First and foremost thank you for being a terrific source of information. It is always a pleasure to read your column. My question is about phone calls repeatedly received, even after registered on the Do Not Call site. One persistent and annoying call comes at least daily about lowering my credit card rate. Sometimes the call comes twice a day! When I am told to push a number for a live person, I either get cut off or hung up on. Lately the state area code changes about every other day, but it is the same message telling me that this is my final notice. What can I do to make it a “final notice”? They are on my last and final nerve! Please help, thank you, so much. — No Name in Oxford.
ANSWER: Sun Spots thanks AARP for this information: Debt collectors can call you — but not before 8 a.m., after 9 p.m. or anytime after you tell them to stop. Such requests should be sent to the agency in writing (return receipt requested). Once they get this letter, collectors can only call to tell you there will be no future contact or let you know the creditor is taking action, such as a lawsuit.
Don’t trust Caller ID. Readily available technology allows phoning fraudsters to put fake numbers and names on your Caller ID screen when they call.
Unsolicited calls from charities, opinion survey firms and political organizations are exempt from the do-not-call rules. Also allowed, at least until you say otherwise, are calls from debt collectors and from for-profit companies (as well as any telemarketing firms they hire) with which you’ve had a previous business relationship (like when you buy something from a company).
The words “I’m calling on behalf of” a charity usually means it’s a hired telemarketer on the line. That gives you special legal powers. A for-profit telemarketer calling on behalf of a nonprofit charity must honor your request to stop future calls. Ask these callers for the names of the actual company for which they work, such as DialAmerica. Then ask to be removed from that company’s calling list as well as the charity’s list.
Even if you’re on the registry, a telemarketer or seller may call you within 18 months of your last purchase, delivery or payment. But regardless of past or future business, once you ask to not be called again, that company cannot legally do so.
File a complaint at the DNC website at https://www.donotcall.gov/. It will enter a database that’s used by the FTC and other agencies, including state attorney general offices. Complaints can be searched by keyword, area code, phone number, state and other criteria to build cases against violators.
Use the QR code to go to Sun Spots online for additional information and links. This column is for you, our readers. It is for your questions and comments. There are only two rules: You must write to the column and sign your name (we won’t use it if you ask us not to). Please include your phone number. Letters will not be returned or answered by mail, and telephone calls will not be accepted. Your letters will appear as quickly as space allows. Address them to Sun Spots, P.O. Box 4400, Lewiston, ME 04243-4400. Inquiries can be emailed to sunspots@sunjournal.com, tweeted @SJ_SunSpots or posted on the Sun Spots facebook page at facebook.com/SunJournalSunSpots. This column can also be read online at sunjournal.com/sunspots. We’ve joined Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/sj_sunspots.
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