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From: dave@westmark.westmark.com (Dave Levenson)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Getting Blitzed by an AT&T Aggregrator
Message-ID: <16390@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 25 Jan 91 00:05:41 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 65, Message 5 of 11


In article <16338@accuvax.nwu.edu>, syd@dsinc.dsi.com (Syd Weinstein)
writes:

[ an article describing a telemarketing machine selling
AT&T-agregator toll service]

> It doesn't help AT&T's image any when this happens, it makes the
> telemarketers look good.  At least those you can tell your bank of
> lines and they skip them, they don't want to waste their time either.

Here in central NJ, we have been blitzed by a local dealer selling
AT&T's home-security systems.  Their systems have called our lines, in
number sequence, three or four times over the past three weeks.  The
recording mentions AT&T several times before identifying the local
dealer in an almost parenthetical tone.

I called the local dealer and told them that if their machine
continued calling the same numbers, I would consider it harassment,
and would report it as such to local law-enforcement authorities.

I have just subscribed to Call*Block service from NJ Bell.  My
intention is to use this service to prevent inbound calls from a
certain telemarketing company in Bound Brook.  They call almost every
day, with a different advertising message, from a different local
business, each time.  The Caller*ID indicates that it's from the same
number every time.  That number is now the first one on the list of
callers I don't want to hear from.


Dave Levenson		Internet: dave@westmark.com
Westmark, Inc.		UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave
Warren, NJ, USA		AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave
Voice: 908 647 0900	Fax: 908 647 6857


[Moderator's Note: Over here it is known as 'call screening'. Isn't it
a wonderful thing!  *60 #01# adds the 'last call received' to the list
of numbers blocked whether you know the number or not. *69 calls back
the last call you received so you can give them a taste of their own
medicine if you feel like it.  PAT]