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From: slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Phone calls selling stuff
Message-ID: <242@drutx.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 12-Oct-85 14:42:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: drutx.242
Posted: Sat Oct 12 14:42:04 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 14-Oct-85 04:20:07 EDT
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver
Lines: 38

>
>I often get calls between 7:30-8:30 in the evening from people
>trying to sell something.  They try to sell everything from
>funeral plots to light bulbs. 
>Does anyone know how one gets on these lists, or possibly how
>to get off them short of having an unlisted number? 
>Maureen Chew

Sorry, even an unlisted number probably won't do the trick.  In
most cases, the salesmen are simply going through every combination
of the 10,000 numbers on a given prefix.  So whether your number
is unlisted or not, you will get called.  The only remedy I know of 
is an answering machine.

One exception to this is house improvement salesmen.  We were deluged 
with calls for about a year after we bought our house.  The salesmen 
got our name and address from the sales notice in the paper.  That 
has calmed down now, and most of the calls are random.  This can
happen to you if you have a baby (the birth notice), or get married, too.  
If nothing has happened recently to get you in the paper, then those 
are probably random calls.

If it will make you feel better, you could blow a police whistle into
the phone, or say "Just a second, I have a cake in the oven." and come
back 2 hours later, or get their company name and tell them that you 
are going to call the BBB.  But you'll probably get just as many calls, 
and the person calling is just an employee--probably a very poor person 
who really needed a job, and doesn't deserve the hassles.

-- 

                                     Sue Brezden
                                     ihnp4!drutx!slb

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I march to the beat of a different drummer, whose identity,
   location, and musical ability are as yet unknown.
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