My Blood Pressure Rises

My Blood Pressure Rises was Originally Posted on July 10, 2005 by lavarock

I keep getting calls from 571-522-6559, which appear to be a political “survey” and exempt from the Do Not Call List (DNCL). Here is what bothers me.

When Congress allowed the DNCL, they allowed specific exceptions. These included businesses you already had a relationship with (your bank, insurance company, etc) which would also allow bill collectors working on their behalf.

Congress also allowed non-profit organizations to call you. I honestly can tell you that every “non-profit” that called me was a scam or in one case, a company supposedly calling on behalf of a charity, but when I checked, they kept most if not all of the donations.

Finally, politicians and surveyors can call you; even if you don’t want them to. If someone is actually on the other end of the line when you pick up, you can ask and they are required to put you on their own DNCL. However, in the case of this particular smarmy company there is no human there; it is an auto dialer and recorded message. Waiting on the line for a human does not work, they hang up.

So the only thing I can do is go to donotcall.gov and report the call as a violation (even though it is technically not).

Although Congress, the FTC and the FCC took most of the harassment away, they left an avenue for continued grief on the consumer.

Why can’t we say we want NO unsolicited calls, including from our politicians?

If Congress had allowed us to completely stop political calls, how could the politicians call us to go out to vote or contribute to their campaigns? Allowing Congress to bypass our wishes was like giving a wolf the keys to the henhouse.

I say that the public should TAKE BACK our telephones once again! Let’s push for a REAL Do Not Call List!