Non-profit charity organization telemarketing woes

[floriflee]

I know I've ranted about land line phone issues in the past. In particular, getting calls from the same person (Edra Derricks you know who you are) about a dozen times always asking for Corrina. I still get calls occassionally for her from different numbers even though she hasn't had that number for over six months, but that's another rant.

For those that are unfamiliar, the land line phone is a backup to my IP work phone. So the only phone we have in the apartment is at my desk.

Now, on to today's rant....

My land line phone rant today has to do with a certain non-profit charity telemarketing organization that helps various local organizations solicit charitable donations from local residents. Lately, I've been getting at least a dozen calls a week from this particular firm (the beauty of caller id). More than half the time when I pick up the phone the other end hangs up. I'm getting prank calls from a telemarketing firm?! Yeah, that makes me want to donate to the various causes. Anyway, I've gotten to the point where I'm so frustrated that I'll either pick up and hang up right away or just let it ring (annoying when it rings while I'm working and talking on the IP phone with a customer or someone from work). I just got another "prank" call from this firm about ten minutes ago. This time I decided to call the number back. After listening to a five minute promo about their organization and their purpose I was given the option to get on their internal do-not-call list. I proceeded to do so (would rather get to pick which charities I donate to rather than them coming to solicit me directly anyway). At the end of entering in all my information I was told that my message couldn't be processed because the mailbox was full. What the...?! I tried hitting 0 to see if I could speak to someone in person, but just got the same recording. I'm going to have to try the whole process all over again tomorrow. If the same thing happens, then I will be chewing out the next person who actually is on the other line when that firm calls me again....

[/rant]

 

[iSaint]

Can you call the actual charity and complain to them?!?!?

 

[Doctor Q]

I've been using the answer-and-hang-up method today too.

We're having a state election here, and the campaign phone call are coming at least a couple per hour, day after day. We are on the national Do Not Call list, but the law makes exceptions for political campaigns and non-profit organizations. I never liked that exception; If I don't want unsolicited phone calls, why should their finances or reason for calling make a difference? I make a practice to give to charities that I pick, not those that pick me out of the phone book.

And I could wallpaper the house with the campaign mailers we've gotten. Did I mention the people who come to the door? I'll be glad when election day is over, no matter who wins.

But your version of phone spam seems to be something completely different. If you eventually get hold of a human being, I hope you have an effective plan in mind. Blasting the first person you reach might not work since it's likely to be the lowest person on the corporate ladder.

 

[floriflee]

Can you call the actual charity and complain to them?!?!?

Unfortunately, the firm represents several different charities. Each time I've actually talked to someone from that number they are soliciting for a different charity. I think I've had ones for the local police, local fire department, local breast cancer agency (the hubby told the person that I had died), etc, etc, etc. So I can't just call to one charity and complain per se. Unfortunately the message that I got when I called the number didn't say the name of their non-profit organization so I can't look them up either. It's all very frustrating. The fact that the number of calls (namely prank calls with the occasional real solicitor thrown in) that I've been getting in the last few weeks has been increasing rapidly makes it even more of a hair-pulling experience.

 

[floriflee]

I've been using the answer-and-hang-up method today too.

We're having a state election here, and the campaign phone call are coming at least a couple per hour, day after day. We are on the national Do Not Call list, but the law makes exceptions for political campaigns and non-profit organizations. I never liked that exception; If I don't want unsolicited phone calls, why should their finances or reason for calling make a difference? I make a practice to give to charities that I pick, not those that pick me out of the phone book.

And I could wallpaper the house with the campaign mailers we've gotten. Did I mention the people who come to the door? I'll be glad when election day is over, no matter who wins.

But your version of phone spam seems to be something completely different. If you eventually get hold of a human being, I hope you have an effective plan in mind. Blasting the first person you reach might not work since it's likely to be the lowest person on the corporate ladder.

I'm sorry to hear about your similar recent frustrations. I could only wish that mine would end with the ending of some event like an election.

In any case, I have every intention of asking for a manager the next time I can speak to someone. Having had to yell at Chase for various atrocities (yet another thread), and having provided support myself, I have an idea of who actually should have the power to fix my administrative problem. I just wish I had nipped this thing in the bud. I guess it's been so long since I'd had a land line I'd forgotten what it was like to have solicitors trying to call day and night. Honestly, I don't remember it being this bad the last time I had one (several years ago).

 

[stubeeef]

This is always a great story for the local news "fix it" folks. If you can't get anywhere pass it on to them. Most of the organizations claiming to be calling on behalf of the fire, police, sheriff, and similar groups, are rip offs, like $.01 per $100.00 goes to the said group.

 

[xsedrinam]

The DMA Telemarketing Preference List will take you off some of these lists. It does work. However, I'm not sure if some of these non-profit solicitation agencies are covered with submitting this online request. All our soliciting phone calls stopped within 48 hours when we requested it. I hear your pain.

 

[floriflee]

This is always a great story for the local news "fix it" folks. If you can't get anywhere pass it on to them. Most of the organizations claiming to be calling on behalf of the fire, police, sheriff, and similar groups, are rip offs, like $.01 per $100.00 goes to the said group.

That's a good idea. I'll have do that if I'm unable to get off their call list soon.

I completely agree that donating to these charities is typically not a good idea. I prefer to research charities out before giving them my money. I've made the mistake in the past of donating on a whim, and learned my lesson.

Thanks, again, for the tip!

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is that the pre-recorded message I got when I called it could take up to 90 days to get my number taken off their lists. Arg! If I have to put up with these prank calls for that long....

The DMA Telemarketing Preference List will take you off some of these lists. It does work. However, I'm not sure if some of these non-profit solicitation agencies are covered with submitting this online request. All our soliciting phone calls stopped within 48 hours when we requested it. I hear your pain.

These people don't seem to be covered by the FTC Do Not Call list since they are charitable organizations. I put the number on the list shortly after I got it to avoid those calls, but these ones are still allowed unfortunately.

 

[floriflee]

I just thought I would give an update on this. I finally spoke to a *gasp* real person yesterday when I noticed the number on caller ID. I politely listened to the man's message, graciously declined donating, and then requested to speak to his manager so I could complain about the phone system. The manager was very polite as I proceeded to explain my plight. He said that when the system hangs up it means it recognized it as a dropped call (no one home), and that it usually tries to call the number again later to see if someone picks up. I made sure I was very clear when I proceeded to tell him that these incidents of dropped calls were not "occasional" in my book as they happened at least once a day. I hope he got the message. In any case, I told him I wanted my number off the list and today I have been "prank" call free! Yea!

 

[xsedrinam]

Yay. Score one for the people.

 

[2cents]

This seems to be a case of erraneous auto dialler that the company is using. Telemakrting companies use auto diallers to contact people and if no answer the call drops. The system does not always work perfect and the telecoms regulator (Ofcom) in the UK has been known to review companies and cases where this is happening on a regular basis. Pehaps raise the issue with an industry regulator.

 

[JNB]

This seems to be a case of erraneous auto dialler that the company is using. Telemakrting companies use auto diallers to contact people and if no answer the call drops. The system does not always work perfect and the telecoms regulator (Ofcom) in the UK has been known to review companies and cases where this is happening on a regular basis. Pehaps raise the issue with an industry regulator.

Two year-old thread...

 

[Sun Baked]

Could always find out where they operate from, grab an employee list, and break in a reprogram their phone system.

Would be nice to see all of them called repeatedly by their own charity.

But since we never saw that or something about a bunch of telemarketing people killed in the news, I guess floriflee wasn't that mad.

 

[Gelfin]

My tactic: "I know the law doesn't require you to respect my preferences on the Do Not Call list, but I keep a list of charities that pester me by telephone and I never give a dime to one that approaches me this way."

It pretty definitively cuts off the scripted "can I mail you information" response unless the phone jockey is an idiot, and has gotten me on internal "do not call" lists a lot more effectively than begging their indulgence. I cannot remember the last time I got one of these calls.

After that, I don't actually have to take the jerk position of following through and blackballing a charity. I can just pick charities at my leisure as I normally would, and if one of those happens to correspond to one that called me, it doesn't matter since my contribution won't come in through the telemarketing program, reducing (by however small an amount) their return on the cost of running such a program and thus helping to discourage intrusive marketing tactics.

The only downside is that an anonymous telemarketer might be left with the impression I'm an insensitive jerk, and I'm not entirely sure why I'd care about that.