Have you heard of this organisation then flood of donation calls

Thanks Karen. I couldn’t agree more! I feel if the company/organisation says one has won something, we shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to get it!

I had a similar experience, but it was an online survey. It was a feedback survey for a company that I had purchased from online, that then seemed to go into pages of “Have you heard of this company?”
After the first couple of pages, I twigged, but they already had my mobile no from the original order. I started to receive anything from 1-10 calls a day, from various charities. Some were genuinely from the organisation itself, such as the Garvan Institute. Others were quite obviously call centres - a majority were in WA, so I was getting evening calls, calls at work. My response became progressively less polite, depending on volume (of calls, not how loud they spoke :slight_smile: ).
It all stems from these increasingly intrusive sets of spam surveys, calls etc. Support Choice’s campaign on the Do Not Call register. I had a silent no for a while, due to DV issues, and I still got them, due to the use of random dialers.

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As I was reading your post I received a telemarketing call . I just use the same response . " Sorry , you caught me at a bad time , just heading out the door for a doctors appointment " Then hang up . Calls are getting fewer and fewer .

I agree… I don’t do phone surveys any more either.

Not always. I use Skype for all long distance calls which are a small fraction of the cost of regular calls. One problem is, being VOIP calls, they take a few seconds to connect.

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You guys might be interesting in this. A heads up on frightening new development.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/beware-new-can-you-hear-me-scam/

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If my caller id shows “overseas” or “private caller” I do not pick up. However I have noticed recently that robo-calls such as used by politicians etc will go to message bank giving them a second chance to annoy.

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The problem with “private caller” is that a number of important calls, particularly health related or silent numbers come up as “private”, so I end up answering and get a few scams or “charities” as well.

If the technology is capable I would prefer it came up with something like “Hospital” or “A. Smith” without disclosing the number. Our clinic & hospital contact us by phone to confirm appointments, if you don’t respond, the appointment is cancelled. We have arranged with our one friend overseas to send a text before he rings, that’s the only time we answer “overseas” calls. As I get calls, I look them up and if it has a spam rating, then I list it in the phone’s phonebook and assign it a different ring - not to be answered. We exceeded 100 (the limit of the memory) and have bought a handset with 500, hoping it won’t ever be filled. It really is a burden to have a landline.

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I recommend you get a Telstra "Guardian"cordless phone set. I got one in November last year and since then I have not received one scam call.

Calls to numbers on your call list (capacity 2000) go through as normal.

If not on your contact list, caller is asked to identify themselves. If they don’t the call is immediately terminated.(you are not even aware of a call). If they do announce themselves the phone rings and displays caller details as provided by caller. You have the option of accepting call once, always, or blocking number.

We love it!

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The ingenious methods used by telemarketers to invade your privacy is becoming hard to keep up with unless it is a company I have given permission to call for telephone surveys I refuse as they become part of the daily grind to say no thank you so from the start I ask what is the survey for are you on my registered list and if not please do not call again mostly this stops the badgering of the callers. I have registered on the do not call government line but they get around this all the time. If I get repeat calls I ask what part of NO do you not understand they usually hang up.

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Sorry Under the Do Not Call Register Act 2006, some organisations – including public interest organisations are exempt. These include registered charities and social researchers.

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Thanks for the tip …sounds great

In view that you have to pay for your phone line … the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 should be changed
When the Politicians and charities start paying for your phone then maybe they should be exempt to possibly make you a call.

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As a taxpayer I pay towards the Politician’s phone … why are the Politicians entitled to ring me on a phone I have to pay for even though I am on the DO NOT CALL LIST

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I agree and the Do Not Call Registry is ignored anyway. I simply say ‘no thanks’ and hang up. Then I put their number on my ‘Regect’ list on the mobile. Simple.

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I think it is helpful to have a standard script ready for unexpected phone calls.
If it is obviously an unwanted call from a telemarketer or scammer, say nothing and hang up.

If unsure, ask:

  1. Who are you?
  2. Did I ask you to phone me?
  3. Where did you get my phone number from?
  4. What’s your phone number and address?
  5. What do you want?

Be prepared to simply hang up at any point, depending on their answer.

I no longer complete product surveys, except for reputable organisations such as Choice. I take care to protect my key identity information in all my daily transactions as much as possible using the ‘need to know’ principle. For example, why do I need to give my date of birth on just about everything. If I need to supply personal information where I think there is a good chance it will be data-mined or could possibly be used for identity theft, I have at the ready my alternative ID which consists of a fake date of birth, my name misspelt, a now-defunct mobile phone number, an email address specially set up for possible junk mail, and a non-existent residential address – obviously just for those occasions when you do not need or want to have further contact with the person or organisation.

It seems the ‘do not call’ register is not working as it does not apply to charities and is used as a call list instead. I made the mistake of helping my mother get her phone number on the ‘do not call’ list and it just made the problem worse. My silent number gets few unsolicited calls.

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I would also add do not give your mobile no.to any of these organisations . If you have to give a number only a landline no…
With surveys they do sell the info , so I have asked for consideration in return , they do not pursue after this conversation.

Greetings,

It has come to a point now with either my cell phone or landline that I no longer answer any call from a a number that is unknown to my database of known numbers. My landline is used only for o/s phone calls, so I’ve basically put that telephone on mute, and periodically check the incoming calls: to see where they are from. I have noticed over the last few months the preponderance of calls from private, and unknown numbers ( showing blank in the information display ) leaving messages: some quite disconcerting if you allow them to be so. With my cell I noticed that the frequency also increased of unsolicited calls emanating in the period surrounding my donation to one NGO in particular. With my cell it was easy to have the calls stop: I just diverted all unknown callers to message bank. I will note that both my numbers are on the non call register: Pfft what a waste of time. I took up the issue with the provider of my services ( the biggest player in town ) and was basically told: nothing we can do about it. With the above contingencies I put in place I have now reduced calls from unknown callers to my cell to zero, and my landlines frequency of unwanted callers has dropped 95%. I have being using the technology of the day since the late eighties, and thought I was well prepared for the maelstrom of unscrupulous malcontents abundant in the day and most proliferate nowadays; but I must say after some annoyance I used some basic security measures: Which cost nothing to dissuade unscrupulous, and annoying unwanted wasters of my time touching base with me. Thank-you for reading my thoughts, and may your road always be peaceful. Cheers Peter. PS: when I donate; which I still do; I only use my landline number.

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@bryan.murphy & @drifter

In a couple of other topics similar to this one I explain a way to avoid the nuisance calls see this link for the steps:

Hopefully this will allow you more freedom about whether to register on sites, enter competitions, complete surveys, give to Charities and similar activities where your email address and phone number are requested.

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Good tip, Icowans!
I have given up on asking how they got my phone number. Thanks to the mobile phone, I politely tell them not to call again, then put their phone number on the Reject List. Works all the time!