How NOT To Get A Donation
Caller ID is a wonderful thing. It can help you to answer calls from your wife with “What?” and screen calls to avoid the thousand-and-one sales calls that come in at dinner time. And our kitchen speaker-phone makes it entertaining, too, by completely mispronouncing the name of whoever it is that’s calling. Like our Privacy Manager feature, which the kitchen phone announces is Pree-vah-see Mah-nah-gerrrr.
Tonight, we dodged several calls from Tel-ee-fund Eye En Seeee, which I recognized from dozens of other dodged calls as Telefund, Inc. I had no idea who Telefund, Inc. was, but since none of my friends or family are named that, it automatically became a call I didn’t answer.
Until they called four fucking times tonight.
I answered the last one at 9:20 p.m. It was someone from the Democratic National Committee who was calling for–
“At 9:20,” I interrupted. “At night.”
She instantly copped attitude with me. “Sir, by law we’re allowed to call up until 9:30.”
And she then proceeded to launch into her schpiel about… Well, I don’t know what the fuck it was about, I was just waiting for the inevitable plea for a donation. And of course it came: If I could just give $25, John Kerry and John Edwards can… Blah blah blah.
I am her target audience. I’m a Kerry/Edwards supporter. I should have been a sympathetic household. But I wasn’t. At all.
“So you’re going to call me late at night and piss me off, then tell me you’re allowed by law to piss me off, and then ask me for money?” I asked her. “I don’t think so. Don’t call here again.” And I hung up on her.
I hope that’s not the tactic they’re using to get votes, too, otherwise Nader will win by a landslide.
http://www.donotcall.gov
Use that to stop those calls.
Our Republican Administration set that up. I’m sure they would be thrilled if you used it to block calls from the DNC.
you’re so awesome. i want to be you when i grow up.
donotcall.gov sadly does not apply to Telefund, Inc. because they are calling on behalf of Non-Profit organizations which are exempt from the FTC’s Do Not Call list.
Fundraising companies may not call after 9 pm. To do so is to breach the FTC rules. If such a call occurred it was a dialer mistake, someone accidentally changed the parameters. Sean is correct about the Non-Profit exemption. It exists for good reason. The correct procedure to deal with a rude caller is to ask to speak to the manager. Her call would have been recorded and she may have been subject to disciplinary action if you had not lost your cool.
before you climb all over the caller you should do some research on telefund inc. i was searching for stories on union busting and guess whose name came up. i found stories dating back to 2003 on telefunds anti union, unfair labor and deplorable working conditions. the concept of living wage seems to lost on telefund. it is ironic that a company the works mostly on “liberal” causes has such a smelly rep. next time they call tell them you only give money to union companies. the caller might get a kick out of that.
I must get 3 or 4 calls a day from Telefund which is quite annoying. Does anyone know how I can block these calls?