the words on your "rollover" line, "Hi, this is Heather from Account Services! There's nothing wrong with your credit card account, but you must act now to lower your interest rates!"
First of all, it's our rollover line which is unpublished. Secondly, I've TIME AND TIME AGAIN pressed the correct button to get us off the list of this VERY FAMILIAR voice and telemarketing scheme. I've even politely tried to talk to a "real" person (most of them are not) to ask for WION to be removed....and what happens? They start being smart-asses and acting like it's a joke that they interrupted MY business day!
If this had happened on a WED or THURS where we did the extended morning show, I'd have happily made fun of them live on the air. Why? Because the FCC says we can't air calls without permission, but THEY CAN BOTHER US through our on-air lines during business hours when we may just be doing live calls! Plus, we run our "live phones" informational disclaimer regularly on the air about our morning show! TOO DARN BAD if they can't hear it, being out of our market and a telemarketer! Take that, FCC rules! If they can bother us, we can bother them, too!
Folks, last week or so the FCC sponsored "no fraud" week to help educate people in how NOT to be taken by telemarketers, bogus e-mails and websites. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE....hang up on these people. Complain about them. Oh, and....by the way, the caller ID was spoofed, too. It read, "THOMSONREUTERS"....and in my world, "Thomson" is a consumer electronics company, and "REUTERS" is a news service with which we as a station are not affiliated.
If you read my other blog about the music industry, you'll find that even legitimate companies are "removing caller ID" when they call. The music industry is in such bad shape that when they call to see "if you received your invoice for music licensing this month" they don't even use THEIR OWN NAME in calls! BMI, ASCAP and SESAC are all too embarrassed to do this when calling for a one-month bill that they must need to keep their beautiful offices kept with great lawns, plants, break rooms, and cushy jobs.
It's time that our list of priorities changes as a nation. Why NOT TELL YOUR FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVES you've had enough telemarketing? Why is it LEGAL to bother businesses but not homes? WHY are we not prosecuting companies that spoof or block caller ID when calling to solicit you? Wouldn't we all be happier if this little annoyance went away in our lives? I know I would be...and I'd be writing "happy" blogs, not ones like this!
Well, back to my Monday......hopefully a normal one in radio-land....and one without telemarketers.
Oh, and before you tell me that "everyone needs a job and to these people it's an income...."...(I've heard that before)...I DON'T CARE! Don't bother me. If I want your services, I have the whole darn internet at my disposal to find you....
And, if you call me enough......and annoy me enough...I WILL FIND YOU...and you won't be happy with what happens when you're reported to every authority possible.
THERE. I feel better. Now back to the kinder, gentler, Jim Carlyle who has a radio station to run, and much more productive things to do
I do have ONE thing to thank the telemarketer for....I was looking for BLOG material!
-Carlyle
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