A random phone message rant

[smokey the elder]

I have caller ID and an answering machine, so I screen my calls. If I don't recognize the name/number I let it go to the recorder. For about the last year instead of leaving a message, the caller can somehow open my phone line. What's on my machine is "If you want to make a call, please hang up and try again"; and if I'm home while this is happening, the green "line in use" light is on.

I am hereby calling out two groups that I've busted doing this: the Police Benevolent Association and the Alzheimer's Association.

Have any of you folks had this happen?

[pomtzu]

I didn't even realize that something like this is possible. What would be the point if they know no one is going to answer??

[Grace]

Like Ellie, I didn't know anyone could do that.

I think we have solved our unwanted phone call problem. We recently bought a cordless Panasonic that has a call block feature. We can put 30 numbers into the phone that we want to block; along with all those that say out-of-area, private call, unknown. When one of these calls comes in, the phone rings once, and then it is cut off.

It works - there was an unavailable last week. It rang once and stopped. We have put in 4 numbers on our own.

This should be a God-send come the next election time

[Asiel]

Guess I'm not to savy either because I never heard of this before myself. Seems anyone can get through to us no matter what we do. Maybe the call blocking is the best way to avoid these calls, we get so many it's frustrating sometimes.
I know I've come home to find messages on my phone and some are from different call centres who actually leave messages....it seems when the answering machine goes off it activares their machine and it leaves a message automatically.

[Karen]

Do you have Verizon? We have both an answering machine, and voicemail on our Verizon account, and when we have a message on our Verizon voicemail, it will call every five minutes, and if we still are on the phone, for example, it will end up leaving a message of itself, over and over, pretty dumb, but thankfully it doesn't happen very often! The system recognizes the sounds of its own recording as a "voice" so starts off, so starts recording midway through the message.

My favorite are robocalls for, for example, someone trying to sell us carpet cleaning, it keeps recording for many minutes on the answering machine, saying, "For information on X production, Press 9," etc. Uh, folks, that ain't gonna work when I'm just playing a recording!

[Freedom]

For about the last year instead of leaving a message, the caller can somehow open my phone line. What's on my machine is "If you want to make a call, please hang up and try again";

I've had that, it is something to do w/ the answering machine, and the "system" not recognizing that the call has been terminated. It happens when my Dad picks up the phone, turns it on and sets it down, as well. * ( 3 ding tones going up the scale) "If you want to make a call, please hang up and try again"* Of course, Dad has no clue what he is doing . . . . After the second time of that sentence, the line usually shuts off; but once, it went through to 911 and next thing I knew, I had police, ambulance and fire at my front door!

I have call blocking and have 3 numbers in there. I also have a screening thing (no clue what it is called) for calls from an "unknown" number - the caller has to leave a recording of their name, then I get a funny ring. When I pick up, I am told I have a call from *recording here.* I can take it or hang up.

Problem: lots of medical offices have unpublished #'s the docs use to call OUT, but they don't want you calling in on that line. Two of Dad's doc's and one of mine actually YELLED AT ME for having this feature turned on, lol. Oops, sorry! It is not aimed at you folks!

[pomtzu]

I don't usually have the answering machine turned on unless I am going to be out of the house. I don't have all the services offered by Verizon, so I never know who is on the other end when I pick up a call. However - who ever they are (other than a recorded message), had better answer or they are in for a surprise. I'm sure you've all had annoying or harassing calls - who hasn't??? I just deal with them in a surprising (for them) way. You've probably all heard of the "blow a whistle" treatment - not a very pleasant sound to the ear of the person on the other end. Well I took it a step beyond that. If I get a call and have to say "hello" more than twice, and still get no response, then they get my version of that treatment. I keep one of those personal safety alarms that gives out an ear-splitting scream of mega decibels, by the phone. If no one answers and I know that the line is still open (as indicated by a light on my phone), then they get an earful of that. I can only imagine what it must feel like to get that directly in the ear, as it is piercing and uncomfortable to hear, even at a distance. It has cut down drastically on unwanted calls............

[phesina]

Oh, what a good idea! I may have to try that, at least with a whistle.

I feel kind of bad for the person on the other end, because let's face it, NO ONE would take a job like that unless they were REALLY desperate for money. But at the same time, I don't feel it is my responsibility to make their job more painless when their job happens to be invading MY privacy.