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[quote]Telemarketers face ‘do-not-call’ axe on Sept. 30

Canadians will be able to give telemarketers the slip as of Sept. 30 when the national do-not-call-list officially begins operating.

30/07/2008 12:30:52 PM

Telemarketers face ‘do-not-call’ axe on Sept. 30

CBC News

Under the new rules, announced Wednesday by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, telemarketers will not be allowed to call anyone who registers either by phone with Bell Canada Inc., which is administering the list on behalf of the CRTC, or online.

Telemarketers will have a grace period of 31 days to contact people who have registered, but after that will be eligible for fines of $1,500 in the case of an individual or $15,000 for corporations should a registrant complain.

Bell will forward complaints to the CRTC, which decided to use a middle man in order to lighten its workload.

“We tried to delegate as much as possible,” CRTC spokesman Denis Carmel said.

Registration will last three years, after which individuals will have to re-enter their information. Canadians can register landlines, cellphones and fax numbers.

However, many organizations will be exempted under the rules.

Charities, political parties, polling firms, newspapers and companies that have done business with an individual over the past 18 months can continue to make unsolicited phone calls. Canadians who do not wish to receive such calls can ask at the time of a call to be removed from the organization’s list, or contact them ahead of time and request the same.

The CRTC’s list has been criticized for allowing too many exceptions.

In March, an internet law professor at the University of Ottawa set up a website, iOptOut, that allows users to proactively prevent calls from organizations on the exception list. The site has a database that allows users to choose from the hundreds of excepted organizations and send them an automated e-mail removal request.

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So they’ll just use call centres outside of Canada.  Many already do.

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All I ask is that whoever does spot the website where you can enroll for this, please post it here??

We don’t get a ton of such calls but the taped versions bug the hell out of me and I’ve taken to slamming down the phone whenever I answer, Hello",and don’t get an immediate response since the multi-line live callers get some ‘feedback’ on whether or not I appreciate them calling me unsolicited.

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Try this, I think this is the one.

ioptout.ca/

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his ought to help…

[quote] Currently, consumers must register on individual telemarketing lists in order to avoid unsolicited calls.

As of Sept. 30, however, Canadians can register once on the national list, which will provide up-to-date numbers to telemarketers who can be fined upwards of $15,000 for violating the rules.

The service to consumers is free.

Telemarketers are given a 31-day grace period to update their list. Visit www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca to register. [/quote]

I have fun with telemarketers. Around the time the OJ trial was on I had a carpet cleaning service call and I played up that it was very convenient as I needed my carpets cleaned fast! I inquired as to whether or not their cleaning service removed DNA material. The telemarketer was all gung ho and going to ask his supervisor about DNA removal, but the deal breaker was they couldn’t have it done before I had to go to the airport to catch a flight. :imp:

I’ll also ask them to hold on a minute and just set the phone down and ignore it. When the ‘off the hook’ alarm starts sounding I simply hang up the phone. It’s no skin off my ass but a pain in the butt for them.

I had one telemarketer call back and tell me “That was very rude!” I replied “So was your call during supper.” and hung up.

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That’s Michael Geist’s site that was mentioned in the article.

The problem with the opt-out list is the exceptions.  If you look at the list of companies that are allowed to call you, then not much changes.