Do Not Call List??

Try nomorobo.

https://www.nomorobo.com/

You can also report the number to the do not call registry.

i'm registered and we still get calls. in fact, just a few minutes ago the good ol' microsoft geniuses from india called to ask me to cede control of my mac to them.........
i handle it depending on my whim of the moment. sometimes i just set the phone down and let the moments tick away. i don't know if it costs them money to do that. i hope so. sometimes i blast heavy metal vomit music at them. sometimes i pretend to be interested and string them along with phenomenally stupid questions. the most fun is when i ritually curse them. i actually had one microsoft would-be hacker tell me in a bruised accent 'ma'am, you have no right to talk to me like that.'
i hope he's enjoying his strawberry-seed-sized new testicles, and having his soul devoured by Furies.
sometimes i just hang up.
being on the registry DOES help some. it just doesn't really fix it altogether.
khairete
S.

I have those calls about my computer sending out messages too.

I have it down and they hang up on my quickly.

I have listened intently to them and then mumbled about having thought I turned it off before I buried it with the body. They hung up.

I tell them my computer fell out of the window on the highway and I bet it is sending out messages that it's in distress. It's in pieces somewhere in another state.

I told them I didn't have a computer, were they hard to get? What was it like to have one, I'd heard of them of course but I'd never actually seen one...

And more.

The solicitors that get me the most are the ones that tell me I can lower my interest.

I have said many things but the one that gets them the MOST frustrated with me is when I tell that is completely cool, sign me up. Then they start going through their spiel and when they ask for my credit card number I tell them I don't know, when will they be sending it. That confuses them and they ask again, can I have your card number. I tell them I don't have one yet because they haven't sent it out. That really confuses them.

Then I tell them my credit score is something like a 7 or 20 and that I've been turned down everywhere I've tried to get one but they said I could get one and have a low interest rate. They usually hang up by this point.

The best thing you can do is put your aunt into your land line phone book then her name will show up when she calls. Even if she's unlisted she's listed on your phone's memory and it will show.

This way you'll know when it's her.

But otherwise you might just want to understand that they find ways around your blocks. It's a game to them. We have a land line to and I won't give it up. I need to be able to have contact to the world if power is out or the cell towers are damaged from a tornado.

When we had a landline and got a call we weren't supposed to here is what I would do:

when I answered and they asked to speak to me (or hubs), I would say, who is this? and they would say, John with ABC Company.

Then I would say, John, we are on the DNC list and you are in violation of this. I have your name and company name and am writing it down. If you call me again, I will be reporting you. Thank you.

I NEVER got another call from them again after that. Good luck.

I chose just to not let it bother me. Life is too short to be bothered by it. I answer the phone, listen for a few moments, say "no thank you" and hang up. Sometimes if I am not too busy I have some fun with them and string them along, ask stupid questions, tell them stories, waste their time. Most of the calls that get by the "do not call" are foreign, illegal and there just isn't much you can do. We probably get at least one call a day, some recorded and some a real live caller. I am just thankful that they don't call in the middle of the night.

ETA: In response to the "people who need more to do" comment: I am a mom. I am required to multi-task. I am perfectly capable of talking on the telephone while I do dishes, fold the laundry, prep dinner, weed the garden or clean the bathroom. It doesn't mean I "need" more to do.

Just say "please place me on your 'do not call list' " and hang up.
I don't stress over the "whys" because we live in an imperfect world. Tell them specifically PER CALL each time.
Some of these responses have me shaking my head. I guess there ARE people that need more to do.

There are some exceptions to the do not call registry. This is what I found on a website when I was registering our new number.

"According to Elizabeth Ziemba, J.D., M.P.H., in “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Giving Back,” there are some organizations that are exempt from the registry, with charities being among them. Under Do Not Call Rules, charitable organizations are allowed to directly call an individual as long as it is not being made by a paid telemarketer on behalf of the charity.

There are also five other exceptions to the Do Not Call Registry, including:

-Political organizations;
-Survey takers;
-Bill collectors;
-Companies with which you have an existing business relationship, for up to 18 months after your last purchase, payment, or delivery, unless you have specifically asked the company not to call again; and,
-Companies to which you have submitted an inquiry or application, for up to three months, unless you have specifically asked the company not to call again."

It doesn't matter if you have a landline or not. I've gotten calls on my cell. So much for avoiding them by giving up the landline.

We got rid of our land line and it was quiet for a while, but I get random calls on my cell phone. I've been on the do-not-call list for years and update it periodically.

Let the phone go to voice mail. Your aunt will leave a message (although why her calls would say "out of area" rather than show her number, I don't know). The solicitors won't leave a message, most likely. You can say "I'm on the do-not-call list" and hang up, but you have to recognize that not all groups, such as political campaigns and charities, are bound by the list. You can also keep a list by the phone of the name of the solicitors calling, and let them know you've taken 6 calls this month from them. If they are a recording, you can listen until you get to the part about "Press 2 to be removed from our list" but even that doesn't work all the time. We have 2 business lines and I must get 4 calls a week about our "free Google listing that needs to be claimed right away." If I get a live person, I try some of the following:

Serious answers: http://www.wikihow.com/Respond-Creatively-to-Telemarketers

Fun answers: http://www.freemaninstitute.com/20Responses.htm or
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/advice/20031107a1.asp

I get them also. I get the one with the heavily accented person telling me he/she works for Microsoft and there is something wrong with my computer etc.
I also get the one saying this is Sally with card holder services...
The only way I have been able to get any peace from these calls is to blow a whistle into the phone as hard as I can.
I get them on my cell phone and landline. Since I am really an ordained minister I do get emergency calls from numbers I do not know so I have to answer my phone.

I believe these calls come from outside the U.S. and therefore not constrained by the Do Not Call List.

Many years ago women were told to keep a whistle by the phone and blow it into the phone when we got harassing phone calls, heavy breathers and sleazy guy who would call and ask what color are your underwear..
Well those calls don't happen any more but the robo-calls do. So I blow a whistle in their ear and it stops them for a while.

This is why we got rid of our land line. We are starting to get them on our cell phones, but not as often. I sometimes had fun with them though...just to screw around because they knew they shouldn't call. If I wasn't in the mood, I did exactly what Osohapi does...they don't call back after that.

when we had a land line and would get the breakthru calls i would say nothing but curse words. and when i was told i couldn't talk to them like that i reminded them that they weren't supposed to call a number off the do not call list and to bleep off then i would hang up.
there are several "do not call" lists and if your # is not on all of them some places can still get your # and call you. if not and you want to pursue it a Verizon rep informed me they gat a fine for calling.

I get these too, on my cell phone so its not just land lines. I usually ignore the 800 #s and let them leave a message if it is something valid. Although this weekend I was in the car and unknown came up so I answered. It was a thick Japanese (usually its indian) accent that told me that she was informed that my computer was at risk and needed me to turn it on, I rudely interrupted her and told her that I was informed that this was a BS scam and she needed to find a self respectable job and stop trying to scam everyone. It might have varied a little from those lines, but I was fed up with it. I think next time im just going to sing scam repeatedly until they hang up. "scam....scam....scam scam scam...... scaaaaaaaaammmmmmm!"

I'm with ya. I so want to give up the landline just to lose all the unsolicited calls. No, the do not call register doesn't work as far as I can tell. I have one close friend and a couple of relatives who call the landline for long calls, and I don't like long cell calls...so I still have landline. Plus it's bundled into our internet.. But honestly, I've been unplugging the phone when I need peace and plugging it back in when I can take calls. The incessant ringing drives me insane. Sometimes I'm brave enough to answer and ask them to quit calling, but new ones just call so....ugh...phone solicitation should be illegal.

I am registered too and still get the odd call. It's annoying.

I simply don't pick up - if they are not on caller ID, I let it go to voice mail. You can always call back if it's legit.

A friend of mine was a telemarketer years ago in college. If people didn't answer their phones after x amount of rings, they would take their numbers off the list as bad numbers. The ones that would answer stayed in the database and got called for further studies. So I never pick up if I can avoid it.

If I do, I simply ask to be taken off that list.

Another friend had a fake caller saying they were from Microsoft and her computer had a virus they would help her with. She'd heard of the scam so she stayed on the phone and wasted their time just to piss them off. They got angry. They called her every 10 minutes for the rest of the day. She could not find a way to block the number. For that reason, I've never wanted to piss them off either.

Happy rest of summer to you too :)

I gave up on the do not call list. I think the problem is that it's not really enforceable - it's difficult to get a valid company name from the caller to turn them in, plus there are so many loopholes (all political calls are allowed, as are call from non-profits, or any company with whom you've had business in the past, etc). At this point, I just don't answer any call where I don't recognize the number on the caller ID. On the rare rare occasion that it is someone I know, I pick up as soon as I hear their voice on the answering machine.