I’m developing a strong negative reaction to the name Dorothy. In the last month, my cell phone has received a number of calls from different locations from the Mortgage Bank and their disembodied automated representative Dorothy. It’s as frustrating to be interrupted with unsolicited calls as it is with unsolicited emails: in fact, it’s more annoying with calls because at least with emails, I decide when I want to read them, but calls come whenever they come. I wouldn’t mind if telemarketers advertised using their dimes, but they do it on mine, using up my email web space and bandwidth, fax paper and ink, or cell phone minutes. Screw that!

It’s particularly frustrating because I use my cell as my business phone. Incidentally, since I can afford to be picky about which jobs to take, I’ve never auditioned for telemarketing voice jobs and will likely avoid them. I’d hate to be the voice that interrupts your dinner, or worse get an unsolicited call from my own voice!

With emails, there are better and better spam blockers. Frankly, Mozilla’s Thunderbird, the free email program I use, does an excellent job (and tends to be more secure than Outlook). For telephone numbers, the FTC has strict regulations against telemarketers using automated dialers to call cell phone numbers.

Unfortunately, there are always telemarketers who don’t follow the rules. Nothing’s foolproof, but you can file a complaint if they call after you register your number with the FTC. That’s generally not a bad thing to do. The National Do Not Call Registry is available for land lines and cell phone numbers and no telemarketer is allowed to call once the number is registered there. After 31 days of registering, you can file a complaint against any telemarketer who calls your registered do-not-call number. The reason you must wait 31 days is because telemarketers are required to check the Do Not Call Registry and update their do not call lists every 31 days. You may see results sooner than 31 days because, of course, different telemarketers are on different 31-day cycles.

Anyway, this will work with some telemarketing calls and hopefully lower your frustration level. My home land line has been registered for some time and it’s very rare for me to get a telemarketing call at home now. Registration is good for up to five years, then you must re-register your number(s). To register your phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry, go online at https://www.donotcall.gov/register/Reg.aspx. Do not register at any other link unless you can verify it is the FTC’s official web link for phone number registration.

Good luck and, if anyone finds any information regarding Dorothy and the Mortgage Bank telemarketer feel free to post it here or anywhere on the Internet. I’m sure they’re frustrating a lot of people out there.

UPDATED 8/30/2007: Earlier this year (in February), the FTC posted a release clarifying that it is not necessary to register cell phone numbers because it is always illegal for telemarketers to call cell numbers without prior permission from the owner of the phone. Check out The Truth about Cell Phones and the Do Not Call Registry for more information.

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