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uniqs
2010
Garneac
join:2011-05-01
Brampton, ON

Garneac

Member

[TekTalk] What is with all the telemarketers?

Hey everyone.

First off, the family is more than pleased with TekTalk. The quality and price are fine, and so are the many features (well, the ones I've managed to figure out, that is. How would I get speed dial to work?).

My major peeve, however, is the crazy increase in telemarketing calls. It's either calls about fucking air duct cleaning, or pre-recorded notices about credit cards we don't have or some such nonsense.

I honestly can't remember if we got these kinds of telemarketing calls with Rogers-—or, if we did, certainly not this frequently.

I make sure to block the numbers through the Tek Talk portal, but I don't know how useful that is. Even as I'm writing this, I paused to answer a call about air duct cleaning.

Is there a way to properly screen and block these calls? Or is there some other service you guys provide that we can sign-up for to combat this?

Not sure how everyone else in the family feels, but I'm pretty done with this stuff and would like it to stop.

Other than that, though, Tek Talk has been a great, cost-effective service in comparison to Rogers, our previous jailers.

Hope to hear from some helpful voices soon.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

1 recommendation

sbrook

Mod

It's nothing at all to do with TekTalk or Bell or whoever your provider is ... the only difference is that if you have POTS service, or transferred a POTS number to elsewhere, they have your name so when you answer they ask "Am I speaking with Mr Napoleon Bonaparte?"

I have tried everything to get them to stop ... I get duct cleaning, and credit cards and free cruises and lately I've won a voucher worth 999 from WestJet (a phishing scam) and also the dreaded Windows Technical Department.

My latest ploy is to stop the person and ask them how they can face themselves when they come to work and lie and cheat people. That usually produces a moment of thought and then they hang up without another word.

The problem is with the blocking numbers is because they use international VoIP they can pick any "from" number and name they want! So they cycle through faked numbers. You could block thousands of numbers.
Garneac
join:2011-05-01
Brampton, ON

Garneac

Member

Yeah, I was afraid they had a way to cycle their numbers. :s

I guess if there's no way around it, we'll just have to hang up as soon as we know it's a telemarketer. Grah, I was really hoping for a way to stop the calls.

Oh well. Anyways, thanks for the speedy response. Appreciate it.

TOPDAWG
Premium Member
join:2005-04-27
Calgary, AB

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Yeah that sucks I used to get a ton of calls on my business 1-888 number I block the area code they call from. After a month I guess I blocked most of the area codes they call from as I maybe get one or two a week now sometimes none.

So if you know for a fact nobody will call from the area code they're using block all calls from that area code.
Garneac
join:2011-05-01
Brampton, ON

Garneac

Member

Yeah, they call using 905, 647 and 416, which sucks. Blocking those three would mean it'd be too quiet in the house. :P

Still, not at all a bad idea. Thanks for the suggestion!

chinesedevil
join:2010-08-03
Scarborough, ON

chinesedevil to Garneac

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Hard to avoid these calls especially with old numbers. I'm on VoIP.ms and just use an IVR (interactive voice response) to completely filter out all automated telemarketing calls. Those voice recordings don't know how to press 1 to actually go through the to the line, so they just get a number disconnected tone. Anyone else that goes through gets specifically blocked. Haven't had a telemarketer in a long long time, probably near a year.

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

1 edit

Davesnothere

Premium Member

said by chinesedevil:

....I'm on VoIP.ms and just use an IVR (interactive voice response) to completely filter out all automated telemarketing calls.

Those voice recordings don't know how to press 1 to actually go through the to the line, so they just get a number disconnected tone....

 
I do the same sort of thing at Anveo, with my previously Bell landline number.

In their web portal, I setup a 'Call Flow' which prompts the caller to Press '3'.

Autodialers cannot interact with that sort of thing, so the calls get dropped.

MORE THAN 99% of unwanted callers to my number have been autodialed, so my phone VERY rarely rings from them.

Then, periodically, I check my web portal incoming calls log and add the specific numbers to a Blacklist, after checking them on 800 Notes dot com.

Blacklisted numbers which call again get a 'Number Disconnected' tone.

The main reason for doing that last step is to avoid paying for CNAM lookups for repeated calls, as Anveo charges per CNAM lookup, though not for the incoming calls themselves, on my service plan.

In nearly 2 years, I have accumulated less than 100 entries in that list, but hardly any unwanted calls ringing my phone.

Silence is Golden !
the1bobcat
join:2011-11-06
Brampton, ON

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I have a retired friend that hates these calls as well. I do too; but, this is about him. We've both put ourselves on the Do Not Call List the government has, »www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/index-eng, it works for VOIP as well.

Now back to the story of my friend. He gets a little, hmmm, p****d at telemarketers calling so after many a call he decided to do something about it. He got one of those duct cleaning calls. He acted completely dense and asked as many questions as he could. He kept the person on the line for a good 45 minutes to a hour. (he's retired, remember)

Then he proceeds to make an appointment with the company for a couple days later to have someone come by for an estimate. The day of the visit he made sure to have his son with him. When the guy came to the door, my friend ask for the man's business card and asked him many more questions on how this "duct cleaning" worked. My friend still hasn't let this guy in the door. He then asked how the man had gotten to his house? The Duct cleaning rep says my friend made the appointment with their phone service.

That's when my friend goes off on him. Asked him if he knew it was illegal to call someone on the DNC list. The man said yes. It's funnier when he tells it because I can only imagine the look on the guys face when my friend tells him that he will be (and did) reported to the government for breaking the DNC list mandatory rules for telemarketers. Then proceeds to tell him to get off his property.

I know, long story; but imagine wasting all the telemarketers time. Its less time they have to bother someone else. Sounds like a fun retirement diversion once and a while.

I don't encourage anyone to do this. I'm just telling a story of my friend. I do encourage using the DNC list. Worked for me.
Annex
join:2007-11-21
Kitchener, ON

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The air duct cleaning folks I wouldnt mind seeing hit with a nuke or asteroid or plague or tsunami etc. That said, is there any easy way of setting up a front on my phone number that requires a human to press 3 or something as was previously mentioned? Would I need VOIP for that? Does teksavvy tektalk offer something like that?

chinesedevil
join:2010-08-03
Scarborough, ON

chinesedevil

Member

You'd probably need a VoIP service if it's a landline. Not too sure if there are any smartphone apps that do it. I don't think tektalk has a digital receptionist option, but they do have caller ID blocking in their higher priced packages. That said though, if you do get these telemarketer calls, they usually spoof A LOT of numbers....it's really hard to block them all.

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

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said by Annex:

....is there any easy way of setting up a front on my phone number that requires a human to press 3 or something as was previously mentioned?

Would I need VOIP for that?

Does teksavvy tektalk offer something like that?

 
Most likely you would need VoIP.

The function which most of us VoIPers call 'Press Key' can be done at Anveo (which I use), also at CallCentric and at VOIP.MS, AFAIK.

TekTalk ? - Dunno, as they did not serve my area when I was shopping, so I did not research the finer points of their service.

Bell landline, no.

Cogeco introduced some kind of call blocking by number, but I was already on VoIP by then, so did no further look-see.

Rogers digital phone, dunno, and they do not serve my area, because Cogeco does.

Cell providers, no, AFAIK.

Get more good info about VoIP in our VoIP forum , as well as more experienced users of it :

»VOIP Tech Chat

Maxx2006
join:2013-02-02
Guelph, ON

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Hi Garneac

I have had Tektalk for about a year now. I do have some numbers blocked that i reject as i know they are telemarketers. I have not done this but should where you can set up groups of contacts and using a set of rules let your known contacts through and send the rest to voicemail or block them. I will have to read some more and see if there is a way to make all others press a key as mentioned above ( using cisco 122 ) or maybe someone from Teksavvy can comment on this step.
hightech
join:2011-01-03

hightech to Garneac

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The laws about telemarketing don't apply to Pakistan and other places (which is where these guys are located):

Main article: »www.cbc.ca/news/canada/o ··· .1323440

Quality of work:
»www.cbc.ca/news/canada/o ··· .1352453

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

well, they do, sort of ... If a Canadian company hires an offshore telemarketer and the telemarketer disobeys the DNCL the Canadian company is still responsible.
cepnot4me
join:2013-10-29
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Do they actually though? I get a lot of calls from 855 something, but the call display name my phone provides is 905xxx-xxxx. The call display name looks like a local number, but the number is actually from somewhere else.
Took me awhile to figure it out.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

there is the thing. Most of us don't set up the full sting to catch these companies. Recording the call, recording the Caller ID details, recording the company that's doing the job name and phone number when they arrive. And given that a lot of them are flybynighters in white vans, I suspect they don't actually have a registered company. It makes them really hard to catch even in Canada.

Given the frustration and anger these people cause, you'd think the police would actually do something to help enforce the law ... but because it's under the CRTC and not criminal law they don't go far enough unless there's actual fraud. And there isn't ... just poor service after the telemarketing.

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

1 edit

Davesnothere

Premium Member

said by sbrook:

....
Given the frustration and anger these people cause, you'd think the police would actually do something to help enforce the law ... but because it's under the CRTC and not criminal law they don't go far enough, unless there's actual fraud. And there isn't ... just poor service after the telemarketing.

 
Even if there would be good service, I simply DON'T want anyone phoning me to try to sell me anything.

To me, it's an invasion of my privacy.

Remember when door-to-door salesmen were the norm ?

Most of us hated that too, and the only reason that THAT practice tapered off was because the newer tech-based ways COST the selling companies less.

Oh, and because our dogs cannot bite the salesperson over the Internet or phone.

= = = = =

BTW, if I ever get lonely enough as to look FORWARD to such BS, I will prob'ly go get a gun and shoot myself.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

Oh, I agree ... when you've had the duct cleaning people call you 20 times in one day! Some days lately I'm getting 2 or 3 calls from Windows Technical department (yeah, right).

Most companies that did ethical telemarketing would remove you from their calling lists ... after all why would you want to call back somebody who has already told you to take a long walk off a short plank !?!?!?!!? Why waste your time as a marketer doing that?

There's no incentive for these folks to stop. Labour is cheap and the guys get paid per call ... and a bit more if they make a sale. So, they aren't going to remove people who represent payday from the calling lists.

What gets me is that Bell has means to block many of these calls, but they make no effort to do so. One way to help prevent number spoofing is to compare the numbers they pick with a lookup to see if it's a land or cell line ... cos that won't come in over VoIP!

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

Davesnothere

Premium Member

said by sbrook:

..What gets me is that Bell has means to block many of these calls, but they make no effort to do so.

One way to help prevent number spoofing is to compare the numbers they pick with a lookup, to see if it's a land or cell line ... cos that won't come in over VoIP!

 
Please would you explain that in more detail ?

In common with MANY cord cutters, I have a former Bell landline ported to my VoIP.

How would my calls be (mis)treated if I called a Bell customer and Bell performed the test which I think you meant ?

MacGyver

join:2001-10-14
Vancouver, BC
·TELUS
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What I have noticed lately is that the telemarketers are spoofing CID to match your NPA-NXX. For example, if my phone number happens to be 613-225-1234, the incoming CID will use the first six digits and assign a random four digits to the end. The idea is that the number looks familiar and appears to be a local call, increasing the chance that you'll answer it, versus ignoring a call from a strange toll free number. The problem is that the spoofed numbers these clowns are using can actually belong to a real person, so suddenly anyone can receive hundreds of angry calls , even though you had nothing to do with it. These kind of calls are impossible to deal with via caller ID filtering.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

Every in use number MUST have an "owner" e.g. Bell, Rogers, Bell Mob, Rogers Cell, voip.ms etc. So, if a call comes in from a VoIP termination and the number in caller ID is allocated to Bell, then it can't be valid. In your case, Dave, your number started with Bell, but is now with a VoIP provider, so it will show as such.

Similarly they can check to see if the number is NIS. (A lot of spoofed numbers are actually NIS)

This does mean that caller ID spoofers can only use spoofed numbers allocated to VoIP providers.

Can't get all of them, I'm sure, but phone companies can certainly make it harder.
pc8888
join:2011-05-31
estonia

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Learn something everyday.

I got quite a few calls like that recently and I assumed those were mis-dial. And yes, when I look up the "spoof" number, they actually belong to some poor souls.

chinesedevil
join:2010-08-03
Scarborough, ON

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Yup! Thats the case nowadays with scam calls spoofing the first 6 digits of my cellphone every time. I win a cruise and a free air canada ticket every week. Should be able to go on free vacation for the rest of my life by now.
jdoe71
join:2008-02-07
L0L0L0

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said by MacGyver:

What I have noticed lately is that the telemarketers are spoofing CID to match your NPA-NXX.

Yeah, that's what we get now even though our local 3 digit prefix is a brand new exchange with hardly anyone local even knowing it is local. Our VOIP.MS setup can do that look up thing on the incoming number and our phone can match it to our address book. If the number incoming is blank for owner or I don't know the owner I just ignore it. A fine use of voice mail since if it's legit they'll leave a message. I've reported dozens of numbers to that government thing and I just gave up on it. Pretty useless given the number spoofing now.
cepnot4me
join:2013-10-29
L0C 1K0

1 recommendation

cepnot4me

Member

I like to mess with the telemarketers. I had one of those magazine subscription calls once. I'd be getting a free gold watch, 17 billion magazines for free and as an added bonus a blender or some shit. I was on the phone for 2 hours with them. It came time to provide my credit card. I whipped out my trusty American express. I gave them the number, they ran it. Error. Gave it again. Error. Again, error.

I'd had this Amex gift card in my wallet with $1.78 on it. That's what I kept providing. They kept asking if this was my everyday card, I kept saying yes.

Turned into them escalating my account to a supervisor (Telemarketers have supervisors!?) Supervisor called me back. Repeat process. Apparently they were going to work it all out.. still waiting for blender and gold watch.

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

Davesnothere

Premium Member

said by cepnot4me:

I like to mess with the telemarketers.....

 
Great story !

I wish I had the time though, to do that.
resa1983
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join:2008-03-10
North York, ON

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I got 1 charity telemarketer call about a week after my TekTalk was activated a few years ago, then nothing til a few months ago.. The 'air miles' nonsense. And even that's 2-3 times for a week, then nothing for a few weeks.

Other than that, I get nothing.
cepnot4me
join:2013-10-29
L0C 1K0

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It's part messing with them, part trying to figure out how they got my info. In their case they kept telling me that I must have a valid credit card or else they wouldn't have gotten my number.. so I figured Mastercard put them on to me.
The side effect of going through it all, they never tried again.
I get the automated "you won a cruise" calls.
I'd book for duct cleaning if I got one of those, I don't have ducts. Which I find interesting, everyone gets duct cleaning cold calls, if they have duct work. I get the feeling if they know your name, your gas company is to blame.
I had another one where they had my name (Birth name which I don't go by) middle name last name, address and obviously my phone number. I really wanted to know how they had gotten all of that, only thing I could conclude was if they got it from Rogers.

rodjames
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join:2010-06-19

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This is the exact reason I am not on landline.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

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It's highly unlikely that your number came from Mastercard in the case of the "credict card interest rate" folks ... nor is it likely stuff came from Rogers ... just too much bad publicity if they do spill it.

If your number is listed, the scumbags get your name by reverse lookup, so when they call and the dialer passes the call on, it comes complete with your name.

Sometimes they find ways to put 2 and 2 together, but get names wrong. I've had people call with mistakes on first and last names.

rodjames ... not being on a landline doesn't provide much protection from the calls ... just from them addressing you by name ... I've had duct cleaners and credit interest rate reducers call my cell