Do you answer calls that say "unknown name/number" on your caller ID?

[Lucky]

Damm telemarketers. :|

 

[styrafoam]

Never.

 

[pyonir]

Originally posted by: styrafoam
Never.

 

[conjur]

It's either creditors ( :Q ) or telemarketers.

No way!

 

[hdeck]

don't have caller id. no one calls me

 

[Electric Amish]

nope. That's why I have caller ID

 

[vi edit]

If it's important, they'll leave voicemail.

 

[pyonir]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
nope. That's why I have caller ID

I always wondered why someone would have Caller ID if they answered every call anyway.

 

[DnetMHZ]

no caller ID = no answer

 

[chin311]

sometimes, because for some reason, long distance calls show up as 'private/unknown', but if its a telemarketer, i just hang up.

 

[Ernieb]

sometimes do but most of the time don't

 

[thebestMAX]

Thats right!! I dont even answer numbers or names I dont know. Why pay for caller ID and then answer it anyway???

Even my Answering machine message says I wont pick up if private, unavailable, out of area or anything else shows up. Usted to be nasty too but now I get business calls on the line so I have to be nice.

 

[ObiDon]

I don't answer any calls at all. If it's important they can leave me a damn message!

 

[Garet Jax]

I answer and immediately say "Hello". If I don't hear a response immediately, then I hangup. It normally takes a couple of seconds to patch the call to a telemarketer.

On the down side, I have hungup on my dad a couple of times. He has gotten better at responding immediately though

 

[Vic]

Never ceases to amaze me how many people are afraid of the big, bad telemarketer. Who cares? I certainly wouldn't let them keep me from answering my phone

I usually just tell them, "Nope, not interested, put me on your do not call list, thanks bye!"
How hard or scary is that?

 

[pyonir]

Originally posted by: Vic
Never ceases to amaze me how many people are afraid of the big, bad telemarketer. Who cares? I certainly wouldn't let them keep me from answering my phone

I usually just tell them, "Nope, not interested, put me on your do not call list, thanks bye!"
How hard or scary is that?

Or I could look at the phone display...and not answer it at all. Who cares?

 

[mchammer187]

they should make a caller ID so that it keeps the phone from ringing if the number is "private"

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: pyonir
Or I could look at the phone display...and not answer it at all. Who cares?

The question was whether it was an "unknown name/number" on the caller ID. As some of my friends have blocked #'s (hell, I have a blocked # ), I'm going to answer it anyway. If it's a TM, whoop-de-doo! I just tell them not to call me again. Takes all of 10 seconds.
I think it's pretty silly to be afraid of answering the phone because it's a blocked number. Callers can't reach through the phone to hurt you. And you could miss an important call that way.

 

[pyonir]

It isn't about being afraid. it is about being inconvenienced. I work all day and do not want to come home and have whatever i am doing interrupted.

Of course i hate the phone anyway, and the only people that call me, their numbers show up. Soooo...

 

[Rallispec]

yes, but i dont get a response immediately, i hang up.

 

[Vic]

For those people trying to cheat the automated "predictive dialer" that TM companies use, there is an easy way (although I personally don't bother). Predictive dialers determine if they have a warm body on the other end of the line by listening in of the length of the original greeting. As most people say something short, like "Hello" or "Jones Residence" or whatever, the system is usually looking for an opening greeting of less than 2 seconds. Longer greeting usually mean that it hit an answering machine and the system will simply hang up without connecting to a telemarketer.
I have tested this in 2 ways. The first was to have a very short answering machine greeting -- very funny to listen to all the messages that TM would leave. The second was to answer the phone (when I thought it might be a TM) with a very long greeting and the phone would just hang up.
Try it yourself, it's good fun

However, if you really don't want TM calls, short of listing yourself in the "big brother" database, the best way is just to tell them to remove you from their list and not to call back. It works, yaknow. If you tell off a TM or are really rude (and don't tell them to remove you from their list), they WILL recycle you back into the "interested - call back" list out of spite. I know this for fact.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: pyonir
It isn't about being afraid. it is about being inconvenienced. I work all day and do not want to come home and have whatever i am doing interrupted.

Of course i hate the phone anyway, and the only people that call me, their numbers show up. Soooo...

Oh, the irony of someone who posts 30 days a day on ATOT being worried about their time or being incovenienced.

 

[brigden]

Originally posted by: Lucky
Damm telemarketers. :|

Just hang up on them, or fart in the receiver.

 

[iwearnosox]

YYYyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy I got a phone call Yyyyyaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy...

I wanna go to hawaii!

 

[pyonir]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: pyonir
It isn't about being afraid. it is about being inconvenienced. I work all day and do not want to come home and have whatever i am doing interrupted.

Of course i hate the phone anyway, and the only people that call me, their numbers show up. Soooo...

Oh, the irony of someone who posts 30 days a day on ATOT being worried about their time or being incovenienced.

When do you guys get off your high horse about post count? The argument is old and tired.

My posts mainly come while I'm at work.