Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Stop the harassment

I am fed up.  An organization that is supposed to be my friend, has become my enemy. 
After another sleep plagued night, I finally fell asleep at 4 this morning.  Jim quietly left for work, careful to not wake me.  Then the telephone rang.  8:00 is not an unreasonable time to call on a good day, but this morning... not so good.  And in my opinion, there is NEVER a good time for telephone solicitations.  The American Institute for Cancer Research was the one calling.  Again.  I sent them the following email:
----------------------------------------------
For months now your robo-caller has been calling me at all times of the day, beginning at 8:00 am and ending at 9:00 pm.  Sometimes you call once a day, more often, though, you call at least two times.  If I answer the call, I get a dial tone.  If I don't answer the call, it rings just long enough to set the answering machine off.  Stop already!  As an 8 year survivor of breast cancer, I have a positive outlook on life with a belief that I can survive just about everything.  However, I'm not certain that I will survive the harassment of AICR. 
PLEASE remove 573 xxx-xxxx from your call list immediately.
And no, I don't care to make a donation.  As with most individuals I know, I carefully choose which organizations receive donations of time and money - and I choose to NEVER donate to any organization that invades the privacy of my home with telephone solicitations. 
Deanna
Cancer Survivor

13 comments:

BlueRidge Boomer said...

We had the same problem with a very large well know bank....i finally asked for a name...a supervisor name...and confirmed the institutions address.. then informed them they would be named in a harassment suit if our number was not removed from EVERY calling list immediately...they have not called since.....
Hope your e-mail solves your issue...

spacegirl60 said...

You go Deanna!

Rita said...

Argg! I keep getting recorded calls about my charge card--and I don't have a charge card! But there's no human to talk to to get my number off their list. I have waited till the end of the spiel and they give you a number to call and I got another recorded voice!! Awwwkkk! I was too frustrated to wait another several minutes to find out if I would finally get a human being. And they don't say who they are! Mine are not daily, but probably once every week or two for the last year maybe. And I am on a no call list, so it is illegal. Yup! And then there's the solicitors for donations. They can just keep calling you. I don't think there's any law against it. Should be. I hope they do respond and leave you alone!! I've been telling the police and fire folks to stop calling me and take me off their list every single year since 2000. Never do. :(

Just Stuff From a Boomer said...

For a long time, after we all got cell phones, and removed the house phone, there were no solisitation calls. Now, once in a while I get one on my cell. If it is a number I don't have identifed, I don't answer. I used to think it was the worst job in the world, but now they're not even done by humans. They're more than annoying.

Toriz said...

Well said! Donations are all well and good - and I for one think it's great when people make them - but they should be made because you want to, not because someone decides to bother you with phonecalls all the time, or because someone knocks on the door asking you to, or whatever (which happened to me a lot where we used to live).

AliceKay said...

I hope your email does the trick. Sounds like a case of pure harassment day in and day out for you. It's bad enough when there's a person on the other end, but it's much worse when it's automated.

From my understanding, it's legal for non-profit organizations to call people who are on the Do Not Call lists unless you specifically request that organization to remove you from their list.

I have a rule I try to keep now. One donation per year to most of the charitible organizations I support. There are special circumstances that do take over, tho, such as the flooding we had here in PA and the tornadoes that hit Alabama and Missouri. I'll have to consider what you do with the phone solicitations. They are annoying and do invade the privacy of your home. They usually call at supper time, too, making it doubly annoying.

Intense Guy said...

I hope the email works - Ir not email them gain with a link to your blog - That might help as will posting this in facebook.

As much as I want cancer cured - I want people to retun to being courteous nd civilized.

ChicagoLady said...

You tell 'em, Punkn!

I think we all have stories of being harassed in some way over the phone. Even with the Do Not Call List, as AK said, that doesn't stop charities or political calls.

My most recent problem was a collection agency calling for someone that I don't know. Calling multiple times every day, usually when I was at work but never leaving a message. I finally answered one Saturday and told them I didn't know the person they were looking for. An hour later, someone else from the same number calls. I give them the same answer. Another hour later, ANOTHER caller from the same number, I tell them that two others have already called me and that I don't know who the person is and to please remove my number from their list. The person said they would. Thinking it was over with, I continued on with my day. Two hours later, they called AGAIN! By now I was so mad, I told them that if they didn't stop calling me I was reporting them to the BBB. That finally stopped the calls.

I certainly hope your email works.

Queenie Jeannie said...

That's one thing about being over here I don't miss....the phone calls asking for money!!!!

Hugs and I hope you get some sleep SOONEST!!!!

Pix at Under the Oaks said...

Deanna that is a PIA! We used to get that in St. Louis for the Support the Police Fund. Hope your email works!

Nancy said...

Way to go, girl! I get so many calls from Police fundraisers. There is no proof of who they are. Do they think we are stupid and will give them our credit card numbers?

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

I'm sayin', and we're on the Missouri No Call List...yeah...right.

'Seems nothin' protects ya.

I hope your Email gets ya some action. (To stop the caller of course! Heeehehehehe!!!)

God bless ya and have yourself a fantabulous weekend.

Sounds like we have some 'Nasty' stuff comin'! :o)

LadyStyx said...

We were getting them from all sorts of places there for awhile. Then hubby started placing them all on call forward. All the calls get forwarded on to the worst offender and THEIRS gets forwarded somewhere else. The only problem we have now is that the phone tends to ring once as one of them calls in and then silence. There was a problem with the police fund raisers at one point too. We actually got sent an envelop for donation so I wrote a nice letter about how their constant harassment felt like a mob shake down for protection money. We haven't had a problem from them since....