Frugal way to get money from Do Not Call Law violators

William Souden

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Jul 7, 2007, 1:10:00 AM7/7/07

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First, this works best if you can determine the company is is your own
state. My examples apply to California.
If you can get contact information lat them know that they violated
the law. Do not accept excuses or offers to be placed on their internal
list. They have the legal obligation to be sure you are not called.
Tell them you plan to sue in small claims for $100 and offer these
choices:

Pay $100 in ten days and there will be not further action.
If you you do file tell them will not accept less than $250 as a
settlement plus filing costs.\
If it goes to court you will request the full amount.

I have done this 5 times. Three times I got $100 the other two it was
$250 plus costs after I filed.

The most recent was last week after I got a recorded call about a
"free vacation" Calls to the number either got voice mail or rude people
who hung up when I tried to get information. I then feigned interest,
gave a live person a fake name and my hotmail address. A few minutes
later an email confirmation came with all the company info I needed,
I called and very polite person expressed concern and asked to hear
the message. He called back ten minutes later, claimed they had c
contracted out the calls, was upset and was firing the company. Asked
for my address. Two days later a check arrived.
My guess is that the firm was not fired and the money is simply a
business cost to them but imagine is just 5 percent of us did this.

Al Bundy

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Jul 7, 2007, 5:16:45 PM7/7/07

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We could afford a spell checker or at least read what we post.

rick++

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Jul 9, 2007, 12:04:59 PM7/9/07

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The hard thing is getting information from them.
They may be using recorded messages, calling
from abroad, and caller id spoofing.

George Grapman

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Jul 9, 2007, 12:18:05 PM7/9/07

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My own rule of thumb is never to spend more than ten minutes trying
to get their information. I have found the best way is to feign interest
and then ask a few questions.
By the way, if a US company outsources these calls they are still
violating the law.

lynn

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Jul 13, 2007, 9:55:58 PM7/13/07

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On Jul 7, 12:10 am, William Souden <sou...@nospam.com> wrote:

> The most recent was last week after I got a recorded call about a
> "free vacation"

I bet the call was from BEACHCOMBER TRAVEL, 623-238-6090.

I get 2-3 phone calls EVERY FRIDAY from Beachcomber Travel.

I file a complaint with the FTC but NOTHING HAPPENS. Why am I not
surprised.

William Souden

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Jul 13, 2007, 10:34:58 PM7/13/07

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Different firm but forget the FTC and follow my advice. Threaten
Small Claims. I have done this 5 times with different firms.. Three
times they coughed up $100
just on my promise two sue for $500, The other two times they agreed to
$500 and costs after papers were served.

larry

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Jul 14, 2007, 1:32:44 PM7/14/07

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lynn wrote:

The dnc complaints to FTC ARE effective, they don't handle
the violations individually. FTC go after the big fish that
have money and thumb their nose at the FTC. It can take a
year to document thousands of violations, but then FTC
assess hundreds of thousands dollars in fines. Business
news report several cases every year where FTC either gets
the money or shuts them down. FTC effectiveness depends on
list member reports, putting violators on the FTC radar.

-larry / dallas