Now, that was interesting.

[athelind]

I've just witnessed a new form of Unsolicited Advertising.

No long ago, my phone rang -- ONCE. And then stopped. Since I'd already gotten up to answer it, I checked the Caller ID log on the cordless handset.

The name that flashed was "UNCLAIMED MONEY!"*

Now, I'm sure we've all seen the kind of spam that say "You may have jillions of dollars of unclaimed money waiting for you!!" Some of them are even legitimate. I've really got to hand it to these guys, though. Since they don't stick around for you to answer the phone, it's not REALLY telemarketing. It's not exactly spam, either -- though if this becomes common, it could get really annoying really fast.

I have no idea how successful this strategy could prove, though. Unless someone has some nifty gadget that lets them see Caller ID messages from across the room, the target actually has to go to some effort to get the little message -- and then, if it piques their interest, go to the effort of calling them back.

Still, it's really creative, and the sheer chutzpah of it gave me a laugh.

*If anyone's interested, the number is 1-858-639-6386** -- I have no qualms about sharing it. Given the sorts of people who read my journal and their attitudes toward telemarketers, I don't really see it as "free advertising" for these guys.

**That's a Sandy Eggo area code, by the way.

Comments

[duncanroo.livejournal.com]

That's just rediculous.

I already get bombarded by spam. I literally just cleared out more than 1500 unsolicited emails from my inbox...and that was just a week's worth of mail. It's getting out of hand. And I don't need my phone ringing off the hook just so they can send a message to my caller id box.

The telemarketers have trained me. If I get a phonecall with a blocked number on my caller ID, I do pick it up and say hello, but immediately hang up if there's longer than two seconds of dead-air. If the person *really* wanted to talk to me, they'll call back. So far, no one's ever called back.

I do have foofers to thank for the .WAV file of the *DOO-DEE-DOO* line disconnect sound, and his idea of putting that sound at the beginning of my outbound voicemail message. Knocked my telemarketer calls down by at least half.

-- Duncan

[hedgegoth.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the new telemarketing tool to defeat privacy guard tools. I can't find the news article on this stuff now, but it's the biggest thing in the telemarketer arsenal this decade.

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

A company in Japan tried this last year. They had a machine that would cycle through mobile phone numbers, rining once than hanging up. The callee would just see "1 missed call" and redial, only to get an automated telemarketer telling them the advertisement.

People complained, and the company had to repay the phone charges.

[foofers.livejournal.com]

I first saw this about a year ago. It not only fills my Caller ID log with non-information, but there's just something conceptually irritating in the notion that, because very few of anything will ever pick up the line in the first ring, the telemarketing slime aren't even billed for the call. Though I do have to pay for the Caller ID service, of course.

I was also reading yesterday about new systems being put into use by telemarketing firms that are immune to devices such as the TeleZapper or the SIT-tone-on-the-answering-machine technique.

It's annoying. It's annoying that my sister doesn't even answer her phone anymore, instead screening all of her calls. What was once a tool for personal communication...something we willingly pay for and once upon a time looked forward to hearing ring...is now a nuisance more often than not. And just when you think you've come up with a clever plot to foil them, they come up with something even slimier.

Why do people bomb abortion clinics when they could be spending their time and materials on something genuinely evil like telemarketing companies?

heya!

[harpyfeathers.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to stop in, and say hi!

-Chris Sawyer