"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
13 March 2008Aren't you glad they use dial?Actually, no, I'm not. Yesterday's item about telemarketers contained, in the quoted material, a mention of a Web site called CallerComplaints.com, with which I was otherwise not familiar. The operator of the site, noticing the reference, suggested that I might want to take a look at what's there, and so I did. There is, of course, a database of numbers, broken down by area code — including nonexistent area codes, under "Spoofed," which is nice — and a handful of articles about the scuzzbuckets who keep calling you. Perhaps the most interesting deals with how toll-free numbers are assigned (it's not pretty) and how to complain to the assigners. But what I really wanted to mention is the motivation, from their About Us page. Yes, they're building a database, but there's another purpose:
Public Humiliation. Sure, this may not stop the calls right away... but you'll probably feel better after you vent. ;) Plus, once a company "Googles" their name and sees hundreds of complaints come up... they'll think twice about calling you again!
I'm not so sure about that — thinking twice, after all, requires thinking once to begin with — but I'm definitely in favor of public humiliation. Posted at 6:57 AM to Scams and SpamsThere is a good side to this though. If you get a toll free number for your website you are much more anonymous than if you used a local number and toll free numbers are much cheaper than almost anyone realizes. My site Toll Free Numbers.com is basically the GoDaddy of the phone number business and we specialize in helping customers get great numbers that match their domain names. Toll free numbers can be a pain if you need to track them down, (which our site can help you do to some degree) but they can also be a great marketing tool for your business. Selling online is all about engaging the customer and there’s no better way to engage them than to talk to them! Bill Quimby |