Ever have your day interrupted by a person or recording trying to sell you something you couldn’t possibly be interested in? Want to help put a stop to this?
Slamming down the phone and complaining lets off a little steam, but doesn’t affect the barbarians at all. What needs to happen is to make this behavior unprofitable for them. No guarantees, but there are a few things that might help:
- If it’s one of those long-winded recordings, set the phone down until you hear the off-hook warning. As long as their recording plays into empty space, that’s one phone line that isn’t harassing anyone else.
- If you’re in USA, put your phone number on the do-not-call list. Several other countries have similar programs.
- If you are already on the list, or if it’s an auto-dialer or recorded message to a cell phone, file a complaint.
- If it’s a debt collector, well, you should pay your legitimate debts, but:
- There are collection agencies that think nothing of harassing people for debts they don’t owe. It pays, because many people just pay without question. Don’t be one of those.
- Many collection agencies knowingly break the law because the victims have taught them that they can get away with it. Don’t be one of those. Blurb from the government:
Know your rights regarding debt collection. If a debt collector is not respecting your rights, REPORT IT HERE.
There are lots of lawyers that will be happy to help you make some money if one of these barbarians goes too far. Of course the lawyer wants part of the money, but even if they take all of it, at least there’s a lesson in it for the offender. Also, some of these lawyers have helpful information on their websites. For example, Patric Lester. Use “FDCPA lawyer” in a web search to find more of these guys.
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