‘Do not call list’ blocks out telemarketers…except when it doesn’t

In 2003, a national registry known as the “Do Not Call” list went in to effect in the United States. Administered by the Federal Trade Commission, the registry is a database listing the telephone numbers of individuals and families who don’t want to be contacted by telemarketers.

There is good news and bad news about the Do Not Call Registry.

First, the good news: Any individual can place his or her name on the list free of charge by visiting the FTC web site, and once your number is there, it never expires. You never have to make this request more than once.

The bad news is, it doesn’t work.

Just today, for example, my wife and I were awakened by a telephone call at 3:34 a.m. to hear a guy named Jason asking, “How are you doing?” The caller ID said “Private Caller,” but Jason never got a chance to tell us what he was selling because my wife yelled at him, told him to never call us again and hung up.

Later today, the phone rang again and the caller ID said “Republic Energy.” Having worked 20 years in the energy business, I thought it might be a legitimate call so I answered it. A man with a heavy south-Asian accent launched right into his pitch to sell me final expense life insurance. I interrupted him in mid-sentence and this is what I said:

“Wait a minute. Tell me why your caller ID shows up as Republic Energy? This is some kind of a scam." When he kept on talking, I called him a liar and hung up.

That brings me back to the “Do Not Call Registry.” As soon as I put down the phone, I went to the FTC’s web site to see if my phones were still listed there, and sure enough, I got a message saying that both of our cell phones had been entered in 2016 and our land line was added to the list on July 1, 2003.

The problem is, we didn’t have this phone number in 2003. We didn’t even live in the 304 area code until two years after that, so I called the FTC to ask them how I could possibly have registered a phone number that I wouldn’t even have for another two years. “I wouldn’t be able to answer that,” the nice man said, “but I’ll be happy to take your complaint.”

Furthermore, he couldn’t help me with Jason’s 3:34 a.m. call or the “Republic Energy” scam or the daily calls I get that say “Miami, FL” or one that came in yesterday from “Farmington WV” or any of a dozen other calls that show up weekly as “Private Caller” or “Unknown Caller” or “Toll Free Call.” You see, in order to help me, he needed the actual telephone number the caller was using, but that doesn’t show up on caller ID, so there’s apparently nothing the FTC can do.

That leads me to conclude that the “Do Not Call Registry” is no damn good to me. It should be renamed the “Do Not Answer Registry,” because apparently, the only way you can avoid taking these unwanted telemarketing calls is by never answering your phone.

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Quick facts:

The Do Not Call Registry does not apply to robocalls in the United States. There are separate laws regarding those.

It applies only to personal calls, not to business lines or business-to-business calls.

You may still receive calls from political organizations, non-profits, bill collectors and people or groups conducting surveys.

There are also several loopholes in the regulation. You can click here for more information.