Letters: Keeping tabs on telemarketers

Re “Telemarketers calling in backup,” Column, July 16

David Lazarus’ piece on unwanted commercial calls really resonated with me, since I’m one of those who has recently experienced a marked increase in such calls in spite of being on the federal government’s Do Not Call Registry.

These calls are so annoying that I decided to take action. I resolved to report each and every such call to the Federal Trade Commission, even though its website says it’s not going to do much about it.

Here’s what I do when I get an unwanted commercial call: I pretend I’m interested and get the caller to give me the name, address and telephone number of the company. I then take this to the FTC site and enter it.

My guess is that, at most, these companies will get a slap on the wrist. The solution might be for more people to report their unwanted calls to the FTC.

Natalie Hall

Encino

Yes, the Do Not Call Registry seems to be useless.

I too am again being bombarded. Many times, it’s someone purporting to be a contractor, saying something like, “We talked last January and you told me to call back.” Untrue, since I usually remember that kind of conversation.

But the upside to having a real person making this call is that I have a screaming whistle right by the phone to give the caller a good earful before hanging up. They tend not to call back.

Ann Beebe

Encino

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