Remember the "do not call list" from a couple of years ago. Do you realize it still exists and the penalty is still expensive? The problem with so many of these laws is that nobody enforces the law. The law spread fear amongst the real estate community, when it was first proposed, thinking that business would come to a halt if we couldn't cold call homeowners. This added another step to prospecting however most of us just took the law in stride.
I have noticed in the last week the telemarketers are back in stride and calling under the guise of survey takers.
I was at home, minding my own business yesterday, when I received not one but two calls wanting information and then trying to sell services.
In all their wisdom the federal government left huge loopholes of who was above this law.
- Charities (I give to my charities, I don't need a call.)
- Politicians (I wonder why they exempted themselves, hmmmm?)
- Survey takers (Have they heard of the Internet?)
Why government thought we wanted calls from these parties, I don't know. My home phone number is unlisted and I pay extra for this service and I also pay for a warning message that makes the caller press 1 to confirm they are not a telemarketer.
I asked, yesterday, who they were calling for and found that they have machines calling random numbers, ten at a time. Whoever answers the phone first talks to the telemarketer, the other nine get a machine message that tells to them to please hold and a representative will be with you shortly. Hey I didn't call them, why should I wait for for the telemarketer?
So what do you do with a law that nobody enforces?
Authored by Paul S. Henderson, Realtor, Lacey, WA.
(http://phenderson.net) or http://www.lacey-washington.com
©2008 Paul S. Henderson, They're Back, All Rights Reserved
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