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Porsche Club of America
The Northeast Region

The Inside Line

By Barbara Collozzo-Noonan
NOR'EASTER Online - February 2003
Northeast Region Logo

It’s going to be a busy year. Check out the region’s calendar. Notice that there are more Driver Ed. days (and better ones too). Events we’ve never had before - the Skip Barber instructor/advanced driver development seminar. And rallies are making a comeback. The dates are still being worked out, but three (maybe four) are being penciled in. Even the Fall Tour, which was a no-show last year, will be back. We’re trying something new with the DE registration, online registration applications and one opening date for all 2003 DE events. So now you can plan your participation and register for it too. We hope to have something for everyone and to make it easy for you to come out play.
   
Are telemarketers bugging you? You know the routine. The phone rings while you’re cooking dinner, usually at the most inconvenient moment, or while you’re sitting down to eat. The frequent voice mail messages left on my answering machine are another tactic that I don’t appreciate. But the worst ones are the recorded messages. You can’t even give the telemarketer a hard time or tell them to take you off their calling list! The only consolation in getting a telemarketing call is that I get to say “We don’t do business with companies that call us on our phone. We believe telemarketing should be illegal. Take us off your calling list.” I used to say “We don’t do business with people who solicit us over the phone” but I actually got an argument a couple of times from telemarketers who insisted they weren’t soliciting! Just what I need, an argument with a moron over semantics! 
   
I have a caller ID device from Radio Shack that screens anonymous or private calls (calls that have the number blocked) and it does work. There are others out there like the TeleZapper, which removes your number from the calling list instantly. I haven’t tried that yet but fighting back is good. Speaking of blocked numbers, can anyone explain to me why anyone needs to have their phone number blocked? Unless your up to no good or want to harass people that don’t want to talk to you, why would anyone want to keep their phone number from showing up on the caller ID of the person being called? I’ve never been able to grasp that one. I understand the desirability of not having your phone number published. That probably reduces telemarketing calls. But you have to pay separately for being unpublished and having your number blocked, so at some point you have to decide there is a benefit to it. I really need help with this from someone who gets it.
   
There is some good news on the fighting back front. The state of Massachusetts has gotten its Do Not Call list up and running. If you haven’t joined the list yet it’s very quick and easy. Call 1-866-231-2255 or log-on to www.mass.gov/donotcall. 
   
Here are some of the provisions that benefit all Massachusetts residents. (Taken from the Mass.gov website.) Soliciting telephone calls cannot be made to any Massachusetts consumers between the hours of 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.; Soliciting facsimile transmissions cannot be made at any time; Telephone solicitations using recorded message devices cannot be made at any time; Telemarketers cannot use devices to block their identity from the consumer.
   
This isn’t going to end the problem completely but I never thought I’d see the day there would be any relief from this corporate harassment so I’m happy so see any in-road being made. It’s to be expected that there are a few loop-holes in the new law. Exceptions are made for the following. Noncommercial polls or surveys, e.g. political polls; Calls made by tax-exempt non-profit organizations, e.g. universities and charities; Calls made to consumers in response to that consumer’s visit to that company’s fixed commercial location; Telephone sales calls made primarily in connection with an existing contract or debt; Telephone sales calls to an existing customer; Telephone sales calls in the context of ongoing consumer sales when face-to-face presentations or meetings are prerequisites to payment.
   
By the time you get to the end of the list of exceptions, you may be wondering what the law does limit. It seems to me it prohibits only unsolicited “cold calls” from commercial companies you’re not already doing business with. At least it will eliminate the replacement window and siding sales calls. With any luck it will stop the ones that shout, “You have won a vacation...” I don’t know what they’re selling because I’ve never listened long enough. We’re still on our own when it comes to getting the message across to the companies we’re already doing business with. If anyone has figured out a way to keep the credit card companies and the phone companies from offering additional services, please let me know. They promise to put me on their own Do Not Call lists, but they seem to have memory lapses periodically. Even the federal law that is coming soon (its awaiting funding and implementation) makes an exception for long distance companies from the national Do Not Call List. How’s that for the final bit of irony? That does explain how the telecommunications lobby allowed the law to see the light of day. It seems free speech is still held in higher regard than the privacy of the average citizen. Free speech can be a wonderful thing, but shouldn’t I have the right to control what comes into my own home? Our privacy is being eroded everyday. Every time you use a credit card, bankcard, gas card or a store’s card (CVS, STOP & SHOP), a file is being compiled that tracks every detail of your life. “I’m not comfortable with that” as the psychiatrist on Ally McBeal used to say. Even this little bit of limitation on the power of commercial giants to pick on us is welcome relief and some small comfort.
The Federal law will have a bigger bite when it comes to catching those that don’t play by the rules.  
   
The fine for illegal telemarketing will be $11,000 per offense under federal prosecution; Massachusetts’ penalty is only $500. “Illegal telemarketing”, I like the sound of that. There is hope after all. Do I dare hope this just the beginning of a larger movement for the privacy of the individual citizen? 
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