"Do Not Call" list failings

Junk faxes became illegal when congress found their fax machines tied up with junk faxes.  Junk cellphone calls were banned because of the obvious thievery:  solicitors were using your cellphone minutes to harangue you.  

Miraculously, junk phone calls were also banned some years ago.  

Sort of.

You probably know you can get your phone number(s) put on the "Do Not Call" list run by the government, free of charge. 

When this initiative was announced, the phone-solicitation industry whined that thousands of phone solicitors would be fired.  I can't think of anyone who deserved it more.

https://www.donotcall.gov/

There are three problems:

1) Political, polling, and charitable organizations are exempt.  As are any commericial enterprises that you might remotely "have done business with."

The business guys generally play fair, because they run the risk of irritating you.  Saying "take me off your list" is usually all it takes to stop calls from a company.

2)  The enforcement of these rules is weak.  I've gone through the trouble of filing complaints, which requires you to fill in endless detail, and I've never gotten a response from the gov't.

https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx?panel=2

(One would expect with all the bogus "jobs created" figures the administration throws around, they could have put 1,000 people to work doing some enforcement.  But dream on.)

3)  Because of this weak enforcement, there are always some scumbag outfits that flout the rules.   When you confront them with their violation, they either play dumb or just hang up on you.

For tactics you can use, see "Dealing with junk phone calls" on a separate post.

Also see the post on "junk mail."