My phone rang while I was eating lunch today. Grabbing my phone, I saw an unfamiliar number. I decided to answer anyway because the care home where my Mama lives have several phone lines and I didn’t want to take the chance that it was a number from them that I hadn’t added to my ‘contacts’ yet.

Nope, it was a sales call. Annoyed, I resumed my lunch. It suddenly occurred to me that I had read an article in a publication sponsored by the California Bar Foundation that addresses unwanted phone calls. It listed various places you can call or visit online to get your name and contact info off of call lists. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I hadn’t followed through yet.

As soon as I got the chance, I hunted down the publication and began the process of getting off of the call lists. There is a phone number listed for the National Do-Not-Call Registry, which is managed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). To register, call 888-382-1222 or go to the website www.donotcall.gov.

I decided to go to the website, where they tell you that this list never expires and very kindly allow you to check to see if you might already be on it. After clicking on the blue ‘Verify Here’ button, I simply entered my phone number and email address and in a short time, received an email from them that said, “National Do Not Call Registry – You Are Not Registered”. Easy. And then all I had to do was to go back to where I began, but this time, choose the brown ‘Register Here’ button.

The article also provided a site to have your name removed from mailing lists www.dmachoice.org which can be filled out online, or downloaded and mailed in.

But wait! There’s more! You can also ‘Opt out’ of credit agencies’ pre-approved credit offer mailing lists. Call 888-5-OPTOUT (567-8688) or opt out online at https://www.optoutprescreen.com.
This may seem like too much work just to save ourselves the time of hanging up on sales calls, or tossing junk mail but, remember; those with cognitive impairment are incredibly vulnerable to these types of pitches.

We used to have a neighbor who loved ordering things from catalogs. Because of that, her name must have been sold to lots of lists because she was constantly being solicited by both telemarketers and door-to-door sales visits. If we saw someone knocking on her door, my husband would usually go check out what was going on to interrupt and intervene in some way if need be.

It is up to us to keep our loved ones as safe as we can from those who would try to prey on their emotions through sales pitches. A little time spent now will save in many ways later.

What experiences have you had with unwanted sales pitches?