(1)The three little words are: "Hold On, Please..."

Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of
hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much
more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the phone company's "beep-beep-beep"
tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which
has efficiently completed its task.

These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.

(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the
other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls
and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.

This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a "real"
sales person to call back and get someone at home.

What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there,
is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7
times, as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialed
the call and it kicks your number out of their system.

Since doing this, my phone calls have decreased dramatically.

(3) Another Good Idea:

When you get "ads" enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return
these "ads" with your payment. Let the sending companies throw
their own junk mail away.

When you get those "pre-approved" letters in the mail for everything
from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not
throw away the return envelope.

Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? It
costs them more than the regular 37cents postage "IF" and when they
receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around
50 cents before the last increase and it is according to the weight. In
that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in
these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes. One of Andy Rooney's
(60 minutes) ideas. Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to
American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get
anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!

If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on
anything you send them.

You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep
them guessing!

Eventually, the banks and credit card companies will begin getting
their own junk back in the mail.

Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best
of all they're paying for it...Twice!

Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail
is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase
postage costs again. You get the idea !

If enough people follow these tips, it will work---- I have been doing
this for years, and I get very little junk mail anymore.

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