[XYZ]

I've tried several methods but Rachel in particular is so UNRELENTLESS.

I've tried politely requesting to be put on THEIR DNC list.

HAHAHA. That's their "call me back" list.

I've tried pressing the number that supposedly removes me from the call list.

That's the pacifier version of "call me again".

I've tried feigning interest in their "service" to string them along, wasting as much of their time as possible. Occasionally that works, but many of them simply cut it short and hang up.

I've asked them for the business name; they usually hang up.

If you pretend to be hard of hearing or elderly this can often work and you can get the name of the company calling.

I've tried pressing the phone dial keys as they tried to speak to me.
I've given them fake credit card numbers.
I've told them, "Let me go get my wallet" and then set the phone down. I'll hang it up, oh, 20 minutes later.

All these are a bigger waste of time than your having to drop what you are doing to answer the phone.

My current tactic is to get the robocall, press the number that gets me to a live operator, then yell "**** OFF" into the phone as they are speaking.

Lately I've found that this DOES work. Yelling "GO F- YOURSELF!!!" does put a damper on a telemarketer's day. After all, they invited it by calling you; you didn't call them. So I tell them I have a message for them, then deliver my broadside at full volume.

P.S. For the longest time I even told everyone I knew that I was letting my answering machine screen my calls, so please let my machine answer, I.D. yourself, then I'll pick up. That didn't work either.

To some degree this also works, because they will never leave a voice message. If the call is from someone you know, they will leave a message. If your phone rings but no message was left, you know it was from a telemarketer.

I've been on the DoNotCall list since its inception. Usually you can get the name of the company that called. But rarely will they reveal their phone number. The DNC list is not very good at blocking robocalls or those generated from offshore locations. Typically with a robocall, if you press a key to speak to a live rep, the rep has a heavy foreign accent and from the background chatter is obviously in a boiler room in India.

So far the "Go F- Yourself!" yelled at full volume tends to discourage repeat calls. Americans are far too polite, and sales reps are not used to hearing that phrase. If everyone did this the boiler room telemarketers might go deaf. Or they might at least understand enough English to realize that constantly hearing that phrase isn't going to produce any sales for them.