By Ted Schredd
Ahh don’t you just love when
you get a spam email, a phone solicitor at dinner
or if you have
a fax machine you are always finding a special
deal on toner. But I have solutions…
Fax
I have been getting calls on my cell phone from
a fax machine for about four years now. It usually
only happens when I am out of town so when the
fax calls I get charged for long distance and
airtime. Then because the phone doesn’t
engage the fax - the fax calls back every couple
of hours for my entire road trip! And no there
is no number shown on the call display.
When I call forward my cell phone to my office
then I receive the faxes. On those faxes there
is a number to remove my number from the list.
After six different calls I am still getting unsolicited
faxes. But with a little change in my attitude,
I kind of get excited when I these Spam faxes arrive.
First I would look up the company on the web.
Most of these companies have toll free fax numbers
so that you can place your order for their product.
My cover page tells them to remove my cell phone
number then they get 20 -50 pages of pizza menus,
tax forms – anything that doesn’t have
my pertinent information on it. Then I send and
send and send. Sometimes they try to fax me back
but I never answer. I just send a follow up fax
that asks them what part of don’t fax me
don’t you understand?
But my friend Terry the Kiwi showed me how to
take it to the next level. Make an endless loop
fax (See photo) that can run through your fax machine
for a week - but I am sure they will unplug the
phone long before that.
A note of caution: taping the three pieces of
paper can be a little tricky. Make sure you don’t
jam your own fax machine. It takes a little practice – but
it sure is cool when you make it happen.
Email
When you asked to be removed it only verifies that
you have an active address. There are a couple
of things I do that emotionally help me deal
with this problem. When you get a spam email
from a company – the first thing I do is
search Google for email addresses for this company.
I search @whatevercompany.com. Usually all the
email or at least a few email addresses will
show up on the search.
Then if you have the ability make a photo file
that says please remove my address from your list.
The last one I made was a 10 meg tiff file. Then
open up a new email to send. In the subject line
put in that you want your name removed form the
database. Then put in those addresses in the blind
CC area. Then cut and paste all the addresses at
least 100 times or more. Then attach your ten meg
tiff file and send it off.
Just a note of warning – if any of those
email addresses are bogus there is a good chance
you will crash your computer. Do a test first to
see if you get any mail undeliverable emails back.
This is a risky one but extremely rewarding. Every
company that I have done this too has never sent
me another email….
If you want try it without the attachment just
keep sending it over and over eventually they will
get the idea.
Phone
With the new legislation in the US most consumers
now have a choice as to whether they want to be
called at home or not. It is highly likely that
the kinds of people that do not block these calls
are just looking for a friend and not a salesperson.
I am concerned because I live in Canada and with
all those numbers blocked the phone solicitors
are going to start canvassing Canada. I guess this
is some sort of twisted way for the US to get back
at Canada for not supporting them in the Iraq war.
Anyway, at least with phone solicitors you can
mess with their psyche. (He he) Check out this
article
on how to handle a telemarketer.
If you are still having problems just use a combination
of all these techniques to really drive your message
home. Always be polite and just request to be removed
from their list. Cheers, and don’t take no
crap from anybody!
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