GOVERNMENT SERVICES?
Has anyone experienced a massive increase in junk calls recently? Before you waste a lot of time this article might save you a lot of time. We are senior citizens who have earned the pleasure of sleeping later than normal who are sick of being awakened with a telephone call, often before 8am. The reverse of this is what is described as a Robocall we got recently at 9:45pm on a Sunday evening. These Robocalls are actually computers designed to call your number and when you answer there is no one there but shortly you receive another call from a person who knows you are home.
By the way the National Do-not-call list, provided by our Federal government is a waste of time like every other bureaucratic mis-managed service available. You have to register every year and it is worthless help. On February 19th I tried to see if another state agency was any better and sent the following message to the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC).
“Starting at 8:04 this morning we have received 10 calls from 877-218-4381. It rings 4 times and hangs up. We are elderly and in addition we get 4 to six calls from various charities and as late as 9:45 last Sunday night. We are on the no call list and this is disturbing us deeply. It there anything we can do to stop this or should we stop our phone service that will not allow our children to check on us? Surely there must be a simple way to stop this intrusion? We could use cell service but unfortunately living close to the Louisiana border on Toledo Bend Lake we do not get 100% service and virtually none inside our house”.
I have tried to get some help from the PUC regarding the lousy electric service we have with the Deep East Texas Electric Co-Op for several years but the PUC is as useless as the Do-Not-Call program. The following is my rapid response, likely a prepared answer, with the errors you can see.
From: Customer Service
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2015 10:07 AM
To: Clyde W. Brewer
Subject: RE: Question
Mr. Brewer:
Thank you for contacting the Public Utility Commission of Texas. The No Call list is intended for legitimate Telemarketers that are selling goods or services.
If you find that you receive solicitation calls from telemarketers you may file a complaint. If the calls you are receiving are exempt from the No Call list(Debt Collectors, State Licensees, ect.) or are “scams” or harassing you may contact the Attorney General of Texas at 1-800-621-0508 to file a complaint.
To file a No Call Complaint with the PUCT please provide the following information:
- Your name, address, and telephone number
- Telemarketers Name(if available) and telephone number
- Date and Time of Calls
No Call List FAQ’s- http://www.puc.state.tx.us/consumer/phone/Consumer_faq.aspx
Feel free to contact us if you have additional questions.
Sincerely,
Public Utility Commission of Texas
P. O. Box 13326
Austin, TX 78711-3326
1-888-782-8477 Toll-free
1-512-936-7003 Fax
I responded with this short response; “I thought this was a complaint?” The following was their response.
Thank you for your recent correspondence. If the calls referenced in your initial email were made trying to sell you a product or service, please provide a description of the solicitation along with your address.
If the calls were harassing in nature( scams, hang ups, ect) you can report the calls to the Attorney General’s office at 1-800-621-0508.
Feel free to contact us if you have additional questions.
Sincerely, The same address was affixed.
Pay particular attention to the response from the PUC in red above and think deeply what they ask for you to do to file a complaint. The most impressive thing I noticed was the consistent misuse of the term “ect”, even my spell check shows the misuse. It is obvious that they are telling me if I have a complaint to contact the Attorney General of Texas to file a complaint. I have wasted enough time in the Federal/State bureaucracy’s. They are useless.
In the last 48 hours I have received calls from; 952-204-9839, 409-684-2209, 267-295-6632, 214-390-3145, 728-504-1509, 877-283-4162, 877-238-6733, 699-289-7430, 484-273-0072, 484-273-0072, 922-951-3210, 678-899-6533, 877-218-836, 786-284-5092, 520-448-8183, 415-802-2946, 817-717-9891, 409-625-4658, 609-208-7430, 504-272-2635.
We seldom answer any call if they don’t identify who they are. We have answered calls from insurance companies, charities, the Republican National Committee whose calls were not blocked by the Do-Not-Call program long after we re-registered again this year. Why do we have to re-register is a mystery but so is every aspect of our Federal government.
I also have a fax line and so far I get few calls on this line. It has the ringer turned off and I don’t put ink in the printer. I had one sales call on this line while I was typing this article.
Surprisingly I get twice as much spam on my E mail accounts than irritable calls on my phones. Without any government meddling or control I can just hit a button on the PC and the caller who issues spam is blocked forever from sending me anymore spam. Fast, effective and free from government intervention and control.
But fear not my friends as this freedom is short lived as it was announced just this week that our “regulation gone-mad- government and our President” has decided that the internet needs to be controlled by the government. Read the following link and get ready for more spam you can’t block when the idiots get control of one more freedom. In fact the prime reason for the FCC regulations move is to immediately block people like me from expressing my opinions anymore.
www.breitbart.com/…/fcc-approves-net-neutrality-plan-to-contr…
I hope you are pleased with our bureaucracy today, I am not. I have run out of government agencies to help me stop harassment by telephone. I just ordered a blocker to stop the Robocalls but the government will probably outlaw them next.
Oh, we got our first irritating call today at 7:34am from someone named “Willcox at 520-254-0154. This will be the first number I enter in the new blocker when it arrives Thursday. I will also send a copy of this post to the PUCT so they can correct their form letters.
C Brewer
A Conservative View 