Editorial: Weed out unwanted sales calls

Tuesday, July 16, 2002 | 8:55 a.m.

Each day millions of people who wouldn't dream of doing business with a strange voice on the telephone use the wrong tactic. After hearing the beginning spiel of the proverbial "assistant loan officer" or some other telemarketer, they instantly hang up. A notation is then made by the caller that this number doesn't chew up valuable time and is worth trying again. With thousands of telemarketers making hundreds of calls a day, the voices of householders asking what can be done are getting louder.

Advice is available from state and federal governments and from such consumer organizations as www.junkbusters.com, which provides an anti-telemarketing script that may discourage future calls. Consumers who follow all the advice, which includes writing letters to direct marketing associations -- may expect only limited success, however.

That's why people incensed over getting so many calls at home need something more. The Nevada attorney general's office will ask the 2003 Legislature to create a statewide registry, or "no-call" list. Telemarketers, whether in or out of Nevada, would be subject to fines or even stronger discipline if they called anyone on the list.

The Federal Trade Commission is proposing a national no-call list. In the meantime, 17 states have passed various forms of no-call legislation and another 20 states have legislation pending. Some states require consumers to pay nominal fees for signing up and other states require telemarketing companies to purchase the list. Some require companies to review or purchase the list annually, others semi-annually. Whatever form the lists may take, the legislation provides consumers with badly needed relief. The 2001 Legislature debated a no-call registry but it got hung up in the Senate. We say no more hang-ups, either by legislators quibbling over the merits of this registry or by consumers forced into it by persistent telemarketers. People have a right to take back their phones.