A rule recently enacted by the Federal Trade Commission requires that a telemarketing company must stop calling you upon your request.
But what if you want to prevent the telephone solicitation in the first place?The Direct Marketing Association (DMA), a mail-order trade group based in Washington, D.C., offers a free program called Telephone Preference Service (TPS). By using this service, which removes your name from many national telephone sales lists, you may well receive fewer telephone sales calls.
Publishers, financial service companies, retailers, catalogers and major charities subscribe to the service. Local telephone marketers, however, generally do not subscribe to national name removal services. You must speak to them directly.
When you register with the TPS, your name is placed on a name-removal file that is made available to marketers on a monthly or quarterly basis. It may take a few months before you notice a significant decrease in the number of sales telephone solicitations you receive.
To register with TPS, mail your name, home address (including apartment number) and ZIP code along with your telephone number including the area code to: Telephone Preference Service, c/o Direct Marketing Association, P.O. Box 9014, Farmingdale, NY 11735-9014.