Stop Telemarketer Calls and Get Rid of Junk Mail

No one likes receiving unwanted sales calls or wasteful junk mail. I want to remind you how you can put an end to junk mail and annoying telemarketer calls.

With the National Do Not Call Registry you can prevent telemarketer calls to your home phone and cell phone. Register by calling 888-382-1222 (or 866-290-4236 for TTY). To register by Internet, visit the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website at www.donotcall.gov. Once registered, telemarketers will be prohibited from calling you with unsolicited advertisements. You will remain on the Registry permanently, unless your number is disconnected and reassigned, or you decide to remove it from the Registry.

Your number will be placed on the Do Not Call Registry the very next day after you register, however, telemarketers will still have up to 31 days to remove your phone number from their lists. Also, tax-exempt non-profits, surveyors, and political organizations will not be barred from being able to contact you. More information on how the Do Not Call Registry works is also available at www.fcc.gov/cgb/donotcall.

To verify whether or not your number is already on the Registry, or to file a complaint about calls received 31 days or more after registering, call 888-382-1222 or check online at www.donotcall.gov.

Regarding junk mail, the Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service (MPS) allows you to opt out of receiving unsolicited commercial mail from a number of national companies for five years, eliminating much of the junk mail you may be receiving. Registration to stop unwanted junk emails is good for six years.

To put an end to both junk postal mail and email, go to www.dmachoice.org or mail a request with a $1 processing fee to:

DMAchoice
Direct Marketing Association
P.O. Box 643
Carmel, New York  10512

To file a complaint about deceptive or fraudulent junk mail or email, visit www.ftc.gov or call 877-FTC-HELP (or 866-653-4261 for TTY). The FTC will enter your complaint into a secure online database used by hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the United State and abroad to investigate fraud and illegal activity.

Senator Young with Donna Vickman, Chair of the Cattaraugus County Legislature Senior Service Committee, at the Cattaraugus County Department of the Aging’s 19^th Annual Senior Forum on August 15, 2013. Senator Young informed seniors on how to stop unwanted calls and mail.