If you dislike getting unwanted telemarketing calls, starting Tuesday Sept 30, 2008, Canadians will be able to sign up for the new “National Do Not Call List”. The list Is modelled after the U.S. National Do Not Call Registry established in 2003.
[Oct 1 Update: The service is working intermittently right now.]
Once you put your number on the list, telemarketers (with exceptions listed below) cannot call you. If they do, you can report them. They face fines from $1,500 to $15,000 per infraction. The do not call list will not, however, stop calls from:
- registered charities seeking donations
- newspapers looking for subscriptions
- political parties and their candidates, and
- companies with whom you have an existing commercial relationship; for example, if you have done business with a company in the previous 18 months––such as a carpet-cleaning company––that company can call you. The biggest offenders like your bank, telephone company, cable company etc. can still call and harass you. Grr!
Unfortunately your registration lasts only three years. Mark your calendar to register again three years from now.
Questions and answers about the national do-not-call list are available on this government website. For more info, you can read about it here on Wikipedia or here on Michael Geist’s site.
iOptOut Option
Canadians may also wish to register with Michael Geist’s free “iOptOut” service which allows Canadian consumers to opt-out of calls from those organizations mentioned above that are otherwise exempt from the national list (click thumbnail for larger view). iOptOut’s FAQ is here.
Continue reading “Canada’s National Do Not Call List Starts Sept 30, 2008”
