Do You Screen Your Calls?
By singout
@singout (980)
United States
October 9, 2008 11:20am CST
Just today I realised that the built-in automatic message included in my phone when I bought it has somehow been accidentally erased. This was a blessing in disguise, because I now had to record my own message and this caused me to think about what I wanted to say. Immediately I thought that this would be a good opportunity to say something to telemarketers as well as my friends. So this is the greeting I recorded: "Hi! You have reached the (?) residence. We do screen our calls; so if your number shows up on our caller ID as 'out of area' or 'unavailable' you stand a better chance of us getting back to you if you will leave a message at the beep. Thank you very much."
I despise telemarketer calling, or names that are blocked on my caller ID. This tells me they have something to hide and I will not answer them. But if they are ligitimate they will leave a message. How do you feel about this? Do you screen your calls?
1 response
@mentalward (14691)
• United States
9 Oct 08
I do exactly the same thing. I use my cell phone as my primary phone. We have a land line, but that's for business. I never answer calls that say 'Unavailable' or 'Out of Area', etc. They either leave a message or they definitely won't get a call back from me.
Answering these calls would most likely just run my minutes up, so there's no way I'll answer them. We have three people on our plan which includes one of my husband's nieces who's in college. She REALLY runs up the bill with her text messaging! I won't add to the bill talking to people I don't want to be bothered with in the first place.
I think your message is a really good idea. It will definitely say something to the telemarketers! Hopefully, they won't call back.
@singout (980)
• United States
10 Oct 08
Thanks for your response mentalward. My daughter also uses her cell phone as her primary number. I haven't gone that far as yet. These market calls infuriate me. That's why I created this message. However, most of these market calls are automated and the message is probably not going stop or reduce these calls but it makes me feel better. 
