8009812591

My  home phone number is no national Not-call list, why they keep calling me. should the caller be prosecuted? I think so.

The do not call registry is affected by the government shutdown apparently and is not working right now.

Live call (800) 981-2591 recorded 17 October 2013 ("Dial America on behalf of Mothers Against Drunk Driving" magazine subscription drive...)
Caller ID: "TOLL -FREE -"

Called recently from: [first time caller]

These professional fundraisers are fun to put on and wasting their time prevents them from bothering other good people, like you.

Tell told me up front that 12½ per cent of my gift actually benefits Mothers Against Drunk Driving, so to me, that's a big negative right away.

I played along when interviewer Cora Burns introduced her charity. I told her I was a dentist but I should have said a psychiatrist, I could have had more fun with her. Next time perhaps. But I did get her talking about MAD Magazine and Colonel Oliver North.

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Thanks to Google Voice, here is a transcript of the call:

[me:] Hello?
[they:] Hi John, my name is Cora Burns and I'm calling on behalf of Mothers Against Drunk Driving from Dial America and I'm a paid, professional fundraiser. Don't worry, I'm not calling to ask you for a donation, I'd just like a quick moment of your time, ok?

[me:] Aw--right.
[they:] Great, thank you so much. John, you are familiar with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, right?

[me:] Ah, who?
[they:] MADD, it's, MADD, that stands for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

[me:] I seem to remember MAD Magazine from New York.
[they:] [laughing] No, this is an organization our mission is to stop drunk driving, prevent underage drinking, and support the victims of those crimes and I don't know if you know this, but, every 53 minutes someone in America is killed at the hands of a drunk driver and that's pretty scary, isn't it.

[me:] Why don't they take these drunk drivers off the road?
[they:] That's what Mothers Against Drunk Driving is trying to do. We have actually been successful in making, in making stricter laws um so we can keep these people off the street, but, and we have lowered the death toll in this country 50% since we started but we still have a long, long way to go. We're still working on it. But what we're doing today is something different. Rather than a donation you can help Mothers Against Drunk Driving by taking a short subscription to one of your favorite magazines, something you'd pick up anyway and our rates are great because the publishers are helping us out with huge discounts and the best part is a full 12½ per cent goes to boost Mothers Against Drunk Driving. You'd be getting a magazine as well as helping out a great cause and we keep it simple and safe, everything's handled by mail and you would get a very nice letter from Mothers Against Drunk Driving thanking you for your support. Now we have some great titles like Time Magazine, um we have Discover, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated. Which one can I tell you more about to help Mothers Against Drunk Driving today?

[me:] Uh, do you have the Journal of the American Medical Association?
[they:] Um, let me check and see.

[me:] It's also go by their initials, Jay A Em A.
[they:] Ok. [long pause] No, I'm not showing anything under, let me see if I have...are you a doctor or the medical field?

[me:] Yes.
[they:] Ohhhh... [does she sound impressed by this?]

[me:] Now I'm curious about your statistic. You say that you've reduced death by 50%. How did you calculate that?
[they:] I'm not sure how they calculate it, they just give us the statistic, um, that's since 1980 since the organization started.

[me:] Ah, now also since 1980 they lowered the speed limit from 65 and even 70 and higher in some states, back to 55 and that certainly has a lot to do with lowering the death rate.
[they:] Well, what MADD does is they, um, they um have lowered the alcohol contents and they're still, and they're working on that again. They've made it harder for people to get their drivers licenses back even though that um sometimes doesn't make a difference 'cause they still drive without uh their licenses and that's why we're working on the interlock device...

[me:] So they've lowered the alcohol content. If I were to go to the alcohol store I could no longer get an 86 proof bottle of whisky, it would now be 80 proof?
[they:] Oh no, you can still buy alcohol, it's just that if you get caught driving, and your um alcohol content is point, I think point oh eight, um, then you get a DUI and you have to face all the uh you know, laws to to where they take your drivers license away and make you take classes, get into um you know, alcohol triple, I mean, AA, those kind of things. And they're trying to lower it to .05 now.

[me:] I see, I see. [said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw]
[they:] See, we don't, we're not, we're not against um people that drink, we just want people not to drive and drink.

[me:] And you have no connection with MAD Magazine?
[they:] [laughs] No, we're not, I'm familiar with that magazine, my brothers used to read that magazine diligently when they were kids.

[me:] Yes, that goes back many years.
[they:] Oh yeah, I think it's still around though, let me see if, if we still have Mad in our program. Just out of curiousity here. No, but I'm pretty sure I see tv shows on tv that is based off Mad Magazine.

[me:] That is a frightening thought.
[they:] [laughs] I know. Well, I, the only thing I have, I don't have anything, um in the medical journal but I do have Health Magazine, like, um, Men's Health, uh, where'd they all go, I just had 'em up here a moment ago. So are you a medical doctor, or what field of medical are you in?

[me:] Dentistry. Oral surgery.
[they:] Oh, you're oral surgery, my daughter just had one of her teeth taken out. Just last week. Um, I've got Men's Health, I've got Men's uh, Health, I have Fitness, don't have anything, I have Muscle Fitness, Natural Health and we have a great magazine called Prevention, have you heard of that one?

[me:] Oh yes, that's a popular magazine these days.
[they:] Uh hmm...it's got over 12 million readers, let me give you an example how much you'd save by helping us out. [long pause]

[me:] Is Oliver North connected with MADD at all?
[they:] Um, I don't know [laughs] are you talking about the magazine? Olive North, is she the founder?

[me:] No, Oliver North, the Colonel, Colonel Oliver North.
[they:] Oh, I really don't know. I remember him too, he was in the news in the '70s and '80s wasn't he?

[me:] Right.
[they:] No, I don't know if he's involved with them or not. Um, the Prevention magazine is normally on the newsstand runs 3.59 per copy but through our program to help Mothers Against Drunk Driving it's only $1.43, that's a 60% savings and you would receive 35 issues for just 5 easy installments of 9.99 and most importantly that would go a long way to help Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Would you like to...

[me:] Now Prevention, is that a journal of birth control and contraception?
[they:] A, no, it's more about, um, health issues and eating uh healthy food and things like that. Let me go back here and tell ya...it shows you the very latest and very best ways to lose weight, improve nutrition, prevent illness and enjoy life more. So it's got different articles and stuff like fighting fat after 40, things like that.

[me:] I see.
[they:] [laughs] Is there any other type of magazine you'd be interested in, any other hobbies? Do you golf? [what a stereotype! long pause] Hello? Are you still there? Hello? [her voice speeds up] Well thank you for your time on behalf of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, have a great day.
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I received a call from this number on my cell.

Hate these toll free numbers - they are very annoying and ever let a message.

I get this at least once a day, usually at dinner time or around 8 to 9pm at night, which is VERY annoying.  Then I won't get any calls for a while and they start again, but in the morning.  I NEVER answer calls from UNKNOWN or UNAVAILABLE anymore because they are invariably someone soliciting money and I do not donate to anyone, especially strangers, over the phone.  I have charities I support and they do not call me for donations.  The other calls I get are from some sort of so-called survey companies only needing a "few minutes" of my time.  These surveys are often intrusive and ridiculous--the last one I agreed to only because I was in an agreeable mood and accidentally answered the phone thinking it was someone else asked me about my opinions about Puerto Rico's statehood.  Is that up to me?  I believe that's up to the citizens who live there and Congress.  I personally don't care so I cut that call short.   That was the last time I was willing to answer those calls so I made a note of where that call came from.   Now they call me at least two or three times a week.  What happened to the Do Not Call List???

I answered but never even said hello before this lady starts in on her speech..."Good Morning, this is Christine Daniels with Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, calling you this morning to ask your support by purchasing a magazine...." blah blah blah.  The Caller I.D. showed it as "Toll Free Call" so I have no way of verifying if it was M.A.D.D. or not.  Anyway, I told her I wasn't interested and hung up.  Very annoying, since this is the 3rd time this month I've had this conversation with them.

Tired of these calls....I answered they didn't,all I heard was someone say 39 over the machine...she apparently didn't know I could hear them talking.I am on do not call list have been for years yet they keep calling.

800-981-2591 called  2014.5.30 at 12:38 PM. Since ID as Unavailable I did not answer. I NEVER EVER answer any call that ID's as Unavailable

I get calls all day. From all different kinds of numbers. And am also on the Do Not Call List. And that doesn't help either. They will find away around that. Am just as mad as you.

Received a call from this number at 11:44 A.M. today (7/26/14).  I do not accept calls from 800 numbers or unknown callers so I select TALK then immediately select OFF, without saying a word.  Most of the time this works, occasionally I'll receive another call a few days later but I repeat the process.  Has worked so far.

Why am I on DNC list when I still get oodles of annoying calls....................................

Just because someone says they are from MADD, does not mean they are.
Telemarketers can claim to be anyone.  They just call, do not give me enough time to get to the phone, then hang up.  Very upsetting, I am ill and need my rest at night.

Left no message. Why isn't the Do Not Call list working?

Again another call from this number, leaves no message, spam. Why isn't Do Not Call list working?

These people were told to take our number off there list months ago!!! It stopped for awhile but has now started again. Tonight they called at 10:18PM......I thought telemarketers could not call after 9pm????

Calls regularly.  It's driving me to drink!

Receive a call from this number every day.  How do I stop it?

thanks for the info. I still will not answer, but now know who keeps calling.

I was about to comment the same as what you wrote. You have no idea who is on the other end of the phone call. Don't give ANYONE your Credit Card info over the phone. Only time you give that info is if you initiate the call to a vendor or charity, etc.