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[programmer_guy]

This subject has already been mentioned on other forums.

Many exe's (even long time out) have either been called directly or their relatives have been called from the Church of Scientology.

My parents are angry and my daughter is irritated.
Sherie needs to stop calling. If she finally does get in contact with me she will get an earful from me.

[Lorelei]

Everyone should learn answering machine tech. "Hi, Joe's Pizza / Bob's Tires / Enid's Sewing Notions / Pearl's Curl Up & Dye Hair Salon!" People who really care about you will have your mobile phone number (and most mobile phones can be programmed to block calls from unwanted / unknown numbers) or recognize your voice (no matter what your answering machine says) and leave their messages. Annoying Scibots may finally scratch you off their "call and harass" lists.

If you want the more direct approach, simply put a message on your answering machine that notes you have asked the Scis to stop harassing you with phone calls, that you are keeping logs of each time they ignore your request, and that you have contacted legal representation and the phone company about the unwanted calls and may make a huge legal stink about it if they don't obey your wishes.

[Raven]

I'm sure this is a stupid question, but doesn't the do not call lists apply to the cult?

[mefree]

It seems really difficult to get off of the scientology calling list!

[Stutroup]

I have a thought on that.

Ask them to stop calling.  note the date and time of the call.  When they call again, note that, and remind  them they have been asked to stop calling you.  The third time remind them that all entities of Scientology have been asked to stop calling, and their continuing to do so is harassment; say again to stop calling you.

If they call again, you at least have a written record of the times you have asked to no longer be called, and to whom you have spoken.  A telephone record will show received calls from these individuals/entities, and you will have grounds to get another (ahem, legal or law enforcement) party involved if necessary.

One caveat: If they do not back down, you may find yourself in a deep pile with a very expensive and time consuming shovel. 

And although you have the law on your side, it will all be for asking them to stop calling.

[Lorelei]

I'm sure this is a stupid question, but doesn't the do not call lists apply to the cult?

No. Religious organizations, bill collectors (up to a point; abusive or persistent collectors are not permitted and you can take steps to cut them off), many charities, politicians campaigning, some robo-surveys, local emergency announcement calls (flood watches, etc.), and associations you are or were a member of (this includes alumni associations) are exempt from the Do Not Call registry. Even if Scientology didn't have their falsely-attributed "religion" label, they could still claim that the callee owed them money for services, that they were soliciting for charitable donations, that you were an alumnus or alumna of their "tech" courses, etc.

In short, the DNCR is worthless where Scientology is concerned.

Heck, I had someone put my mobile number on some form in a GNC (to get a Gold Card, I assume, as it was always Gold Card promo crap) and I got annoying robo-calls for a YEAR AND A HALF, and reported each and every call to the DNCR, but not after trying less aggressive methods first: I called the store (ironically, it's in Sandy Springs, though I had never been in there) and asked for the number for GNC management and was given a 1-900 phone sex service by the employee I spoke to (I was livid), I got online and the GNC website had no number to call or email links, and they do not have a listing with the 800 numbers registry, I got my cell phone provider to block the offending numbers, etc.

Now no one can reach me easily because I use answering machine tech thanks to all the unwanted calls, and never remember to check my voicemail. :/ Many of my pals text or email me instead.

[ethercat]

Not that this works really well, or at all with scientology, but even organizations that are exempt from the "do not call" list are supposed to quit calling once you tell them to stop. 

Companies whom you've done business with in the past are allowed to call for 18 months after your last business contact, but you can tell them to quit calling now, and the law requires that they stop (no, I'm not naive enough to think that the law means anything to scientology). 

CoS is exempt as a charity, I suppose...  Here's what the ftc.gov site says:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt107.shtm

Are calls from political organizations or calls soliciting for charities covered?

Political solicitations are not covered by the TSR at all, since they are not included in its definition of “telemarketing.” Charities are not covered by the requirements of the national registry. However, if a third-party telemarketer is calling on behalf of a charity, a consumer may ask not to receive any more calls from, or on behalf of, that specific charity. If a third-party telemarketer calls again on behalf of that charity, the telemarketer may be subject to a fine of up to $16,000 .

My number is on the National Do Not Call Registry. After I bought something from a company, a telemarketer representing that organization called me. Is this a violation?

No. By purchasing something from the company, you established a business relationship with the company. As a result, even if you put your number on the National Do Not Call Registry, that company may call you for up to 18 months after your last purchase or delivery from it, or your last payment to it, unless you ask the company not to call again. In that case, the company must honor your request not to call. If they subsequently call you again, they may be subject to a fine of up to $16,000 .

An established business relationship with a company also will be created if you make an inquiry to the company, or submit an application to it. This kind of established business relationship exists for three months after the inquiry or application. During this time, the company can call you.

If you make a specific request to that company not to call you, however, then the company may not call you, even if you have an established business relationship with that company. You should keep a record of the date you make the request.

Filing a Do Not Call Complaint

When can I file a do not call complaint?

If your number has been on the National Do Not Call Registry for at least 31 days and you receive a call from a telemarketer that you believe is covered by the National Do Not Call Registry, you can file a complaint at the registry’s website at www.donotcall.gov or by calling the registry’s toll-free number at 1-888-382-1222 (TTY: 1-866-290-4236). You may also file a complaint if you received a call that used a recorded message instead of a live person (whether or not your number was on the Registry).

How do I file a do not call complaint? What do I need to file a complaint?

You can file your complaint on the registry’s website, www.donotcall.gov, using the File a Complaint page. You must provide the date that the company called you and the number that was called and respond to a question asking if the call was a prerecorded message. You may provide your name and address, but this information is not required for you to submit a complaint. You also may call the registry’s toll-free number 1-888-382-1222 (TTY: 1-866-290-4236).

What happens to my complaint?

Do not call complaints will be entered into the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel system, a secure online database available to more than 1,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies. While the FTC does not resolve individual consumer problems, your complaint will help us investigate the company and could lead to law enforcement action.

Enough complaints about scientology calling people who have not had a business relationship with them for years might get something done, or at least add to charges if any are ever brought against the organization itself (need a praying smiley).

[Hartley]

Many exe's (even long time out) have either been called directly or their relatives have been called from the Church of Scientology.

I used to be active in local politics and I got SO frustrated with the people who refused point blank to accept any help or advice from anyone, they insisted on walking into the nearest local government office and demanding that the clerk solve their problem.

You have to work the system. The real world owes you no favours. Consider this from the cult point of view:

'Basics', the total rewrite of Source, rendered previous editions useless. It followed logically that every Scientologist (TM) WOULD throw away their old books. Any who did not were traitors.
The next thing to do was to bring back everyone who gave up Scientology (TM) because of the squirreled books they had bought. Source is perfectly understandable to everyone (Ron said so), so these people must be persuaded to come in and after ten minutes they will be going "gosh wow" and getting out their credit cards.

So the great phone marathon began, and it was immediately swallowed up by the insane LRH teachings about stats. Every stat must increase every week. For those phoning and writing letters, this is the priority. They will NOT stop just because you ask them to, because KSW is not their priority.

So. One approach is to be rational and logical. Escalate your reaction each time you are contacted and KEEP NOTES. Each time you are contacted reply with details from your notes.
"You contacted me on XXXX. I asked you not to contact me again. You contacted me on XXX, XXX and XXX, and on each occasion I asked you not to contact me again. If you persist, I will take legal action against you"

Another approach is to be unreasonable. Swear and rant, tell them you will sue the XXX out of them if they EVER contact you again. Tell them Scientology is a nasty cult and David Miscavige is a XXX. Read OT3 to them. Tell them you are a busy person and charge $10 per minute for unsolicited phone calls. Tell them you are LRH's illegitimate daughter and were born on a submarine in Salt Lake.... oh wait, they know that one.

[programmer_guy]

Hartly,

Your view and opinion on this issue pretty much aligns with mine.
But I ask... have you seen the recent DVD "Set the Course for Your ETERNITY"?
Davey spells out in this DVD some of what HE thinks the problem is.
(Of course, he is really wrong about this.)

[ethercat]

Hartly,

Your view and opinion on this issue pretty much aligns with mine.
But I ask... have you seen the recent DVD "Set the Course for Your ETERNITY"?
Davey spells out in this DVD some of what HE thinks the problem is.
(Of course, he is really wrong about this.)

Davey admits there's a problem???    

[Lorelei]

If there is a problem being admitted to, you can bet Davey is blaming it on Suppressive People, PTSes, people not KSW, The What or The Who, and not Scientology, because OF COURSE Scientology is totally awesome and infallible...according to the die-hard True Believers.

[ethercat]

Here's some more info about the calls, particularly for people who have said they've moved and changed numbers since they were involved:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/article1201177.ece

Rotating into the call center for two- and three-hour shifts, the religious workers slipped on headsets and waited for auto dialers to place calls. Thousands of names had been pulled from church files, some decades old. A Sea Org research team had mined the Internet for fresh contact information.

[skydog]

I was surprised when I started getting calls after thirty years! However, I used it as an opportunity to educate the clueless souls on the other end of the blower. They would usually call on Saturday afternoons and I reminded them that most people were enjoying the beautiful day at the beach or a ball game and were not sitting in a room cold calling people that were uninterested in what they were selling. I would avoid any questions about whether I was in fact the party they were trying to contact. Instead I would direct the conversation to all the negative stories that were appearing and question the caller as to the truth of the reports that their leader, David Miscavige, was a brutal psychopath. When they denied that, I would bring up every every piece of dirt I could think of and, after tiring of the game, would start to talk about Xenu and body thetans and the fact that all their sacred scriptures could be downloaded for free on the internet. At this point, they would thank me for my time and end the conversation.

After they hadn't called me for a while, I called the Denver, CO. org and ask the pleasant receptionist if she had any contact information for Rex Fowler. I told her I had met him at Flag and he told me to look him up if I ever got to Colorado. The request was met by silence; the call was then transferred to another person who told me they had no information about Rex. So, I decided to fill them in with all the gory details until they hung up on me.

I know I am evil and will probably burn in hell for all of this, but we live in a time of instant gratification and it was a lot of fun and makes me feel good just thinking about it.

[mefree]

 

[ethercat]