I have tried very hard to keep this blog on point – discussing events that occur during my day that spark old memories in my mind… but there are times when I can’t help but feel a rant coming on.  Feel free to skip this particular blog entry – it may get a bit heated.

I personally hold no animosity towards telemarketers. Everyone has a right to try to sell their product or services to anyone they choose. But I draw the line at robocalls. You know the kind I’m talking about. Automated dialers with a human-sounding recorded voice blathering on without offering the other end the opportunity to respond. I get between five and twenty calls each and every day. 

I know there’s a Do Not Call Registry I can sign up for. I have. It doesn’t stop them. I know I can block their numbers. I have. It doesn’t stop them. I am running a business as a sole proprietor and I am being interrupted throughout the day by nuisance calls. Many of them from the same company.

I figure that, as a consumer, I have only one recourse. And so I vow to employ it. I have begun to keep a list of all companies who call me via an automated dialer and robocall or recorded announcement. And I will never, ever use their services or purchase their products. Ever. They may repent and stop the practice but if I get but one robocall from them, they go on the list and they have lost me forever. I will not give a second chance. It is the only thing I know to do until this ill-advised, invasive marketing practice is outlawed and enforced.

You may join me if you like. I will be happy to share my list with you. Technological advances can be a wonderful thing. They can also be misused. Robocalling is an easy method for a company that does not care who they disturb or upset. But it will never represent a company in a positive light. If their product or service does not warrant the time and expense it takes for a human to dial a number and have an actual conversation with another human, it certainly does not warrant the time it takes me to answer the phone and listen to their idiotic recording.  #StopRobocalls

Michael Ondrasik and Home Video Studio of Mount Dora specialize in the preservation of family memories (when we aren’t preoccupied by dealing with phone calls from computerized systems). For more information, call 352-735-8550 or visit www.homevideostudio.com/mtd.