Getting, and staying, on the do-not-call list

WILMINGTON — If you signed up for the national do not call list when it started in 2003, you were supposed to re-register this year. But that’s no longer the case.

NewsChannel 3 explains what’s keeping telemarketers from ringing you forever.

Wilmington resident C.C. Hensley said, “We received a lot of calls from telemarketers primarily during the dinner hour and it’s been wonderful not having that interruption now.”

Hensley is one of the more than 145 million Americans who have signed up for the national do not call list since 2003 to stop unsolicited calls from telemarketers.

Originally everyone was going to have to re-register their numbers every five years, but not any more.

Financial advisor Ross Marino said, “The good news for you as a consumer is, if you signed up for the do not call list you will not have to log back onto the FTC web site and sign up once again.”

Marino said, “The FTC was worried about numbers that were assigned to somebody else or that were disconnected and there’d be this huge list that nobody would know if the number would be active or not.”

So the Federal Trade Commission figured out a way to keep up with which numbers are disconnected or have been assigned to somebody else.

“If your cell phone or land line number is already on the list, you’re done,” Marino said. “But if you change numbers, get a new one or never registered before all you do is go to donotcall.gov, click ‘register now,’ enter your phone number and e-mail address then click a link on an e-mail you get.”

Three steps to avoid unwanted interruptions.

Hensley said, “It means less hassle and one less thing to do in this busy world today.”

For more information on the national do not call list visit www.donotcall.gov.