Say Scram to the Spam!

Last week marked a robocall milestone at Chez Carlino.

Over the course of a workday – this one beginning promptly at 8 a.m. and ending somewhere around 6 p.m., I received a total of 13 robocalls. Let me repeat that for emphasis: THIRTEEN! And sadly, they were equitably divided between my home and business lines.

Now I know as Election Day approaches most of you not surprisingly, have received calls from various political parties and candidates soliciting donations. And on this day, the Republican and Democratic National Committees accounted for six of those 13 calls.

The others were an eclectic mix of expiring car warranties, local business listing upgrades, one from a weight loss clinic in Philadelphia (which I took personal umbrage to) and the other from a chimney cleaning service.

Well that may be one I can use.

But there is hope for those who feel my pain. At least on the business side of things.

I recently read where Google will be introducing a feature for Android to assist companies who make phone calls to customers and clients. The application – “Verified Calls” ensures that when a business makes a call, the company, name logo and purpose of the call will appear on the screen with the assurance that the call was Google verified.

According to the article the number of Spam calls rose roughly 28 percent in 2019 versus the prior year. If past and present experience is any barometer, I would swear under oath it was more than twice that.

And that antiquated “Do Not Call” services that purports to stop spam and sales calls? That lasts as long as my brother-in-law’s promise to pay me back the money l loaned him – in 1999.

The article stated that Verified Calls would provide an avenue to legitimately reach out to customers without having to go through those aggravating Spanish Inquisition exercises with the company “gatekeeper.” At times, who hasn’t felt like a vacuum cleaner salesman trying to get his foot in the door only to be dismissed by the company admin?

It may eventually come to pass that companies will have to register with Google to ensure that the calls will be verified in advance, but that seems a minor inconvenience as compared to continually rushing to answer the phone only to witness those “Potential Spam” warnings that flash across your phone screen.

Now if only they could come up with an app for deadbeat relatives.