My family's dinner is always interrupted...

The one we get on a regular basis is : "Please call, so and so, at such and such a number - as soon as possible" it is always something like an 1 877 number and appears to be toll free. But it is not toll free. If you return the call you will be charged something like $200 to a foreign country. You have no recourse because you actually made the phone call. I am glad that I found out about this - and that I did not call back that first time before I found out. I just figured they already are calling me, if it is important, by George they can speak to me rather than having this recorded message for me to call them.

To be honest this is the kind of thing that drives me absolutely nuts. They always call when I am in the bath or shower, or just we we have sat down to dinner. I used to try and be polite but firm, it doesn't work. I know they are only doing their jobs but why on earth they can't stick to normal hours is beyond me. A friend of mine suggested a neat little trick. Answer the phone, as soon as you know it is a telemarketer, simply say "Can you hold the line for a moment" then put the phone down on the table, go and have your dinner, leaave them hanging on. Believe me, after a couple of moments they will have hung up.

Why not get an extra cellphone with a prepaid card in it. Give this number out to all the people that need to be able to reach you, like work for an example, and then turn the regular phone off while having dinner. This way .- the only people calling will be the ones who really need to.

If you value those Thursday night dinners so much, turn off the phone for the duration of the dinner only. I don't believe it will hurt so much if the people from any of those jobs of yours and husband's cannot contact you for the duration of it. Just imagine, if something goes wrong and the phone gets busted, no one can call you then, and it will not be of much consequence. We do not have this problem at home because, we had already stopped subscribing to landline services. Anyone who finds it necessary to contact us, it will have to be through the mobile phone.

My solution to the telemarketer problem is having a message on my answering machine that picks up after only one or two rings that states that if you are a 'legitimate' caller I will answer the phone in a moment. Or that it takes me a moment to get to the phone...and I can ignore the telemarketer or the caller who states the matter is 'personal' and you can clue in that he or she is bogus. The legitimate caller can state who he or she is and why they are calling. Most callers are well acquainted with telemarketers and their nuisance value and will tolerate your fence tactics.

I know exactly how that feels. I get phone calls all day long, and it is so frustrating. I have just come to the conclusion that I just don't answer the phone. I was also lucky enough to purchase a phone that not only has caller ID, but will ANNOUNCE who the caller is. Now granted, I have to program the numbers for it to announce, but I have found that most of my calls come from the same marketer. So now, when that number calls, my phone says "telemarketer" and I don't even bother to answer. It's going to get a lot worse for us, with the election season coming. The last presidential year I swear we had about 6-10 calls a DAY asking who we were going to vote for. I got so angry I told them if they didn't stop I wasn't going to vote! LOL! It didn't work, and I still voted, but for 6 months, it was pure torture!!

Yes we get a few of those a year not as many as you though. We just tell them right off that we aren't interested and hang up. I know it's jst heir job that is why I do not get mad at them. We get people calling also wanting us to mke donations to their causes like police and fire and rescue It's not that I wouldn't like tohelp ou its just we live fom pay check to pa check most times but they are so persistant and we agree to pay just to get off the phone with them I know it's bad and all but when you can't do it you can't do it. Would you donate money instead of buying cleaning supplies or toilet paper?

well it also happens with us mostly when eating dinner someone interrupts us or even the phone has to ring right at that time with a wrong call or miss call from anyone which i really hates to get up and watch the phone or receive the person while dinner going on.

I hate this! It seems to happen during dinner all the time.. I screen calls- If I don't know the number I don't answer-- hey that is what answering machines are for- Then again I know if it is an emergency the people who need to get ahold of us know our cell phone numbers- There is nothing worse than trying to eat dinner and the phone ringing- If by chance I answer- I'm quite rude- I'm in the middle of dinner- I don't want it- take me off the list!

I can relate to you. We have had the same annoying calls all times of the day even on Sundays. We now have caller ID and it has made our lives much more pleasant. By the way I love your family dinner night we do the same thing not always on the same night but as often as possible between everyones schedules. Ok back to the problem. Caller ID works well for us because before dinner I set our answering machine to 3 rings before pick-up, I place our cordless phone within reach and simply check who is calling and if it is not an important call we let the machine answer for us. Family and friends know we do this and if they forget and call during dinner time we usally just get an opps sorry I will call later left on the machine. I can understand you not wanting to shut it off just in case it is important. As far as being on the do not call list that never has seemed to work for us either. They schedule to call you during dinner time so they will catch you home. Just how is this suppose to put you in a good enough mood to buy their product anyway? Bad business if you ask me. Caller ID has been a life saver most telemarketing calls come up either saying toll free or unknown. You can also ask you phone company not to allow unknown calls to your phone. This helps cut down on the number of calls as well. They receive a recording that says, the party you are trying to call does not except unknown callers please enter your number or hang up now. I hope this has helped. Best wishes on many more great family nights.

I see what you mean. Well, I don't know if you can get them to stop calling you, but I have a few suggestions. Like: get caller ID, turn down the ringer volume during dinner (or if it's a cellphone, put it on vibrate). To be honest I think that is all you can do.

We can never complete a meal or anything else without being interrupted by people trying to conduct a survey or trying to sell you something. It is quite frustrating. We added our names to the "no call list" too but something must not be working right. Lately when my husband answers the phone he tells them all kinds of crazy stuff. Like if they ask for me he tells them, "My wife ran off with another man and left me here with the 6 children." or "Give me your home phone and I'll have her call you when she finishes eating." or he'll turn around and try to sell them something. It's bad I know, but we get a good laugh.

Why don't you get caller Id. This way you can tell if it is your job or someone else. If it is anyone else, don't answer the phone. During dinner time at our house, we let the answering machine pick up. If they don't leave a message we figure it wasn't worth the trouble of them interupting our dinner. Another suggestion would be if you have a cell phone when you are on call give your work you cell number to call. This way you can turn the ringers off from your reg phone during dinner. I hate telemarketer calls. I have gotten to the point that I will say, please remove my number from your list and hang up. I have also put my number on the do not call lists, but for some reason they always call.

Have you tried switching off your phone? I heard it really helps...

I would suggest that you regester your phone numbers on the National do not call list. It does prevent the telemarketers from calling as they can be fined if you are on the list and they call. it doesn't include charities or business that you deal with such as your credit card company. but it is your credit card company then you should just be able to tell them not to call. Nhere is the web site. https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx

I used to go through this as well when my family sat down to dinner and i would either hange up the phone once i knew who was calling or i would tell them that they had the wrong number. I also screen my calls and let all of my friends and family and work know this. I use the answering machince to do this or a caller id box if your phone service offers caller id with your phone package. They still call once in a blue moon but not all the time.

We don't have anything like that that i know of over here, but I think i'd tell them straight off that I wasn't interested and to please stop calling or I'd file a complaint.

Well, like you said, we dont' answer the phone during dinner. Even if your husband needs to be availalbe, can't people leave him a message and he can get right back to them? I don't knwo if you have an answering machine but if you get a traditional one, you can listen to who's calling and pick up if it seems important. You and he would have to tell important people that they have to leave a message if they want to get through to you otherwise they might just hang up. I would just screen calls this way and then you would know who's calling and whether it is worth interrupting your dinner over.

erm.. i don't have this problem.. what is a telemarketer? is it some kind of people from a company trying to sell off their products.. and they called you? how did they get your information huh? erm.. if i were you... i will pull off the telephone cable during dinner and resting hours.. haha

Yes we do get a lot of nuisance calls. The way we handle it is, 1. We have caller i.d. and do not answer blocked or unfamiliar numbers. 2. If we are in the middle of something, we let the machine answer and call them back. There is no rule that says we have to be at the beck and call of anyone 24/7. Set limits and enjoy your family.