I love Google Voice. I loved it back when it was still GrandCentral.

But today I had to set it up to send all calls straight to voicemail. 🙁

Why? Because I'm getting non-stop calls from telemarketers offering health insurance. How annoying!

They're actually leaving voicemail now – some of them at least. I guess after 2 days of their calls not getting answered they start leaving a message.

Here are a couple examples, transcribed by google:

0:37
hi my name is christine i'm responding to your online inquiry that you submitted for health care if it is very important that i speak with you i did leave you except and approve your application for immediate benefits please give me a call back as soon as possible so we can go over a couple of quotes my number here is (800) 979-4870 again that number is (800) 979-4870 my name is christine and my extension is 4219 thank have a great day bye bye

01:47
hello this message is for joel this is craig call to calling with american insurance organization how are you doing today and i hope this message finds you well i'm just calling to let you know that i received your request for some health insurance information he and i'm going to send you a some information some quotes here in your email in a few moments the quick note about myself joe i'm i'm independent broker i'm also connor mark and i am a master broker i work with all major carriers insurance anthem blue cross blue shield him and united healthcare to give a few name is but i'm looking at your information here 33 prefer a highway class no smoking and thinking that the company that's going to give you we really good coverage and the best freight is gonna be golden rule plan which is offered by united healthcare so i'm gonna send you that information and hopefully some there will work for you but if it doesn't feel free to give me a call back and let me know what it is that you don't like about it and i'll go over all the other options are available to you or if you just have some questions feel free to give me a call (262) 912-0677 if you find that the quote is what you're looking for you can apply directly from the quote but i'd recommended you give me a call first to make sure that we have everything that you're looking for and that'd suits your needs that's about it for donald i look forward to hearing from you joel's other in that have a great day thanks again take care

Ugh, Craig… I don't know where you got my number, but my name is definitely not "Joel"… also, you spoke for almost 2 minutes! Sheesh! Christine got her spiel out in under 40 seconds.

I'll post more in the comments, as they come in, if they keep leaving messages… and my blog doesn't decide to die for the 4th time in 2 days.

Since I don't have a landline phone anymore (and have never really had one in my name) I don't have to deal with telemarketers very often. The last time I was bothered was probably over a year ago, but it really got under my skin – trying to sell me something by calling my cell phone.. a call that most people would end up using precious minutes by answering. It was just frustrating and annoying – I don't care if I really did win a cruise, I don't want to be told about it while I'm in the middle of dinner.

There's always the "do not call list" but that just seems too passive. A bit more satisfying is the FCC's online form for reporting telemarketing calls and faxes. Next time you get interrupted while eating dinner, or just trying to relax, try filling out FCC Form 1088 "Junk Faxes and Telemarketing" and see if it help vent some of that frustration. 🙂