The use of telemarketing as a sales and marketing tool is widespread, with nearly 265,000 U.S. companies utilizing the telephone to connect to consumers. While this may be good news for businesses, it continues to annoy consumers who often have to be on the other end of the phone. Technology solutions, like BellSouth Privacy Director service, can dramatically decrease the number of disruptive calls, giving consumers an increased sense of control, privacy and security within their own home.
More and more consumers are taking action to guard against unsolicited phone calls - from purchasing privacy equipment to implementing technologies like Privacy Director, which is designed to prevent unwanted and unsolicited calls from telemarketers. BellSouth Privacy Director service intercepts calls on which the caller's number is blocked, private, unknown or unavailable, and requires those callers to identify themselves before their call can ring through on the customer's telephone. With more than 1.7 million subscribers to Privacy Director, it is proving to be an effective solution for controlling the number of sales calls consumers receive at home.
"Today's consumers lead busy lifestyles and they want effective ways to limit the access that telemarketers have to them at home," said Donna Hassebrock, senior director - Voice Product Management. "Our Privacy Director service gives customers what they're looking for in a privacy solution, by offering reliability and delivering key advantages over other services in the marketplace. Customers quickly realize the benefit of decreasing sales calls in their homes and they don't even have to purchase additional equipment."
Another key advantage of Privacy Director is that it helps protect the customer from receiving many unwanted intrusions in the first instance. A subscriber's phone does not even ring unless intercepted callers identify themselves. Since telemarketers typically choose not to identify themselves, Privacy Director customers report an immediate and drastic decrease in the number of telemarketing calls that ring through on their phone. Meanwhile, if uninvited callers choose to identify themselves, the customer then has the power to drop the call or send the caller a "do not solicit" message, requiring the telemarketer, by law, to remove the customer's name from their calling list, simply by touching a designated number on the handset.
Even with all of its benefits in screening unwanted calls, Privacy Director still allows customers to enjoy the capability of having unidentified calls from family and friends to ring through. Customers can turn the service on and off from home, or give important callers a passcode, when they want important telephone calls to ring through without being screened by the service.
Simple and convenient, Privacy Director does not require customers that already have Caller ID to purchase another piece of equipment. Nor is it affected by power outages, which means it keeps working even in times of emergencies. In addition, the service is guaranteed for as long as a customer subscribes to the service, unlike products sold at retail with a limited warranty. Privacy Director requires Caller ID Deluxe service, which is available at no additional charge to Complete Choice customers. It is available for $7.95 per month in all states except for NC, where it's $7.50 per month for other customers.
More than 1.7 million customers have subscribed to Privacy Director since the service was deployed. The service is available at a discount to BellSouth Complete Choice plan customers. Privacy Director for customers without Complete Choice is $5.95 per month.