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Book Review • September 2010
How To Sue A Telemarketer
A Manual For Restoring Peace on Earth
One Phone Call At A Time
By: Stephen I. Ostrow, Esq. and Ozmo Kramer;
Amigo Press; 2010; 141 pages; $15.00
ISBN 978-0-615-33817-0; (pbk); www.howtosueatelemarketer.com
The author’s own words on the back of the cover say it all: “Telemarketers have been a pain in the general public’s behind for decades. Thanks to their interrupting us day and night, the telephone has been transformed from a convenience into a source of annoyance and frustration.”
Even with don’t call lists for landline and cell phones, many of us still find ourselves on the receiving end of unwanted sales calls. What to do when it happens? No idea, not worth paying a lawyer for. That’s why Steve and Ozmo teamed up (!) to write this informative little book. (And what a team – an attorney and an impersonator! Be glad they’re on our side, because if they weren’t, they’d make one heck of a telemarketer.)
Behind the times in this area as I am, I didn’t know until I read How To Sue A Telemarketer that national do-not-call numbers for cell and landline phones, originally set up for five-year durations, are now forever lists. And I didn’t know that some states now include auto-generated political calls in with telemarketing calls.
Other useful things I learned had to do with figuring out who to sue, getting help from dedicated telemarketer busters online, and some of the ins and outs of small claims court. And the addenda at the back of the book spell out pretty much everything you’d want to know about the relevant legalities.
“I wrote How To Sue A Telemarketer for all the good, kind and ordinary people of the world who simply want to have a quiet dinner, or a beer and watch a basketball game, without getting interrupted by someone who doesn’t give a damn about them,” Steve says.
Half humor and half how-to, How To Sue A Telemarketer is not a difficult read, though you do have to pay serious attention to get all the details. If you actually plan to follow the advice, you’ve got your work cut out for you. Is protecting your peace worth all this trouble? Well, it does lead you through the steps. For some, it will be worth the satisfaction. If you think that might be you, get this book!
—Chiwah