How do you react to telemarketers?

Cash register paper rolls were shipped to small business owners with a $300 bill. (iStockphoto)A CBC News investigation has uncovered details about a Montreal-based company involved in what authorities are calling one of the largest cases of telemarketing fraud in Canadian history.
    
According to the Competition Bureau, Express Transaction Services Inc. (ETS) purposely mailed products to thousands of individuals who had not ordered them.

For example, Manitoba gym owner Katy Unruh received a shipment of cash register paper rolls with a price tag of $300 - items for which she would normally pay only $12.

When she called ETS to say she had not ordered the paper, the company said it had her voice on tape ordering the product (they did not), and that if she sent it back they would charge her shipping and handling when they send it back to her a second time.

ETS has continued to call the woman for a year and a half, and other small business owners in the same situation, up to six times a day.

"When the phone rings I actually get nervous. Because I don't like to get yelled at," said Unruh.

ETS continues to operate out of its Montreal offices, and small businesses are still receiving harassing phone calls from the company. It faces several charges under the federal Competition Act and Criminal Code for the alleged scheme, which was carried out between 2001 and 2007.

How do you deal with telemarketers? Are you on the National Do Not Call List, and if so do you have a sense of how well it's working? Share your stories in the comments section below. You can also send your stories to yournews@cbc.ca.


(This survey is not scientific. Results are based on readers' responses.)

Related Link: Is the do-not-call list working for you?