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Pastimes : Happy Hour: A thread for not so intelligent discussions -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FREAKAZOID who wrote (674)	5/14/1999 11:22:00 AM
From: Bald Eagle	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2380

When she hears the words: " Would you like to see the dessert tray?"

To: FREAKAZOID who wrote (674)	5/15/1999 11:20:00 PM
From: Vision21	Respond to of 2380

Good for her! I hate these people calling me..I always ask them for their home phone number so I can bother them when they are home with their family. MORGANTOWN, Va. (AP) -- It all started with a phone call. Last year, telemarketers called Diana Mey and asked if she was interested in buying siding from Sears, Roebuck & Co. She said no. But the phone kept ringing -- and ringing -- and ringing. Mey endured 16 months of aggravation and lawsuits in her bid to stop the calls, but got no satisfaction until Friday, when Sears officials traveled from Illinois to her home in Wheeling with a personal apology and a check. What happened to Mey was ''highly unusual, so it's not surprising we would take some unusual steps in response,'' said Tom Nicholson, director of public relations for Sears. Jason Catlett, president of the New Jersey-based Junkbusters Corp., credits Mey for being ''far more diligent than most people.'' ''If there were just a few thousand people like Diana Mey taking telemarketers to court and making them stick to the law, this nation would not suffer such constant interruptions to their dinner times,'' he said. Mey's battle began Jan. 5, 1998, with a call from American Home Pro, then an independent telemarketing contractor for Sears. She told them she wasn't interested, but they kept calling, even when Mey requested to be put on the company's ''do not call'' list. Under federal law, that means a telemarkerter can't call the number again for 10 years. Mey filed a $5,000 lawsuit, but American Home Pro and Sears responded with a $10,000 countersuit for wiretapping because she tape-recorded her conversations with the telemarketers -- which is legal under West Virginia law. Mey hired a lawyer, and eventually wound up with an undisclosed settlement and an apology from Sears. The countersuit, which had flabbergasted Catlett, was dropped. ''They were pressing for punitive damages,'' Catlett said. ''The idea they should try to punish this woman for trying to protect herself ... is a grossly offensive concept.'' Mey said she is not trying to put telemarketers out of business. ''I just want them to comply with the law,'' she said. ''People think this is a nuisance they have to put up with. They don't.''