Note: Looks like this and several other posts from this week vanished, so I’ve grabbed them from Google Reader and have republished.

Starting a couple/few weeks ago, I started getting phone calls from 1-800-395-8813. I answered the first time, and, receiving no response, I hung up. Subsequent calls (which happened daily), I ignored after glancing at the caller number, because I dislike phones and disliking engaging with them (which is why I didn’t do anything about it right away).

The calls continued every day, though, which started to piss me off really quickly. So I tried to find out if there was a way to block numbers from my phone. No dice. So I called Rogers, which is my carrier, and talked to one of their CSRs about how to block numbers. Unsurprisingly, the only way to do that that they offer is called Call Manager, and it’s $5/month. No thanks.

So I looked the number up online, and saw it was apparently some telemarketing presence, and other people had reported the calls, too. So I did a bit more digging to find out if anyone had figured out how to block them. Turns out it’s a call centre company called Gemma Communications, and there were a couple ways listed for making them go away.

You could call 416-256-1800, which is their office number, and talk to some woman, who, apparently, tends to be bitchy and/or evasive, but will arrange to have you removed from the call list. Or you can call the 800-number back and go through their automated system to remove your number (mostly involves pressing 1 a bunch of times).

Again, since I dislike using the phone, I sure as hell wasn’t going to waste time with someone bitchy, so I called the number back, and found out that Gemma Communications is authorized by… Rogers. Oh yes, Rogers would kindly have signed me up to pay them $5/month to keep them from spamming me. Grr.

I completed the call list removal, and haven’t heard from them since. Needless to say, however, I’m still bitter. I hate Rogers and hate dealing with them for MANY reasons already, but this has just catalyzed me to take steps to give them even less of my business. I’d love to think that their shitty product offerings, worse customer service, and incessant nickel and diming would be enough to torpedo the company, but I do know how Canadia loves its old school monopolies…

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