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CNN Live Event/Special

Interview With Marc Plaisted

Aired July 07, 2003 - 19:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Last month's Minnesota's Marc Plaisted decided he wanted to do something more. He said a local company called him more than 20 times, even though he repeatedly asked them to put him on their do-not-call list. So he called them back, over 100 times in two days. Now he's launching a crusade on Teleavenger.com. And he joins us tonight from Minneapolis. Thanks for being with us.
First of all, so this company called you. What were they saying? What were they trying to offer you?

MARC PLAISTED, TELEAVENGER.COM: They were trying to get me to have my windshield replaced on my vehicle. They would always call and ask if I had a crack in my windshield.

COOPER: Now, I know you informed them you were on a do-not-call list with the state. What finally drove you over the edge? What was the last straw with this company?

PLAISTED: Well, after telling them seven times that I wanted to be placed on their do-not-call list, finally two Thursdays ago, one of their telemarketers called me and asked me if I had a crack in my windshield. I let her know that I don't. And then I also reminded her that I told her seven times to be taken off the list and that they're now breaking the law by calling me. She then went into a swearing tirade and started cussing at me and just went all over the place.

COOPER: She started swearing at you?

PLAISTED: Yes, sir. I hung up the phone, I thought about it for a little while, and I decided enough is enough. I'm tired of being a victim here. I'm coming after you guys now.

COOPER: So what did you do?

PLAISTED: I then called Minnesota Auto Glass the following morning, and I said, listen, here, let me tell you what's going to happen. We're going to get to know each other real good in the next couple of days. But until I get in writing from you folks that you're not going to be calling me anymore at my home, I'll talk to you in five minutes. So then after that, I called every five minutes or so and let them know that, no, I don't have a crack in my windshield. But I'll be sure to call you in five minutes and let you know, because I know you're real concerned. COOPER: We actually called this company and asked them for a statement; they declined to give us one. Did they apologize to you finally, or did you break them finally?

PLAISTED: They finally did send me a fax and said, that I've been removed from their computer system.

COOPER: Now, you're taking this nationally. You want sort of more people to get involved, do this kind of stuff. What do you want people to do?

PLAISTED: Well, you know, right now we have the national do-not- call registry, which is in place, which is a great attempt at fixing the problem. But unfortunately I think it has not gone far enough. I think it falls short of what Americans are expecting. I saw a poll the other day that said 98 percent of Americans do not want to hear from telemarketers at their home. That's 281 million people.

COOPER: You've got this thing Teleavenger.com, what is that?

PLAISTED: Teleavenger.com is the form that we're using to allow people to sign up so that they can be teleavengers themselves and call these companies back and do what I've been doing. And that is for a change plug their phones up and allow them to not do business or have phone calls at inconvenient times, just like we get phone calls at inconvenient times, or otherwise invasions into our living room.

COOPER: All right, well, we'll see how it goes. We'll have to track the progress of this, Marc and check back in with you in a little bit. Marc Plaisted, thanks for joining us. Teleavengers.com.

PLAISTED: All right. Thanks a lot.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 7, 2003 - 19:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Last month's Minnesota's Marc Plaisted decided he wanted to do something more. He said a local company called him more than 20 times, even though he repeatedly asked them to put him on their do-not-call list. So he called them back, over 100 times in two days. Now he's launching a crusade on Teleavenger.com. And he joins us tonight from Minneapolis. Thanks for being with us.
First of all, so this company called you. What were they saying? What were they trying to offer you?

MARC PLAISTED, TELEAVENGER.COM: They were trying to get me to have my windshield replaced on my vehicle. They would always call and ask if I had a crack in my windshield.

COOPER: Now, I know you informed them you were on a do-not-call list with the state. What finally drove you over the edge? What was the last straw with this company?

PLAISTED: Well, after telling them seven times that I wanted to be placed on their do-not-call list, finally two Thursdays ago, one of their telemarketers called me and asked me if I had a crack in my windshield. I let her know that I don't. And then I also reminded her that I told her seven times to be taken off the list and that they're now breaking the law by calling me. She then went into a swearing tirade and started cussing at me and just went all over the place.

COOPER: She started swearing at you?

PLAISTED: Yes, sir. I hung up the phone, I thought about it for a little while, and I decided enough is enough. I'm tired of being a victim here. I'm coming after you guys now.

COOPER: So what did you do?

PLAISTED: I then called Minnesota Auto Glass the following morning, and I said, listen, here, let me tell you what's going to happen. We're going to get to know each other real good in the next couple of days. But until I get in writing from you folks that you're not going to be calling me anymore at my home, I'll talk to you in five minutes. So then after that, I called every five minutes or so and let them know that, no, I don't have a crack in my windshield. But I'll be sure to call you in five minutes and let you know, because I know you're real concerned. COOPER: We actually called this company and asked them for a statement; they declined to give us one. Did they apologize to you finally, or did you break them finally?

PLAISTED: They finally did send me a fax and said, that I've been removed from their computer system.

COOPER: Now, you're taking this nationally. You want sort of more people to get involved, do this kind of stuff. What do you want people to do?

PLAISTED: Well, you know, right now we have the national do-not- call registry, which is in place, which is a great attempt at fixing the problem. But unfortunately I think it has not gone far enough. I think it falls short of what Americans are expecting. I saw a poll the other day that said 98 percent of Americans do not want to hear from telemarketers at their home. That's 281 million people.

COOPER: You've got this thing Teleavenger.com, what is that?

PLAISTED: Teleavenger.com is the form that we're using to allow people to sign up so that they can be teleavengers themselves and call these companies back and do what I've been doing. And that is for a change plug their phones up and allow them to not do business or have phone calls at inconvenient times, just like we get phone calls at inconvenient times, or otherwise invasions into our living room.

COOPER: All right, well, we'll see how it goes. We'll have to track the progress of this, Marc and check back in with you in a little bit. Marc Plaisted, thanks for joining us. Teleavengers.com.

PLAISTED: All right. Thanks a lot.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com