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Follow-up phone call seems over the top

Isn’t there a law against overly aggressive telemarketing?

DEAR HARRY: I just got a telephone call from someone I met about a week ago. She previously had called my home with a promise of a bunch of freebies if I came to her home. I got a hard-sell approach to a "plan to bring your family closer together while you earn lots of money" by getting others to join. I told her that I was not interested, and I left in a huff because the whole presentation was geared to getting me to be a participant in what looked like a pyramid plan.

The phone call was a follow-up to the visit. She was so aggressive that I hung up on her. She offered me all kinds of inducements to get into the plan. Isn't there a law against these phone calls? I just hope they don't send someone to my house to try once more.

WHAT HARRY SAYS: You bet there is a law to help. We have friends who were invited to an acquaintance's home for a somewhat similar reason. They, too, walked out, and protested strongly. They had no follow-up.

Telemarketers are not permitted to offer you rewards or price cuts to induce others to join a plan. That appears to be the reason for you to get in. Your situation does not fit the pattern exactly, but it's close enough. You can call the hotline of the Bureau of Consumer Protection in the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, at 1-800-441-2555, if you want to stop her from doing this to others.