Pressing "#2 for the do not call list" verifies your phone number and gets it sold to other criminals. You need to call your Congressman/Senators and insist that they (if they are Republicans) stop de-funding the FCC's enforcement of the Do Not Call List, that they claim "kills jobs". It does kill jobs - JOBS FOR CRIMINALS.
In our county, folks that have allowed these folks to come to their homes for a "security inspection" have had their homes broken into within the next few weeks, after the criminals learned what alarm system they had, if any, and got the layout of the house, locks, overall security, etc. The local Sheriff even put an article in the newspaper warning people not to talk to these criminals. Meanwhile, our nutjob Congressman makes it impossible for the FTC and FCC to do their jobs and go after these criminals - in the name of "free speech" and "jobs". Hopefully, our Sheriff will be able to lure some of these folks into an arrest situation, but that will only snare a couple of the many.
Don't talk to these people. Get a freon charged, handheld, "boat horn", press #1, and when they answer give them the boat horn in the ear. It's about all you can do in the scofflaw, criminal coddling environment we now live in.
Play along with the scammer! Waste as much of his/her time as you can! They only make money when someone falls for their BS. The more of their time you waste, the fewer opportunities they'll have to get lucky with someone else!
To beat telemarketers at their own game, you need to know some of the 'rules' that they play by... Workers in a 'boiler room' (call center) have to make a certain number of calls (and perhaps sales) to keep their job. While cussing them out, blowing a whistle in their ear, etc. may give yourself some degree of gratification, the telemarketer merely hangs up and moves on to the next person. Their real nightmare is wasting time on a call that doesn't result in a sale/lead.
To end calls from a telemarketer that won't obey the law, you need to have your number 'blacklisted' (taken off their call list). The surest way to do this is to waste their time. Here's two ways to do that...
First, determine if the caller is a live person or a robocaller. If it's a robocaller, give it a fake address and name. I like to use the address of the local police department and a name made up of common names. Forget about using the name of a famous person, cute names (U. R. Stupid), or cuss words... the robo caller is programmed to ignore them.) An abandoned house and the former occupant's name is quite handy. You will probably be contacted by a live person to schedule an appointment for a representative to come out and upsell you an alarm system. When the representative calls you, make an appointment, but be sure that you don't take the appointment they offer (you have a doctor's appointment, remember?). Now here's the important part... When the representative calls you that he/she can't your, tell them that you are on the do not call list and that you are going to keep making fake appointments until they quit calling you, and then immediately hang up. They'll blacklist you in a hurry.
If you get a telemarketer that's a live person, then your job is much easier... Lead them on that you are interested. Most telemarketers will only speak with a homeowner. Be creative and tell them that you live with your parent/relative, boy/girlfriend and that you'll get them since they own the house. Tell the telemarketer that they had mentioned that the other day/week that they were thinking about buying (whatever the telemarketer is selling). Tell them to hold on and that you'll get get the person. Come back 30 seconds later and tell them that he/she is in the bathroom/getting clothes out of the dryer/taking food out of the oven and will be there in a couple minutes. Put the phone down and go about your life... knowing that you are helping the telemarketer waste his/her life. The secret is to be creative and have fun. After you've done this a couple times, it'll will just come naturally. (BTW, the longest I've had a telemarketer waiting for "Grandma" to come to the phone in her wheelchair is 21 minutes!)
I can't promise 100% success, but every one of the telemarketers that I've done this to have stopped calling me; they don't want to waste time calling me again. Good luck!
Do what I do....speak with them and show your interest in the product. Keep them on as long as you can and then tell them "nahhhh, I changed my mind," and hang up.