posted
At least 2-3 times a month for the past few months, I have been receiving the exact same phone call. It's a recorded message that says something like this...
"Hi this is Heather with account services. Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with your current credit account. We are calling to let you know how you can decrease your interest rate to as low at 6%! To speak to a representative about this offer, press 1. Or, to stop receiving these messages, press 3."
Sounds fishy, right? Well, it gets fishier. For at least 6 or 8 of these calls, I pressed 3 to discontinue receiving the messages. Obviously, it never worked. So, the time before last I pressed 1 to complain. The conversation went something like this:
"Hi, this is so-and-so with account services. How are you doing today?"
Me: "Can you tell me the name of your company?"
"I already told you" (snotty voice) "It's account services."
Me: "I've received many calls from you and keep pressing 3..."
CLICK
Even fishier, isn't it? They have no legitimate company name and hang up on me the moment I ask questions. So, I filled out an on-line complaint form with the state attorney general's office. I explain my reasons for thinking it's probably a scam and that they would have pressed me for personal information had we continued. They sent a nice letter agreeing that this is probably the case and that there is very little they can do, but they like to have reports like this to warn people what a scam looks like.
THIS IS WHAT A SCAM LOOKS LIKE...Never give personal information over the phone to someone who has called you.
They had the GALL to call again this morning, which is why I decided to vent. The same electronic message, but this time I thought I'd see if I could get their phone number. So, when a representative picked up the phone and asked how I was doing I said, "Great....listen, can I get a call back number here? My son is going crazy."
CLICK
Hmmm....
Don't fall for phone scams.
Now, if anyone has any idea how to get them to stop F***ing calling me, I'd love to hear it.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
The full name they give is "Account Services"?
Can you write down the full text of the message next time? If so, more information can probably be found online.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
I usually stop the phone call by hanging up. I won't go on the "Do Not Call" registry, though, since I have way too much fun playing with the telemarketers.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
I am on the "Do Not Call" registry, which makes it even worse. And hanging up on a computer isn't any fun. When I actually talk to a representative to try to get enough information ot make an official complaint, they're the ones who hang up on me.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
I've started getting this car warranty expiring type thing in the mail quite often. What's really fishy is that we JUST bought this car from a private seller and have given our information to no one. So how do they know what make and model we drive? The only people they could have gotten that info from is the department of transportation themselves. Or am I missing something?
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
In the sense that they don't care where they get their money from, your phone company is in on the scam. If they didn't like abetting scammers, they'd shut down those phone lines immediately.
Posts: 8501 | Registered: Jul 2001
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And sometimes isn't even possible. I hate the computer calls that won't relinquish your line after you hang up.
I got bored with a repetitive computer call in the mid 90s, so I carefully figured out a set of prompts that made an endless loop (push 1 to do X, push * to return to the main menu, push 1 again, etc.).
Then I wrote a little program that used my modem to generate the tones to keep it on the loop. I got it to keep the computer call on the phone for a good hour once.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Originally posted by PSI Teleport: I've started getting this car warranty expiring type thing in the mail quite often. What's really fishy is that we JUST bought this car from a private seller and have given our information to no one. So how do they know what make and model we drive? The only people they could have gotten that info from is the department of transportation themselves. Or am I missing something?
Oh, just wait until you get the one that says it's your final notice. And is promptly followed by five more final notices. I think I'm still getting them and I've had the car for more than a year.
Posts: 959 | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
I find that not having a land line and only having a cell phone works pretty well. Obviously this cannot work for very many people, but for me the cost is actually slightly cheaper than having both (or even only having a landline, yay BCE!) even if the cell phone plan is cheaper.
Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006
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posted
Isn't congress considering legislation to allow solicitors to call cell phones now?
While I'm on the subject....the "Do not call" registry is, IMHO, a huge failure. I get almost as many phone calls, but now they are not-so-cunningly disguised as "surveys." The loophole about companies being allowed to call if you do business with them seems to let far too many calls slip through as well, and not always from companies I'm really doing business with. Sometimes calling or e-mailing a business with a question, even if you decide not to use their services, is enough.
Oh, and charities still call all the time. I hate that loophole, too because I don't trust that they're legit, either.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
Wow, I love the Do Not Call registry, and find it to be a success from my end. The difference is in the expirience I suppose.
I've gone from probably 25+ solicitation calls a month (I would come home from work to two or three messages on my machine some days) to about six now. Of the six, two or so are typically police charities, two are tech alumni calls, and two are tech business college alumni calls. I don't even keep the ringer on my phone turned off any more.
I don't typically listen to anyone long enough to form a scam / solicitation / donation opinion. The only ones I report to the FCC are the ones that leave messages on my machine relating to mortgages, magazines, or credit cards. Anyone else typically gets hung up on "...calling on behalf of..." or ignored.
Posts: 1368 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
I just might have the strangest last name on the planet. I've had my name murdered by so many sales people calling, that sometimes I just wait to see if they can find a new way of screwing up my name, then I hang up on them.
I'm getting better with the whole "hang up on them" thing. I used to be so disturbingly nice that I'd politely explain to them that I wasn't interested, no really, I'm seriously not interested. It would turn into a 20 minute conversation. Now I've perfected the art of the "hang up". Oh, the power I feel!
Posts: 3771 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
For the telephone service peddlers, I have found that suggesting "a formal debate of the proposition: resolved that the court ordered breakup of the Bell System was ill considered and economically detremental to the nation: and I will take the positive", usually results in their hanging up on ME. Problem solved
posted
I've recieved virtually identical phone calls. They even leave the message on my answering machine. The one time I was home when I got the call, I pushed three and the response was "You have selected and invalid option, and then it gave the list of optons again. It simply wouldn't let you out unless you talked to someone. And like Dag said, when I just hung up it took several minutes before it would release my line.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
Tatiana, that's what we did. We have cell phones (special deal to talk to each other) and keep a Vonage internet line for long distance.
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Edited to add: You can set up Vonage to send you an email when there is a message. Also, you can get a local number for all around the world to access your account at about $12/mo each, so friends and family don't have to call long distance, either. But the base cost for an account is about $25/mo, including unlimited local and long distance for the account holder.
It does slow down a net connection, though, unless you are at very high speed. So if one of us is downloading something, it can make the Vonage line kind of skippy.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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