# Credit Account Services Is At It Again **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 28, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-account-services-is-at-it-again/620232 "2012-04-28T14:19:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-account-services-is-at-it-again/620232/21 "2012-04-30T17:11:35Z")
Where I used to work I had a program that could send faxes from my computer. You could adjust the number of re-tries (in case the receiving line was not answered with a fax tone) up to 99. One day, when I was getting harrassed by scumbags like these, I sent 10 faxes to their number with max retries. So they got 990 incoming calls from a fax machine that day. I enjoyed that. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-account-services-is-at-it-again/620232/22 "2012-04-30T18:55:40Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > My wife and I got rid of our land line about 6 months ago. The only time it ever rang was someone annoying us, everyone else we know already called the cell numbers. > > I know that we should have notified the bank, credit card companies, power co., etc., but we didn’t. We notified the people we work for, of course, because they send us money. The people WE send money to can just use the damn mail as far as I am concerned. > > Our name has now dropped out of the new phone books that just came out and we receive no unwanted calls on our cells, it’s peace. Give it time, telemarketers also call cell phones even though it’s technically illegal. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-account-services-is-at-it-again/620232/23 "2012-04-30T20:23:36Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Where I used to work I had a program that could send faxes from my computer. You could adjust the number of re-tries (in case the receiving line was not answered with a fax tone) up to 99. One day, when I was getting harrassed by scumbags like these, I sent 10 faxes to their number with max retries. So they got 990 incoming calls from a fax machine that day. I enjoyed that. Ha! Fabulous idea. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-account-services-is-at-it-again/620232/24 "2012-04-30T21:11:46Z")
> [@Big\_Norse](#): > > Give it time, telemarketers also call cell phones even though it’s technically illegal. Yes, I get them. I have taken to not picking up a cell call unless I recognize the call. Our land line is just a message phone and I clear off all of the telemarketers spam every other day or so. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-account-services-is-at-it-again/620232/25 "2012-04-30T21:25:11Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Where I used to work I had a program that could send faxes from my computer. You could adjust the number of re-tries (in case the receiving line was not answered with a fax tone) up to 99. One day, when I was getting harrassed by scumbags like these, I sent 10 faxes to their number with max retries. So they got 990 incoming calls from a fax machine that day. I enjoyed that. That’s absolutely beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-account-services-is-at-it-again/620232/26 "2012-04-30T21:38:21Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Where I used to work I had a program that could send faxes from my computer. You could adjust the number of re-tries (in case the receiving line was not answered with a fax tone) up to 99. One day, when I was getting harrassed by scumbags like these, I sent 10 faxes to their number with max retries. So they got 990 incoming calls from a fax machine that day. I enjoyed that. Seems to me Anonymous would be doing the world a big favor by staging a few DOS attacks on these scumbags using this approach. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-account-services-is-at-it-again/620232/27 "2012-04-30T21:46:13Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I did, but I started a [previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=571685) on these people. Some one said they probably have automatic noise dampeners on the phones they are using to annoy me and try to steal from me. > > I still scream at them, but that is mostly for my own amusement rather than an expectation that they will experience any ringing in their heads. > > Not that their heads will ring - sound doesn’t travel in a vacuum. > > Regards, > Shodan I’ve heard that police whistles work well also, and probably aren’t as annoying on your side. I wouldn’t bet these scumbags care any more for their slaves than for you, so I’d give it a shot. Ever think of having a copy of **Ulysses** or something by the phone, and start reading it to them when they call, not letting them break in? Might be fun and educational. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-account-services-is-at-it-again/620232/28 "2012-04-30T22:42:58Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Ever think of having a copy of **Ulysses** or something by the phone, and start reading it to them when they call, not letting them break in? No way - what if they let me get all the way thru, and I got to the “Yes I said yes yes” part? I am sure in some countries that constitutes a legally binding contract. Safer to do _Piers Plowman_ in the original Middle English. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-account-services-is-at-it-again/620232/29 "2012-05-01T02:39:14Z")
My favorite call was the one where I finally got the guts to say: _ **"Oh, we’re definitely interested! My wife’ll want to hear this. Just a second, she’s in the shower."** Put phone down on counter. **"Honeeee…"** Wait a full minute. Put mouth close to receiver, yell **"Honey, there’s a Roger from Card Insurance Services on the phone…"** Wait another minute. Shout from opposite end of house: **“Roger? She’s commmming…”** Rinse, repeat._ A shame I didn’t have the heart to do more than four minutes, but when you’ve got someone on hold, it’s reeeeally long… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-account-services-is-at-it-again/620232/30 "2012-05-01T03:59:08Z")
Somebody ought to say something nice about those people. Really, somebody should. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-account-services-is-at-it-again/620232/31 "2012-05-01T04:27:12Z")
Along the lines of _Ulysses_, I’ve also been known to recite all of [_“Nick Danger”_ from Firesign Theater](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5XfXECpU6w); a parody of the old detective radio dramas that runs at least 40 minutes. But telemarketers hang up pretty quickly with this method. But I used it on the wife of a friend who claimed she was going to stay on the phone until I got her husband to leave the bar we were solving the world’s problems in. There I was, hamming it up:_“I was sitting in my office on that drizzly afternoon listening to the monotonous staccato of rain on my desktop, and reading my name on the glass of my office door: ‘REGNAD KCIN’…”_ And she hung in there, ended up laughing at me, and he wasn’t in trouble any more. And, the world’s problems? Solved. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-account-services-is-at-it-again/620232/32 "2012-05-01T17:26:20Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Along the lines of _Ulysses_, I’ve also been known to recite all of [_“Nick Danger”_ from Firesign Theater](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5XfXECpU6w); a parody of the old detective radio dramas that runs at least 40 minutes. Telemarketers don’t deserve such good stuff - I’m not sure I could do it any more, but at one time I was able to recite Nick also. In 1970 Cambridge pizza parlor owners all over time scratched their heads as college kids came in to order “pizza to go - no anchovies.” Maybe I should memorize Lenny Bruce’s Christ and Moses - “with a cross of hmm hmm - no, not Zorro!” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-account-services-is-at-it-again/620232/33 "2012-05-01T22:11:09Z")
If it ain’t on paper, it don’t mean a thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/credit-account-services-is-at-it-again/620232.md?page=1)