I started getting voicemails from “Josh at cheap trips dot com” several months ago. They’re the most persistent and annoying calls I’ve ever gotten; I’ve come to frigging hate this guys voice, and since the calls come from different numbers I can’t even screen them.
It’s always the same message (I’ve won 4 free airline tickets, $100 worth of gas, 40 acres, a mule, and a Ginsu). The first time I picked up on one of the calls it was a woman who immediately began asking for my credit card number and wouldn’t take no for an answer (obviously she didn’t get it, but she did finally hang up when I asked to speak to a manager). The second time I picked up I didn’t get a manager but I did tell the phone person to put me on their DO NOT CALL list, and it worked- for about a month. Then a couple of weeks ago they started again. When I took a call one day knowing pretty well it was them I had to interrupt the almost crack-addict-in-need-of-a-fix desperate sales pitch of the woman on the other end to demand being put on their do-not-call, which she said she would do but I got another call an hour later. I’ve called the 1-800 number on the voicemails, you never get a manager, just put on hold.
There’s at least one voicemail per day (including Sundays) and sometimes as many as 4 per day. Since talking to the phone rep and calling them doesn’t work (and I’m guessing their operators have all been cursed out more times than Ike Turner’s 72 virgins by now anyway so my anger and threats are meaningless) what should I do? Who do I call, email, sleep with or send tickler bouquets to in order to get the calls and voicemails to stop? I haven’t lost any money to them* so I’m not seeking any kind of reimbursement, just a cease and desist (and some acts of violence against “Josh”, the guy on the recording who’s voice has probably been recorded on my VM more than anyone else’s would be nice if it’s legal and cheap).
*I never buy anything from telemarketers anyway and in fact this is about the only one I’ve been called by in years, but out of curiosity I googled them and there are endless complaints about the company and their never ending calls and reviews by people who bought the membership they’re selling. Evidently even by telemarketers selling “strings that would hold up the Brooklyn Bridge attached” telemarketer discount club memberships they’re particularly sleazy; there’s even been legal action preventing them from calling citizens of some states (but not mine). Evidently they’re just on the sunny side of legal .
Okay, the bottom text was TSDR but you need to get your phone on the national Do Not Call list. Does Ala. have a state list? Colo. has one, and it’s very effective. When I reported calls a couple of years ago–very annoying calls, as they were faxes, thereby using up my very expensive fax cartridge and my cheap paper–the Colo. atty. general’s office went after them and actually collected a settlement which was spread among the victims (I got $11).
There’s also a thread, somewhere, about how a couple of these companies got their assets frozen because they’ve been accused of violating the Do Not Call list by so many people. It warmed the cockles of my heart to read that thread, and I wish I’d bookmarked it. Anyway, the Feds are on to these people, and are slowly but surely picking away at them.
Ask them to their name and number and when they ask why, tell them you are going to sue them for harassment. Be as assertive as they are. Insist on speaking to the manager. Call them repeatedly saying you are filing a lawsuit. Ask them if your attorney has called them. Do all this in a very calm, assertive voice. Tell them flat out that you want their information to sue them.
Do that for three days and I guarantee you will never hear from them again.
Do they ask for you by name? I’ve had the best luck with just telling them they got the wrong number? I’m not sure why, but after a few calls, they seem to give up.
Other then that, just say “I’ve asked you to stop calling, I have your number on my Caller ID, I’m reporting you to the FTC” and hang up, then report them to the FTC.
I am polite when I get calls. But when they are rude to me all bets are off. I have fun with them, if I have the time. I ask questions, dumb questions really dumb questions. Like if it was magazine sales I will ask how many pages are in the magazine, and what are the demisions of the magazine. My wife gets mad at me some times.
Now I look at the caller ID and if I do not know who it is I let the answering machine get it. If they leave too many messages on my machine I answer and blast them. Some one from the International order of Forresters called one day at the wrong time and I ripped then until they hung up, that was my last call.
Na don’t tell them you are going to sue, just tell then that “My attorney wanted me to ask your name thats all.” and if they do tell them asks them to spell it both firsst and last names. Then ask for their home address and when they complain that they can not give it out just say, “Why not you have mine.” and if they claim that they only have your phone number, remind them that with a phone number you can get an address so it is only fair that you have theirs. Ya go to have fun!
I don’t get any nuisance calls since I registered my number but when I used to I just put the phone down and carried on with what I was doing. Since I am not big on talking on the phone (I often don’t answer calls), I could leave the phone off the hook for ages.
I actually thought I was registered on DO NOT CALL, but apparently it expired (which I didn’t know it did). I re-registered a couple of weeks ago but it has to wait 31 days before it’s in effect. Hopefully it’ll take this time.
I don’t think I mentioned but this is my cell phone if that makes a difference. Does anyone know if cell phones are handled the same way on that list?
The weirdest fun I’ve had with one was probably 10 years ago. I’m more medicated now than I was then and IIRC this is one reasons, for my boyfriend went from being amused to a little scared by it.
My boyfriend and I went to a local bar that was then really popular (now defunct) called AMERICAN PIE. A poster at the entrance invited patrons to register to
**WIN A FREE TRIP FOR TWO TO DISNEYWORLD!
Open to Patrons of AMERICAN PIE Only
Drawing to be held Friday
Need Not Be Present to Win**
Thinking it was an actual contest (since some bars actually do have legitimate promotions and in fact we were there for a weekly trivia contest that had a large cash prize) we entered. This was a Tuesday, three days before the “drawing” was to be held on Friday.
The next morning, Wednesday, my boyfriend got a call from a woman acting super excited and saying “Mr. Earl, you entered a contest at American Pie last night for a free trip for two to Disneyworld! WELL PACK YOUR BAGS! This is Val at Val’s Asshole Travel Cons and you’re our winner!”
And oh, btw, Val ads, just in case the banner didn’t mention, the prize didn’t include airfare, just accomodations and a discount on tickets, and this is so small that it’s hardly worth mentioning but there is a short little sales spiel to listen to about a timeshare opportunity that’s too good to pass up, and if you did buy a timeshare they’d give you the Disney tickets free! “Now we need to ask some questions about marital status, income, etc…”, which, since we were both unmarried and cubicle farm wage slaves at the time we weren’t eligible for anyway!
Well, this pissed me off for several reasons. First off it wasn’t a contest at all and there was no drawing, just a pathetic attempt to get contact info that would probably be sold to Glengarry Glennross mailing list companies in addition to the one she clearly and unctuously represented already. Second, it wasn’t a free trip to Disneyworld because they didn’t pay for the trip and they didn’t give Disneyworld tickets! (That’s like saying "I’m giving you a free trip to Paris- it doesnt’ include airfare and lodging, but here’s a gift certificate for free coffee at the Arc de Triomphe Gift Shop Cafe and a one day Eurrail Pass good for September 3.) Third, it was a timeshare gimmick which was nowhere implied or stated on the entry form. On top of all that, not only was it just a ploy to get people to look at time shares, it was conditional!
Plus there was the “is she [the woman on the phone] that stupid or does she think the people she’s calling are just because they entered a bar giveaway?”
For some reason, even though I’d have never thought again of that contest if she’d never called or even wondered who won, it’s just the principal of the thing- for five minutes I was stewing iwth a “damn things like that piss me off”. Five minutes after my boyfriend hung up while I was still unmedicatedly seething I got the same call/same woman/same sugar sweet earnest sounding voice on my cell phone
“Mr. Sampiro, this is Val from Val’s Asshole Con Travel Promotions and you’ve won a free stay in Orlando Florida so pack your bags!” and before I even realized I was doing it I screamed into the phone like a little girl playing “Stop that Uncle Orville!” and said “Oh my god oh my god oh my god this is awesome! I’ll pack 'em right now!” and hung up.
She called back immediately, laughing and clearly smelling a mark. “My! You were so excited you didn’t get the details!” and I told her “I’m sorry, I can’t talk right now because… you’re not going to believe this, I just won a free trip to Disneyworld and I’m packing! Bye!”
She wasn’t to be dissuaded, she called back. She goes into the spiel. I asked her “So is this by plane, train, or automobile, or do you just reimburse for mileage?”
“Neither. We don’t cover transportation part. Just lodging.”
“Okay, that’s fair. Are the free tickets to both Disney and MGM and Epcot or just to Disneyworld?”
“Well they aren’t free, but they are cheaper than you’d pay at the gate…”
“Wait, the poster said “Win a Free Trip to Disneyworld”. So wouldn’t that include the trip? And Disneyworld?”
“Well there are a couple of strings attached…”
“No, strings attached would be if it was ‘buy one get one free’ or if it had to be on September 12 for one day only’. Free trip to Disneyworld means free trip, aka transportation, and free Disney tickets, aka free Disneyworld. Saying that the free trip to Disneyworld doesn’t include the trip or Disneyworld isn’t strings attached or even misleading but false advertising, and that’s a crime.”
“No sir it’s not a crime, because it does include free lodging.”
"Then shouldn’t the poster read “win free lodging somewhere in the general proximity of Disneyworld’?”
“Well let’s be honest, would you have signed up?”
“No, but it would have been honest.
[switching to a near perfect Hannibal Lecter voice]
In fact this makes you a dirty dirty dirty little liar liar Donna Karan’s on fire doesn’t it? Now then… you wanna come here and help me pack for my free transportation and tickets? Because something associated with you is going into my suitcases tonight…”
She hangs up.
This being in the day of *69 and her number not blocked I called her back.
“Still waiting for my tickets Val… tick tock tick tock…”
She hangs up.
In a slightly evil mood and at the computer (always a bad combination) I entered her number into a reverse phone directory. As fate would have it Val wasn’t just a caller, she and her husband owned the business (something like Acme Promotions, Johnson Johnson president/Val Johnson vice president) and it was in a slightly run down office building that I happened to know very well from having worked on the same block once. I knew that area had silver poplars even. So after a few minutes I called her back:
“Val… stop playing hard to get. I see you over there by the silver poplar tree… those don’t do well this far south so they hardly shade the windows. Now then… when are you taking me to Disneyworld?”
“LOOK! I KNOW YOUR NAME AND YOUR ADDRESS AND YOUR NUMBER!”
“Quite sure of that are ya? Well the phone number you obviously have, but then I’m hardly playing hard to get. So what are you really wanting from me? It can’t be just to see if I’d like to get a once a year quickie place in the shadow of the mouse ears. What do you want?”
“Just to be left alone!”
“But you called me didn’t you Miss Garbo? Sitting there in your purple gray office building with…”
“Look, you’re crazy! My husband has a gun!”
“Oh do send him over to play! I have lots of guns! But they’re such blunt and crude things don’t ya think? Lots of other things we can play with that are just as dangerous but more exciting!”
“I AM WARNING YOU THAT IF YOU DON’T GET OFF THE PHONE THEN…”
"Then what? Do tell…
[/switching from Lecter voice back to normal]
“What will you do? Report to the city bunco unit and the BBB and whatever professional organizations for promotions exist your complete lack of ethics and outright lying? You’re promoting a contest for a free trip to Disneyworld that isn’t a contest and doesn’t include a trip or Disneyworld but is some kind of timeshare telemarketing scam. Plus it’s no crime to be crazy, and you called me the first time so if you tell them you called a crazy guy and tried to convince him he’d won something he hadn’t and he got p.o.d and called you back, I hardly think all eyes would weep for you.”
[back to Lecter]
“Toodles dear. Do reconsider your promotion campaign. Mind the drawrings occur on the day they’re supposed to, because the next person you call might not be as sweet as I am.”
She didn’t call me back, though I’ll admit I was paranoid for a day or so wondering if she’d try to find me. Then I remembered I gave a false address anyway, so no matter (actually not a false one but a secondary one because even when I thought it was legit I knew I’d be on mailing lists).
As a matter of curiosity I drove by the office building next time I was in that general area of town (I didn’t stop, just drove by) and noticed it was vacant again. I doubt that I made her change her ways- more likely she and her husband were just dumbasses as evidenced by the way they bungled the telemarketing/timeshare promotions, but I at least like to think that I made her either fear for her liver or have an orgasm one or the other. (I’m told my Lecter can be kind of sexy.)
The point: always look both ways before crossing the street in Orlando.
Don’t make that guarantee in any venue in which it could cost you money.
I am getting robo-calls, many a day, at work. They are all from spoofed numbers. They all claim that you can be removed from the list by pressing 2. This is always a lie.
Your proposal to scare them by asking their name is going to accomplish nothing – they will hang up on you without a word within the first five seconds of your saying anything other than “yes, I do want to refinance my mortgage” or “yes, I do have high-interest credit card debt I’d like to get rid of.” They’ve been cursed at more times than you can count, and threatened with death. They’ve even learned to see through the “playing dumb” scenario, and will hang up if you, for instance, say “sure, I’d like to refinance, what’s the name of your bank,” or “now, which of my credit cards are you calling about,” in response to their misleading suggestions that you are being called by your bank or your credit card company.
So no, you haven’t come across a panacea. The people doing this are hardcore criminals and fairly confident that you won’t be able to track them down. The do-not-call list means nothing to this class of companies. It’s exactly like responding to spam and threatening to report the spammer. I’ve gone as far as to track down the phone provider for some of the (non-spoofed) numbers I’ve found. As with spam, there is a booming industry in hosting criminal call centers, so the shady phone providers are not about to cut their scumbag customers off.
Because a lot of these outfits are operating as mere lead-generators for real businesses, one thing that I have had mild success with is playing along with them and getting them to connect me to a mortgage bank or whatever. Because banks are reguated industries, you can sometimes put a little fear into them. “Hey, you know I got put through to you by some scumbag who keeps robocalling me. Know anything about that?” “Well, we have no control over that, there are independent sales reps, but we instruct them to use the do not call list.” “Well, they’re not, how do you think the feds would react when I tell them you’re turning a blind eye to unethical and illegal marketing tactics to shill your crappy re-financing business?” Occasionally, I’ve done this and seen the call volume drop off. Unfortunately, that’s about all I’ve figured out how to do, and it hasn’t solved the problem.
Ask them to stop calling you for good, and to only call you for evil.
But seriously, wait until you get one of them on the line, and then say, hold on while I get my credit card. Put the phone down and leave it down and flush the toilet and stuff so they can hear and do that every time they call. You can also give them bad credit card numbers, fake names, and generally waste their time. To them your time doesn’t mean a thing, but their time is everything.
We recently changed phone carriers and the very next damn day the phone was ringing off the hook with telemarketers. I jumped on donotcall.gov and registered the new phone number, and they’ve gone away.
Funny, I don’t think we used to get as many telemarketing calls before Do Not Call. It’s like the telemarketers have a shrinking pool from which to scam from and if a phone number pops up all of them jump on it like a duck on a June bug.
We got far, far more telemarketing calls before DNC. I’ve also seen a few of the local boiler rooms close up shop since then.
Before the DNC list went into effect, you had to tell EVERY SINGLE TELESPAMMER to put you on the (individual company) DNC list. It was legal for them to call you on behalf of a new company. Nowadays, the ones who want to operate legally must use the filters. This means that only the ones who are willing to operate illegally will call us, and they’ll only do it as long as they haven’t been caught.