# Phone Rage At "Extended Auto Warranty" Scammer **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 21, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777 "2009-07-21T20:45:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/21 "2009-07-22T05:33:25Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Sorta like scambaiting, except over the phone instead of via email? Yeah, but less work. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/22 "2009-07-22T05:34:16Z")
> [@emcee2k](#): > > I like telemarketers, they’re fun to screw with. Next time one calls, try to sell _them_ something. Or pick up the phone and act like you called them. Or lead them on for 20 minutes, then change your mind at the last minute. Or say you’re going to get someone for them to talk to, then just lay the phone down off the hook and go back to what you were doing. Heck, I just ask them for their home phone number. When they ask why (if they do; more often they say I cannot have it), I tell them it’s because I’m busy and may need to call them back at a time inconvenient to them. Like, say, 3:00 a.m. My best, though, was when I answered the phone and the caller asked to speak to the man of the house. (Note that I am a guy and have a nice deep voice, and have used my voice professionally.) I just told the caller that he should have called last week when I _was_ a guy, but you know, the operation… Got them to hang up on me for a change! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/23 "2009-07-22T06:45:01Z")
> [@](#): > > They are not deterred by “add me to your do-not-call list.” They are not deterred by anything, in fact, except the prospect of harm to their wallets or a baseball bat to the kneecaps. They’re not deterred by the mere thread of harm to wallets or kneecaps, either, they get such threats all the time. No, we need to make telemarketing/spamming a capital offense. Not just for the people who actually do it, but for everyone who employs them or their agency. Burning them at the stake would be good. Or possibly we could allow them to be stoned to death. We could stake them out, and sell stones or clods of concrete for a very reasonable price. In no time, we’d have the budget balanced, and we’d have a nice surplus too. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/24 "2009-07-22T09:29:21Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > No, we need to make telemarketing/spamming a capital offense. Not just for the people who actually do it, but for everyone who employs them or their agency. Amen to that! ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/25 "2009-07-22T12:24:10Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > I’ve told this to a telemarketer and her tell me to put her on my “Do Not Care List.” Since then I try to string the conversation out as long as I can, occasionally putting the telephone down to perform some imaginary task, answer the door, turn off the oven, deal with the baby, whatever it takes, and then blow them off when I’ve wasted as much of their time as I can. > > Sure, it wastes my time too, but if they’re talking to me they’re not ripping someone else off, and a good deed goes around the world. May the Lord bless you and keep you, and cause His face to shine upon you, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/26 "2009-07-22T13:43:21Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > The auto warranty callers do not honor the list and are suckers of donkey dongs. I can’t say more because I haven’t figured out what the heck the board policies are besides super confusing. Since donkey dong sucking is illegal in most states, you may not promote such acts, you really shouldn’t boast about such acts, and any links concerning such acts are a _biiiig_ no-no. The first two points are null and void if you yourself are also a donkey, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/27 "2009-07-22T14:14:35Z")
Those auto warranty telemarketers make me want to kill them also. I got a new cell phone and they called pretty much every day for a month with a recorded message about how my warranty was about to expire. Then they give you the “press 7 to get off our calling list” which does absolutely nothing. If you call them to complain they just hang up on you. I was even on the [donotcall.gov](http://donotcall.gov) registry and reported them every time they called and it didn’t seem to slow them down. I can completely understand this guys rage. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/28 "2009-07-22T14:43:40Z")
And then there are the fax spammers. I got a new fax number last week. Signed up online and it emails the faxes to me. I received the fax I needed. The next day, I started getting spamfaxes for dubious ‘investments’. I haven’t advertised the number and I’ve only given it out to one person. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/29 "2009-07-22T14:45:06Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > My best, though, was when I answered the phone and the caller asked to speak to the man of the house. (Note that I am a guy and have a nice deep voice, and have used my voice professionally.) I just told the caller that he should have called last week when I _was_ a guy, but you know, the operation… > > Got them to hang up on me for a change! 😃 You’re putting weird, disturbing images in my mind, **Spoons**. I may have to use brain bleach. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/30 "2009-07-22T14:58:18Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > No, we need to make telemarketing/spamming a capital offense. Not just for the people who actually do it, but for everyone who employs them or their agency. I wouldn’t make telemarketing calls a capital offense in & of itself. An ordinary phone monkey, who’s making calls and reading scripts – sentence them to the pillory, followed by 2,000 hours of community service. Telemarketing and spamming organizers & planners, though, should be hanged – because they’re not worth the powder to be shot, or the drugs for lethal injection. ETA for clarification: After a scrupulously fair trial, that is. I believe a capital case must be tried under the highest standards of proof and jurisprudence. ---
**Author:** ![Runestar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/74df32/32.png) [@Runestar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runestar)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/31 "2009-07-22T15:00:59Z")
Those Auto Warranty folks were calling us too - on both our home and cell phones. As someone else mentioned, if you actually went thru the menu to talk to a real person, you were disconnected the moment you told them that you were on the state’s “Do Not Call” list. So the calls would keep coming. Then the telemarketers made the mistake of calling the state Attorney General’s cell phone… …twice… …in one day… Suddenly this particular problem jumped to the top of his “to-do” list. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/32 "2009-07-22T15:54:52Z")
I long for the day when \*Boiler Room \*has been forgotten so I can steal that “teach the telemarketer how to make a sales call, then don’t buy anything” bit. ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/33 "2009-07-22T16:38:26Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > They’re not deterred by the mere thread of harm to wallets or kneecaps, either, they get such threats all the time. > > No, we need to make telemarketing/spamming a capital offense. Not just for the people who actually do it, but for everyone who employs them or their agency. > > Burning them at the stake would be good. Or possibly we could allow them to be stoned to death. We could stake them out, and sell stones or clods of concrete for a very reasonable price. In no time, we’d have the budget balanced, and we’d have a nice surplus too. Hey, I want the concession to sell tickets to that! I could phone and email people about that, with a bunch of auto-dialers and auto-emailers … what? 😕 and maybe they’d need an extended auto warranty too. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/34 "2009-07-22T17:22:27Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Everyone knows that telemarketers don’t have families. They’re hatched from pods. From iPods! ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/35 "2009-07-22T17:31:01Z")
Does anyone know if any of the people who actually bought an extended car warranty from these people got a legitimate warranty out of it or was it the equivalent of sending the cash overage back to someone who paid you by money order? ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/36 "2009-07-22T17:48:13Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > Does anyone know if any of the people who actually bought an extended car warranty from these people got a legitimate warranty out of it or was it the equivalent of sending the cash overage back to someone who paid you by money order? Our local news did a story on it once and found the actaul company selling these things. They had a looooong list of complaints filed against them (not for the telemarkiting but for the warranties they sold). ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/37 "2009-07-22T18:20:32Z")
I told these guys once I owned a 67 Mustang. For some reason they wouldn’t give me an extended warranty. They wouldn’t tell me why. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/38 "2009-07-22T19:01:56Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Put Me On Your Do Not Call List. > > Works wonders. Not with the extended warranty people. They don’t abide by the existing DNC registry, and the times I’ve punched through to get to a human, they’ve agreed to do so… and then have called again within the week. While the story in the OP is a _bit_ over the top, I think everyone involved in those phone scams ought to be dressed in a bacon wetsuit and dropped into a shark-infested stretch of ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/39 "2009-07-22T20:02:40Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > While the story in the OP is a _bit_ over the top, I think everyone involved in those phone scams ought to be dressed in a bacon wetsuit and dropped into a shark-infested stretch of ocean. Wait, so _threatening_ telemarketers is a bit over the top, but actually _killing_ them via baconified wetsuit + shark droppage is okay? ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777/40 "2009-07-22T20:09:16Z")
This guy doesn’t need to be prosecuted, he needs to be given an award, And maybe a job in the administration in charge of telemarketers. I think it’s good and fair that these scumbags might think for a second that they are so fucking annoying that someone out there is actually fantasizing about blowing them up. It should be legal to curse or threaten them any way you want. If they don’t like it, stop calling. Let them sweat throughout the day thinking, wondering, will TODAY be THE day? Fuck them and extending the warranty on 12 year old cars. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phone-rage-at-extended-auto-warranty-scammer/503777.md?page=3)