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FTC Targets Massive Car Warranty Robocall Scheme
coondoggie writes "Robocalls are a scourge, and the Federal Trade Commission today took action against one outfit by asking a federal court to shut down companies that have been bombarding consumers with hundreds of millions of allegedly deceptive robocalls in an effort to sell vehicle service contracts. According to the FTC, the robocalls have prompted tens of thousands of complaints from consumers who are either on the Do Not Call Registry or asked not to be called. Five telephone numbers associated with the defendants have generated a total of 30,000 Do Not Call complaints. Consumers received the robocalls at home, work, and on their cell phones, sometimes several times in one day. Businesses, government offices and even 911 dispatchers also have been subjected to the calls, the FTC said."
Reader powerlord points out that another such company, not named in the FTC filing, raised the ire of thousands of internet-goers, who struck back by rickrolling the company's voice mail and digging up personal information on the company's president.
How about making it so all telemarketers have to register a certain caller ID that say would be (C)*insert name of company here*, then it would be trivial to block all corporate calls. Thus making it easy to have a caller ID filter to purchase to block all telemarketer calls. This would be a lot easier than the do not call list, more effective and wouldn't censor anyone.
These people are already blatantly ignoring the Do Not Call list. Why would they bother to give a legitimate caller ID string?
If you get one of these types of calls, just go Here: http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm and fill out the form. In a week or two you get the print copy mailed to you of your filing.
Im glad they are acting on these @holes.
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I've been getting calls on my cell phone and my work phone (many other people in my office have been getting calls too). Funny thing is I have a company car that is only a year old, I doubt the warranty is running out, especially since my company BUILT the car.
I actually called the number back to figure out what the scam was, the guy on the other side asked me for my auto information. I told him that since he called me up, he should already know what my information is. Then the guy hung up on me.
I hope there is a public lynching.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Holy crap, the FTC did NOTHING until more than 30,000 complaints were received. You'd think the threshold would be a hell of a lot lower. Your tax money at work- thanks assholes.
What a strange bird is the pelican, his beak can hold more than his belly can.
I always take the call. Listen politely and tell them that yes, I do want to extend my car's warranty. They ask for my VIN and I say I have to go outside to get it.
Then I put the call on hold and get back to work. They actually often call back and I take the call, telling them that I'm still looking for my registration.
Then I put the call on hold and get back to work.
You don't want to be abusive to the person making the call. I have a friend who had no other job options and worked for firms like that. Often these people are either just trying to make ends meet, or just need a mindless job so they can concentrate on college. (My friend later went on to get his PhD.)
By doing this they person making the call can't even get in trouble, you are doing exactly what they are asking you to do, and clearly that can take a 1 minute or two. But this does cost the company money.
I gave them Todd Davis' social security number a few times.
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Anything which makes unwanted bells go off in my house by remote control is an invasion of my peace and quiet. Get some laws passed that allow the victim to hit #5 on their phone to charge the caller $5.00, then I'll be happy. If someone WANTS these calls, that's fine. Don't push #5. Most people don't want these calls and the victims should be able to instantly make these groups feel the pressure back in a big way.
Groups like The American Teleservices Association (rebranded to remove "Telemarketing" from their name) and The Direct Marketing Association talk U.S. Congressmen into passing laws which enable annoying, invasive and often fraudulent activities from this lowlife "industry". It's an industry to the extent that people get paid to ring bells in my house but jeez - earn a living some other way. Annoying everyone over the phone [I believe] is not an "industry" as the lobbyist associations claim. If there was money in ringing your doorbell and hitting people with buckets of paint ten times a day, I'm sure there would be a lobbyist group for that, too. Oh wait... that's PETA.
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Sucks to you. But hey, you have to expect that sort of thing when you take a job you know is immoral and unethical.
Problem is that these guys are calling cell phone and such as well.
The fact that you call and harass me without my consent with no valid business reason. Because you harrass me at work when I am trying to do my job, because you waste my money for calling me and making me use up cell phone minutes waiting for your stupid rep to put me on your do not call list that I'd say a good 50% of your industry ignore or try to circumvent anyway.
I don't NEED you to tell me what I want or need. If I need or want your product I will seek YOU out not the other way around if I have not contacted you before then leave me the frack alone!
In reference to my previous post if you don't understand this and choose to work in that industry then you deserve what you get.
Actually, they don't wait to get shut down, usually.
I used to work for one of the top level (*cough*) product companies in this type of scam. I was too naive at the beginning of my employment to truly know what was happening. I learned really quick after the FTC paid a house call and quit the company. No charges were ever filed.
In short, this is how the scam works: A company is selling suspect products, web pages, in my case (hey, it was the 1990s). The hire a shady parent telemarketing company who then sets up, or hires out, smaller boiler room telemarketing companies. These smaller companies are the ones actually placing the calls and rarely have much more than 50 employees. They sell the "product" and everybody takes a cut of the deal. The small companies are rotated out, as the parent post pointed out, with a similar company with the same office, equipment and employees under a new company name and official owner every 3-6 months. This is faster than the FTC and FCC can process complaint claims. When said government agencies question the upstream companies about the crooked deals, they point to the small boiler room company, now closed and with all it's paperwork destroyed, as the source of the criminal act and show the feds sham paperwork that states their "clearly legal guidelines that the rogue company clearly disregarded." Of course, everyone, at the managerial level, is in on the corrupt deal and are fully aware it's illegal. But, this shell game scam creates plausible deniability and prevents the government agencies from putting the top level companies out of business and their owners in jail.
The owner of this "warranty" company in TFA sounds just like the boss at the company I used to work for and is likely just as guilty. The biggest problem is that this system works so well that you have to put some really suspect laws on the books to have any hope of going after the people really responsible as you can never prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they were having proxy companies commit a crime for them unless they make a serious mistake.
On a slightly related note: Why do government agencies never talk to the likely underpaid and abused file clerk(s) when they investigate a company? Why do they only interview the managers? The managers usually have a well prepared set of lies for the feds and self motivation not sell out the company. The file clerk(s), even if they've been given the company lie, will likely be more than willing to sell out the managers, especially if immunity and a cut of the fine are offered, and will have the documentation, if there is any, to back up any claims they make. (Guess what my position was at the web company?)
"Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
Your solution requires warrants.
My solution requires air strikes.
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Every aspect of it that involves bothering vast numbers of people on their private time in their private space using services that they pay for and normally use for family conversations, work and emergencies.
Or the general attitude the industry shows towards the worth of time of the people they pester, such as by using machines to call five people and hang up on four of them so that telemarketers don't have to waste their time waiting for people to answer.