The government is NOT doing it's job........

These idiot "Card Services" people just hang up or otherwise, just waste your time. I've reported this to the FCC and the Do Not Call website dozens of tims with NO results.

I did find out that you can press a number on you phone that logs the call and then you have to get a local law enforcement agency to get with the phone company to prosecuite them, which is utter bullshit. I shouldn't have to go through all that. If I press the code the phone company should have to release the info to me and furthermore they should have to have an othion to automatically reject ALL unidentified incoming calls, no matter what.

We need to breing back burning at the stake for these people and also outlaw ALL forms of telemarketing...ALL OF THEM.

The govt could elemonate the national debt just by fineing the crap outta them morons......

The government is NOT doing it's job........

These idiot "Card Services" people just hang up or otherwise, just waste your time. I've reported this to the FCC and the Do Not Call website dozens of tims with NO results.

I did find out that you can press a number on you phone that logs the call and then you have to get a local law enforcement agency to get with the phone company to prosecuite them, which is utter bullshit. I shouldn't have to go through all that. If I press the code the phone company should have to release the info to me and furthermore they should have to have an othion to automatically reject ALL unidentified incoming calls, no matter what.

We need to breing back burning at the stake for these people and also outlaw ALL forms of telemarketing...ALL OF THEM.

The govt could elemonate the national debt just by fineing the crap outta them morons......

It is a very common MISCONCEPTION that you cannot sue charities, political organizations, poll takers, and the like, that they are protected from suit.

THIS IS NOT TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While they might be protected under the Do Not CAll law, they are not protected by ALL federal laws. In particular, there is a federal law (TITLE 47>CHAPTER 5>SUBCHAPTER II>Part I> §223) that prohibits someone from calling you with the purpose to annoy or harass you.

Just like with the Do Not Call law you have to give them a warning and ask not to be called. However, if you add to your request to be taken off their call list something like the following:

I will consider any further calls from your (organization/company/whatever) to be annoying and for the sole purpose of harassing me

THEN if they call again, you CAN sue them under the federal law. You still have to keep track of their calls and when you warned them. And, you have to be able to find out who they are, and what their address is. But, you CAN sue! Oh, and I don't think you're limited to the $500 specified in the Do Not Call law, either.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer but this information came to me from a lawyer. Consult a lawyer for accurate legal advice.

The Do Not Call List will not work for these scammers. Asking them to take you off their list is likewise futile. Legitimate companies can have repercussions for violating the DNC List. As far as I can tell they use telephone spoofing services to disguise their hidden location. When asked at Consumer Card Services you will get a different location for their home office with each call. It is highly likely that they are in a foreign country, so they feel safe from either U.S. Lawmen or Bank Fraud Divisions from banks in the U.S. trying to seize their accumulated funds by following the paper trail of fund transfers. They are little pukes that prey on the uninformed and techno-newbies by using the P.T Barnum law of social engineering. The best you can do is to spar with them and waste their time and have some fun at their expense, Or Hang Up.
Try to visualize a room in North Korea or some other rouge state with a room of these little pukes reeling in the occasional sucker. When you give personal info out, ka-ching! Ring the bell, light the little light and he puts you on to the "handler". This is the guy who knows all the angles of how he wants to take you to the cleaners. The other guy you talk to is just the catcher. Unfortunately when you get to the handler you have given out too much info already. Now, if you think you can make up info to counter-scam them the catcher is busy checking on his computer terminal and looking to see if your account info comes up. There are ways for scammers to tie into credit bureaus that provide info to places like your local Ford Dealership. They can tie into this network anonymously. I think whistles are justified, but you will be deafening only low level pukes. Classify this along with modern piracy as a low level war going on between criminals and you and I my friend.
If anyone has some hard data about these guys, I for one am curious. I sparred with them a little bit, but no real info will ever come out from them. They are extremely well organized pukes.

I've been getting the "car warranty" calls on my cell, and every time I waste the time to go through to an agent and don't comply with their demands for information on a car or payment options, I get hung up on. As soon as I say "what's the name of your company" or "take me off your list".... CLICK.

so, I'm just letting all unknown numbers ring through to v-mail.

I guess I'm the lucky one here who signed up on the federal dnc list and actually had it work. We get bill collection calls which are unfortunately legit, and a bunch of frackin' political calls, but zero telemarketers, and no warranty/card scams on our home phone.
My direct dial number at work, however, is another story. I am barraged all day with scam calls.
Does anybody know if it's legal to put a direct-inward-dial number on the federal list? This is frustrating, and wastes a huge amount of my time at work.

On Friday I received one of the "Card Services" calls. I tried for several minutes to get company information, of course unsuccessfully. Instead they just put me on hold over and over again, with the person who eventually picked up launching right back into the script and putting me on hold as soon as I deviated at all from the answers.

Two interesting twists: first, when I gave them fake card numbers/exp. dates they dutifully looked them up and reported to me what they found (the balance of those accounts).

More interestingly, after this happened several times, they started connecting me, but talking with other people, apparently not hearing me at all. Several of those other people gave their CC numbers, exp. dates, security codes from the back of the card, and last four digits of SSN while I listened. Were I a criminal, I'd have hit the motherlode.
===================
In response to the most recent post, there is no "call list". If you're telling them to take your number off of the "call list", they know right away that you're not who you're claiming to be. You're not fooling anyone at all, and if you really haven't been called back, it's just coincidence.

The first action to take to reduce telemarketing harassment is to place your number on the national no-call list. Once you've done that, you will no longer receive any telemarketing calls from "legitimate" telemarketers. Of course the illegitimate ones (e.g., "Card Services") remain. If a caller is willing to deviate from the script, politely ask for company name, and contact information. If they provide it, tell them that they have made an illegal telemarketing call and will be reported. Tell them that your number should be on their "no-call list", and that you will bill them for any further calls.

That's not very likely to work, of course, because if they've already called a number on the national no-call list, they're criminals. Typically they will refuse to provide any information, usually just hanging up on you (though as I learned Friday, occasionally putting you on hold and bizarrely trying over and over again). When that happens, take whatever information you have - time and date, what was in the script, etc. - and report the hell out of it. File with your state, with the Feds, with anyone else you can think of.

First some normal structure. Now days most of these telemarketing firms use an automatic dialer that connect to a live answer to the telemarketer. The normal structure of the firms are as so telemarketer -- team leader -- office manager -- corporate or business management.

Usually on the first occurrence I will polity ask to be taken of there call list. When I receive an additional call from same people which I usually do. I tell the telemarketer that this has been a quality assurance test with his firm and that I need to speak with his supervisor. When the supervisor comes on the line which he always does I tell him that one of the corporate test numbers where dialed and should of been removed from the list and that I want to know why he is failing to train his telemarketers in correct procedure. I take his or her name, tell them to write down the number and remove it from call list with proper procedure. Then I add that I will be taking this matter up with my boss and am placing a note in with the number to ensure proper procedure was followed.

To this day I have yet to receive any follow up calls from companies that I have done this with.

We are in the midst of a depression , and this is the job I do , now I am never rude to anyone , they are always rude to me . I know they get over run with calls from other fundraising companys , but seriously were just trying to make a living .
so lay off okay , just ask nicely to be taken off the call list .

- thank you .

Been receiving calls from these people for months. initially I hung up and then I started pressing 1 (which transfers the call to another number) and asking them to remove my name from their list. This usually resulted in an immediate hang up. Yesterday, Nov 18, 2008, I received another call and pressed 1. I requested the caller to remove my name and he agreed. He asked my for my number which I unfortunately provided to him. Less than two minutes passed before I received a call from him. He said he would fill my credit card with large purchases. Another call followed seconds later and he said he knew my address, which he repeated to me He said he was going to come to my home and slit my throat and described numerous methods of killing me in many graphic ways. These calls continued for the next two hours, with different callers each time.
I toyed with the idea of calling the police but felt it would be usless. If it resumes today I will definately notify the authorities. I believe making death threats over the phone is a felony, but not sure how the police would treat it.

I've been looking for a solution to my problem with telemarketing calls but so far the only one is ignoring calls that come from numbers I don't recognize. I've logged a number if complains at http://whocallsme.com/ and http://800notes.com regarding calls offering auto warranty. They call from different numbers often international and refuse to answer any of the questions from the script.

I found this site searching for a solution to the "Card Services" problem. I've received numerous calls over the last several months. I keep pressing "2" to be removed from the list. I've been on the national do not call list for years. It doesn't stop the calls. I've tried several times to talk to a person and get them to stop calling me. They won't tell me the phone number they are calling from and when I ask for a manager they hang up on me. I have searched several times to see if something could be done, and it appears we are stuck. BBB won't take the complaint if you don't have a phone number. I've tried calling my actual credit card company and complaining to them, they are not affiliated. This whole Card Services deal is a big scam as far as I can tell, and a lot of my friends have received several calls from them.

To those telling folks to be rude to the caller - that is not cool - these folks are working a tough low paying job, its not their fault - blowing a whistle does not stop the computer from calling you. I try to be polite to telemarketers as they are human beings. I do advise them they are working for crooks and perhaps should look for a real job. I know how tough it is to find work now days.

I have to agree with 'This script is a JOKE' and his comments. Most of the tele calls I get are pre-recorded and keep calling no matter what button you press to get off the list. In other words, the DNC list keeps legal tele calls down, but there's more activity of the ILLEGAL type. All of the rules that might get you a lawsuit are ridiculous when all the person has to do is HANG UP ON YOU. "Can you please take my num.." CLICK!

Happens to me all the time, and you can be as nice as you please. It's frustrating to hear the same recorded messasge for the 50th time and know I'm powerless to stop it. The telemarketer associations know robo-dialing is way cheaper so it's rare to even hear a call from a human being anymore. You can't take out your frustration with robocalls, so that makes it even worse.

I often, right at the beginning of their pitch, say, "Oh, can I put you on hold for a moment?" to which they always say, "Oh, yes of course." Then I hang up. I always wonder how long they're left dangling at the other end!

Telemarketers get the same treatment as obscene callers...a very loud police whistle. It nearly deafens them, and I have yet to have one call back.

ask the person calling to hold for a second (ha ha), put the phone down on a something soft as a pillow or couch and walk away for about 5 minutes. I Bet they've hung up on you. Guaranteed to screw with their minds and make them think twice. Sure they might call again, since they got a "live one", ask them to hold again, again and again. They call, you put them on hold. Touche'. Works for me when you get political calls. Those are coming too. Take care.

Ok so here is a trick you can try, google the recording that you get from a phone number having been disconnected. save it to your computer, turn up your speakers, and record the message onto your phone as a new recorded message. Keep that going for about 2 wks, tell all your friends what you are doing so they know your number is not really disconnected, and so they can press the star key to leave a message for you. Telemarketers will disappear. I personally was getting 2 calls a day, up to 6 days a week from these hassling auto warranty insurance numbers. Some of the numbers mentioned were recognized, but some of them come onto my phone simply as private. The other option i have worked on is to record the very first part of the disconnected number, use a mic to record my voice on the last part of the message, put the two recordings together so that the first 5-10 seconds sounds like your number is disconnected, then finishes off with your regular message, that you usually record, to leave a message. Make sure the recording is nice and clear, even try calling your cel to make sure it sounds as if your number really is disconnected. if you can’t find the soundbyte, send me an email and for $5.00 via paypal, I will email the Audio file to you. waydancer [at] juno [dot] com

report it to the do not call list. when enough complaints pile up, the fcc does check it out and file lawsuits. the website is https://donotcall.gov/complaint

I don't answer my home phone anymore. I'm sick and tired of being harassed by "Card Services" and the auto warranty dipwads. So I wait until the answering machine has responded and decide whether or not I'm going to pick up based on the message that is left / not left.

Asking politely or pushing the number three or whatever is NOT enough to make them go away. Period. End of discussion ... they ignore all requests for peaceful co-existence.

These are not 'innocent' people trying to make an honest living; these are dipsticks who KNOW that they are intruding and obnoxious and simply do not care.
--Bill

oops.. sorry about double post

I love that flowchart. I used to be a telemarketer (it was a foot-in-the-door type job that I used to get a start in the company) and I have to say that all someone has to do is say, politely, “I’m not interested” and 90% of the time that’s enough for them to leave you alone. If they get huffy about it, then they’re breaking laws anyway and you should definitely try out a few of these questions and get enough information to sue the company.

Telemarketing has a super high staff turnover rate because it’s very high stress, simply from people getting abusive when they’re talking to someone who’s just doing their job. The typical telemarketer is about 18 years old and female, and a lot do the job to do things like pay their way through college or get started in an industry. Please take that into consideration before you start screaming and swearing as soon as some one says “I’m from company xyz”. Try asking first to be put on the do not call list and saying you’re not interested. If that doesn’t work, feel free to swear and scream and yell as much as you like. If it’s one of the girls at my office that you’re talking to, who’s breaking the rules like that, I’d say she deserves it.

Are you F'ing kidding me?? These telemarketers aren't so stupid as to answer these questions. I *just* got called by the infamous Auto Warranty telemarketers, and as soon as I asked the first question, "can I ask whom I'm speaking with" THEY HUNG UP. They know better. And of course, the number that showed up is invalid, leaving me with no recourse. I've been dealing with them calling on average 3 times a week for months now. What's a person to do???

The questions are not visible in firefox - only in IE.

I've been called repeatedly by CARD SERVICES over the last two months. Our phone number is on the do not call list. We've requested to be removed from their call list FIVE TIMES! The last time I spoke with a dipshit "supervisor" although in hindsight it was probably just some other stupid ass loser working to pay off their warrants, child support, and support a crack habit. What I hate more than anything is how the losers are always so friggen rude telling you to shut up and listen or some shit like that. AAARRRGGGHHH....

Hey card services you suck!

I read an article about this a few weeks later, and it hit me that indeed, thats what i saw.
If i end up at another rally, i am bringing a flyswatter or a butterfly net!

Guys, relax. I'm a telemarketer and as much as it is annoying to get the calls, it is good money and it is an easy job to do. If its a telemarketer on the line, just say "take me off your list" and we are required, and instructed to do so. Also, everyone acts like it's a big conspiracy to get everyone screwed. Most telemarketers have only been doing it for a few months, the turnover rate is sky high, and we're simply given a script and told to just end the call (cordially) if you don't cooperate. If you tell us to not call them again, we put you on the do not call list. We don't have any personal stake in the company, and the commission rates are frighteningly low, so most of us don't really push towards getting a commission. The money is good enough as it is.

It's a bit panicky to immediately label this harassment. Add your name to the national do not call list, and if anyone calls tell them to put your name on the do not call list, and within a few weeks, you'll stop getting calls from telemarketers. When people are nice on the phone, (which they almost always are), it brightens my day to know that people will still put up with minor annoyances without freaking out and threatening to sue.

Just relax.

Hey everyone what's up. I share your pain with these telemarketing calls. If you have some reading time please check out my story so far.

I'm 17. I do not own a car. I don't even have a driver's permit. I use a bicycle to get around. All this sounds petty but you'll understand later. My family never uses the house phone except to call out. For this, I use a cheap $20 Virgin Mobile phone which I use with a supposed "anonymous" pre-paid plan. Only my best friends and family members have my number. I don't buy anything, or otherwise do anything at all that could ever get my number on a telemarketing list. And yet, I am constantly being woken up in the morning and at night by strange numbers on my phone. They just started appearing on my phone one day and a couple other people's phones who use Virgin Mobile. Most of these phone numbers arn't even real telephone numbers. They either lack enough digits to be considered a complete number, or have too many digits to be a real number. Some numbers are more normal looking and come from different area codes from all over the US. Other times they come from numbers beginning with country codes, which, according to multiple online sources, don't even exist.

Typically people will blindly advise me not to answer any numbers I don't know. After figuring I'm not answering the phone and being harassed anyway I decided to answer. This entity uses an automated calling system telling you things to the effect of: "Your car's warranty is going to expire, please act now and do blah blah blah to renew it before it's too late or press 1 to speak to a representative." At that point I hung up. What car? What warranty? In all the years I've been with my phone carrier, they've never given out my number and I've never been harassed until you fine people crawled out of the woodwork! Don't tell me your using legal means of getting the general public's contact information. In my area most pre-paid phones will begin with the digits 886. They must have caught on to this fact and are just dialing random 886 numbers hoping for a sale although I could be wrong. And if your a legitimate business or even god forbid, a normal telemarketing wing, why are you calling me at all hours of the day and night with fake numbers? Clearly this company is up to no good.

If I don't answer these stupid calls the dumb computer just leaves the same old car warranty spiel half-finished on my voicemail inbox and it costs me money every time I have to log in to delete them so my phone stops bothering me about it.

Finally this afternoon after coming home from going out to eat I was tired from being up late last night and went to lay down. Naturally, I got a call from them and was woken up. This time I didn't care about wasting balance money, decided enough is enough and pressed 1 to speak to a representative. When he connected he gave me his name and asked how he could help me. I told him flat out "You can help me by stop making illegal marketing calls to my mobile phone before I report you and don't give out my number to any 3rd parties because I'll be glad to tell them the same thing." I then promptly hung up.

Now, I think I made myself pretty clear in saying I know what they want and want it to stop. If they have the guts to call me again I'm first thing going to ask to speak with a supervisor or manager with a more spiced up version of what I told the representative. Then, if the calls don't stop, I intend to actually carry out with reporting them to my phone company, the BBB, the FCC, and anything else I can think of. Along with any other websites like this so hopefully we can work together and bust these people, because it seems to me they are trying make fraudulent sales and are harassing people after hours.

Anyway thanks for reading all this, I hope some people found interest or help in this post. If the problem keeps going on I'll come back here with the results and along with anything I find that can help other people with this problem.

Hey All,

My name is Brian from CallerComplaints.com.

We're trying to raise awareness around telemarketing and telephone phishing. One of the biggest issues is the prevailence of "caller ID spoofing" that allows illegal telemarketers "trick" your caller ID so you can't even file a legal complaint!

However, for some reason, this still isn't illegal unless you use it to commit fraud. click here to learn more.

Beware... just because your caller ID says "Bank of America" doesn't mean that it's true...

Hope this helps!

Brian

Unfortunately, I tried to ask these questions. When I asked for the company address, the woman said I'd need to hold for a second, and she promptly hung up. This was disappointing - I figured that telemarketers would be dissuaded from terminating their pitch so early. Then again, from a legal standpoint, it isn't a bad idea. The call was from "Card Services" wanting to offer me some refinancing. They said I needed ten grand in credit card debt. I told them I would check my balance via the computer. I promptly told the operator that I had a total of $65 in credit card debt, and I figured they'd stop calling me.

I think the art of this is to act interested, and carefully gather information one tidbit at a time.

the fact that while there is legitimate concern about "net neutrality" in terms of those who are already seated at the Internet table, there are still large gaps in the of the population not even connected to the Internet.

I'd love to be able to ask all the questions given on this page, but if I sound even the least bit inquisitive (e.g. asking the name of the company they represent), they immediately hang up. Your list of questions is excellent, but I can't help laughing trying to imagine one of these telemarking agents actually providing real answers to any of these questions, or sitting still long enough for me to even ask them. Given the potential damage that could be caused to their company if they actually provided the requested information, I'm sure the Telemarketing agents are told to simply hang up if the potential customer asks any of the above-listed questions. Telemarketers may be absolute evil - the lowest of the low, but they're not (all) stupid.

I own a business and the FCC and our fine government have given no protection to us against telemarketers. With no protection they call all day every day to businesses with no recoarse for the business. Half my phone calls each day are from companies I do not want to ever talk to. When I ask them to perminantly remove me from their list no matter how they compile their information. Half of the time I'm told no! They will call as often as they want. I find this poor business practice, but it is legal. As business owners we need to do something. I have called my local politicians and their siguestion was to change my business number. They are such smart little politicians. I'm a business you idiot, my phone number is my business!!!
If anyone has a solution please contact me.

Hello,

I get harrassing phone calls on my cellphone. As a matter of fact, i have a share plan with 3 phones and we all get harrasing recordings on our voicemails (phone provider: Sprint). They don't identify the company's name and there is "no ID" to return the phonecalls back. All i get is the actual message, which i saved, and the time of the phone call. I called Sprint trying to get more information about the phonecall, they said there is nothing they can do to help. I believe the phonecall originated as a "predator dialer".

Here is how the message goes:

"I just want a chance to add you to a growing list of satisfied customers, who appriciate a good service, and a great price!"
Please press '1' to make an appointment"

What are my options?

Thank you for your help!

Would debt collection come under the TCPA if they are using an automated dialer and leave an automated message?

I registered with the National Do Not Call Registry (http://www.donotcall.gov/) almost as soon as it was created. This definitely reduced the number of telemarketing calls I receive. However, I still receive several marketing calls each week. I'm pretty sure these calls are from companies that know they are breaking the law. The script being used by the people (or recording) calling was designed to make it seem that they represent a company with whom you have an established relationship (e.g. your credit card company), using a company name that is very generic (e.g. "card services"), and that they are calling to inform you of some problem or potential problem that needs your attention (e.g. your rates are about to increase).

I'd love to be able to ask all the questions given on this page, but if I sound even the least bit inquisitive (e.g. asking the name of the company they represent), they immediately hang up. Your list of questions is excellent, but I can't help laughing trying to imagine one of these telemarking agents actually providing real answers to any of these questions, or sitting still long enough for me to even ask them. Given the potential damage that could be caused to their company if they actually provided the requested information, I'm sure the Telemarketing agents are told to simply hang up if the potential customer asks any of the above-listed questions. Telemarketers may be absolute evil - the lowest of the low, but they're not (all) stupid.

So, the problem is how to catch these scoundrels in the act. I suppose if I was dumb enough to take advantage of whatever they were offering, there might be some way to trace it back to the company that was calling, or at least the company for whom they were making calls. But I'm sure that effort would be fraught with difficulties as well.

Any suggestions...?

I wish I could sock it to the two or three charities that call my phone each day after 8 p.m. as if I have nothing better to do. I may have once tossed them a few bucks (hence my name on the list) but no more. They lost a donation when they started calling my phone so late and so frequently.

Hello,
I read your materials on how to strike back toward telemarketers. I obviously read this information because I am having an issue with a company calling me. The company in question is not trying to contact me, rather, they are trying to contact another person, I believe, a former customer who owes them money. Each time they call, I tell them that I am not the person they are trying to reach and that they have the wrong number. I have also requested each time that they not call me again. I began taking a log of when they have called me about a month ago, and they call about once a week. Now that I have read your materials, I plan on trying the telmarketer script on them and I am in the process of obtaining a voice recorder to record future conversations.

My question is this: Since they are not trying to solicit anything to me, could I still have a case against them? How would I proceed differently than if it were just a run of the mill telemarketer?

Thanks for your time.

Im sick of these asian telemarketers who always call me pretending to be non-asian.