Date | Company | Sales Rep | Website | Phone | Comments |
7/8/2008 | Crescent Processing | Kayla | crescentprocessing.com | 877-233-3376 | Gee, this company hasn't called me since April! |
7/8/2008 | local.com | Daisy | local.com | Refused to give me phone number | |
7/8/2008 | Max Professional | Bob | Refused to give me info | Refused to give me info | Was trying to sell me canned air, but refused to give me his company's phone number; was very snotty, said I sounded hokey |
7/8/2008 | local.com | Victor | local.com | Refused to give me phone number | Ooooh! Two calls in 1 day! How special I must be! |
7/10/2008 | local.com | Debbie | local.com | Yet another call from local.com | |
7/11/2008 | local.com | Unintelligible Indian Name | local.com | Refused to give me phone number | Would not stop talking, even after I asked him to stop 3 times |
7/16/2008 | MaxProfessional | Felicia | MaxProfessional.com | Well, at least, unlike Bob, she was pleasant. | |
7/16/2008 | Crescent Processing | Simone | CrescentProcessing.com | Refused to give me phone number | Hung up on me when I asked for her company's phone number |
7/18/2008 | local.com | Leo Gallagher | local.com | 1-877-784-0805 | This was the first time I was able to get a local.com rep to give me their phone number. |
7/21/2008 | U.S. Health | Amber | When I asked Amber for her company's phone number, she was startled. She then decided she did not have the authority to release such critical info, and put me on hold and then hung up on me. | ||
7/23/2008 | Crescent Processing | Chris | CrescentProcessing.com | Yet another in an infinite string of calls from Crescent | |
7/25/2008 | Landmark | April | Refused to tell me | Refused to tell me | April demanded to know if I accepted credit cards. When I asked for her company's phone number, she hung up on me. |
7/28/2008 | zipweb | Erin Gomez | zipweb.com | 1-800-222-5529 | Well, at least they told me who they were before they refused to answer any more questions |
7/29/2008 | local.com | Kim Lopez | local.com | 1-877-784-0805 | Apparently, I am destined to get calls from local.com every week for the rest of my life. |
7/30/2008 | Crescent Processing | Chris | CrescentProcessing.com | Can you ever get enough calls from Crescent? | |
7/31/2008 | MaxProfessional | Felecia | MaxProfessional.com | ||
8/1/2008 | Commerce Energy | Angelea | commercenergy.com | 216-453-1979 | Made it sound like she was a rep from my local gas company, but, when pressed, admitted that she was not. Wasn't too sure about her own company's phone number....almost sounded like she was making it up as she went along, or was a child struggling reciting a difficult homework assignment. |
8/2/2008 | Crescent Processing | Sylvia | CrescentProcessing.com | Nasty! Refused to give me Crescent's phone number, acted like it was a state secret. | |
8/11/2008 | Crescent Processing | Clark | CrescentProcessing.com | Was surprised that Crescent had ever called me before. I asked him to remove me from their list. Yeah, right. | |
8/14/2008 | US Health Group | Vincent | refused to tell me; state secret! | 800-950-8032 | Was shocked when I asked for his company's phone number; at first, said there was no phone number, then relented, perhaps making up a number as he went along. Refused to give me a website address, but would not stop talking about whatever gobbledy-gook he was trying to peddle. I think this may be the same US Health that called me on 7/21. |
8/19/2008 | Crescent Processing | Sharday | CrescentProcessing.com | Of course, not a week can go by without being hounded by Crescent, despite their promise to remove me from their list. | |
8/20/2008 | Commercial Investigations | Nicki Boxer | Refused to tell me | Nicki was gracious enough to hang up on me when I asked for her company phone number, which certainly cemented our business relationship. | |
8/22/2008 | First National Information Network | Alex | Refused to tell me | Ironically, the information such as First National Information Network's phone number, and any contact info, is a state secret; Alex refused to tell me anything about his company. | |
9/3/2008 | Diamond Processing | Jasmine | Refused to tell me | When I pressed her, Jasmine admitted that Diamond Processing was really Crescent Processing. As always, she refused to give me a phone number or website. | |
9/16/2008 | zipweb | Danni | zipweb.com | 1-800-222-5529 | Well, its been a while since I've been pestered by zipweb. I guess they want to make up for lost time. |
9/16/2008 | media3hosting | Memphis Ryan | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | Everything you love about telemarketers--wouldn't tell me his company's phone number or what he was calling about; kept insisting on talking to the owner. |
9/18/2008 | Diamond Processing | Jackie | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | Can a week be complete without a call from Crescent Processing? As always, this telemarketer talked and talked and talked....oblivious to everything including who she was talking to or even what she was saying. |
10/6/2008 | Diamond Processing | Regina | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | As always, Diamond/Crescent Processing's phone number is a state secret. |
10/13/2008 | Diamond Processing | Kevin | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | |
10/16/2008 | Diamond Processing | Devin Bumgartner | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | Devin promised (promised!) to take me off Crescent's call-list. As always, he was surprised that Crescent was calling me as often as twice a week since July. |
11/3/2008 | Verizon | Georgia | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | A rash of calls lately from Verizon. |
11/5/2008 | Verizon | Michael | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | More from Verizon.... |
11/7/2008 | Verizon | Milan | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | And yet more from Verizon. |
11/8/2008 | Verizon | Tamira | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | Can you ever hear enough from Verizon? |
11/10/2008 | WServe | Dave | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | A web-design company calls me--a web-design company--and asks me if they can design a website for me. Duh! |
12/9/2008 | Atrium--the new name for Crescent | Dave | refused to tell me | 877-233-3376 | My vacation from calls from Crescent lasted all of 2 months. It looks like they changed their name from Crescent to Diamond to (now) Atrium. They are pestering me once again. Of course, I asked them to take me off their list. |
12/20/2008 | WServe | Suzanne | refused to tell me | 1-800-910-1970 | Well, I think her name was Suzanne. She could just barely speak English. She clearly thought everything was a joke; when I asked her for info about her company, she said, "You first." When I asked her for her company's website, she said, "You tell me your website first." Ugh. Where do they get these people? |
1/5/2009 | Reserve National Insurance | Stephanie Reverra | refused to tell me | 1-800-654-9106 | Actually didn't sound nearly as sub-human as most telemarketers. |
1/8/2009 | Medallion | Margaret Leland | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | Claimed she was from community outreach, whatever that is, but refused to give me any other info. |
1/15/2009 | Zipweb | Macey | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | Macey hung up on me as soon as I asked her for Zipweb's phone number, which of course is quite the incentive for me to do business with them. I just did a quick Google search on Zipweb, and found thousands of postings on these scam artists. Try here and here to begin to read about them. |
2/19/2009 | Max Professional | Kim Acoste | refused to tell me | blowoff.com | blowoff indeed! Yet another in an infinite string of calls, always beginning with: "You use canned air, right?" It doesn't matter what you say after that, the sales people from Max Professional insist that you must use canned air! |
3/13/2009 | riaenjolie | Shane Johnson | riaenjolie.com | 609-606-9900 | Shane, who might have had a pulse, kept insisting he had to talk to the business owner. When asked what it was about, he clarified with "its about a business." To entice me to enquire further, he then hung up on me. |
3/17/2009 | Diamond Processing | Ashley | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | Apparently Diamond, which had become Crescent and then Atrium, is now back to Diamond. As always, the telemarketer from Diamond refused to give me any info, including their company's phone number or website address. |
3/25/2009 | Diamond Processing | Regina | at first refused to tell me, then relented | wasn't sure, thought it might be diamondprocessing.com | Ugh. Regina was snotty and hostile.....then again, I expect no less from my friends at Diamond. |
4/3/2009 | NewLink Network | Liz | Tried to sell me tech support. Was stunned when I told her that I provide tech support because she had called--duh!--a computer shop! Nasty! You can see the gazillions of complaints against this company by starting here | ||
Attention everyone!
Did you know it is somehow perfectly legal for any company to tack charges onto your phone
bill, even if you specifically tell them you do not want their services? Yes! All they have to do, apparently, is call you and if you answer and say anything
then they know they have hit a valid number. They then contact your local telephone company
and can tack charges for non-existent services on to your phone bill.
To avoid getting slammed with unwanted charges on your phone bill, call your local telephone company and ask them to block third-party charges. Once 3rd-party charges are blocked, these bottom-feeders like NewLink cannot arbitrarily tack charges on to your phone bill. I called my telco today and it took less than 5 minutes. Now I have another layer of defense. BTW, when I talked to my phone company, they immediately recognized the NewLink scam, so obviously they have had a lot of complaints about this scum in general and NewLink in particular. Also: Never ever say the word yes when a telemarketer calls. If they have a recording of you saying yes to any question, they can splice the tape together to make it sound like you agreed to buy whatever they are selling. |
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4/7/2009 | Diamond Processing | Tanya | My weekly call from Diamond. I have a nice surprise waiting for Diamond.....heh heh heh. Stay tuned. | ||
4/7/2009 | Stevens Masters Health Insurance | Shirley Rhoades | I could just barely understand her....I don't think she even knew the name of her own company. First she said Master, then said Masters. | ||
4/15/2009 | Zipweb | Abbot Cruz | 1-800-510-6061 | zipweb.com | We have already discussed the sleazy tactics of zipweb. I tortured this sales rep a little by asking him how he felt about working for a company with so many complaints against it. |
4/17/2009 | Zipweb | John Rodrigues | 1-800-510-6061 | zipweb.com | I should have mentioned that zipweb is now trying to camouflage itself by claiming it is now Local Connect Service. When I asked if Local Connect had a website, he told me it was zipweb.com. When I then mentioned the zipweb scam, he hung up on me. Look here and here for more info on the zipweb scam. Also, Mark Cave, (Physical address is 16133 Ventura Blvd., Encino, CA 91436 Phone#s are (800) 222-5529 or (866) 586-3900) who is the owner of this scumbag company, has been sued and has had numerous complaints against him by the BBB |
5/1/2009 | Intrepid | Tonya | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | Refused to tell me her company's website or phone number unless I answered questions first! What an incentive to do business! |
5/4/2009 | Intrepid | Terry | 1-800-210-9983 | refused to tell me | Terry, and Tonya, both claimed to represent Microsoft, though both refused to provide a website or a physical address. It took a bit of prying but Terry reluctantly yielded a phone number and then refused to answer any other questions. Again, she kept insisting she was from Microsoft! |
5/5/2009 | AllState Merchants | Peter Davis | 1-917-257-4742 | allstatemerchants.com | Wanted me to use his company to accept credit cards. Click here and here to see plenty of saucy complaints about this company. Also, here's a juicy complaint from a former Allstate worker |
5/6/2009 | Diamond Processing | Deanna | Yet another in an infinite string of calls from Diamond. At least Deanna's southern accent was pleasant to listen to. | ||
5/11/2009 | Rumson-Bowling | John Powell | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | Wanted to speak to the owner about the "economic stimulus check." When pressed for any further information, he cleverly hung up on me. Aha! this must be the idiot who called me. According to 1 post on this page: This company Rumson, Bolling & Associates is a collection agency that used to go by "Commercial Investigations, Inc." they are under investigation by the Ventura County District Attorney's Office in Ventura California and have changed the company name to "Rumson Bolling & Associates" |
5/21/2009 | US Health Group | Donald Cook | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | Ya gotta love companies who refuse to give you even something as simple as their phone number, yet expect you to do business with them. For more on the fun this company provides, click here |
5/29/2009 | Merchant Industry | Joseph | merchantindustry.com | 718-249-2000 | When I asked Joseph if his company had a phone number, he said simply "Yes." I then had to ask him what that number might be, which he then reluctantly yielded. Here's some saucy comments about this company; here's some more |
6/3/2009 | Stephens Matthews group | Albert | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | Albert demanded: "Do you have health insurance?" He would not answer any questions; he just kept demanding to know if I had any health insurance. When I asked him his phone number, he hung up on me. |
6/4/2009 | Assurance Health Care | Diane | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | Another call starting out with the question: "Do you have health insurance?" When I asked Diane for her phone number, she snapped, "Why do you need that?" |
6/4/2009 | National Business Association | Reggie | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | When I asked Reggie for his phone number, he muttered, "Oh, shit." Here are some other comments about this illustrious company. I think this is them: National Business Association 12200 Ford Rd Dallas, TX 75234 Phone : (972) 620-3858 |
6/11/2009 | AT&T | Don Young | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | I was busy when AT&T called, so I didn't have time to grill this telemonkey; this is the first time I have been pestered by AT&T since I got on the DNC list. |
7/23/2009 | National Foundation Advisors | Brenda | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | Recorded message. Another in an infinite number of scams. See here |
Wow! It has been a couple of months since I have had any telemarketer harassment of any significance. Even Diamond/Crescent Processing stopped calling me! Do I dare say it is because of this page? | |||||
9/4/2009 | Melissa Galinski | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | When she asked to speak to me (by name), I assumed it might be a legitimate customer. When I asked her to repeat her name, she hung up on me. | |
9/14/2009 | Border Energy Group | Richard NoLastName | 1-800-919-8021 x438 | Said he was from the Border Energy Group, and yet also claimed to be from my local gas company (Columbia Gas). Columbia said later, via email: Border Energy is not affiliated with Columbia Gas. So Richard, whoever you are, you weren't, um, quite upfront about who you represented, were you? | |
9/17/2009 | Gateway Energy Services | Crystal LaFaye | 1-866-921-6478 x1374 | When I came in this morning, there was a rude message from Crystal telling me that I have to call her about my gas account. Her exact words: "I need you to call me." and "You must call me." Ugh. | |
9/22/2009 | Hrut Info Tech | Nathan/Robert/Unintelligible Indian Name | www.hrutinfotech.com | 1-732-850-0506 | Three calls today from Hrut. They want to design a website for me. Their website is filled with amateurish grammatical errors and misspelled words, but no matter. Interestingly, there is no way to send them an email. If you want to contact them, you have to call them long-distance (they don't even have an 800 number). |
9/29/2009 | Border Energy Group | Richard Molena | 1-800-919-8021 x438 | Yet another call from Border, trying to disguise itself as Columbia Gas--my gas company. Richard said he was "an authorized supplier from Columbia Gas." Um, not quite, Richard. You are not Columbia Gas; this is mis-representation. | |
9/29/2009 | Gateway Energy Services | Frank Fletcher | And yet another call from Gateway, demanding that I talk to him about my natural gas account. A little searching found lots of ripe comments about Gateway; click here, or here. | ||
9/29/2009 | RealLocalPages.com | Carrie Ann | I didn't have time to torture her when she called, or I would tried to get some more info out of her. Here's some fun comments about this company. | ||
10/1/2009 | Atrium Processing | Alexis | Crescentprocessing.com | My reprieve from Diamond/Crescent Processing has ended. Crescent, which has once again changed its name (it is now Atrium), is at it once again. I of course asked them to stop calling me. And of course they never will. By the way, for your entertainment, here are some other comments about Diamond/Crescent Processing. | |
10/5/2009 | CRN Magazine | Dennis | Telemarketers always seem to open with this tag line: "We are updating our records of your account." Well, honey, I don't have an account with you. | ||
10/6/2009 | American Republic Insurance | refused to tell me | When I asked her what the call was about, she said insurance. Well, duh, lady! | ||
10/6/2009 | RealLocalPages.com | Yet another call from RealLocalPages. Here's some fun comments about this company. | |||
12/1/2009 | Excel or XL Publications | When I asked this guy who Excel (or XL) was, he laughed at me, like how could I be so stupid that I didn't know his company. When I told him I wasn't interested, he of course just kept talking, so I had to do what feels so good: hang up on him. | |||
12/2/2009 | Max Media | 1-800-772-0539 | Cindy Cook | www.vinylgraphics.com | Not a year goes by when someone doesn't try to sell me advertising on the phone-book covers. Never mind that I have never actually seen any of these phone-book covers. Also, just to make me feel more secure about buying an ad here, the website she gave me does not exist. |
12/11/2009 | Courtney Cox | I should mention that I have been getting harassing calls from a rude and abrasive woman named Courtney Cox. She demands to speak to Roberta Emerson; when I tell her there is no such person here, she insists on knowing whether she has called a business or a residence. She refuses to tell me what company she's with or her phone number. Ugh. Where do they find these people? | |||
And now, dear readers, yet another installment in the endless battle with the cretins
known as Diamond Processing/Crescent Processing/Atrium. When they called me last week (2/11/10), I told them to come on out.
When they asked for my address, I gave them the address of the wastewater treatment plant here in town.
And that poor schmuck sales rep came here to our wastewater treatment plant, and wondered why no one was there to meet him. Then the sales rep called me on his cell. I told him the boss was at the main office (20 miles away) and gave him a fake address in the really nasty section of town. Just to add insult to injury, it was snowing like hell that day, so I'm sure his 2 wasted trips were slow and stressful going. This is about the best revenge I can get on Diamond/Crescent/Atrium. At least I got to waste plenty of their time and resources--watching their sales rep drive all over hell in a snowstorm while I sat here nice and warm and comfy in my shop. |
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4/16/2010 | Max Media | 1-800-772-0539 | Cindy Cook | www.vinylgraphics.com | Here we go again with the phone-book covers. Never mind that I have never actually seen any of these phone-book covers. Also, just to make me feel more secure about buying an ad here, the website she gave me does not exist. |
4/16/2010 | EBE/Enterprise Business Experts | Lynn | She introduced herself as Lynn from EBE, and when I asked her what EBE was, she was clearly aggravated that she had to talk to me. Then she cleverly hung up on me. | ||
4/16/2010 | US Online Listings | Keith | Keith sounded suspiciously like he was from India, but no matter. He wanted to "update" my information. | ||
4/20/2010 | Nationwide Compliance | 1-888-861-7118 | Zach | didn't know | Wanted to sell me OSHA posters. Amazingly, wasn't sure if his company had a website, and had to "look up" his own company's phone number. See more here |
4/22/2010 | US Online Business Organization or US Online Yellow Pages or what the hell does it even matter? | wouldn't tell me | Jack | wouldn't tell me | First he said he was from US Business Organization, then he said he was from US Online Yellow Pages. When I asked him what his website was, he actually told me that he "was not authorized to tell me that information." You can see more about these folks here and here and here too |
5/6/2010 | Pre-recorded message from Joe Allen | I keep getting calls from 419-782-3868 demanding that I call 866-875-3784. Ugh. This is a scam. See here and here | |||
5/24/2010 | USYellow Pages | Mozell | USYellow Pages does seem to be a real website with actual useful information. However, having people (who of course can barely speak English) making cold calls demanding to "update records" doesn't exactly polish their image. | ||
5/25/2010 | L & J Holdings | Kevin | L & J Holdings apparently has no website and no phone number--at least according to Kevin. Check them out here | ||
Dear readers....I saw this on a website, and it was so delicious, I couldn't help but post it. Here's how to get some revenge on telemarketers, if you can find their fax number:
...Calling them does no good. So,...I sent them (42) faxes by internet, to their office machine. All with the message: ' Hi! '. ( If you do it, always send on Sunday night. That way their machine will: A) Run out of paper, toner or B) Load up their unit with 'Memory-Full', no other faxes can get through....until someone pushes 'Go'. Then ALL the faxes you sent will get printed out.) ...Secondary way of 'overloading' a telemarketer(s) fax machine: Take (3) pages, anything will do. Tape them end-to-end in a 'loop', while in the fax machine. Dial their number & hit 'Go'. Again, Sunday night is best. If you've never seen 100-200 sheets pumped out on a floor, it's a sight to behold... For any of this, don't use your home phone. Use the Internet, look up a proxy & sign up for an anonymous phone number...Cost? : Zero. And another suggestion: Here is what I like to do to these people. Go to wheresmycellphone.com, enter 813-988-5941, it sends random advertisements. What goes around, comes around! |
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6/1/2010 | Farm & Ranch Healthcare | Susan | www.farhc.com | According to Susan, this company has no phone number (even though it is clearly listed on their website). She was offended that I was asking her questions! | |
7/27/2010 | Zipweb | www.zipweb.com | More attempts at the old zipweb scam. (Google zipweb scam to get an eyeful) Be careful. When you answer the phone, this company's rep will purposely pretend that he cannot hear you, and will ask, "Is this [name of your company]?" This is a trick to get you to say yes. Once they have a recording of you saying yes, they can splice it together with a recording of them saying something like, "Would you like to sign up for our service, at $49.95 a month?" | ||
8/3/2010 | doubleserve | Linda | www.doubleserve.com | I could just barely hear Linda. No matter; all she kept asking was "Is this the owner of the company?" Finally, she told me she was from doubleserve.com, whose website, BTW, is down or doesn't even exist. | |
8/11/2010 | Assurant Health | Refused to tell me | Debbie | www.assuranthealth.com | Lots of saucy comments about Assurant, including this survey showing a whopping 70% disapproval rating with their services. You can also look here or here. Here's a USAToday article that does not paint Assurant in very good light; here's another from CBS News. |
8/16/2010 | Link It Business Solutions | 605-413-4472 | www.linkitcallcenter.com | Well, they do have a real website, with such goodly Englishes too! Ugh. Why would I want to hire a company like this? | |
8/16/2010 | EZipSearch | Refused to tell me | Debbie | Refused to tell me | Ezipsearch.com is down.....which certainly inspires me to do business with this company. |
9/10/2010 | Insurance Services | Refused to tell me | Rita | Refused to tell me | When I asked Rita who Insurance Services was, she was gracious enough to hang up on me. These people have so much to hide that they don't want to give out even basic information, like who they are. This might be them. |
9/14/2010 | EZ Online Yellow Pages | Refused to tell me | Ann | directorybillingservices.com | I have been getting a rash of calls lately from this company--more in a series of "we want to update your listing." Most of these callers are just barely understandable. When I asked Ann for her phone number, she actually said, "What's that?" When I repeated my request, she still apparently had trouble grasping the concept. She did, however, at least know her company's website address. Man, this is a scam of epic magnitude....read here and here |
And now, dear readers, an actual comment from someone out there in cyberspace who found this page and emailed this comment:
I wanted to tell you thank you for creating the "Have fun with Telemarketers" page. Maybe I didn't get my money back from Local Connect Services, but I feel a lot better after messing with them and faxing them until they're out of ink. Thank you from the bottom of my freaking heart! Well, thank you! I'm glad I was able to ease someone else's pain. Remember, if there is a hell, it's filled with telemarketers! :^) |
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10/15/2010 | MMI | Refused to tell me | Mark | massmarketing.com | Can you believe it? It has been a solid month with not a single telemarketer! Anyway, Mark called me today, wanting me to advertise with him. |
1/6/2011 | OnlineYellowPages.com | Refused to tell me | Refused to tell me | OnlineYellowPages.com | Here we go again, with OnlineYellowPages.com demanding that I confirm my information with them. |
1/6/2011 | Concur | Refused to tell me | Jenny Price | Concur.com | Jenny wanted to discuss employee expense solutions with me--whatever the hell that is. Here is their website. |
1/7/2011 | ChangePoint | Refused to tell me | Shawn | refused to tell me | Yet another in an infinite string of Indians who can just barely speak English, demanding to speak to me. Would not give me any information other than that he was from ChangePoint. This might be their website. |
3/17/2011 | Vault Logix | Refused to tell me | Unintelligible | refused to tell me | According to this woman, who could just barely speak English, Vault Logix "is an online business partner programming the industry." If anyone out there can fathom what that means, please let me know. |
4/6/2011 | wpromote | Refused to tell me | Reyan Cult | refused to tell me | We have dealt with this company before--nasty! Be careful....the last thing you want to do is say yes on the phone....then they have a recording of you accepting whatever it is they want to sell you. |
4/18/2011 | wpromote | Refused to tell me | Jeff | refused to tell me | Look here and here for some info on wpromote. |
4/20/2011 | websitesforhalf.com | Refused to tell me | Josiah | refused to tell me | A quick check of their website shows, well, nothing; they have no website--just a parked domain. Which, you know, really inspires confidence. |
Update on websitesforhalf.com: their homepage is now entirely in Korean or Chinese or something that is definitely not English. So this company and the website must have changed hands. | |||||
4/20/2011 | Marketing Strategies | Refused to tell me | Cronilda Pickett | refused to tell me | Ugh. Look here and here and here for some fun comments about this company. |
4/25/2011 | MSI/Marketing Strategies Inc | Refused to tell me | Jessica Trustee | refused to tell me | I had to demand to know who MSI was; she then reluctantly told me that MSI was Marketing Strategies Inc. |
4/25/2011 | MSI/Marketing Strategies Inc | refused to tell me | Jeremy Autry | refused to tell me at first, then said he could give me a phone number: 1-800-921-8102. As it turns out, this is Frontier's phone number. | Told me he was "not allowed" to give out the company's website or phone number. Behavior like this is sure to increase their credibility. |
6/30/2011 | Working Capital | www.decimalfactor.com | David | 1-877-552-0924 | Barely understandable Indian with thick accent--it took me 3 tries to be able to understand his website address. Not one to give up easily, he called me twice within 5 minutes. Here's some comments on this company |
7/11/2011 | United Bank Card | Who knows? | Keisha | Who knows? | Keisha told me she was with UBC, then cleverly hung up on me. Some mixed reviews on this company here. NJ BBB gives them an A- rating but look: a whopping 221 complaints against them; does that make you feel better? Read here |
7/21/2011 | Working Capital | Who knows? | Jay | Who knows? | Yet another call from this company. When I asked Jay--clearly an Indian with an American name--what Working Capital does, he tells me they make unsecured loans to businesses based on future VISA and Mastercard sales. When I tell him I have no VISA or Mastercard sales, he is stymied and literally speechless. |
7/25/2011 | Parents Magazine | parents.com/meredith.com | Victor | Who knows? | OK, so I get an email from parents.com confirming an order I never placed. So I email them back, telling them I never placed an order with them. Next I know, Victor--who, of course, can barely speak English--calls me and although I repeatedly ask him to take him off his list, I am subjected to a real hard sell concerning all the great products he has to offer. Ugh. |
8/22/2011 | yellowpages.com | Unintelligible | Who knows? | Now here's a surprise: yellowpages.com was sued for fraud. Read about it here. | |
8/25/2011 | yellowpages.com | Unintelligible | Who knows? | Yet another person with an unintelligible name who can just barely speak English. In fact, this guy sounded like he was on drugs--maybe some heavy downers. | |
9/20/2011 | Olympic Security | www.olympicsecurityalarms.com | Justin | Justin kept asking me if I was the owner; reluctantly yielded the company's website but would say no more--a huge incentive to do business, right? | |
9/20/2011 | Merrill Lynch | http://www.totalmerrill.com/WM/pages/CustomBranch.aspx?branchcode=050401 | Michael F. Anania | Our local Merrill Lynch office in Dublin, Ohio apparently does not understand the meaning of no; when I told him I wasn't interested, he just kept right on talking. | |
9/21/2011 | taxreliefnews.com | who knows | 1-888-990-9121 | A robocall from 1-888-990-9121 Click here and here for some info. | |
10/4/2011 | Home Improvement Lead Exchange | www.homeimprovementleadexchange.com | who knows | 1-216-916-9332 | A robocall from this company wanting me to call them back long distance to hear more about their spectacular company. |
10/4/2011 | CallBox | www.callboxinc.com | Zazsa | 1-310-775-8071 | Verbal Spam from a company that does direct marketing. According to their website, they can also design a website for me--even though their website ironically has plenty of grammatical errors and other sophomoric mistakes. |
10/6/2011 | USA Research Group | said he was not authorized to tell me | Mark | said he was not authorized to tell me | Claimed to represent Dell; refused to give me a legitimate website address or even phone number. |
10/11/2011 | Total Security Solutions | refused to tell me | John | refused to tell me | Just barely understandable--his accent was so thick. I asked him 3 times what his website address and/or phone number was, and he literally just kept talking--what a one-way conversation! Anyway, here and here and here is some info on these scammers. |
10/28/2011 | USA Research Group | who knows | Joe Perez | who knows | Apparently this company no longer represents Dell, as it claimed to do a few weeks ago. When I asked for the company's website, he was kind enough to hang up on me. |
11/7/2011 | USA Research Group | who knows | Joe (or maybe it was Joan) Perez | who knows | Once again, he was kind enough to hang up on me when I dared ask questions. |
11/7/2011 | Business to Business | who knows | David John | who knows | Maybe someone can explain to me the point of this; this company refuses to tell me its full name, its address or phone number, and yet clearly they want me to buy something from them. How, exactly, is that going to work? Well, this time around I did at least get him to admit that he was in Chicago....maybe, the next time he calls, I'll get another tidbit of info. |
11/8/2011 | USA Research Group | who knows | Joe Perez | who knows | USA Research Group now once again claims to be representing Dell |
Just talked to Dell. Surprise! USA Research Group is not affiliated with Dell. Dell has opened a case concerning fraud; if you have any info on this company, please email Leonard_Dingle@Dell.com | |||||
11/9/2011 | Business to Business Contacts | who knows | Indecipherable | 212-338-2800 | This guy literally could just barely read; when I asked for his company's address, he told me 10018. When I told him that that was a zip code and not an address, he struggled, and managed to tell me that he was on the 4th floor, but could tell me no more. I pressed him for a phone number; the number he provided belongs to a place called HUB C.A.R.E. in New York City. When I pressed him for yet more info, he hung up on me. What is the purpose of this--can anyone tell me? |
11/15/2011 | Frontier | who knows | Aaron Lofton | who knows | If Frontier--my landline provider--is actually calling me, wouldn't they know my name instead of asking for the person in charge of the account? Aaron was none too patient when I pointed this out to him. |
11/22/2011 | ChangePoint | ChangePoint.com | Lauren....I think. Heavy Indian accent (of course) | 609-945-2278 | Well, at least they are a real company, with, you know, a website and phone number. Why they called me, though, is clearly a mystery. From their website: A single automated solution for the professional services organization. Changepoint helps you forecast and plan; manage resources, projects and client engagements; and grow your service operations. |
12/1/2011 | Frontier | Katie Brown | Yet another call from Frontier. | ||
OK, so I emailed Frontier about these calls. In their first email, they told me that Aaron Lofton was not a member of their team and that that was not a legitimate call from Frontier and that I should ignore all such calls.
In their second email, they told me that Frontier does in fact pester its customers with sales calls and that the call from Katie Brown was legitimate. Great. So, which is it, guys? When I sent a 3rd email to Frontier pointing out this discrepancy, they did not even bother to respond. |
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1/19/2012 | Equity Management | WorldInformationNetwork.net | Rebecca | Rebecca could barely speak English....I suppose that is a requirement these days. Anyway, it is beyond me why this company called me; apparently, it is beyond them too, since Rebecca could not tell me why she called. | |
4/2/2012 | United Collection Bureau | Automated call | 866-216-4424 | OK, so I now finally know who has been calling me for years demanding to speak to Roberta Emerson. Read here and here about some comments about this company. | |
4/9/2012 | National Access Long Distance | Jason | When I asked Jason what his company's phone number was, he told me it was an outbound center only and there was no phone number. When I mentioned that it was ironic that a long-distance company had no phone number, he hung up on me. Read here and here for some comments; the San Jose BBB has awarded this company an F rating....read about it here | ||
6/20/2012 | Farming Ranch Company | farmingranch.com | Lori | Reluctantly yielded her company's website address only after I insisted on it; the website address she gave me is a blank page. Kept demanding that I make myself available to talk to a sales rep next week, or that I provide her with my email address. Here are some unsavory comments about this company. | |
8/6/2012 | Frontier | David Smith | 1-866-890-6180 | Claimed he was from Frontier, and claimed he was calling to make sure I had the best rates possible, yet didn't know my name. I asked him why, if was calling from Frontier, he couldn't pull my records up on his computer; he didn't have a good answer. Or any answer. This is the 2nd call this week like this from Frontier. | |
8/8/2012 | Frontier | Brenda Marn | 1-866-890-6180 | Same story: Claimed she was from Frontier, yet didn't know my name. When I asked her how she could possibly not have my account info if she really was from Frontier, she didn't know what to say. She did provide the same phone number that David Smith did. | |
8/8/2012 | National Processing Company | Erin | 708-328-8762 | Hawking credit-card processing. A whopping 228 complaints against this company in the last year and a half: click here. Some other saucy comments here and here | |
Look! you can opt out of telemarketing calls from Frontier here | |||||
8/29/2012 | Integrys Energy Services | IntegrysEnergy.com | Angela | 888-451-3734 | Angela actually had to stop and ask someone else when I wanted to know what her website address was. OK, it is an actual website....with, you know, slick verbage and nice pictures. |
9/17/2012 | Integrys Energy Services | IntegrysEnergy.com | Unintelligible | 888-451-3734 | This woman also didn't know what her own company's website was. And she sounded like she had an 8th-grade education. |
9/25/2012 | Integrys Energy Services | IntegrysEnergy.com | Gayle Blake | 888-451-3734 | Once again, they start out making it sound like they are calling from Columbia Gas--which they are not. |
10/12/2012 | Uniweb Services | Uniwebus.com | Jensen | Here we go again. Jensen--who could just barely grasp English--did not understand the irony of calling a web-designer (me) when he was pitching web-design services. His English was so poor that he clearly did not understand the questions I was asking him, and I could only understand about 25% of what he was saying. What, exactly, is the point of hiring people like this? | |
10/16/2012 | Integrys Energy Services | George Hold | Ol' George could not even tell me what his company's website address was. I was busy, so I didn't have time to torture him....that's as far as the conversation went. | ||
10/30/2012 | Harris Corporation | Allen Dsouza | Refused to tell me | Refused to tell me | He told me he had a very important message from "Mr. Jones." Refused to tell me anything other than that Harris Corporation was in "various businesses" and could not even provide me with a phone number, address or website address. |
10/31/2012 | SOS Online Backup | Mark Smith | Refused to tell me | Refused to tell me | Another trip to the Twilight Zone. Refused to tell me anything. Would not reveal the company's website, address, phone number, or what the company does; claimed he "wasn't authorized" to reveal any information. |
11/10/2012 | InSphere Insurance Solutions | Charlotte | Refused to tell me | Refused to tell me | Charlotte kept wanting to speak to the owner, and only reluctantly admitted that Insphere was a local insurance broker. When I asked her if her company had a website, she was smart enough to hang up on me. Here are some comments about this company. |
11/13/2012 | Information Solutions | Joyce Smith | Refused to tell me | Refused to tell me | As always, Joyce insisted on speaking to the owner, and refused to tell me anything about who she was, what company she was from, or what this was about. As always, she hung up on me when I asked one too many questions. |
11/19/2012 | Merchant Industry | John | Refused to tell me | merchantindustry.com | Wow. A telemarketer who actually revealed his website on the first request! I was very busy when this guy called, or I would have tortured him some more. |
11/28/2012 | Prestige Payments | Lacey | Refused to tell me | affordablepaymentsolutions.com | They don't really have a website--just a parked address. Which, you know, really entices me to do business with them. Look here for some comments. |
12/6/2012 | MySiteOnline | Unintelligible Indian Name | Refused to tell me | mysiteonline.com | Well, this website doesn't exist, but what the hell--why not call people about it anyway, right? |
12/6/2012 | Uniweb | Sam | Refused to tell me | uniweb.com | A web-design company--that has only the most tenuous grasp of English--calls me to offer me a chance to let them design a website. |
12/10/2012 | MySiteOnline | Unintelligible Indian Name | Refused to tell me | mysiteonline.com | The same guy calls me, but now mysiteonline.com has suddenly become onlineyellowpages.com. He kept demanding to let me "update" my company's info on his website. Here and here and here are some comments about this company. As always, be very, very careful when you talk to these scammers--never say yes to any question, because once they have a recording of you saying yes, then they can splice it together with anything else they want to make it sound like you agreed to their services. |
2/8/2013 | egbsystems.com | Evan...maybe | egbsystems.com | Evan--if that was his name--had such a tenuous grasp of English that it took 4 tries just to get his website address. As always, here we have a company hawking website services, even though their own website is an embarrassing hodge-podge of grammatical errors. | |
2/16/2013 | Insphere | Donna | 806-780-5756 | Said, amazingly, that they do not have a website. | Some mumbling about insurance for local businesses. Was confused when I asked for contact info, such as a website or phone number. Here's some info from Ripoff Report: "Mega Life & Health Insurance Company, which has most recently been calling themselves HealthMarkets and which is now calling themselves the very slick sounding Insphere Insurance Solutions, Inc" |
3/13/2013 | PTE Energy | Valynn Voight | ptesupply.com | Didn't have time to torture him, so only got the basics; amazingly, he did sound at least reasonably intelligent. | |
3/22/2013 | EBA Financials | Jeff Ray | eba-na.com | Their website is supposed to earn my business? Ugh. | |
3/25/2013 | Qualify For GSA | Didn't catch her name | qualifyforgsa.com | Another company pitching web design. Here's a sentence from their website: Your preferred pricing will remain secure and confidential in an online environment open to the public. Right. | |
4/18/2013 | DTEEnergySupply | Joshua | DTEEnergySupply.com | Another pitch for natural gas. Here's a sentence from their website: Going forward, the Standard Choice Offer (SCO) rate replaces the Standard Service Offer (SSO) rate on the bills of all Energy Choice-eligible customers and the SCO supplier’s name will appear on the bill. | |
5/20/2013 | EGB Systems | Jules | my-online-guru.com | So here we have a company that puts together a website that is just barely understandable. And, ironically, you cannot contact them; when I sent them an email, it bounced back to me. | |
5/21/2013 | AppStar Financial | Chuck Taylor | appstar.com | You know how you get that ick feeling almost immediately when you talk to someone of the used-car-salesman caliber? That was my experience 5 seconds into my conversation with Chuck Taylor (if that was his real name). Obnoxious, pushy guy who could put any used-car salesman to shame. Kept demanding "What's holding you back?" Look here and here and here for some interesting reading. | |
5/28/2013 | AppStar Financial | Ms. Craig | appstar.com | These guys don't want to give up. | |
6/3/2013 | Uniweb | Jim | uniweb.com | Speaking of not wanting to give up, here was another call from Uniweb. When I asked Jim what his website address was, he hung up on me. | |
6/6/2013 | Express Update | Andrea | Refused to tell me | expressupdateusa.com | Another company wanting to "update my information." I asked Andrea for her website address, which she willingly provided, but all co-operation stopped there. She refused to tell me her company phone number. Just for the fun of it, I asked her, "Andrea, do you have a last name?" She calmly said "Nope." Look here for some comments on this company. |
6/11/2013 | Synnex | Cathy | Refused to tell me | synnex.com | What does this company do? Oddly, their website does not tell you. Cathy could not tell me either. |
6/12/2013 | Skyline Publishing | Didn't catch her name | Refused to tell me | skylinepub.com | Here we have a publishing company that does not know how to proof-read its very own website. How ironic. |
6/18/2013 | 716 services | Didn't catch her name | Refused to tell me | didn't ask | Oh man....read here and here. The BBB gives them an F rating: here |
7/12/2013 | Universal Adcom | Yolanda Evans | didn't ask | didn't ask | A C rating from the BBB; read here and here and here and here for info on these refrigerator-magnet scams. |
7/16/2013 | DTE Energy | Yolanda Perry | didn't ask | didn't ask | Can you ever get enough calls from companies that demand that you switch your electric provider? |
7/19/2013 | DTE Energy | Jake | didn't ask | didn't ask | There must be a ton of money involved here if this company can afford to hire an army of people to cold-call everyone twice a week. |
7/22/2013 | Advanced Commercial Roofing | Ramanda Wood | 1-800-543-8881 | she wasn't sure | She struggled when I asked her what her company's website address and phone number might be. She was surprised to learn that website addresses usually end in dot-com. What a luminary! |
8/15/2013 | Local Results | For months I have been getting pre-recorded spam that starts out: "This is Jan from Local Results. Did you know...?" | |||
8/15/2013 | AppStar | Wesley | A telemarketer who wasn't pushy and just said "OK" when I said no. Imagine that! | ||
8/15/2013 | DTE Energy | Chantelle Taylor | DTESupply.com | They claim to be a "supplier" of AEP. | |
Here's the latest in phone scams: a woman calls and says nothing other than "Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?" Most people would immediately answer yes, which is what these scammers want. Once they have a recording of you saying yes, they hang up. Again, never say yes on the phone until you know who you're talking to. | |||||
8/23/2013 | DTE Energy | Didn't catch her name | She amazingly didn't know | This woman didn't know the website for her own company. I would have tortured her some more if I had the time. | |
8/26/2013 | Hess Small Business Services | Gloria | Hesssmallbusiness.com | She kept demanding to know if I was in charge of the AEP account. | |
8/26/2013 | Hess Small Business Services | Dan | Hesssmallbusiness.com | He sounded much more human. Two calls from the same company in 1 day....ugh. | |
9/18/2013 | Merchant Services | Pre-recorded spam | 1-800-309-0524 | Demanded that I upgrade my credit card terminal as required by law. Right. Since I don't have a terminal, obviously this is a scam. Look here and here | |
9/21/2013 | Bench Craft Company | Sean | benchcraftcompany.com | First said he was with the local golf course, then admitted he was working with the golf course. So that raised my radar. Look here and here and here for comments on this company. BBB lists 144 complaints against them: here | |
9/25/2013 | nomoretaxproblems | nomoretaxproblems.com | Robocall spam. Look here for details. | ||
10/18/2013 | Appstar | Refused to tell me | Yet another call from Appstar. When I asked him what his website was, he said they didn't have one. Then he said he did have a website, and then asked why I wanted to know such an absurd thing. To cement our deal, he then hung up on me. | ||
10/25/2013 | Leadsberry | Chris | Refused to tell me | Refused to tell me | Refused to, you know, actually talk like a human being; kept demanding to speak to the manager. What, exactly, is the point of this? |
10/28/2013 | InfoCheckPoint | John | Refused to tell me | Refused to tell me | At first said his company didn't have a website. Then said his company did have a website, but he wouldn't tell me what it is. (It is Infocheckpoint.com) Wouldn't tell me anything, but kept demanding to speak to the office manager. |
10/30/2013 | Leadsberry | Caleb Lawrence | leadsberry.com | Refused to tell me | At least this guy knew what the company's website was, and actually told me! |
11/7/2013 | US Health Advisors | Gwendolyn | USHealthAdvisors.com | When I asked her if her company had a website, she said yes and then just continued with her sales pitch. I had to tell her that she never answered my question. Obviously, she didn't care. Look here and herefor some comments. According to comments, they are part of USHealth Group. | |
11/19/2013 | Stevens & Associates | Cindy | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | Was confused when I asked her if her company had a website; said "We probably do." Told me she was calling from a call center and could not give me a company phone number or even tell me where her company was. Then she hung up on me. |
11/21/2013 | Uniweb | Adam | Uniwebus.com | refused to tell me | Literally could not understand when I told him that his own website was filled with typos and embarrassing errors. |
12/16/2013 | Elite Bank | Kate Whitehall | Refused to tell me | refused to tell me | She hung up immediately when I asked her if Elite Bank had a website. After this spam call, I sent an email to Elite Bank, and they were gracious enough to ignore it. |
1/7/2014 | Small-Business Loans | Derrek | Robocall spam/scam about small-business loan, telling me I have been approved for a loan I never applied for. Check here and herefor some comments about this. | ||
2/25/2014 | 716 Services | Latasha | I swear Latasha sounded like she was on drugs, or just barely conscious. She was certainly just barely coherent. When I asked her what 716 Services was, she hung up on me. As mentioned before, you can read about this company here and see their F rating at the BBB here | ||
2/27/2014 | Big SEO | Steven | When I asked Steven for his website address, he started out with what sounded like bigstone.com. Then, I guess the effort of talking with me was too much for him, and he hung up. | ||
4/16/2014 | Big SEO | Ellie | www.bigstoneSEO.com | At least she knew what her company's website address was. Too bad she could just barely speak English. | |
4/1/2014 | A & C Marketing | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | So here's a company that refuses to tell me its website, phone number, or physical address. When I asked him why he wouldn't divulge this info, he said (I swear I am not making this up): "Because people get mad when we tell them who we are." Click here for some reading on this scam |
4/16/2014 | Merchant Services | 1-800-309-0524 | Pre-recorded spam/scam about a "mandatory" upgrade to my credit card machine. Read here and here and here | ||
5/6/2014 | Business Funding | John O'Reilly | When I asked him for his website address, he hung up on me. Read here and here | ||
6/13/2014 | Automated | (510) 358-8568 | Canned spam starts with this: "You're just about finished and only a couple of seconds away from being connected in order to qualify you for your free custom website and update your Google rankings." Read here and here | ||
6/23/2014 | Automated | 360 322-6713 | Canned spam BS about affordable health care. Look here and here and here | ||
7/1/2014 | Brianna | patriotpaymentgroup.com | 5162040237 | Look here. The BBB has put an alert on them: here | |
7/25/2014 | Sharon | patriotpaymentgroup.com | Robocall starts out: "Hi, this is Sharon your local Google specialist." Look here; as if there's any doubt, Google itself confirms that this is a scam here | ||
8/26/2014 | Sharon | patriotpaymentgroup.com | Robocall starts out: "Hi, this is Sharon your local Google specialist." Here's a great explanation of this scam: click here | ||
9/4/2014 | Certified Payment Processing | Sarah | When I asked Sarah if her company had a website, she issued a great dramatic sigh, and then hung up on me. Look here and here and here and herefor some comments. An F rating from the BBB here | ||
9/4/2014 | Certified Payment Processing | One call today apparently wasn't enough. So they called a second time. Sigh. | |||
9/9/2014 | Certified Payment Processing | Chris | At least these people are consistent. When I asked Chris if her company had a website, she hung up on me too. | ||
9/24/2014 | National Access Long Distance | James | na-ld.com | At first, said he was from Frontier, then admitted he was from NALD. It was like pulling teeth to try to get him to say anything. He sounded like he was on drugs. Look here for their rating at the BBB. Look here too. | |
10/09/2014 | Gary | 703-481-0319 | Claimed to be the "co-ordinator" for our local golf course. Well, I called the golf course, and they said they don't have a co-ordinator. Then I googled his number and found this and this | ||
11/04/2014 | Certified Payment Processing | 972-428-5200 | Was amazed that I asked her what her website was. First said no there was no website, then said yes there was, then said she had to "ask her supervisor" for permission to reveal it. Look here and herefor comments. BTW here's their address: 3350 Boyington Dr Carrollton, TX. Their website: http://www.cpp-360.com. Contact info: Principal: Mr. Tony Norrie (President & GM)Customer Contact: Josh Sparks (Application Processing Supervisor)Ms. Cami Billings (Complaints) David Nguyen (Vice President, Sales) Pranay Shah (Vice President, Operations). | ||
11/05/2014 | Certified Payment Processing | Nyiemah | 972-428-5200 | Said her company does not have a website, or even a phone number! Then said she did not "have access to that information." Kept demanding, as always, to speak to the owner. BTW, this company has an F rating at the BBB: |
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So here's how my latest conversation (on 11/7/2014) with Certified Payment Processing went: Caller: "This is [unintelligible] from [unintelligible]." Me: "Who is this?" Caller: "[unintelligible]" Me: "Who are you?" I swear this guy sounds like he just swallowed a whole bottle of Sominex. Caller: "Henry from [unintelligible]." Me: "What company are you with?" Caller: "Certified." Me: "Certified what?" Caller, grudgingly: "Certified Payment Processing." Me, knowing that this is too much to ask: "Do you have a website?" Caller: "OK." And then he hangs up on me. |
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205-421-9798 | Another robocall starts out: "Hi, this is Kate, a Google Plus Local Specialist." Click here and here to see some comments. | ||||
11/25/2014 | Pre-recorded spam starts out "This is a verification system for your Google listing." | ||||
11/25/2014 | Apparently once wasn't enough for a day; a 2nd robocall starts out "This is a verification system for your Google listing." | ||||
12/3/2014 | 2 calls today from a woman claiming to be from Yelp. | ||||
12/4/2014 | Shawn | Caller said he was from L & J Holdings. When I asked him what L & J Holdings was, he cleverly hung up on me. Click here for info. Check out their F rating at the BBB here | |||
12/9/2014 | Adrienne | Yet another call from L & J Holdings. | |||
12/19/2014 | Caller from IGI Security (if I heard her right) pushing antivirus software; got nasty, called Norton Antivirus "garbage," then hung up on me. | ||||
12/22/2014 | Volunteer Energy | Volunteernergy.com | Demanded to speak to the person in charge of the Columbia Gas account. | ||
12/22/2014 | Prestige | Michelle | Demanded to speak to the person in charge; couldn't give me the company's website....could get me that info "in a moment," and then never answered the question. | ||
12/29/2014 | Volunteer Energy | Joe Stadler | When I asked him for his company's website, he told me today was his first day, and then launched into a monologue. When I interrupted him and reminded him that he didn't answer my question, he again continued on, oblivious. | ||
Yet more fun (on 1/21/2015) with Certified Payment Processing: Caller: "This is Kim." Me: "What company are you with?" Caller, sounding very angry: "Certified Payment Processing." Me, knowing that this is too much to ask: "Do you have a website?" Caller, just barely able to control her rage: "No I do not." Me: "How can you not have a website?" Caller, sounding even more agitated: "I guess you could go to certifiedprocessing.com." |
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And again (on 1/22/2015) with Certified Payment Processing: Caller: "This is Dominic." Me: "What company are you with?" Caller: "Certified Payment Processing." Me, knowing that this is too much to ask: "Do you have a website?" Caller: "No I do not." Me: "How can you not have a website?" Caller: "I do not have a website." Me: "Do you have a phone number at least?" Caller: "No I do not." So, to recap, here is a company that refuses to give out its website or phone number--giving me literally no way to contact them--and they want to court my business. |
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1/26/2015 | Certified Payment Processing | Nicole | Nicole was confused when I asked her for her company's website; at first said she had no website, then incorrectly told me it was certifiedpaymentprocessing.com. Refused to give me the company phone number; kept asking for the owner. | ||
1/26/2015 | Future Payments | Chris | futurepaycheck.com | Actually didn't balk when I asked for his company's website; refused to give me a phone number. | |
1/29/2015 | Certified Payment Processing | Kelly | As always, this rep refused to tell me the company's website or phone number; but kept insisting that a rep would be in the Ashville area and how could I dare miss the opportunity to meet their rep? | ||
1/29/2015 | Certified Payment Processing | Henry | Henry was nice enough, like the last time he called me, to hang up on me. | ||
2/13/2015 | Frontier Yellow Pages | Jennifer | Claimed she was from Frontier Yellow Pages. I just checked with Frontier; there is no Frontier Yellow Pages. Another in an infinite series of scams, no doubt. | ||
2/13/2015 | Yodel | David Murray | 512-872-7049 | Yodel.com | My company name just came across his desk as a reputable computer company, and he wondered if I was interested in....And I see the website he provided me is about, well, yodeling! |
2/16/2015 | Frontier Yellow Pages | Jack | Yet another call from Frontier Yellow Pages in the guise of "updating my listing." When I asked where Frontier Yellow Pages was, he kept instead just talking. When I again asked for the website address, he was stumped and asked me "what website?" When I clarified, telling him I wanted to know where his company's website was, he then said "Frontier.com." Finally I asked him where I could see my free listing. His response? "I don't know." Then he hung up. | ||
2/26/2015 | Blue Rock Funding | David Lynch | Pre-recorded spam advising me that I was approved for a loan that I never applied for. Look here for some comments. | ||
3/12/2015 | Local Yellow Pages | Chris | At first said he was from Local Yellow Pages, then said he was from yellowpages.com. Another in an infinite string of calls wanting me to "update my free listing." Look here at the BBB's F rating for this business. | ||
3/13/2015 | IT Solutions | Tom Jones | Claimed he was going to send me a $100 gift card if only I could verify my street address. When I asked him what his website address was, he hung up on me. | ||
3/17/2015 | unknown | Ashley | Pre-recorded spam about unsecured loans. Click here and here for info on this scam. | ||
3/16/2015 | A & C Marketing | Click here for info on this scam. | |||
3/26/2015 | Volunteer Energy | Michelle Edwards | Said her company had a website but refused to tell me what it was; just kept talking, never answered any of my questions. Read some spicy comments about this company here. Here is also an amusing anecdote about them. | ||
Not a day goes by, now, when I don't get at least 1 call about how my business qualifies for a loan of up to $250,000. These always start out: "Hi this is Nick, and after reviewing your records...." or "Hi this is Ashley, and after reviewing your records...." And not a day goes by when a pre-recorded message from a "Google specialist" warns me that my Google listing needs to be updated. | |||||
3/27/2015 | Cindy Cook | Max Media | Time once again for the scam concerning the phone-book covers. What a monologue this woman delivered! | ||
4/3/2015 | Certified Payment Processing | When I asked her what her website was, she actually said to me: "What is going on here? Do you treat all your customers this way?" Very snippy conversation, which ended thusly: as if to punish me, she said that the call was being recorded and that she would not call me back! If only. | |||
4/6/2015 | Claire | United Consumer Information Bureau | 626-538-9067 | She wanted to "update" my information. When I asked her what her website was, she said she was with the Better Business Bureau. When I asked for her the BBB's phone number, she hung up on me. Read here for some comments. | |
4/15/2015 | Elizabeth Moore | Merchant Funding | I had to ask her 3 times for her company name. When I asked her for her company website, she hung up. Read about the complaints at the BBB: here and look herefor some comments. | ||
4/16/2015 | Didn't catch her name | United Consumer Information Bureau | 626-538-9067 | She didn't claim she was with the Better Business Bureau this time, but she did hang up on me when I dared ask a question. | |
4/17/2015 | Gwen | United Consumer Information Bureau | 626-538-9067 | Once again claimed she was working with the Better Business Bureau, and was part of the "online police." Then she claimed she was working for Ashville, Ohio. Refused to supply a website, said it was "private." Refused to supply a phone number; said she was not authorized to provide that info. Then got snippy and hung up on me. | |
4/20/2015 | Unintelligible Indian name | Online Yellow Pages | Didn't have time to torture him....so I just let him talk while I walked away. | ||
4/20/2015 | Howard | Congratulations! This is Howard, with the loan department, and your loan has been approved..... | |||
4/27/2015 | Kevin | FuturePayments Technology | futurepaymenttech.com | The dreaded Crescent Processing returns! Look here for info. A whopping 253 complaints at the BBB: here | |
4/27/2015 | Dave Parker | Yodle | Would not stop talking! I actually had to ask him to shut up and answer my question: what does your website do? Actually said to me that the grammatical errors on his webpage were not important, because I hadn't yet seen the 5-minute demo video illustrating all the wonderful things his website could do for me! Check out the whopping 186 complaints against them at the BBB here; look here too. This looks like a really nasty company. | ||
4/28/2015 | Mark | Online Yellow Pages | I had to ask him 5 times where my supposedly free listing was that he had to update. He gave me a website that doesn't exist (www.uslocalonlineyellowpages.com), then hung up on me. Did I mention this company has an F rating at the BBB: look here. Here is some more interesting info. Some good info on how to deal with these scammers can be found here. Here is an article on the FTC's website about this scam. | ||
5/4/2015 | Matthew | Online Yellow Pages | Is a day complete without a call from these scammers? | ||
5/5/2015 | Kate Stone | Online Yellow Pages | And again.... | ||
5/11/2015 | Christopher | Online Yellow Pages | And yet again.... | ||
5/21/2015 | Anthony | Online Business Listing | When I asked Anthony what Online Business Listing was, he hung up on me. That was a short conversation! | ||
5/29/2015 | Justin | Online Yellow Pages | When I asked Justin what company he was with, he hung up on me. | ||
6/3/2015 | Lachelle Coleman | Hot Prospector | I was super-busy when she called--didn't have time to torture her even a little. | ||
6/5/2015 | Joe | Online Business Listing | He hung up on me before I even had a chance to say a word. | ||
6/9/2015 | Karen | Stephens-Matthews Health Insurance | When I asked her what her company's website was, she said, incredulously, "Do I have a website?" Then she just kept talking--never, of course, answering my question. | ||
6/24/2015 | James | Dotwebinc.com | Another in an infinite string of website designers who literally cannot write a simple sentence in English, but who somehow think that they are offering quality work. | ||
7/2/2015 | Katie Edmond | yodle.com | She actually knew, and supplied me with, her company's website! I was super-busy when she called, or I would have tortured her some more. | ||
7/9/2015 | Peter | Equator Technologies | Equatortech.com | From their website: "Equator Technologies is a proprietary limited company, established in 2001 and are among other things SAGE Pastel dealers for South Africa and Africa. If anyone has any idea what any of this means, let me know. | |
7/22/2015 | Mike | Uniweb | Uniweb.com | Yet another irresistible pitch to have someone--who cannot speak or write English--improve my website. | |
7/31/2015 | Mark Jackson | Dell | 760-284-3343 | Claimed he was from Dell, yet gave me this phone number that was not from Dell. Tried to give me an email address but I could not understand him. | |
8/10/2015 | Cindy Cook | Max Media | MaxMedia.com | 513-967-4703 | Oh...that's right--the phone-book-cover scam. Interestingly, both the website and phone number she gave me today were different than the ones she provided in the past. |
8/20/2015 | Peter | Equator Technologies | Equatortech.com | Two more calls from this company. Still don't know what they do; their website is unfathomable. | |
9/9/2015 | Damon Smith | Yodel | Yet another call from this company. | ||
9/11/2015 | Damon Smith | Yodel | Yet another call from this company. | ||
9/15/2015 | Annie | Local yellow Pages | When I asked Annie for the Local Yellow Pages website, she hung up on me. | ||
9/22/2015 | Unintelligible Indian Name | Local Yellow Pages | When I asked for the Local Yellow Pages website, he merely repeated he was from Online Local Yellow Pages. When I asked a second time, I clearly heard him ask someone beside him "Did you get that?" So obviously they are recording these calls, and trying to trick you into saying "yes" or something else so that they can claim you agreed to buy their service. | ||
9/24/2015 | Bonnie | Merchant Choice | When I asked Bonnie what her website was, she said she had one but then refused to give it to me. Ditto for her phone number. Read here and here and here for some details. | ||
10/14/2015 | Merchant Choice | www.mcpsfl.com | She grudgingly gave me the company's website address. | ||
10/28/2015 | Appstar | www.appstar.net | She actually gave me the company's correct website address with no fanfare. | ||
10/29/2015 | Appstar | She refused to tell me anything--even her name. But, when I asked her questions, just kept right on talking.... | |||
11/9/2015 | Merchant Brokers group | merchantbrokersgroup.com/ | Reluctantly revealed the company website; would say no more unless I confirmed that I was the company owner. Cruise here to see that this company's address is a fake, and that they claim to have a AAA rating with the BBB (they do not). Here is some more info on their scam. | ||
11/9/2015 | Hibu | hibu.com | This company actually is accredited with the BBB. Doesn't that mean they should not be cold-calling people? Look here for some real-world comments about this company. Oh, and look here too. | ||
11/11/2015 | Yodle | A lot of the calls from this company sound like they are made from a really poor cell phone connection; I could just barely hear him. | |||
11/19/2015 | Dean Dempsey | Yodle | yodle.com/ | 512-872-7471 | Apparently, this company will keep calling me every week forever. |
11/30/2015 | Automated scam claiming to be my health-insurance company, demanding that I call 844-344-2995. | ||||
12/4/2015 | Merchant Choice | Automated message from Merchants Choice telling me that I must upgrade the credit-card terminal (that I don't have). | |||
12/4/2015 | Merchant Choice | Apparently, one call today from them was just not sufficient. | |||
12/17/2015 | Francis | Merchant Brokers Group | merchantbrokersgroup.com | Well, it has been a month since they called..... | |
12/28/2015 | Carol | Merchant Choice | When I asked her if she had a website, she at first said no, then finally said yes, she did have a website, then asked "What do you need the website for?" | ||
1/5/2016 | 844-344-2995 | Automated message; scammer pretending to be my health-insurance company. | |||
1/15/2016 | 844-585-5459 | Automated message; yet another scammer pretending to be my health-insurance company. | |||
1/18/2016 | John | Barrister Global Service network | barrister.com | Well, they do have an actual website, which John yielded with no hesitation. He was, however, amazed that I had never heard of his company. | |
1/20/2016 | Mike Campbell | Adverting Specialty Institute | Was too busy to torture him. Here's a nasty little summary of this scam. | ||
2/1/2016 | Elizabeth Moore | Merchant Funding | Refused to tell me | Refused to tell me | So yet another company that refuses to reveal its website or phone number yet magically expects me to do business with them. This might be them; notice the 6 complaints about them refusing to honor the DoNotCall list and also multiple requests to stop cold-calling. |
2/5/2016 | Zach Johnson | Yodle | Refused to tell me | Refused to tell me | Is a day complete without a call from Yodle? |
2/15/2016 | Elizabeth Moore | Merchant Funding | Refused to tell me | Refused to tell me | Yet another call from Elizabeth Moore. When I asked for her website address, she got angry and then hung up on me. She has quite the following. Google Elizabeth Moore Merchant Funding and you'll see this or this or this. IF you want to hear Ms. Moore's voice, click here. |
2/25/2016 | My weekly call warning me that I have not optimized my Google listing. Click here for info about this scam. | ||||
2/26/2016 | publicreputation.com | Wow. She actually told me her website address! And it looks like it is a, you know, real website. Not that I need it. | |||
2/27/2016 | 1-800-231-9714 | Automated message demanding that I upgrade (by law!) the credit card terminal that I don't have. Oh, it's our friends at Merchant Services; look here for comments. | |||
3/2/2016 | 411locals.com | Could barely understand her. What is the point of hiring people who cannot speak English? This company, which brags that "our website designers we will make sure your site is mobile" wants to design a website for me! Such goodly Englishes they have! Here are some comments about them. | |||
3/2/2016 | Automated message from Merchants Choice | ||||
3/2/2016 | Anders....I think | Refused to tell me | Yet another call from Volunteer Energy. He claimed his company had a website but refused to tell me what it is. In fact, he refused to answer any of my questions unless I confirmed I was the owner. How does anyone expect tactics like this to generate business? | ||
3/14/2016 | Chessie | 411locals.com | Once again, could barely understand her. What is the point of hiring people who cannot speak English? This company, which brags that "our website designers we will make sure your site is mobile" wants to design a website for me! Such goodly Englishes they have! Here are some comments about them. | ||
3/2/2016 | Jessie Caldwell | Refused to tell me | Yet another call from Volunteer Energy. | ||
3/22/2016 | Andrea | 411locals.com | As always, could barely understand her. What is the point of hiring people who cannot speak English? | ||
3/31/2016 | Merchant Services | 309-0524 | Automated call demanding that I upgrade the terminal that I don't have.....this upgrade is mandatory. | ||
4/7/2016 | Craig Dunn | Yodle | Began his pitch by sayng that he saw me on the BBB website, so I assumed he might be, you know, a real person. Then the sales pitch started. It took a concerted effort for me to pry from him the name of his company. Then I just put the phone down and let him talk.....and talk he did! | ||
4/13/2016 | Lerry Negguson | 855-337-6811 | Made it sound like he was calling from the local Court Of Appeals, but a quick Google search of his number revealed he was from Office Depot. | ||
4/15/2016 | businessapps.com | Slick sales pitch at the beginning; made herself sound like she was a customer instead of someone trying to sell me something. | |||
4/15/2016 | 1-844-585-5459 | Scammers pretending to be my insurance company. Look here | |||
4/18/2016 | Sam | Very Indian-sounding "Sam" claimed he was from "Windows Technical Support," and gave me microsoft.com as his website. Then he hung up on me. Come on, guys. How disappointing. You didn't even try the scam! | |||
4/20/2016 | Pre-recorded spam starts out: "Our records show that you have not updated your free Google listing...." | ||||
4/21/2016 | Elizabeth Moore | I asked her how this was going to work, since she hangs up on me every time I ask a question. Her reply? She very cleverly hung up on me! | |||
4/20/2016 | And again: "Our records show that you have not updated your free Google listing...." | ||||
4/22/2016 | 844-585-5459 | Scammers claiming to be my insurance company. | |||
5/11/2016 | Rachel | Rachel from Cardholder Services telling me that I may qualify for 0% interest. Google Rachel card and you'll get many pages of hits! | |||
5/12/2016 | 1-800-714-8898 | Yet another call from Merchant Services, warning me of the horrific consequences of not updating the credit card terminal (that I don't have). Read here for some comments. | |||
5/24/2016 | Didn't catch her name | National Long-Distance Services | When I asked, she gave me an incorrect website: nationallongdistanceservices.com. A quick review here shows they have been calling me since 2012. Sigh. | ||
6/13/2016 | Sabrina | Secure(d) Customer Review | When I asked, she gave me a website that doesn't exist: securecustomerreview.com. I had just spilled some ketchup on a very nice shirt, so I didn't have time to torture her--wanted to clean up the ketchup first. | ||
6/15/2016 | Elizabeth Moore | Yet another in an infinite string of calls from the infamous Elizabeth Moore. At least I determined one thing: she is not a machine. She sounds so robotic that I was wondering. So I asked her. And she replied that she was using a sound board. Then I asked her if she would hang up on me. She said of course she wouldn't. When I asked a second question, she of course hung up on me. Here's some interesting comments about her. | |||
6/23/2016 | Scott | yelp.com | Yet another call from yelp. The rep said my website was awesome. Clearly a lie--he never even read it, because if he did, he would have seen my telemarketers page. Here's some interesting comments about yelp. | ||
7/5/2016 | Charlene | Secure(d) Customer Review | Yet another call from this company. I had to fight her to get her to reveal the website. New web address this time: sekurecostreview.com, which is their correct website. A whopping 40 complaints at the BBB. | ||
7/6/2016 | Paulene | Merchant's Choice | She actually knew, and gave me, her company's website address: mcpsfl.com | ||
7/6/2016 | Mark | Secure Cost Review | When asked, at first said his company had no website. Then reversed himself, said they do have a website, but refused to give it to me. "Technically, we do have one," he said, "but it won't help with this phone call." | ||
8/4/2016 | Scott Bailey | Stephens-Matthews Group | Refused to give me a contact number. This might be them: 210 Apollo Beach Blvd, Apollo Beach, Florida. 813-645-7500 | ||
8/4/2016 | Dennis | Merchant's Choice | Here is what the BBB says about this company: According to disputes received at the BBB, it has been alleged, that Merchant’s Choice Payment Solutions, Inc. is using deceptive sales practices to sell new credit card machines to companies. Complainants are informed by Merchant’s Choice that their current credit card machine carrier and the current machine need to be replaced to meet Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. Upon realizing that they are now dealing with a new company, attempts are made to contact Merchant's Choice which go unanswered and subsequently the complainant would be under contract with Merchant’s Choice Payment Solutions, Inc. for 2 – 4 year. Consumers also allege the annual fee, monthly fee and PCI charges were waived by the sales person but when their first bill arrives, these fees are included. When complainant tries to cancels prior to end of this long contract, a large cancellation fee is charged. Look here. | ||
8/5/2016 | Anna | Time Warner | 212-933-9591 | timewarner.ringtc.com/ringtc.com | Anna could barely speak English. She did not know that I was already a TW customer. She could not explain why she was calling an Ohio customer from NYC. Her first website offering went nowhere; her second offering made no mention of TW. Amazingly, a TW rep via their live chat could not give me a straight answer as to whether Anna really was from TW. |
8/22/2016 | Johnathan Lee | Secure Cost Review | Moron didn't even know the correct spelling of his own company's website: told me it was securecostreview.com, which is not correct. Click here for some unbiased reviews of this company. As of this writing, 77 complaints about this company at the BBB | ||
9/8/2016 | Sam | Uniweb | refused to tell me | Told me there were issues on my website that only he could fix, yet, when pressed, could not tell me what my website address was. When I asked him for his company's phone number, he hung up on me. | |
9/13/2016 | Another in an infinite string of automated messages. This one starts out: "This is an important call concerning your 2016 Google listing...." | ||||
9/15/2016 | Automated message telling me that i should press 1 to verify and update my Google listing. Click here to see comments. | ||||
9/20/2016 | Automated message: "This is an important call regarding your 2016 Google business listing." Click here to see comments. | ||||
9/20/2016 | Yet another call from Merchant Services warning me of the dire consequences of not updating the credit-card machine I don't have. | ||||
9/20/2016 | And again. Automated message: "This is an important call regarding your 2016 Google business listing." Click here to see comments. | ||||
10/3/2016 | Patrick | ISquardUSA | 8884089660 | Patrick warning me that my computer had been hacked. As soon as I asked my first question, he hung up on me. Click here to see comments. | |
10/4/2016 | Didn't catch her name | www.mrpfd.com/ | Here is irony: a marketing company that does not bother to do any, you know, marketing before it cold-calls me. If thay had taken just 5 seconds to look at my website, they would have realized that I am not at all right for their services. | ||
10/12/2016 | Jacob | United Card Solutions | Refused to tell me | Jacob was nasty, snide, and thought he was being clever: at first, he refused to even tell me the full name of his company. Refused to then tell me anything more; kept asking if I was the owner. As of this writing, 17 complaints at the BBB. Read some other sobering reviews here. | .|
10/18/2016 | Amy | "Hello, this is Amy, your Apple marketing specialist...." Read here for more details. More details here. Obviously not Apple calling me. | .|||
10/20/2016 | Matt | Refused to tell me | Refused to tell me | Matt, who sounded like Crocodile Dundee, refused to tell me anything; kept demanding to know if I accepted credit cards. Insisted his girlfriend was coming in tomorrow, and that's why he had to know if I accepted credit cards. | .|
10/25/2016 | Candice | Refused to tell me | Refused to tell me | Yet another call from SekureCost. | .|
10/28/2016 | Matt | merchantdiscountgroup.com | Matt actually knew his company's website address! Some saucy comments here and here | .||
11/14/2016 | Emily Reed | Emily sure sounded robotic enough to be a machine. After asking, she admitted she was from Merchant Funding. A second question was too much for her to handle, and she hung up on me. | |||
11/15/2016 | Arnie | Merchant's Choice | Didn't have time to torture him. | ||
11/30/2016 | Kelly | "Hi, its Kelly with the Limitless Income team....." Pre-recorded scam, so I just put the phone down and let them waste their time. | |||
12/8/2016 | Carol | Two calls in 2 days from caroll.twc@qwestoffice.net claiming to be from Time-Warner, promising special pricing "due to recent upgrades in your area." When pressed, she still insisted she was with TW, even though she could not give me any details about my present service; refused to reveail the details of the discounts unless I yielded my email address. TW says that this person is not part of their network.....what a surprise! | |||
12/14/2016 | Automated spam from Merchant Services, warning me to update the credit-card machine that I don't have. | ||||
12/15/2016 | Yesterday's call from Merchant Services apparently wasn't enough. | ||||
12/16/2016 | Carol | acceptpro.com | A call from Acceptpro. Amazingly, she knew and yielded the correct company website. | ||
12/16/2016 | Emily Reed | As always, refused to answer any questions; kept demanding to know if I was the business owner. If I had had the time, I could have asked her what happened to the Elizabeth Moore personality--which she also sometimes uses. Yes, it was the same voice. | |||
12/21/2016 | Kent | uniwebus.com | This company features this sentence on their homepage: We offer A Customized Professional & Creative Websites. And they want me to hire them to create a website! | ||
1/22/2017 | Local Loop | Didn't have time to torture her....so I just put the phone down and let her talk. | |||
1/26/2017 | Christine | Riverside Payments | Again, didn't have time to torture her....so I just put the phone down and let her talk. Click here for some comments about them. | . Look here too.||
3/21/2017 | Terry Logan | Merchant Funding | Apparently, I am not allowed now to ask even one question. When I did so, she hung up on me. | ||
3/28/2017 | Christina | Yelp...I think | 646-828-4040 | Left an unintelligible message on my machine, wanting me to call her back long distance to discuss her scam. Right. | |
3/29/2017 | Peter | Windows Department | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | The old familiar scam: something is horribly wrong with my computer, that only he can fix. When I asked him for his company website, he hung up on me. |
3/30/2017 | Christina | Yelp | 646-828-4040 | One call from her apparently was not enough. | |
3/31/2017 | Melina | Secure Cost | securecostreview.com | refused to tell me | Once again, this company did not know the address of its own website. |
3/31/2017 | James | ooma | ooma.com | refused to tell me | . |
4/3/2017 | Cathy | SecureCost | Was shocked--shocked!--to find that her company calls me every week. Promised not to call again | ||
4/3/2017 | Christina | Yelp | 646-828-4040 | Yet one more call from Christina--who I am now suspecting is just a machine. | |
4/5/2017 | Didn't catch his name | Windows Technical Department | 646-855-9043 | Insisted that his phone number had popped up on the mobile device that I don't own. | |
4/12/2017 | Sean Smith | Windows Technical Support | 877-283-8354 | Refused to tell me | Insisted that my email had been hacked. When I asked how, exactly, he knew that, he claimed it was because of Windows Server; that was the sum total of his explanation. When I started giggling, he spewed some obscenities at me, which, you know, cemented his credibility and elevated his level of sophistication. Read here and here and here for some comments. |
4/18/2017 | Kevin Miloy | Grants Department | refused to tell me | refused to tell me | When I aksed for his phone number, he hung up on me. This is probably part of this scam. Read here also for more details. |
4/26/2017 | David | DotWebInc | Dotwebinc.com | Could just barely understand him--strong Indian accent (of course). Didn't have time to torture him | |
5/3/2017 | Bob Hansen | Pre-recorded spam about him finding me customers for web design. This might be him. | |||
5/18/2017 | Doug Kubow | 703-481-0319 | Pretended to be from our local golf course, wanting me to call him back. This gives more details about this scam from Bench-Craft. Also look here for some scathing reviews about this scam. | ||
6/28/2017 | Didn't catch her name--strong Indian accent | 408-844-3075 | Claimed she was from Windows Technical Department. Refused to give me a website address. Sounded like she was drugged. Wnen I asked my third question, that was too much for her and she hung up on me. Read more here | ||
7/5/2017 | Didn't catch her name | 513-238-8607 | Claimed she was from Nationwide, doing a customer-service survey. When I asked for her website, she at first said she didn't have one; then said her website was orc.com (which is incorrect). Grudgingly supplied a phone number. Didn't have time to torure her any more. | ||
7/6/2017 | Jake | Was immediately snotty with me when I began asking questions. Same old scam--tried to make it sound like he was from our golf course, but then finally admitted he was from BenchCraft. This gives more details about this scam from Bench-Craft. Also look here for some scathing reviews about this scam. | |||
7/11/2017 | Jason | Refused to tell me | Yet another call from Windows Technical Department. When I asked my first question, he hung up on me. | ||
Another variation of the can you hear me scam: someone says your name, in a question, hoping you'll say yes. Don't fall for it! | |||||
7/12/2017 | Didn't catch her name--but she was an American! | acceptpro.com | Actually knew and told me her correct website address. Didn't have time to torture her any more. | ||
7/13/2017 | Melissa | Yet another call from Yodle....she started out acting like a customer--asking me about virus protection. | |||
7/16/2017 | Talus Payments. You can read all the customer complaints about them here and here and here. Oh, look! They are a DBA of the dreaded Crescent Processing, which has hounded me for years! | ||||
7/26/2017 | Elizabeth | Pre-recorded scam from Resorts Reward center. Click here and here for info. | |||
8/7/2017 | Ann | Intuit Quickbooks | Even a single question was too much for her, and she hung up on me. | ||
8/9/2017 | Jesse | Merchant's Choice | Yet another in an infinite string of calls from Merchant's Choice. You would think they would get tired of calling me every week or two.... | ||
8/14/2017 | Who knows... | "Hi this is Jennifer Taylor data service provider for Google and Bing....." Pre-recorded spam | |||
8/25/2017 | Rebecca | Claimed she was from Technical Department of Windows and insisted my computer was infected. Could not answer me when I kept asking her how she knew it was my computer, and finally hung up on me. | |||
8/30/2017 | Michael F. Anania | Claimed to be from Dublin office of Merril Lynch. Refused to give me his website address. Refused to take no for an answer, even twice, when I told him I wasn't interested. | |||
9/6/2017 | Jim | Double Up | dubleup.com | I had to ask him 3 times for his website address.....amazingly, he had to stop and "look it up." If you're calling on behalf of a company, shouldn't you know that company's website address and have it available immediately? | |
9/7/2017 | Eric | Technical Support at Windows | 912-294-7431 | quicksupportnow.com | I had a little bit of time to torture him. Tried to get him to confirm how he knew it was my computer that was supposedly infected. He, of course, could not answer me; all he could tell me was that I have downloaded an infection that only he could fix. Check out their F rating at the BBB: here. |
9/20/2017 | John | US Technical Department | 610-615-1499 | refused to tell me | Same old scam: my computer has reported malicious software that only he can fix. Refused to tell me his website, got angry when I kept asking questions, and finally hung up on me. Told me he was in Allentown NJ but this phone number goes to Philadelphia. Look here for some comments. |
9/21/2017 | Sam | DotWave | dotwaveinc.us.com | Took him 2 tries to get website right. Their website only goes to a page that says it is checking my connection. Meh. I didn't feel like torturing him. | |
9/29/2017 | Jason | General Electric Home Security | Apparently, even a single question was too much for him; he hung up on me as soon as I asked him something. Here are some comments about Jason and this scam. Here GE themselves warn that this is a scam. Some more dicey comments here if you're interested. | ||
10/7-9/2017 | Several automated calls from Equal Health. Interestingly, when I asked the machine if it was a machine, it said "No, I am not a machine." When I asked a 2nd question, I was at first routed to a live person; after that, they hung up on me. | ||||
10/13/2017 | Claimed to be From Columbia Gas | 888-449-6744 | Snotty-sounding woman claiming to be from Columbia Gas, saying she "needs me" to call her back immediately about my bill. Here and here are some comments about this scam. | ||
11/7/2017 | Emily | United Card Solutions | Even one question was too much for her, and she hung up on me. Read here for some blunt comments about this company. | ||
11/10/2017 | Ray Williams | Bench Craft | Now claims to be working for the other golf course in our area; then admitted he was working for BenchCraft. Didn't have time to torture him, or I would have asked him some pointed questions. | ||
11/15/2017 | Ooma | Right in the middle of an involved coding session, and this woman derails my train of thought with this stupid call. Thanks so much. | |||
11/16/2017 | Emily Graham | United Card Solutions | Refused to answer even one of my questions. Instead, got aggravated and promised me that she would add me to her do-not-call list. If only. | ||
11/17/2017 | Fred | Appstar | The conversation halted momentarily when I asked him what his company's website was. A question! Not only that--a question that wasn't in the script he was reading from! He at first replied, "Appstar," then quickly corrected himself and said "AppstarFinancial." (Neither are correct.) Didn't have time to torture him any more than that. | ||
1/12/2018 | Windows Technical Support | 404-844-3075 | Same old scam: my computer is infected and only he can fix it. I didn't have time to torture him any more. | ||
1/17/2018 | Tristan | Five-Star Roofing | Tristan sounded like he was on downers; reluctantly gave me his website address. I didn't have time to torture him any more. | ||
1/19/2018 | Alice | AC Services | Pre-recorded message that was triggered when I confirmed that I was me.....so she knew my first name. | ||
1/28/2018 | Jeff | Kratos | At first, would only tell me that he was Jeff, as if that explained everything. Would not answer questions; kept wanting to know if I was the person responsible for the gas account. Finally said he was from Kratos, yet sent me to this webiste: www.energychoice.ohio.gov. Insisted that there was a mistake on the last 3 months of my bills. Ugh. | ||
2/5/2018 | Ashley Castille | True Energy | truenergy.net | Insisted it wasn't a sales call, then started a sales pitch. | |
2/14/2018 | Michelle | Appstar | When I asked her if she had a website, she said no. When I noted that not having a website was absurd, she reversed herself, and then said she did have a website. But she wouldn't give it to me. Then she hung up on me. | ||
3/1/2018 | Flat Fee Payments | Three calls in as many days from this company--all of them from people with American names who clearly were not American, and who could hardly speak English. | |||
3/15/2018 | Macy | Paradise Promotions | When I asked my first question, she hung up on me. | ||
4/2/2018 | Shane Anderson | Shane Anderson sounded more like a Sanjay or a Rameesh. He called twice. First time, he said he was returning my call. When I asked him what call, he hung up on me. Second call: when I asked what this was about, he said "Yes, sir." When I told him that answer didn't even make any sense, he hung up on me again. | |||
4/4/2018 | John | Flat Fee Payments | John could barely speak English. Does that surprise you? He did, however, know his company's website address. | ||
4/11/2018 | Amy | US Insurance Awareness | Amy could barely speak English. She started out demanding that I answer a survey question. When I asked her what company she was with, she said something about Freedom Group. When I asked her to repeat her answer, that was too much for her and she hung up on me. |