FTC goes after warranty robocallers
Those annoying robocalls asking if you'd like to extend the factory warranty on your car may soon come to an end.
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission filed lawsuits against three companies--Voice Touch and Transcontinental Warranty, both of Florida, and Network Foundations, based in Illinois--alleging these companies violated the Do Not Call registry law by making more than 1 billion robocalls since 2007 to residences, businesses, and mobile phones.
The suit also alleges that the calls, which have generated more than $10 million since 2007, offer unnecessary and false warranty extensions for several thousands of dollars. And that the firms placing the calls also violated laws by blocking caller ID.
FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz in a statement called these telemarketing schemes one of the most aggressive the commission has ever encountered.
"I'm not sure which is worse, the abusive telemarketing tactics of these companies or the way they try to deceive people once they get them on the phone," Leibowitz said. "Either way, we intend to shut them down."
Voice Touch and Network Foundations are telemarketing firms that were supposedly making the calls for Transcontinental Warranty, which was selling $2,000 to $3,000 extended car warranties.
The FTC has received tens of thousands of complaints about these calls since 2007. People answering the prerecorded robocalls would hear a message telling them that the original factory warranty on their cars was about to expire and that they should extend coverage before it's too late.
Many consumers receiving these calls were already on the national Do Not Call list. Apparently, the telemarketers were calling nearly every phone number in an area code, regardless of whether these consumers even had a car or not. For example, I live in New York City and haven't owned a car in 11 years, and over the past two years, I've received several of these calls both at home and on my cell phone. Even emergency 911 call centers have been harassed with these calls.
The FTC has asked for temporary restraining orders to halt the illegal robocalls. And the agency is also seeking financial compensation from the companies that can be used to pay back victims of the scam.
A Network Foundations spokesman told CNNmoney.com that the FTC's lawsuit against the company "is a misunderstanding." And representatives from Voice Touch and Transcontinental Warranty have not been reached for comment.
Marguerite Reardon has been a CNET News reporter since 2004, covering cell phone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate, as well as the ongoing consolidation of the phone companies. E-mail Maggie. 
Failing that they need to ban robots.
Failing that, they really fail what the vast majority of the public pays for the privildge of having a phone wants to use it for.
Or prosecute violators of the Do Not Call List. Filing a complaint at http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm doesn't seem to to much good. Next time you get a telemarketing call do a web search on the calling number, if you have Caller ID, and see how many complaints there are about that number. Some of these people have been violating Do Not Call for years.
"Failing that they need to ban robots."
They are illegal here in California, but going after a robocall from out of state is tough.
What I find interesting is that these robocallers were not a problem until some Congressman started receiving them. So I recommend contacting your elected representatives and let them know how you feel about telemarketing.
I have PhoneValet from Parlient Software, www.parliant.com which lets me set up some rules/scripts for incoming calls. One of things I do is blacklist certain callers based upon the number, the area code and prefix, or text in the caller ID. For those blacklisted I hear one ring and that it is it, but the call is logged. This is Mac software, but there is probably something similar for you Windows users.
Automated recording , and they spoof #s also and tell you to press 1 to claim your prize. 90% of the time you can never get through!
They stopped calling.
Hopefully they make an example of these two companies.
Then, for an encore, maybe the FTC will make an example of one or more companies that try to cram your phone bill. That one really pissed me off. First time I've never filed a complaint with the FTC.
They have called my home at least 5 times. My cellphone more than once, and even twice at work - on a temp job - in an office that only opened 3 months ago.
Thats the advantage/disadvantage of a corporation, the worst you can do is go after the company, there is no owner only shareholders and shutting them down does no good as you said, no corporation under a new name.
So I hit #1 to speak to a representative and small talk them until she hangs up.
The voice belongs to some middle aged woman.
Our company loses 10-20 minutes a month per cell phone (50 cells) because these folks call 10-20 times a month on every cell in our company. Then I get it on my personal phone. Then on my work phone. Then at home. It's bs! Telemarketers that call CELL PHONES need to be dragged out into a street and shot, especially when their response to "This is a cell phone on the DNC" is "Well what are you going to do about it?"
don't get mad, get even. if you waste time you will get purged from that company's list, so act interested and waste time before hanging up.
Last time I got one, I pressed the key during the recorded pitch to get through to the "representative." I told him I was really worried about my warranty expiring, but I had another call coming in any minute so I needed a number where I could call him back if we got interrupted. He hesitated, but eventually gave me his business name and incoming number. Then I said "Oops, there's my other call," hung up, and forwarded the info I had collected to the FTC.
May not accomplish much, but I feel that at least I did something.
Just play along. Say, Yeah, I really want that. Waste as much time with them as you can. If they ask for your phone number (seems they sometimes don't know who they are calling maybe do to the robocalls) just give them a number of someone or an organization you don't like. I like to give them the number for the local church of $cientology. Or sometimes they do know who they are calling. Then tell them you are moving tomorrow and give them the "new" contact and to call you tomorrow...
Maybe I'm twisted but it does help me with stress.
[scum] BLA BLA BLA BLA.....
[Me] Is this a marketing call?
[scum] Yes this is.
[Me] Telemarketing is a rough job.
[Scum] You have no idea.
[Me] Have you ever considered a career in medical transcription? At the {School Name} We teach both medical transcription as well as insurance coding....
[Scum] Um..... Have a nice day {click.}
wasted time kills profits in a call center. these calls happen because the business is profitable. raising costs with wasted time negatively affects those profits.
all call centers (tech support, customer service, collections, and otherwise) measure costs and profits in minutes per call and calls per operator. shorter phone calls mean that operators can take more calls in a shift; operators that handle more calls in a shift are more profitable than operators that handle fewer calls. wait time (sitting in queue waiting for an operator) and hold time (connected to an operator but not doing anything) are things all call centers want to avoid because it kills their metrics. if you don't want these calls, you have to kill their metrics.
if they call you at work, hit 1 to speak to an operator, then hit hold and hang up your phone. your call will sit in queue and connect to an operator who will have to disconnect the call. most calls only hang around for 30-60 seconds so you won't miss much. dead calls sit in queue and take slots that could be filled by real calls.
if you are a troublemaker, they will purge your number from their lists. after doing this at my office, these calls have dropped from several per day to only a few couple per week.
if they call your cell/home hit one and then just set the phone aside. most operators can only sit on hold for a short while before they are authorized to terminate the call, so your phone will only be tied up for a minute or so.
if you want to be especially disruptive, hit 1 and talk to the operator but don't let the conversation go anywhere. act interested and then ask stupid questions. tell them to hold on for short but frequent intervals. act like you are not sure and want to know more. get the operator to go through the spiel a few times and then say you are not interested. pretend to be scared or worried that the proposal is illegal.
the longer you get them to talk, the more expensive your call becomes.
the more of us that agree to waste time, the less profitable these operations become. these outfits do not respect the law or the value of people's time, so we need to make sure that disrespect is as expensive as possible.
my friend used to hit the receiver with an air horn. call center workers wear head sets and therefore can't pull the receiver away from their ears that fast. i think that's pretty mean, so you should probably reserve that treatment for only the most tenacious of offenders.
- by Scenario1 May 19, 2009 11:24 AM PDT
- I simply hand the phone to my 3-year-old and tell him it's Grandma calling.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
-
- by elleneyegreen May 20, 2009 8:15 AM PDT
- Aaaahahahahaha!!! Touche and bravo on a job well done!!!
- Like this
-
(25 Comments)