I do nothing and......

[Vol]

a fella who calls me up on the phone yesterday, while I was babysitting my niece. I don't usually pick up calls I do not recognize, just let them leave a message. But I had my hands full! So, I just picked up the phone and say hello... It takes a couple of seconds for him to answer, so I figure I am dealing with a telemarketer. Oh Lord! I'm stuck.

He says, "Hello Mr. Lane." I say, "Hi."
Next he says, "Can I get your address or last four of your social security number to verify that you are Mr. Lane?"

I asked, "Exactly who am I speaking with?"
He said, "I need your social or address to tell you." lol.

I said, "I just want to know what company you represent, you called me!"
He says. "It is against Federal Law for me to tell you without verifying.."

I just hung up the phone. I have no clue what that was about!! Breaking Federal Law!

[barrysloate]

Anybody who asks for your SS# without identifying himself is a scammer. And that is a pretty outrageous phone call.

[Leon]

I had a guy call me yesterday saying he was with AT&T. He seemed like a very high pressure sales guy (unlike a real AT&T person). He said he would be able to get me a discount on my per minute cost for long distance. I told him I get unlimited long distance for free. He told me he could get me discounts on a per minute basis. I said "what the heck, are you really with AT&T?". He said some kind of crap like he was calling on their behalf....He could tell I knew the jig was up and he hung up. That was a weird one too. I am quite sure he was trying to slam me into another long distance service. What an idiot he was!! I laughed when he hung up.

[barrysloate]

Leon- what really galls me is that Judy and I have made numerous attempts to get onto no call lists, and have done whatever we have been instructed to do to get them to stop. And yet they still keep coming, usually several times a week. And I never even let these guys go into their spiels. Once I say "hello" and there is like a two second gap before I hear a response, I know right away it's bad news. I usually hang up within a few seconds. I don't even want to listen to what these creeps have to say. I just hate these calls.

[Tsaiko]

I think the cable rates must have gone up across the board. About four months ago I had renegotiated my overall plan, tv w/HBO/cable/phone, to about $112, then this month it's $129. I think I did get a rate increase notice, but ignored it.
It's amazing how they nickel and dime you, $5 for phone modem $5 for the cable modem and $5 to keep your number unlisted. I use Charter, who has the best cable speeds and reliability in my area, but the phone absolutely sucks.

As for the do not call list, I'm on it, but I still continue to get calls. Mostly from construction/remodeling companies asking if I need any work done. After repeatedly asking them to not call, they still did. Finally, I told them that I was thinking about doing some remodeling and asked them if they could come out and give me an estimate. They asked about what type of remodeling I was thinking about doing and I told them I really needed to put a new roof on my barn. When they asked me to verify my address, I gave them a Montana address. They said, "you're not at the California address xyz" and I said, no we just kept our CA phone number when we moved.

I'm not sure that was a permanent fix, but I haven't heard from them in over a month, which is unusual.

Here's another price anomaly I ran into just yesterday, which might provide a chuckle. I need surgery and I have no health insurance, so I'm negotiating with my doctor, who ended up giving me a real good deal. I wanted to go over the complete list of costs so I knew exactly what was what and one item was $100 for crutches. I told them I had a set of crutches and they said, "good, then you can deduct $40 from the bill." I didn't even ask.....

[novakjr]

Originally Posted by Tsaiko

one item was $100 for crutches. I told them I had a set of crutches and they said, "good, then you can deduct $40 from the bill." I didn't even ask.....

That's really f***ed up. And people wonder why the medical industry in this country is such a mess.

Anyways, does anyone else get the random calls, that when you answer it says "please hold for the next available representative", with absolutely no reference to what the call is about or what company it's from? I usually, just hang up, but I'm pretty sure automated calls like that are illegal now. I remember reading something a while back where a guy was having a heart attack, and for some reason the people couldn't get the call to disconnect due to a glitch in the automated system. Anyways, I believe the guy died, and as a result a law was made to keep this from happening again.

[barrysloate]

Tsaiko- that's really funny. They assessed you the "$60 for not using the crutches" charge. Seems normal to me.

[teetwoohsix]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Leon- what really galls me is that Judy and I have made numerous attempts to get onto no call lists, and have done whatever we have been instructed to do to get them to stop. And yet they still keep coming, usually several times a week. And I never even let these guys go into their spiels. Once I say "hello" and there is like a two second gap before I hear a response, I know right away it's bad news. I usually hang up within a few seconds. I don't even want to listen to what these creeps have to say. I just hate these calls.

Barry- the reason you hear a two second gap is because some telemarketing companies (like collection agencies) use a dialer system-it dials about 100 #'s at a time, and the first one that picks up is what it puts up on the callers computer screen.......so while it is putting the information up on the screen, it takes a couple of seconds...........so the person who's calling has no idea who they are calling until the name & info pops up on the screen.

Also, I believe these companies sell information back and forth to each other- I get emails from places trying to sell things to me, and I suspect they get the information (maybe bought it?) from places I've "unsubscribed" from......real seedy stuff.

Sincerely, Clayton

[pgellis]

Leon's original post made me look at my telephone bill a little closer when it arrived in the mail yesterday.

I am charged $31.48 this past month for "Taxes, Fees & Other Charges"

Such things as:

Federal Excise Tax
VES MA State Tax
Mass. State & Local Tax
911/Disability Access Fee Charge
Verizon Property Tax Recovery Charge
VES Universal Service Fund Surcharge
Federal Universal Service Fee
Federal Subscriber Line


What an absolute joke!

[Leon]

Originally Posted by pgellis

Leon's original post made me look at my telephone bill a little closer when it arrived in the mail yesterday.

I am charged $31.48 this past month for "Taxes, Fees & Other Charges"

Such things as:

Federal Excise Tax
VES MA State Tax
Mass. State & Local Tax
911/Disability Access Fee Charge
Verizon Property Tax Recovery Charge
VES Universal Service Fund Surcharge
Federal Universal Service Fee
Federal Subscriber Line


What an absolute joke!

I especially like the "Verizon Property Tax Recovery Charge". If I am not mistaking, and I could be, they are being taxed so are charging you for it? That almost sounds illegal but what do I know? I saw the same thing on my bill.....they all do it.