Annoying and possibly fraudulent phone solicitations for extended warranty

A nifty site for finding out who is calling you is whocalled.us. There is a place for comments from others that can provide some interesting reading.

The government's do not call list is https://www.donotcall.gov/. Allow a reasonable amount of time for the list to go into effect before turning someone in. You can list your home phone, and your cell phone with them. Yes, it works...

 

There is a chronic scam going around -- MSNBC article. My girlfriend has gotten calls on her cell phone, which is explicitly illegal. Also, she doesn't own a car.

So they don't know you have a car or the state of your warranty, they're just calling randomly. It's not Toyota.

 

I played the old guy with a little dementia (turned out it was a little too easy.) I think we went about 10-15 minutes and my wife was rolling on the floor.

Besides the phone number, they have the vehicle registration date. They don't know the miles, make, model or age of the car. So if you bought a used car, they make the same offer.

One thing I haven't tried is, "Oh, I sold that car and don't have a car any longer. I just take the bus and walk to the store."

Another option,"Didn't you hear? I had a terrible accident and totaled the car and the judge took away my driver's license."

A third option,"Oh I got so tried of that nonsense, I sold the car and now lease one. If you want, you could call the dealer but I don't have to worry about maintenance any longer."

Bob Wilson

 

The solicitations are not only by phone, they also come in the mail. We've received both. The mail gets a trip to the recycle bin and the phone calls get the old hang up.

 

i got those calls for like 6 months on my direct line at work not long ago. Apperently the person who worked in my position before me got her number on one of those lists and i lost count of how many "This is your final call" messages id find on my voicemail.

 

I got a bunch of ther St. louis ones about a year ago.

 

I think they're dialling numbers sequentially or at random, which is how they get cell phone numbers. This is, as I said, illegal.

 

These sorts of calls are why I stopped using an answering machine years ago. I screen the calls for Caller ID and if I don't recognize it I don't answer. After a couple of times not getting even a machine to pick up, the calls end. (I also do web look ups for ones I think might be legit.)

It is sad that as communications tech has advanced the phone has become less usable rather than moreso. There was a time when I could actually reliably reach folks by phone, and they could reach me. Now everyone is trying to call dead celphone numbers or have no reception in their area and calls are rarely returned because of the amount of spamming--either than or you end up in automated answering hell.

e-mail has suffered similarly. There was a time when e-mail was reasonably quick and useful, but it has been spammed to death and become increasingly unreliable for communicating with friends and family. Fast revolving e-mail addresses and phone numbers make it hard to keep track anymore.

 

i'm on the Texas no-call list and I got one of these (recorded, of course) a while back. i googled the number and it turned out to be a private number in Pennsylvania... i hung up after i heard something about a warranty, of which I already have

 

I get these on my work phone and cell phone. The latter is on the national no-call list. It makes no difference. They come from Las Vegas. Since I don't know anyone in NV, I've quit taking them or let them go to voice mail at work.

I'm assuming that pressing "2" just confirms that they aren't calling an out-of-service number.

My Mom in CA is getting them, from St Louis.

Hopefully, the authorities can get them.

 

I got my 157th Final notice yesterday. Thank goodness for CID and answering machines. I did answer once and asked "Oh! which car does your records show is about to expire?" There was a click and then no one was there. Another time I asked what was the extended warranty for a car with over 100K on it. Click again. I guess we just live with it. We usually don't pick up any more unless we recognize the CID. It's easy enough to call right back if it's someone we didn't recognize or want to talk to. Sorry if that sounds rude. I've also learned to say "No thank you, We're not interested at this time.", and hang up right in the middle of their "managing objections" script. My favorite is a comedian, don't remember who", said his 3 year old loved to talk on the phone and he would say "Just a minute please" and hand the phone to his 3 year old.

 

Probably the same group that prompted me to start this thread in March:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-main-forum/44587-pressured-buy-extended-warrenty-now-now-now.html

Since that thread, they have called back once. At least they're organized. The first time, they said it was about to expire. The second time, they said it had expired, but they're offering a one time chance to renew. Both times they had my name, so it wasn't random dialing.

Of course after the first time, I put their phone number into google, and found they've got two "scams" running. One a 'lower your credit card payments by paying us', and one 'sell you a extended warranty and deny everything'.

Of note, on the second call they specifically claimed that they handle all Toyota warranty extensions. And they claimed that because of this, since I owned a Toyota, we had a 'prior business relationship', and the do not call list does not apply. I told them if they called a third time, I'd head right off to the FCC complaint page and test that theory... They have not called again.

But I did enjoy stringing them along for 45 minutes the second time. Someone, somewhere, expectantly wasted nearly an hour of their life while I claimed to be looking up my warranty, researching my options, when in fact I was playing the silly flash game they interrupted when they called....

-Ken

 

Has anyone tried saying, "I'm sorry, he/she is dead." (Hint, if you really want to rattle them follow up with a Tony Soprano impersonation and say, "Would you like to leave a message?")

 

I had a similar instance of this with my Honda. After actually speaking to a rep for quite some time leading her on about being interested, I asked where she got my information. She stated it was from the company my bank deals with through their car loans, and some bs about how they want you to keep full warranty coverage on the car while your still making payments. She couldn't give me information on the bank's name or any other connecting information. Lucky they didn't call back after I finally talked with them.

I spoke with the bank after that, and they don't use any outside service or company with regards to trying to get you extended warranty coverage.

In today's age, its hard to tell where they get this information from, the sources could be endless. Just beware and never give out or confirm any information if you do ever speak with them.

 

Bump.

Recently, the New York Times published an article on this. Several state attorneys general are investigating these fraudulent calls.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/automobiles/09CALLS.html?ref=automobiles#

 

I do my best to slow 'em down. Figuring they have been instructed to NEVER let a potential sale off the hook, I say "Please wait while I get a pen" and lay the phone down while I go outside and play with my dog and relax.