Ladies & Gents, Beware!

In reading about the incredible presistance of 21st Century Concepts/Royal Prestige in repeatedly calling tammyjill .. it reminded me of something that happened early this morning. Luckily we have Caller ID, but we`ve been getting a ton of 'Out of Area' calls, which, almost every single time, is a telemarketer, but not always. We generally don`t pick up these calls, but they`ve been driving me nuts. So, this morning I answered it. The man asked for my husband, totally demolishing the last name (easiest giveaway it`s a telemarketer on the line is having a difficult looking name!). So I knew this was not someone we know. Without identifying myself, I simply asked, in a terse voice, 'Who is this?' (I hate when they call and ask to talk to someone without identifying themselves. Right there you know they`re hiding something). Well, the guy finally gave a name and started saying 'from AT&T...' So, before he could finish, I told him to stop calling us and remove our name from their call list ... still believing this was a sales pitch. This is the part that bugs me .. the guy said he needed me to confirm the name and address information that appears on our bill!! So, then I let him have it .. saying that was insane, and how I was the wife of the house and I wanted our number removed from the call list. For all I know, this could have been some wacko who had gotten our phone number, and was now looking for our address! If they called MY house, why should I have to confirm that it`s us?? How was I supposed to confirm he was really from AT&T?? Maybe I`m overreacting, but there are too many crazy stories these days, and there have been so many warnings over the years about not giving out private information over the phone to people who call you. Obviously if you call a company for billing inquiries, etc., they`re going to ask those kinds of questions. But don`t answer in reverse, when a 'company' calls you and starts asking questions. Heads Up, everyone!!

Ladies & Gents, Beware!

I just posted how to remove yourself from these lists in the Royal Prestige thread below...

Thanks for the tips...but it was his ? for info that was creepy *NM*

Ladies & Gents, Beware!

I got a call this week from a telemarketer. They didn't identify themselves initially, but said since I am a Master Card member in good standing, blah blah blah, so I thought it was my BANK! They were trying to sell a prescription plan. Then they said they would send my name to So and so and I would be billed on my credit card 19.95 per month. She wanted the last four digits of my credit card for confirmation. Red flag!!! I said if this is my bank they have my credit card...smelling a problem. She said that she was with company B that gets the names from company A and gives them to company C. This was NOT my bank. So somebody is SELLING credit card information! I was so angry I hung up without getting company name and phone number to call and ream out and call the BBB on.

Ladies & Gents, Beware!

That WAS freaky Kel! Usually a telemarketer has a 1 or 2 second delay before they answer the phone (you pick up, say 'hello', there is a delay before they respond). If a call says 'unavailable' on my caller ID, (I always answer since my SIL lives in Europe) and there is the delay, I immediately hang up, because I HATE telemarketers.

Anonymous Call Rejection Service

Telemarketers are definitely annoying and as soon as my caller ID flashes 'Unavailable' I don`t even bother to pick it up and sometimes they call at like 8 am on a Saturday or Sunday morning...Ugh! I found out about the Anonymous Call Rejection Service, what you do is dial *77 to turn it on, and to turn it off is *87. What it does is it doesn`t let any calls through that are 'unavailable' or 'private'. When someone calls you and they have a private number, they are prompted to dial *82 which allows their number to be displayed on your Caller ID box. This works for me most of the time, however there are still some 'unavailable' calls that do get through, but not nearly as much as they used to.

Ladies & Gents, Beware!

thanks Kel :)