Damn telemarketers

[byhammerandhand]

I've probably gotten 8 text messages like this in the last 24 hours, up to11 pm.  All about the same but from a different (probably spoofed) phone number.

Hi, a homeowner in Cincinnati is looking for an estimate for a handyman.  You have first priority.  Reply 1 if interested, 3 if not.


Sometimes it's slightly different -- needs help installing a deck, above-ground pool, etc.   Why are they calling me?   I don't have a "handyman service!"

Anyone else bothered by these low-life?

[MinUph]

I get several a day no. phone calls, texts and as always emails. There is a ap called Mr number I use on my phone. It helps a little with the calls and texts. It has really gotten way out of hand.

[Darren Henry]

Too bad there isn't an app that would auto send a text (maybe your cat's obituary) every 15 minutes until they remove your number.

[MinUph]

When my wife gets a call at home she tells them she will get me or our cat and just sets the phone down.

[kodydog]

I get some in my e-mail. One in particular is Home Advisor. I think they are a legit, business to customer service. I've heard their ads on the radio. Their deal is, they send you leads with a description. You choose to respond or not. Every time you give an estimate they charge you. Weather you get the job or not. So I started to join just to see what kind of leads they would send me. Toward the end of the application they asked for my SS number and how much my annual income was. I hit delete.

A few days later they called me. The man, nice sounding guy, said he noticed I didn't finish my application. I told him why and he said they need that info to make sure I'm a legit business and my SS # to do a background check. On their radio ad they claim everyone on their site is thoroughly checked out. He then told me there are 350 people in High Springs looking for an upholsterer. High Springs is a pretty small town, I doubt he had 350 leads and that is where he finally lost me. I told him thanks but no thanks.

[SteveA]

I looked at Home Adviser and the issue I had was that they charge for every call you receive and many people are just shopping without intentions to commit.  HA said they would adjust the numbers if that occurs. 
Recently I did a small job for a new customer and they belonged to a neighborhood association web site where there is a link to insert a contractors name if you were happy with his work.  Once you get on the list folks are willing to give you a chance although they have never used you before.
SA. 

[brmax]

How i wished for the app to do a call back and automaticly get the actual call center people.
On the house phone i just listen for the voice and or a known name and only answer afterwards.
Im somehow lucky, when the family got a personl phone for me it was a used number. Not so good, and honestly i have found it useless to tell them call center personell to remove this number from their list. As this is a newly assigned number, like 7 years! how darn lucky i am  :-X

Floyd

ps: i have used all the no call sign list in my state, also wrote the Senators.   ::)

[sofadoc]

I did some work for a telemarketer. She would answer the door at her home with a headset on. While I'm looking at her furniture, she's auto-dialing away. Pitching everything from insurance to phone plans. All the while folding laundry or washing dishes.

She didn't actually "sell" anything. Her job was just to "set the hook", and then turn them over to someone else to "reel them in".

She said that she dealt with a lot of rude a-holes everyday. She couldn't understand why people had to be such jerks. Apparently, she's never been on the other end of 5 or 6 annoying phone calls a day.

[byhammerandhand]

What I don't understand is that it's a different number every time.   So blocking the # is futile and I don't know how they would get my response.  Last text yesterday was 11 pm and first today was 7:30 am.

I used to get voice mails (without a ring) by some guy who'd leave the same message, Hi this is Tim again, sorry I missed you, but we have business loans, blah blah blah."

The company I worked at for 24 years sold auto-dialer software.   It was designed to predict mean time on phone, mean time to answer (number of rings), percentage of non-answered or rolled to voicemail,  and its goal was to connect to an agent just as the person on the other end finished, "Hello?"  They told me the typical customer was something like an insurance company following up with a policyholder regarding some issue, like a claim.  Not sure I believed that, but whatever.

[SteveA]

My phone service provider offered a nice limited plan for calls and texts that I took advantage of for many years.  When these auto calls started up again I had to go to the unlimited service to prevent going over.  It's gotten cheaper anyway but I didn't like being pushed to buy more minutes than I needed.
Here in NY we were able to block calls but that has ended for some reason.  The most common call is the Chimney Cleaner - and Home Adviser is right up there.
SA

[gene]

I never answer my phone unless I recognize the number. 99% of the time an unknown number is junk.

I've been getting calls from an AZ area code. They never leave a message. I looked them up on the internet because they were calling so often and the phone number is said to be a junk sales phone number.

About a month ago I started getting calls from a local area code phone number. They never left a message. I looked them up on the internet and this local area code phone number is a VoIP. It turns out that the AZ phone number is using a VoIP which means that when they call any phone number in my area code, the local area code phone number comes up on my phone and not the AZ area code phone number. Their out of town call looks like it's a local call. I guess folks are more likely to pick up if it's local?

Keith, if you or the misses have been getting phone calls from someone selling homeopathic remedies to protect you and your loved ones from the devastating effects of Dihydrogen monoxide, that's me. I'm supplementing my upholstery income with this great work at home business that anyone can do. And it only costs $129.99 to get started.

gene

[byhammerandhand]

I've been wary of Dihydrogen monoxide since I learned of its many dangers years ago.   And way before that W.C.Fields warned about its issues with fish.   If the rest of you have no idea what this is all about google it.

http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/96409-i-don-t-drink-water-fish-fuck-in-it

I would think if Sprint, AT&T, Verizon or any of the others would come up with a "bad hombres list" and filter out the spoofed number and block them, they'd clean up on the cell phone plan market.

----
On a related note, my wife has been getting a lot of e-mails from PNC bank to her and Bob (same last name) regarding processing and progress on a mortgage loan application.  After spending about 15 minutes on the phone with them, they said they must have made a typo when entering the e-mail address.  Yesterday, she got a reply all cc from Bob to the bank.

I told her the quickest way to get it resolved was to reply to Bob with a message like this.

"Bob,
I don't think we should really go forward this this loan.  Frankly, this life is not working for me and I've been seeing someone else.    Wishing you the best and sorry  we couldn't make it happen.   -- Sue"

[gene]

"Your order from Amazon has been cancelled" with a cancellation number, is a new one that started last month in my emails.

Last weekend I was at a local carnival and a hypnotist hypnotized me. He told me I was a soft, malleable metal with a periodic table number of 82. It seems I am easily lead.

gene

[byhammerandhand]

Next time  I get a customer that doesn't want me to use "chemicals" to clean a spot of their sofa, I'm just going to get right up to it and yell, "Out, damned spot!"

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/you-cant-escape-chemicals/372760/?utm_source=atlfb