Repetitive calls
Complaint
David Visser
Country: United States
We are being bombarded by calls from this company and they are impossible to get any information from as far as who they are. Thier questions are deceptive and thier foreign(?) callers are hard to understand. I have asked not to be called again and they continue to call. Thier offer is to verify your information for a free listing but then it is only for 30 days and then you will be charged unless you cancel...I wonder if they would give you a valid number to cancel?
Comments
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/nTZbHMpSGgBnugjLW2Akuw
Most "business directory" callers are scams, in one form or another.
This one has a long history of complaints of deceptive telemarketing, followed by harassing and abusive attempts to collect payments for listings many claim they never agreed to.
Even if they claim now that you can "cancel" within 30 days, nothing prevents them from the same abusive collection tactics should they simply "forget" about your cancellation.
Many companies are misled into accepting the alleged "renewals." The illegitimate directory provider immediately sends an invoice for this service, usually in the amounts between $500 and $900 dollars, and threatens businesses with collections or credit report damage should they dispute the charges or decline to pay.
Don't be taken into this scam this is theft and its illegal!
This scam does get worse. Lets say you do pay one of these companies either using your credit card or by cheque, little do you know they reprocess your card a year later because they have all the info on file not only that but then they turn around and sell your company profile to another telemarketing office with your credit card information for a generous profit. They will even be bold enough to send you a final invoice to close off the account just around the time your getting your new credit card (as all cards are renewed after a few years)
If you've paid by cheque, what happens is a shocking discovery. Not only do they take your checking information, they get authorization to withdraw from the account many months later and send you a notice claiming they’ve taken fees for online services.
There are limits on how far telemarketers can go, that is why we provide information on how to put an end to telemarketer calls and more efficiently, how to correspond with them about your account and/or to dispute a collection action and can teach you what are your rights in terms of privacy.
You can find out more information on our website: www.spgconsultants.com
By informing each other, we protect each other
I was contacted three days ago by the zero number asking "Is this the owner of White Light Chakra Alignment and Meditation?" That is my former business name. I told them yes and he told me he was with "EZ Online Yellow Pages." I stopped him right there and told him I wasn't interested in paying for any advertising at this time as I just lost $15,000 in advertising without generating any revenue. That's when he told me that he wasn't trying to sell me advertising. He was just trying to update my business information for their listing. So I told him he had my business name wrong - yada, yada. He told me that it was a "free 30 day trial," that's when I became very skeptical.
I gave him the information he requested and stressed that I would not be giving out any credit card or bank information at all. He didn't seem bothered by that, finished collecting my information, and then asked if he could transfer me to his supervisor to confirm the call. I agreed and, after the supervisor got a hold of me is when I realized the scam. She ran through to verify all the info Alex had obtained from me. After that she wanted to do a recording from a "third party verification company" is what she called it. After I reiterated to her I wouldn't be giving out my billing information under any circumstances. She, too, seemed unbothered by that and reassured me that it was a completely free 30 day trial period and if they were to bill me I could sue them. That made me more skeptical.
She told me I'd be asked four questions during the "third party verification process." I was to answer (as per instructions) to all the questions. The first question was "please state your full name and your position with the company." The second question was "please state the name of the business." The third question was "are you able to make billing decisions for the company?" Last question was "are you 18 years of age or older (then I don't remember verbatim but is was something to do with being linked to the phone number they called or typed into the verification system)." By the way, when the recording for the "verification system" started it let me know point blank that it was actually a third party biller that they were connecting me with (just as I suspected). They (the agent/supervisor) told me that they would press all the keys necessary to move through the recording and all I had to do was speak into the message recorder. Convenient... The first thing it asked her to key in was her agent id then it asked for the account number verification as it said my cell phone number then she had to key it in. Then it said I would be BILLED $40.00 per month after the 30 day trial period if I wished to continue with the program. Nice eh? So that's why none of them were concerned with my stating I wouldn't be giving out my credit card or bank information. They were using my cell phone account to bill me.
This is a scam because they never sent my packet via email to me and they have yet to list me on all the search engines they claimed I'd be listed on. I called that call back number today and spoke with Francis and he asked if I'd like to cancel and I said, "what about my packet and 30 day trial. I have a confirmation number stating I get a 30 day trial (see I should be able to cancel any time within 30 days). I'm supposed to get a call back from their computer support but something tells me that will not happen. They won't list me until the 30 day trial period is over and I'm actually paying. That is the scam...
If they call me again I intend to call the FCC. This is a type of harrasement and interferes with legitimate business.
Thanks for the postings. !!!
How many times can they call and bother business people who have better things to do than waste time on these calls? You never know who it is because the phone number is always different. Today's was Unavailable!
It is interesting that this has been going on for so long and nothing has been done about it.
list. I doubt the FCC can do much to stopp the calls. I may send this
over to our local TV station that does a Call 4 Action. Maybe they can do something.
She gave me a confirmation number and also warned me that there may be multiple people will try to contact me with the same request and I can simply ignore them. She also said that our updated info will be up and running in 2 days. It has been 4 and nothing is on their page more than basic they could get from the real Yellow Page. What she failed to tell me that all these additional callers will be calling using her name. The last caller was actually a male, still Bianca Garcia. I did get irritated because of these multiple calls from: 00000000, 888-666-8196, 888-880-8518, 231-732-2364, etc. They do hang up on you as soon as sense that you are not willing to talk more.
Finally I just call them and asked to cancel my “free membership”. The woman on the other end sounded reasonable. She confirmed when was my account created and promised to cancelled it. She also promised to put my number on their “Do not call list”, will see how it is going to work. Gave me a new confirmation number for the cancelation and also her name and business id. Surprisingly she was not a Bianca, but Connie. I guess I will see in a few days whether it is going to work and will have to monitor my cell phone bill (I was stupid enough to give them my number during the initial conversation).
Thanks to all for the very helpful posts.