What does Do Not Call really mean?

Cardholder Services

I am getting calls on my home phone again from Cardholder Services. They also call my office line and my cell on occasion. The first two are and have been on the DNC list.

Cardholder Services starts with the recorded message that this is about your credit card account - there is no problem, but this may be your last chance to lower your rate. Problem is they are not a creditor. I believe they are a sham. No matter whether you push a button per their instructions or get a person on the line, they don't accept "take me off your frickin list." Today I actually got a person who spoke English. "John" was his name. And I politely asked John for his last name and number for my FTC complaint. "John" told me "go to he77" and hung up.

I went directly to the FTC site and filled out yet another complaint. It only takes a minute. I urge you to do the same if CS calls you.

But I really wonder which is worse right now, CS who won't listen and take me off their call list, or the FTC who HAS to getting many complaints and won't listen to them?

I stated filing FCC complaints recently on Card Services myself. They call my mother all the time and she does not have, nor has ever had a credit card!

I have had one or two nice telemarketers that assured me they would add my name to their internal DNC list. I've had a few that were rude. One even said something to the effect that he would make sure my number was in every rotation.

At least now they are putting a real-looking number in the Caller ID. For a long time it would be random characters. Mine are from a 206 area code.

I long for the day when my daily Justice Dept email headline is "Card Services Shut Down and Going to Prison".

I got a call at home just yesterday with a 206 area code. I never answer my home or cell phone if I don't recognize the number. And the ones that are stupid enough to leave a message? I report those to the FTC.

Similar to a business entity with an ambiguous name like "Card Services," I remember hearing years ago about long distance companies naming themselves things like "I Don't Know" or "I Don't Care." This way, supposedly they could legally change your long distance service since those phrases are often stated by the call recipient (i.e. "Who would you like as your long distance carrier? - I Don't Care!"). I don't know (ha!) how true this is, but it is just insidious and strange enough to be possible.

Two words:

Air horn!

i like when they get me and say they can lower my credit card payment. I explain that I have no balance but if i charge something it is paid off monthly. However, I continue, since I currently pay nothing and they promised to lower it, when would they be sending me a check...

leaves them flustered every time.

I used to be polite to these callers, as I know they have a job to perform and it is a tough market. However, since my number is also on the national DNC registry, i no longer feel the need to be polite. I just say no thank you and hang up, or else give the phone to my wife and tell her it is for her.

I hang up on them, but my husband will chat with them for a little bit, then ask for their name, time zone and home phone number so that he can call back and interrupt their dinner.

I filed a complaint with the FTC and state attorney general...

Perhaps sending this to a news organization would be in order - How the FTC isn't investigating or taking care of the DNC list.

I have complained on the site due to daily calls on my cellphone. The FTC is the problem.

One time I got a live person on the phone and told them to check their paycheck because if the co does not care about violating the law for DNC what would make them pay them correctly, Got a Hmmm,

IMHO Cardholder Services is exactly why the DNC list exists and if the FTC does their job they will be fined millions, their phone lines will be ripped from the walls and "John" will be quartered and burned at the stake. (I suppose I'm still a little miffed.)

I'll bet the worse part is the people they "help" end up with damaged credit.

I started getting these calls again, but from a 785 area code. It doesn't help to ask them to take you off the list. One guy hung up on me as soon as I asked not to be called again!

I get tons of calls from Tacoma, WA and Gresham or Salem, OR. They're mostly political polls though, sigh. I do get cardholder services calls though. This can be confusing for our customer base, since "Card Services" is a legitimate company that we use for CC/check processing, so if a CC is flagged for potential fraud and they are trying to contact the card holder, they can get a legitimate call from this company. Then later on, they get Cardholder Services and can equate the two quite easily. We've sent out multiple pieces on this in an attempt to educate.

why, because she didn't stay on the phone and talk to you longer?

If I don't recognize the phone number, or it comes across as "Unidentified" or "Private", I don't answer the call. I give that job to my answering machine.

This is an oldy but goody! The minor imporvement is to speak very quietly first so that "John/Hameesh" will turn up the volume on the head set first.

You can also learn to say "Your mother breeds with donkeys" in a number of languages.....

Another good entry for the "How to not make your wife happy" thread.

I got one just now on my cell phone.

I picked it up and started talking gibberish......no one responded.

Interesting article on this subject in The Record, North Jersey's largest newspaper: Robocalls

Call me a problem solver allow the recipient of the call to reverse the charges (some of us older people know about this)and let us get a fee of just $9.99. The Providers (ATT Verizon ...)can charge the caller an additional $9.99 per call.

I love getting these calls. Who doesn't want to lower their payment or rate? But wait, there's more!

Seriously, folks, there is no law that you have to answer your phones now that we have this thing called voice mail.

How about when they text message you and you do not have unlimited text or cellphones when they eat up you mins, when you delete the msg.

1. Text "STOP" back to the SMS message. If they keep sending, file a complaint with the FCC *and* file a complaint with your Representative, Senator, and state AG. (Also submit to the FTC.)

2. As far as your cell phone minutes are concerned, if you have requested them to stop, see above suggestion about where to file your complaints.

As we all know, simply filing your complaint with the regulatory agency may not get the attention you wish. Therefore, involve the politicians and give them an opporunity to serve you.

Heck, I'd even consider submitting it to the CFPB just for fun and to see what Recess Rich would do with them.

1. tried did not work and charge extra mins for new text.
2. see above and entire thread

If it is not a legit service and is simply a Social Engineering call (give me your card number, etc), they change their numbers so often that the FTC can't keep up.

Reporting these calls to the FTC is akin to reporting the Nigerian Scam mailings that we receive to the local PD. It's not going to stop. Simply stay educated on what you should/should not divulge in a phone conversation.

See BB1's comment above regarding the air horn. Have fun with it.

what's he going to do, drive his big wheel to their offices and threaten them?

Perhaps you're prone to giving up too easily?

You obviously do not know me. I have been know for getting a bank Mortgage attorney to cry at a previous personal mortage closing.

I eagerly await the response that your elected congressmen and senators provide...that should be a good one.

Could it be that that is what the unsolicited call is about?

Sound like a task for Durbin. (to keep him occupied)

Did you ask John if you could speak to "Peggy"?

No, Happy, not the congressmen, but the agency to which the complaint is referred. You worked at the Fed, right? Don't you remember the special treatment a complaint got when it was referred to the Chairman?

Then why all the negativity about this issue and your apparent desire to accept the status quo?

Who is accepting it? It is reported daily. I have tried to get the employees who work there (when I can speak to a live body) to quit as they are in violation of law. I have even tried to get one to utilize the whistleblower laws and explained that they can get cash.

Ed, when I posted my ideas of what people can do about it, your response implied that it was a waste of time and that it would do no good. Have I misunderstood what you mean?

It is a waste of time and it does no good. Reporting will only work if the FTC gives them a swift kick and fines them more than they are making, but that has not happened all you need to do is google the number and see the #s ofcomplaints after it is reported. You can also notice the date that the first complaint was filed and years later I am getting the same calls from the same number. If it was a mega bank that was the violator I am sure it would be a different story.

so it's okay if it does no good, but complaining about it doing no good, well, Moonie has an issue with...

Yep! Really not that hard to figure out.

Great spin, there Happy, but that's not what I said, is it?

You guys are such pessimists. I'm glad you don't work for me.

Update:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/11/01/ftc-sues-robocallers-over-30-million-scam/

Hooray! It's ridiculous any more!

Interesting article. I received a phone call just this morning at 9:00 am on my cell phone from "Card Services" telling me that if I would just press 9 I would get my credit card interest rates reduced, but it was a limited time offer and I needed to act now. I pressed 9 and asked them who they represented. The man told me to have a nice day, but he didn't hang up so I pressed him further and said , well you are the one who called me so which company do you represent? He named about 4 banks. I told him I didn't think he was who he claimed to be and hung up without providing info. I also filed a complaint with the FTC.

What does 'Do Not Call' mean? Unfortunately, nothing

I heard on the news a couple of weeks ago that the government was offering $50K to anyone who could come up with a method to stop these calls that get around the original do not call system

I have a way "Counting my $50K". Now what is that website.

How about hitting the companies with CMPs...

Sorry I think it would likely be the other way around. And the sentiment would still hold.

There's bound to be a solution to these call in Dodd-Frank somewhere.....

I say any call that comes in with either an unrecognized or blocked number gets automatically forwarded to every member of Congress.

it means....

call me...maybe

!!

Holy Carp.... I almost choked to death on diet coke.. That's too funny!!!

I had a call here at work a few hours ago from the CDC. I thought 'The Centers for Disease Control'? No, it was a recorded message about some information they had sent to me previously about lowering my interest rate. At work? I highly doubt it.

Geesh!

I have been tempted but have not yet done so to respond to the effect that "Well this better be good because you have just interruped one of the most intimate moments that I have ever had in my life!" I wonder what type of response would result?