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Old 03-22-2008, 11:30 PM   #21
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Dex - I don't think that would work because they're calling from several different numbers. I don't know if somehow they work out of one place with multiple numbers or are actually located in several states.
What really bothered me, besides the incessant calling, is the way they talked to me. You don't know who you're dealing with out there. I have given my number to FEW people. The folks that I bought my extended warranty from didn't even have the number. I have a feeling that they don't even know if I have an extended warranty - I think they got the number from my cell or internet provider and started making calls.
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Old 03-23-2008, 05:01 AM   #22
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If they persist, you can report them. I would... it is probably one of your few ways to get even.
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Old 03-23-2008, 05:58 AM   #23
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After reading a number of posts on this thread it just hit me now~ even those who do not sign up for extended warranties still get harassed, though more gently by these trolls kind folks.

I have never purchased an extended warranty for any product that I have ever purchased. However, after about a year or two after I have made a purchase of a major item (car, TV, washer/dryer, dish washer etc) I get numerous extended warranty offers for the same product over and over again. I just throw the out unless they have a prepaid envelope and I return that with a "no thanks note". It occurs to me now that the only reason that I get mailers is the fact that I have not enrolled in their slimy, twisted, demented, swindle sales offer and given them my #.
The same thing happens, via mail, when you get a HELOC. At least it happened to us. Got a $100K HELOC just for a backup source for emergency funds and have never withdrawn anything from it. The mail for insurance to cover $100K is still coming, although it has leveled off at about one a week, after about 7 months. At the start we were getting them at the rate of about 10 or 15 a week. They apparently get the information off of the County Filings of the mortgage on the property.

BTW I would never reply to these types of mailings and let them know you received it. That just verifies you are there and names and address is good then they sell that fact to others (their so called affiliates) and it will start all over.
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Old 03-23-2008, 07:45 AM   #24
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Whether from extended warranty services or elsewhere, these calls are extremely annoying. Being on the Do Not Call list has helped a lot, but is not a complete solution.

They are required to take you off of their list if you request it, but unless you can clearly define who is calling you don't have a lot of recourse. If I get a call from someone that seems somewhat reputable, I ask that my name and number be removed from thier list. You can usually tell by their response whether you were accurate in your estimate of their reputation. For the others, if I have the time and I'm in the mood, I make some fun out of it. Try answering every question they ask with a question of your own, and see where it takes you! It can be quite amusing.
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Old 03-23-2008, 08:21 AM   #25
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I have been receiving recorded phone messages concerning my car warranty on my home phone, which is on the "Do Not Call" list. I never purchased an additional warranty for my 2000 Toyota.

I would say I receive several such calls per week. I get a lot more calls related to the elections, polls, and my "Mastercard or Visa" (I have neither). Every day I receive from 1-10 such calls on my home phone, mostly recorded. I get none on my cell phone.

I am thinking of dropping my land line after ER.
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Old 03-23-2008, 09:44 AM   #26
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Old 03-23-2008, 09:58 AM   #27
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Unfortunately, people you have recently done business with can get around the "do not call" restrictions.
Not exactly. They can call once. If you tell them 'Put me on your DO Not Call list', it is illegal for them to call again.

Also, as I understand it, the wording can be important. Technically, you must say 'Put me on your Do Not Call list', that is supposedly how the law is written. Slimeballs might use this to circumvent you if you just say 'don't call me'.

Ah, here's one source to that:

Insiders: To Get Telemarketers To Stop, You Must Specifically Say "Put Me On Your Do Not Call List"
Quote:
To Get Telemarketers To Stop, You Must Specifically Say "Put Me On Your Do Not Call List"

According to a reader who works as a telemarketer for a timeshare company, it's not enough to say say, "Stop calling me," to get yourself off a company's calling list, you must unequivocally request the removal.
"If you want a telemarketer to stop calling you, do not say "Quit calling me" or "Don't call me again." In some companies, Reps are informed under strict guidelines to only delete records if the customer specifically requests they do so. Telemarketers are only required to put you on the "Do Not Call" list if you SPECIFICALLY request to be put on it. Be clear about this and ask for written documentation to be mailed to you if they have your mailing address, but don't provide it to them if they do not."
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Old 03-23-2008, 10:21 AM   #28
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I have been getting calls from an organization that advertises that they can lower the interest rate on my revolving credit cards. Like I had any....I hung up on them for weeks then finally pushed the 1 for a talk with a human. Their new trick is to hang up before you can get the entire "Please put me on your do not call list" statement out.
I am going for an air horn tomorrow.
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Old 03-23-2008, 10:41 AM   #29
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I never answer the phone at home! That's why God created answering machines! We've let the machine take all the calls for the last 10 years......most all of the tele-racketeers have given up all hope of ever hearing a live human on our end, and they quit calling us loooong ago....even before I put our numbers on the DNL. I also put our names and address on the "Opt-out Prescreen" list.
Heck, nobody ever calls us anymore, and we never get all of that marvelous junk mail anymore either!!! It's almost like we no longer exist.....what a wonderful feeling!!!
This has worked better for us than we ever expected. I use the phone to transmit, not for entertaining everyone else. The computers light up the ringer at the same time every day for five or six days in a row, detect the answering machine, and move on.

Another reason to turn the ringers off was the girlfriend calls. They can't believe they're getting our answering machine at our kid's # so they call five or six times just to see if she's screening her calls. One or two of these "friends" will even sit on their assets in our cul-de-sac redialing their cell phones just so that they don't have to walk the 50 feet to ring our doorbell.

People with business for us have learned to plan ahead. 99% of the Reserves phone calls have been of the "Just wanted to touch base with..." ilk or "What's your e-mail address?" query. They learn to use e-mail (or, for our kid, send it to her MySpace page). Or they're happy to leave voicemail.

Our kid gets far more college mail than we get total mail. If it wasn't for the bills & fish wrappers we wouldn't get any mail at all.

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The same thing happens, via mail, when you get a HELOC.
They apparently get the information off of the County Filings of the mortgage on the property.
Yep. We can tell by the format of the name on the address label that they're using the recorder's public records. If they include a business-reply envelope then I take advantage of that for a removal request... otherwise they only seem to spend the money on two mailings.
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Old 03-23-2008, 11:51 AM   #30
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Whenever you tell them to put you on the do-not-call list, preface it by saying "I am speaking to you on a recorded line."

Our telemarketing calls dropped dramatically when we moved to a small town. I think that puts us in a less interesting demographic.
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Old 03-24-2008, 11:04 AM   #31
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Who are these people who want to sell me a warranty on that car I sold in 1980?
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unwanted extended auto warranties calls
Old 03-25-2008, 10:19 AM   #32
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unwanted extended auto warranties calls

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I got an extended warranty on my Honda when I bought it in 2000 (first mistake). I've started getting several calls a day from someone wanting me to do something and extend the warranty further. They started out in California, and are now calling from numerous states like Nevada, Mississippi, Colorado. I finally answered today and it was a prerecorded message, when I got to the customer service guy, the first thing he said (no hello) was "make and model of vehicle". The first thing I said was "I want to be taken off of this calling list", and I heard somebody in the background say "You're not being taken off sh*t" - and then they hung up on me. WTH? I immediately went and had my cell put on the do not call list, but I'm afraid that's not going to work. They've been calling me 5 times a day for about 2 weeks now. What gives? Do I have to change my number? I never gave them this number - heck I do not even know who these people are.....
Greetings,

I had same issues, and the funny part of it is, I am in the warranties industry, so I know what goes on behind the scenes with many of these telemarketers.

First thing to do is to take note of phone numbers being used to call you, and yes, they will be from all over the country as they use auto dialers in most cases, so it is not that your number is on a specific list, unless you pick up and answer the phone, then you are indeed added to hit list.

It is nearly impossible to stop these calls unless you take down numbers, enter them into Google search with attached word scam, and you will more than likely identify many who are also being harrassed with same calls. I had one who was relentless, and so I found out companies name, then alias names, home number, address, past businesses, back gorund check, and then I started calling lady at home, her other businesses, and low and behold, I was removed from their list.

Sure, it took time, but when you post these numbers in heading of forums like this, it will warn others, and in numbers you can put enough pressure on them to block your number from being dialed. Otherwise you will not be able to stop them. I changed numbers and still got calls, and this again is due to auto dialers which just dial one number after another digit by digit ignoring laws about unwanted calls as they are hidden by using hundreds of dial from numbers. Not easy, but better to take care of it than not for your number is resold as active and calls will increase.

Just thought you would like to know a little inside information on problem, and no, we do not use auto dialers, even though we are in same extended warranties business. We don't sell it, we tell it, then let consumers purchase from themselves at wholesale, so totally different concept. No one likes to be hard sold, especially at the auto dealers which is the worst place to purchase an extended warranty. The more you learn, the less you will be burned.

Good luck to all,
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Old 03-25-2008, 10:35 AM   #33
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WFL, why do you say car dealers are the worst place to buy an extended warranty. Most of them sell the manufacturers warranty which is the only one to buy. Warranty companies that sell warranties that are underwritten by some insurance company offten go out of business and always send an adjuster to adjust the repair so nothing is covered. After 35 years in the business I also know the deal with this.

Is it better the customer buys it from an 800# and have no idea what they are buying. When it comes time for a repair then the fun begins.
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Old 03-25-2008, 10:37 AM   #34
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Old 03-25-2008, 12:20 PM   #35
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Extended Warranties

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WFL, why do you say car dealers are the worst place to buy an extended warranty. Most of them sell the manufacturers warranty which is the only one to buy. Warranty companies that sell warranties that are underwritten by some insurance company offten go out of business and always send an adjuster to adjust the repair so nothing is covered. After 35 years in the business I also know the deal with this.

Is it better the customer buys it from an 800# and have no idea what they are buying. When it comes time for a repair then the fun begins.
Agreed,

If you are purchasing a new car, or late model, then a factory sponsored extended warranty may be best choice, but in my experience, it is all about the company, so like everything, you have to do your due diligence, but you will always pay much more at dealers, for house makes money, salesperson or F&I guy makes a piece, and the consumer pays through the nose. The example given was for used car, and in these cases, warranties will cost even more if existing warranty is not still in force.

Good luck to all, Mike
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Old 03-25-2008, 01:06 PM   #36
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Mike, all I can say is I would never have sold an Ins. company warranty although I would have made a lot more money using them. When our customers came back for a repair they liked us a lot better when they had the manufacturers warranty. Anytime an ins. company was involved it was a circle jerk because they didn't want to pay and usually found some idiotic reason for not doing so. Maybe the customers paid a bit more with us but at least they got what they paid for. When there was a problem with their car there was no problem keeping them happy.

Over the years people would come back and buy cars from us and would want the warranty as part of the deal because they were happy the last time. I never had to hide from a customer who had a problem with their car. We made our money and they got the service they paid for.
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Old 03-25-2008, 04:26 PM   #37
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I agree (and I think I mentioned before) the mfr's warranty is the only one I would ever consider. I am involved in selling extended product warranties and the reason the mfr's warranty works is that generally noone else has access to the repair parts at cost like the mfr does. Our extended warranties are primarily offered to commercial customers that need to lock-in a life cycle cost ($0 for repairs). I can't imagine a mfr risking the future sale of a >20k automobile by harrasing a customer for a few hundred dollar warranty.
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Old 03-25-2008, 05:06 PM   #38
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It's been happening to me too, and I told these idiots the number was on the do-not-call list, so they just hung up. And then called again a couple of days later.

I called the car company to complain about their sales people persistently calling after being told not to and also being rude and ignoring the warning that we were on the do-not-call list. The person I spoke to said that these calls are coming from a company that has nothing to do with them and there was nothing they could do, and they'd also like to see it stopped because so many people think the calls are originating with the car company.

On the other hand, I'm getting these calls on my cellphone too, and not all that many people have the cellphone number, but the car company does. So I'm rather suspicious that they might have sold their customer list to some outfit that's passed it on to these annoying telemarketers.
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Old 03-25-2008, 08:53 PM   #39
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Mike, all I can say is I would never have sold an Ins. company warranty although I would have made a lot more money using them. When our customers came back for a repair they liked us a lot better when they had the manufacturers warranty. Anytime an ins. company was involved it was a circle jerk because they didn't want to pay and usually found some idiotic reason for not doing so. Maybe the customers paid a bit more with us but at least they got what they paid for. When there was a problem with their car there was no problem keeping them happy.

Over the years people would come back and buy cars from us and would want the warranty as part of the deal because they were happy the last time. I never had to hide from a customer who had a problem with their car. We made our money and they got the service they paid for.
Interesting,

Like anything, it all depends on the company. When you mention insurance, the only thing insurance is used for is to back up administrators of warranty, so it is like any insurance, it is extra protection. If a company has been paying all claims fairly, that is how one judges a warranty company, and if they have reinsurance, this is extra protection for consumer in case administrator goes under.

I remember when Chrysler was bankrupt before government bailed them out, and what would have happened to all those warranties if they were allowed to go under? Now they are on brink again, so the bottom line is a warranty is only as good as the company backing it, and auto manufacturers do not reinsure, so which warrany has more exposure of going under? With GM losing billions last quarter, and Ford doing no better, it will be interesting year to watch the industry try to survive this recession.

Simply put, there are serveral financially sound warranty companies who are independent and have several decades of paying claims under their belt, so like everything, know what you are purchasing before you purchase it, and as I like to say, purchase from someone you trust, yourself.

Good luck to all, Mike
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Old 03-25-2008, 09:34 PM   #40
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Interesting,

Simply put, there are serveral financially sound warranty companies who are independent and have several decades of paying claims under their belt, so like everything, know what you are purchasing before you purchase it, and as I like to say, purchase from someone you trust, yourself.

Good luck to all, Mike
Mike
I am not familiar with any of these independent financially sound warranty companies. Without offending anyone, could you list some names? As the existance of this thread attests, it may be difficult for a consumer to find a reputable independent amid all the sleaze out there.
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