I GOT A CALL FROM THIS NUMBER TODAY AT 3:28 PM ON2/12/09 THEY SAID IT WAS MY LAST CHANCE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS OFFER TO GET THE INTEREST RATE LOWERED ON MY VISA OR MASTER CARD. I SAID "SURE I WILL LISTEN TO YOU, THEN I WILL REPORT YOU" THEY HUNG UP AND THAT WAS ALL THEY SAID, IT WAS A RECORDING.
I'm in TX. They are calling 3-5 times/wk w/ a recorded message. I decided to go on to find out who they are. A woman asked me if I was at least $3000 in debt as they could help. When I asked what company this was, she hung up. I tried to call back but the # wasn't working. SCAM!!!!!!
I got a call from 239-482-3803, this is becoming a real oain w/all these people calling our homes. I asked him what the name of his business was he stated "Account Services", right that sounds like a real company. Anyway I called the number back and let my 1yr old talk into the answereing machine for 8 min's. She had fun............
This company ("Account Services") is notorious in various web blogs for their deviousness and their flaunting of the Do-Not-Call registery - I think the registry is WHERE they got my number in the FIRST place - However, this time I decided to answer and see what information I could get out of them. As others have reported, I was greeted by a recording tellling me they've been trying to reach me to tell me mytime was running out on my interest rate - blah, blah, balh and to press one to speak to an operator. So I did so. I then interrupted the lady's attempt to get my phone number, etc, and asked the name of their company. The female voice said "Account Services" - when I pressed for further information ("That's rather generic, Account Services for WHO?") she said "Account Services for Visa, MasterCard and Discover Card" - when I said that was too vague and asked where they were located she hurrridly hung up on me (DUH! Didn't want to get caught!)
This behavior is typical of reports against this company on various Internet Blogs.
Another thing, the number they called to reach me is not only on the Do-No-Call Registery, it is also a cell phone, so they commited TWO violations.
I have reported them before, as well as attempted to this time. Apparently the FTC - who is supposed to enforce the law - in more concerned with collecting their salaries and shoving complaints under the carpet - in fact, today their web site won't even accept compaints - you go to all the trouble to fill out their form and when you click "submit" a page comes up that simply says, "We are having trouble" - WELL DUH! Probably getting SWAMPED with complaints - I suspect the "submit" button realy means, "give in to the scammers, we're too da** busy to fight them." The FTC reports that the number of complaints is low - well DUH! If you CAN'T complain, it stands to reason that the number of complaits would BE low!
Well, this morning I had a face-to-face with Senator Bennett and voiced my ire that the Do Not Call Registry is apparenty a toothless dog, a paper tiger, and does nothing to earn their keep in this department - I suggested they be put on an "earn your way" basis- I then followed up with a lengthy request for assistance at his congressional web site - and suggested that the Do No Call registry become self sufficient on fines alone - that the list be made available for free to any legitimate business that wants to clean up their phone list as well as free to people who want to be listed on the registry. It will be interesting to see what resuts I get.
Meanwhile, I suggest that everybody write their Senators and Representatives and complain about the do-nothing do-not-call registry - I as unable to quickly locate current stats on how many complaints they have received or how many companies they have taken action against - the most current item I found was a whopping TWO - count them TWO - compaines that had been fined - $1.2 Million bucks - but what about the thousands of complaints? Not a word! NOT ONE! But the FTC website abounds with self praise for how well the system works - Well, DUH! THEY HAVE TO SAY THAT!
My suggestion is to input the phone number into your caller ID Data Base and then every time you get a call from them, don't answer, but report it to your Senators and Representatives - NOT to the FTC or even, as some have suggested, the FCC. Funny thing about politicans, they like to be seen as doing something good - while government employees who like to sit around and tell jokes or play games or surf porn would rather not be seen at ALL!
I asked for the name of the company and the woman on the other end started telling me how I was not very intelligent for asking for the name of the company and that she would not give it to me as I may report them for calling someone on the do not call list. She then hung up. I did ask so that I could report the company and her response sure makes you wonder if they are targeting people on the do not call list. How insulting and irritating to be subjected to this kind of garbage.