I received a call from this number -- rep said he was from Birch Communications. Tried to say my boss entered into a contract with his company.... when I advised him we were in a contract with AT & T -- he said we would have to pay all the fines and charges for not fulfilling the contract my boss supposedly entered into with them [he did not]. When I told the Birch Communications rep I was going to call AT&T to look into this matter -- he said he would do us a favor by cancelling the alleged new account and all the back charges due. Then he quickly hung up!
Way too frequently I get called on my land lines by "long distance resellers" offering to save me big bucks on my ATT phone lines.
Back when I put an "Account freeze" on all the lines, which means if I decide to go with a reseller, I (or an authorized representative) must personally call ATT to authorize the swap.
Thing is, ATT has agreements with very few resellers (who actually buy LD time from ATT at a discount and then actually do resell LD, probably international LD) but virtually anyone can set up a "reselling" business and with zero authorization from ATT or from any other phone company with land lines, can start marketing their services.
Blame the above on the FCC and Congress, because that's the way it is. And these "resellers" if they are dirtbags can swap your lines over w/o you calling land line company, bypassing the legitimate process.
There's almost no way to stop the telemarketers! But, you can prevent unauthorized LD swaps by calling your landline company and putting an account freeze on your account(s).
Jason Thomas called stating he was with AT&T and wanted the person who handles the AT&T account. I got on the phone and got his name. He then said he was with Birch. I told him to put us on the do not call list as this was a sales call. He then got rude and stated to me " The funny thing about life is as you are not the Owner you can't ask this". I hung-up.
Same number called us today. We are a deli & very busy at lunch time. Asked to speak to the person in charge of the ATT account. When I asked if they had a "to go" order they were very rude & said ":did you just ask me if I had a to go order when I asked to speak to the person in charge of the ATT account?" "Obviously I don't have a to go order." Super rude & super sarcastic. I don't know the exact company but it is obvious it is not ATT although they try to dupe you in to believing they are. Wouldn't matter if they were giving away $1000 for free they are so rude & I would never do business with this company.