It gets worse. They sold me garbage bags, ( i thought this was the legitimate charity that had called last year-not) They said three rolls at 199.00. What? I said to cancel, I can buy cheaper at Costco and hung up. Guess what- package showed up last week, only 2 rolls with an invoice that says three for 199.00. This is not a charity it is a scam. No way to send back or call. Infact, couldn't even get to the invoice without opening the package. And they will do the credit report thing. Am going to pay, along with a letter to take me off list, never call again and all information has been forwarded to State Attn. General. Of course making copies of everything, might even get a notary.
Just received the scissors that we "ordered" in today's mail. No one in our household spoke to anyone from this organization, nor did we order the scissirs. We only give to a few select charities and politely decline most telemarketers, they skim their profit off of the donations that are to go to a worthy cause. We don't have caller ID, but most telemarketing calls can be identified by the background noise when you answer and they delayed response on the other end. We just hang up before they come on the line.
I've been victimized by scams like this before, receiving the threatening letters from collection agencies until I found out this practice is illegal. Here is an excerpt from the California Dept. of Consumer Affairs Civil Code Section 1584.5http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/mail.pdf:
"It is illegal for a business to try to sell you something by sending you merchandise that you have not ordered or consented to receive. A business cannot send you unordered merchandise unless the merchandise is:
• a free sample which is clearly and conspicuously marked as such, or
• mailed by a charitable organization that is soliciting contributions and is marked as a gift.
If a business sends you something in the mail that you did not order or consent to receive, and has done so with the intention of selling it or another product or service to you, you have no obligation to either return the unordered item or pay for it. It is illegal for a company that sends unordered merchandise to follow the mailing with a bill or a demand for payment. (This rule does not apply where you have agreed with a business in advance to receive merchandise on a periodic basis, and it also does not apply to a good faith error on the part of the business that sent the merchandise.)"
You can learn more at the California Dept. of Consumer Affairs website:
http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/mail.pdf
Basically, you are under no obligation to return or pay for the unsolicited item. The website suggests how to deal with it, too.
My calls come from 303-482-1115, these people started calling 2 wks. ago,but I had missed their calls, finally I picked up and found that it was something from a handicapped to do I told the person not to call anymore and to take me off their calling list as I am on a Do Not Call list, she hung up, I called the number back and was told the voice mail box was full, I am elderly and am on the do not call for a reason.
I'm in the same boat. I purchased something two years ago, and today they called back. That's after they called twice yesterday my day off. I told them "I don't deal with telemarketers do you have a website?". thy Caller said "Did we do anything wrong?" I replied. "No I just don't give my info over the phone."
Good thing . I looked them up and found this site. Phew!
A tip-- just get websites. look them up and talk to family about where and when to donate. It saves a big headache and gets you out of so many traps.