Have called my work number and when asked by the receptionist what the call is in reference to, caller states that they are calling to say THANK YOU; nothing more than a call back number is left. Caller acts as if she is a personal friend leaving a message.
These people are relentless and rather annoying!! They called the office 4 times in less than three hours. First two calls asking specifically for an individual who we informed them was out of the office not once but twice ( I guess they didn't believe us or think everyone sits on their rears in the office all day). Then almost immediately after the second call there was the third call from another individual, ( same number ) who at that time I informed, we had just received a phone call from someone from this same number he hung up. The fourth call my co worker answers the phone and yet again another person. The same type of call but this time we asked for a name in which the person on the line quickly states so as to avoid being heard, my co-worker then ask who he was with, which he states Al Amin Shrine Circus. We informed him we did not budget for donations this year (its been rough year) and explained to him not only had someone called several times today but also two months ago if they could put this in record because the calls are rather annoying. whether they do it or not guess we will find out soon! I am more than sure this will not be the last call....
The Company that is making these calls for the Shriners used to be called Cunningham and Moore, but it now goes by the name Agente Communications; even though many of the older callers still use the name Cunningham and Moore on the phone. Their main phone number is 972-702-8600. If you call that number, someone in the processing department will answer the phone and you can ask to speak to whoever you need to, and they will transfer you. They do call nationwide, raising money for many of the local Shriners. Some people may call this a Shriner scam, Shriners scam, or Shriners telemarketing scam. I'm just going to list some of the facts as they stand to the best of my knowledge in 2013 and let you be the judge as to how you feel about your donations to this company calling for the Shriners.
The actual truth is that they have "cold callers" and "tap callers". A cold caller is a person who starts out with the company or who has been there a while and hasn't proven their sales ability yet. A cold caller basically calls cold off from a lead list that is organized by zip code. Cold callers call people who have never donated before (however, some of the numbers may include those who have but just by chance) in the hopes that they can get a donation. Once a cold caller gets a person to commit to giving a donation that donor then becomes a tap. A tap is basically a lead of a person who has donated before, a prior donor for the company. These taps, leads, are stored in a different database from then on out, and on your receipt you will see your tap number in the upper left or upper right hand part of the receipt. All the older receipts used to end with either just a number, or the letters top or bull depending on how valuable a donor you were. now they took the letters of and they end with no letters or just the letter t or b so donors would stop asking what that meant. Now a tap caller is a caller who has proven their sales ability and only calls taps, which are prior donors. Again there are different levels of taps depending on how valuable a donor you are: there are "room taps", "top taps", "bull taps", and even taps in what is called "the premier database".
As far as pay for callers is concerned, all callers are guaranteed to get $10 and hour as a base or commission, whichever is higher at the end of the week. The caller gets 35% of every "cold sale" made. So that means that if you have never donated to this company before then you are a cold sale and the caller gets 35% of your donation. As far as taps are concerned, the caller gets 20% of every "tap sale" made. Again, that means that if you have donated to this company then you are a tap sale and the caller gets 20% of your donation. Unfortunately it gets much worse sounding than that though, because most callers are not good enough on the phones to commission at the end of the week, so they just make the $10 per hour. What that means to you is that if a person only raised $800 in donations for the whole week, and that person worked 40 hours, then that caller made a paycheck of $400; and, therefore, that caller alone got 50% of your donation. Keep in mind that that is just the pay to the individual caller and there is a whole office of staff, office rent, etc, etc,.
So you may be wondering how much the top callers at Agente communications make? Well, there are about 5 bulls at this time at Agente Communications. A "bull" is what they call their very top callers. A few of these bulls consistently pull paychecks of $4,000 to $7,000 each and every week. Yes, you read that correctly, and I did not typo and add an extra zero by accident. I have repeatedly and first hand seen their paychecks and seen their weekly tmr report, which is a report off the donations they brought in. So for you big donors out there, listen up: if you donate $1,000 to a shrine circus or hospitals, then that caller you are on the phone with is guaranteed top get 20% of your thousand; again, factually if you donate $1,000 to a shrine circus or hospital or even a shrine golf tournament, $200 of your $1,000 check is going right into the pocket of the caller that is on the phone with you. Believe me I know I have been that caller many times.
So there are some of the facts as far as pay is concerned with the company called Agente Communication, formerly called Cunningham and Moore. I am thinking about starting a website describing the full range of my knowledge of this company in the hopes of giving donors a more informed decision of where their money is going. I will do so if some of you who reply on here would think you would be interested in seeing a website fully detailing this company and how it is run to the best of my knowledge. just reply to this message with your opinion.
By as I said this company calls over many parts of the country for local Shrines, raising money for their circus' and also hospitals, as well as the shrine charity golf tournaments. Here is a short list of many of the local Shrines that we called for while i worked there, along with the local Shrine name, its location, and the caller ID number that may have been in use at that time (keep in mind they change these numbers frequently to keep donors on their feet:
Hella Shrine Ciircus (Dallas) and Shriners Hopsitals 972-702-2955 (however they have a few more numbers and i don't have them written down.
Al Amin Shrine Circus (Kingsville, Victoria, Hidalgo, Beeville, Alice, and Corpus Christie, Texas) 361-225-2584
Abou Ben Adhem Shrine Circus (Springfield, MO) not sure of the caller id number
OK that is a list of most of the Shrine Circus' that this company has called for while i worked there. Oh and by the way they also call for the AMVETS over many parts of the country, and the Dallas Sherifs posse (which they are currently using as a sponsor for Christmas supplies since they lost the Jaycees contract for it). So if you donate to the Shrine Circus or hospitals through this company then you will become a tap, and you will be called for the AMVETS or any other charity that this company holds a contrat for in your area. And, yes, the pay structure is the same for these other charities also.
So there you have it. That is the facts as I know them to the best of my knowledge at the time of this writing. I still want to make a free website that exposes all the rest of this company as well as the lifestyle of the top callers there and how your precious donations are spent (Such as the one who feels that it is necessary to wear several thousands of dollards worth of clothes every day and has multiple expensive vehicles that are all customized). I hope this message on this board proves valuable to those who are thinking about making donations to the Shriners through this telemarking company.
Got tricked by them a few years back.
When they left a receipt in my door after picking up the check imagine my surprise when it said it was NOT tax deductible. The NEXT year when she called back - I was ready!!!!!!!!!!
My phone system can block up to 30 numbers. Their number is on it but the DA keep trying to call.:)
Caller ID says C Wagner. Keeps calling back to back with no one on the line. Somehow all three lines ring simultaneously with same caller id name and number. NO RESPONSE...DEAD AIR