Had a nice chat yesterday with soundboard samples of a male voice, delivered by a silent operator. I guess I need to settle into the reality that many more commercial fundraisers will be using such systems.
The character "Brian" called for AmVets Department of Rhode Island, later identifying "as a paid fundraiser for Community Cares", which is a confusing statement. AmVets is the client, for which this caller is the fundraiser. The voice made a somewhat misleading referral to a "recorded call", which I've never heard. After trying to soften me up for some pending "return envelope", I declined to give an answer and began my own inquiry.
The call center rep pressed keys for evasive answers as I lobbed questions for which the system is unprepared. I was offered a phone number to learn more about the charity campaign, offered transfer to a manager, told the canned voice was "in training right now", and stalled with requests to repeat myself, even though I spoke clearly and carefully.
Not that I was trying to confuse anyone. My questions were sincere. I wanted a street address for the call center. I was given the local AmVets address. This is another stall tactic I've endured from other boiler rooms. I restated my request after being made to explain twice what I meant by "commercial fundraiser". Note that "Brian" had previously used the phrase "paid fundraiser" and therefore had no excuse to play dumb. Finally I extracted an answer, which itself was somewhat misleading.
I was told that "Community Cares United is headquartered at 75 Paterson Street, Suite Nine, New Brunswick, New Jersey." No ZIP code given, (08901) like that would slow me down. The actual current business name is Community Cares LLC. The business directories disagree on the suite number. Looks like the "United" part is an alias to distinguish from an unrelated "Community Cares" in nearby New York. The charity chapters are known as "AmVets Department of (insert state here)" on Secretary of State listings. I've no data yet on how large a bite "Brian's" gang takes.
I tried to get some idea of what marketing scheme or database brought me this interruption from "Brian", but his operator clearly didn't know what to do with me, sending me some of the same time-stalling voice samples I'd heard previously. Finally I "outed" the use of a soundboard and got another stall remark. I described what the term means in detail and name-dropped the infamous Forrest Baker, who pioneered this type of canned response system for call center use. I didn't get to mention how his Utah call centers have been sued repeatedly for trying to launder sales calls as Telemarketing Sales Rule exemptions, which was not germane anyway. The person behind "Brian" pressed a few non-sequitur responses and abruptly ended the call.
I suspect this call center has pestered me before with changing local numbers. They will be getting a love note from me by Certified Mail denying them permission to call again for any purpose or client. As my Caller ID displayed a generic CNAM of "Warwick RI", I see another possible violation of the TSR on top of the fibbing and evasive responses. Also, the dialer took a whole ten seconds to send me to "Brian" once I answered the call, definitely illegal. The FCC and FTC will be getting my report as soon as I know more.
I guess nothing has been done concerning your reports to the fcc because this org is still in business as I just received a call for fundraising for the AMVETS also. Same address in New Brunswick. When i looked at the building on google maps the building is vacant. So it seems they have lied about where they are located