Filed under: Government/Legal, Carsumer Advocacy
"Expired car warranty" calls have several states pissed, too
If you haven't gotten the automated phone call frantically saying that you desperately need to speak to someone about your car's warranty, consider yourself lucky. If you gave in and actually bought an expired warranty from these spineless telemarketers, good luck getting reimbursed for car repairs.At least that's what several state attorneys general are saying. Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal says his office has received a "huge number" of complaints about the highly annoying and possibly illegal sales calls. Illegal because many of them blatantly violate the Federal Do Not Call Registry. Annoying because not only do they waste people's time, the extended warranties the companies are selling are almost always impossible to use, according to one attorney general. Connecticut, New Jersey and Iowa have teamed up to look into the sales pitches.
Unfortunately, the calls are almost impossible to trace since the numbers are spoofed. One number being used was traced to a disconnected phone in Nebraska that had belonged to an illegal immigrant who had been deported after a meat-packing plant raid.
If you've gotten calls from these people, you've probably already learned it's about impossible to get anything specific from them like a call back number, a manager's name or even the actual name of the business. We hope the investigation brings these alleged scam artists down. Hard.
[Source: The New York Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
P.V. 3:39PM (11/09/2008)
Good. I'm glad I'm not the only one getting calls from these scammers. I hope they get what they deserve.
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Andrew L 4:00PM (11/09/2008)
I get these calls all the time and it is very annoying, when ever it says press some number to talk to a representative I press it and it either disconnects me or i get some guy who does not speak english very well and he says that he will remove my number but never does.
94 taurus owner 6:59PM (11/09/2008)
I get them every day(it helps to put them in your phones caller I.D so you know who to ignore and not to ignore.)
Torrent 5:47PM (11/09/2008)
I'm getting these calls, too. They can't even name my car or identify my own name. How can I believe them?
Duders 8:45PM (11/09/2008)
I'm getting the calls too. I asked them how my warranty could be up if I four months into leasing my car? The woman on the other ends response "uh.... i don't know." Then I hung up.
dea911 9:49PM (11/09/2008)
how funny you should write about this!
Sometimes they call me at work. A little wierd, being is I'm a 911 operator lol. They are pretty annoying. We get them every day.
Haven't gotten any at home yet though
(knock on wood)
sam Scherer 10:52PM (11/09/2008)
I got these calls all the time a few years ago on my cell phone. I have since terminated that number and no longer get the calls. I sense that an online vendor must have given out my number to these guys. If i remember the calls sound very official as if its your dealership calling or something. Pretty clever except that they keep calling over and over again with the same automated message.
Kiiks 11:33PM (11/09/2008)
I thought, since he's wasting my time, I'm gonna waste his time...
"REALLY!? My warranty is going to expire!?"
"Yes, can you verify the make, model and year of your vehicle?"
"Yeah, it's a 1986 Toyota Supra."
"What's the approximate mileage of your vehicle sir?"
"Just under 250."
"uhh..."
"Two-hundred fifty thousand, yeah."
(Brief pause)
"Could you please hold for a moment, sir? I need to talk to my manager."
"Sure, take your time, thank you so much!"
(After a minute of being on hold)
"Sir? I'm sorry, we don't have a warranty policy for your vehicle, I'm really sorry about that."
"Really? Why, because it's older than you are and hasn't been under warranty in over 15 years AND has a quarter of a million miles on it?"
"Well..."
"Of course you don't have a warranty, don't waste my f***ing time! But hey, thanks for calling, I appreciate that, have a great day!"
Shouldn't have called me on a slow day at work. ;)
Adam 2:03PM (2/25/2009)
i just got like my 500th call from these guys in like a couple months (or so it seems). so i press to talk to a representative. guy comes on i interrupt his greeting with "i got a question." Then of coarse the hang up...out of frustration i call the number back...i get an apology and a press 1 to take me off their list...then it says allow 24 hrs for this to happen...so hopefully that will end it but prolly not cause i used to do paid soliciting and 9 out of 10 times thats just a lie.
Rhawb 3:47PM (11/09/2008)
Makes me feel good that I filed a formal complaint with the FCC against these clowns - complete with a note that the numbers are likely spoofed. They've certainly earned whatever punishment they've got coming to them just based on the harassment I've seen in my household. For a while, they were calling my girlfriend's cell phone several times a day, now they're still calling every once in a while, but it has thankfully slowed down.
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Jeff Banks 3:49PM (11/09/2008)
I was getting these calls weekly but they don't come as often anymore. The best thing to do is the thing you do with all telemarketers...play along and screw with them. I once had a fake travel agency set me up a cruiser to Hawaii and I ended up changing up the details three or four times during the car and then started crying on the phone and blubbering about how I couldn't go on the cruise because my wife had left me for a CHP officer. I then tried to get the girl (she was calling from India) to go with me and asked her to marry me. I was on the phone for at least a half an hour of trying to stifle laughter with my friends around giving suggestions to what I should do.
Needless to say, they never call me anymore.
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SteveRB 2:51AM (11/10/2008)
You should tape record those calls and post them. The radio show This American Life had a story about three guys who con one of those Nigerian scammers. You can listen to that show at http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1260
Ken 4:09PM (11/09/2008)
There is a special place in hell for these people.
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SteveRB 2:56AM (11/10/2008)
Yes, I'm sure these scammers are really afraid about a make believe place that doesn't exist. Please ... grow up.
Ken 3:19AM (11/10/2008)
Steve - you are a moron.
Trent 4:16PM (11/09/2008)
They really piss me off. I always ask them for them home phone so I cancall them back during their dinner time.
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RockStoneSteel 4:22PM (11/09/2008)
"If you gave in and actually bought an expired warranty"... I believe that's a typo. They generally aren't selling "EXPIRED" warranties, but rather EXTENDED warranties.
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P.V. 4:23PM (11/09/2008)
I think the point is that the warranties they try to sell have already expired, even though they claim the warranties are "extended".
Max 4:30PM (11/09/2008)
Honestly, is there any legitimate reason for telemarketing to exist? The entire business practice should be outlawed.
Cases like this make it clear that it is difficult, if not impossible, to regulate the industry and protect consumers.
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Lar 10:19PM (11/09/2008)
"Honestly, is there any legitimate reason for telemarketing to exist? The entire business practice should be outlawed."
+1