Telemarketing from at&t "partners"

[patric]

It seems some telemarketers have worked around the  national Do Not Call List by signing up as a "partner" with at&t.

You see, Ma Bell can legally call you about their "services" because you do business with them.  And  people you do business with (and their partners) are exempt from the DNC list.  at&t makes deals with telemarketers to be their "partners" and presto!  Telemarketers!

Check it out:  http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-561-793-8708

[sgrizzle]

Credit card companies do the same thing.

When you sign up, just tell them your number is 202-456-1414

[tim huntzinger]

Call the at&t mother ship and tell them to change the CPNI on your account to 'granted for this call only' or something, scream at one of the managers, write a letter to their gov't affairs folk.  That affects the 'R' of reputation, one of the Four 'R's, supposedly numero uno on the cos mind. I caused a real big stink about violation of CPNI and had one outbound call program stopped in its tracks.  Sadly, calling the AG and FCC about it does nothing, but the eeediots in the management stream thought it might . . .

Until some sensible controls on Cox are laid down - and at&t's own broadband cable is in place -  Cox is unable to advertise its services over its utilities, at&t is getting desperate and may be cutting corners.

Do your part to fight this kind of crap by only purchasing at&t services from company-owned outlets. []

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by tim huntzinger


Do your part to fight this kind of crap by only purchasing at&t services from company-owned outlets. []

Like the store at 71st & Memorial with it's name blazed TWELVE times. That's right, A small stores with SIX large at&t logos and THREE double-sided signs on one corner.

Excess?

[T-Town Now]

Don't do business with NSAT&T.

They are a bunch of crooks anyway. I dropped their long distance service once, and in order to get me back as a customer, they promised me free this and that, reduced whatever, etc.

But when the time came for them to honor their offer, I spent hours on the phone to get it done. Out of frustration, after they upheld their offer, I cancelled their service. I dumped my long distance, cell phone, and home phone service.

So, how is it a year later I start getting statements from them showing I owed long distance fees, along with late charges? I spent over 2 hours on hold trying to talk to a customer "service" rep.

Finally, I gave up and filed a complaint with the FCC. I sent copies of letters I sent to NSAT&T telling them to remove me from their database. I specified I wanted to offers from them, no contact, NOTHING.

After the FCC got involved, NSAT&T (the government's preferred spying partner) agreed to drop their charges. But I fear most wouldn't take the time to prove their case, and they just pay to get them off their backs.

I will never do business with NSAT&T, they are the worst in my opinion.

[patric]

As if their landline partners werent bad enough, they have a mobile phone partner that sends unsollicited text messages promising you free whatever if you text them back -- which then subscribes you to a $9.99-per-month service billed on your Cingular account.

at&t says the only thing they can do is block all text messages.
Florida sued:

At&t Agrees to Reimburse Customers for Misleading Charges
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/29645.php?source=newsletter

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)--The nation's largest cell phone carrier has agreed to pay thousands of Florida consumers who were billed for services like ringtones and text messaging that were advertised as free.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum announced the settlement with AT&T Mobility, a unit of AT&T (T).

The agreement allows consumers to seek refunds for the fraudulent billing, so the amount the Atlanta-based company will pay will depend on how many customers do so. Officials in the attorney general's office say the amount could be in the tens of millions of dollars.

AT&T Mobility, formerly Cingular Wireless, will also pay the state $2.5 million and contribute $500,000 toward consumer education on safe Internet use under the agreement.

The company didn't return emails seeking comment.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires

[custosnox]

why don't the slackers of the world do something useful and send these companies viruses to destroy their data bases?  We know the government has no intentions of actually doing anything, so it seems right up the hackers (those that do it for fun as opposed to those that do it for profit, I know rare) alley.

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by custosnox

why don't the slackers of the world do something useful and send these companies viruses to destroy their data bases?

Because it would knock our way of life back to the '50's?  And where would that leave our economy?

Id be more for a Corporation Commission that leans more towards citizens than big business, or maybe a Congress that understood the meaning of "CAN SPAM" wasnt intended to be an endorsement.

[Wilbur]

quote:Originally posted by patric

It seems some telemarketers have worked around the  national Do Not Call List by signing up as a "partner" with at&t.

You see, Ma Bell can legally call you about their "services" because you do business with them.  And  people you do business with (and their partners) are exempt from the DNC list.  at&t makes deals with telemarketers to be their "partners" and presto!  Telemarketers!

Check it out:  http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-561-793-8708

Allstate does the same thing.  Plus, they sell their customer list to everyone and their brother.

[cannon_fodder]

Insurance companies and MORTGAGE COMPANIES are the worst offenders as far as I can tell.  When I refinanced my mortgage I was all over 100 different lists.

I worked as a telemarketer, so I'm generally kind to the people who call.  But as a policy I do not buy ANYTHING from them (I will do surveys though) and usually cut them off and say "thank you but please put me on your do not call list."  Seems to take about 2 weeks of that to get off of a new list (or new batch of lists).

Who buys their crap anymore?

ps. I have a great "male inhancement[sic]" product I keep buying via email though. []

[patric]

This just gets better every day...

If you use at&t as your internet provider, but use another address like Hotmail, Gmail, or your own domain (or anything other than sbcglobal or at&t) for your mail, you now have to register those addresses with at&t/Yahoo to be able to send mail from them through your at&t/Yahoo account.

...meaning that at&t can now sell the address you got to get away from the sbcglobal spam to their "partners", i.e., spammers.

If you've been getting error messages from your Outlook or Mozilla mail program about a SMTP error recently, this is probably it.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by patric

This just gets better every day...

If you use at&t as your internet provider, but use another address like Hotmail, Gmail, or your own domain (or anything other than sbcglobal or at&t) for your mail, you now have to register those addresses with at&t/Yahoo to be able to send mail from them through your at&t/Yahoo account.

...meaning that at&t can now sell the address you got to get away from the sbcglobal spam to their "partners", i.e., spammers.

If you've been getting error messages from your Outlook or Mozilla mail program about a SMTP error recently, this is probably it.

you should be able to configure you smtp client to use the at&t outgoing servers, or use webmail for your other account(s).

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

you should be able to configure you smtp client to use the at&t outgoing servers.

Yes, you should, and it worked for years.
Now it seems that unless you are using the address  SBC gave you, the SMTP server spits it back unless you register your new address with Yahoo.