Re: OT~Don't ever sign up for FREE magazines!

On Tue, 5 Jun 2007 15:52:26 -0800, "Lindy" <shoveyourspam@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Queenie said:

What an ordeal. I felt my blood pressure going up just reading about
it. Thanks for the warning.

I've got one just as bad........ I received a pre-recorded call from AT&T
saying I needed to call an 800 number due to excessive international calls
on my phone number. I'm a little freaked out because I knew that I had
called my bro-in-law in England to wish him a happy birthday but knew one
call wouldn't be considered excessive. I'm pissed that it wasn't a live
person calling to inform me of this problem but I dial the 800 number just
to be on the safe side and to find out how many calls are being charged to
my number. So I get a recording telling me to press a bunch of numbers to
get to what I need and I proceed to hold....... and hold...... and
hold...... After 30 minutes of holding I hang up and try again later. Same
thing. Hold....... hold....... hold. Another 30 minutes. In the meantime
I get online to see what kind of activity is going on with my account.
Nothing unusual there (the call in question wasn't even online yet). So in
the next two days I call that 800 number and proceed to spend another hour
holding without ever speaking to a live person who can help me. The next
morning I call very early and hold some more but am determined this time to
hang on until I get someone. When I finally do, they tell me that there was
a phone call to England and they noticed that I didn't have an international
calling plan and that was their way of letting me know that I could save a
lot of money if I just enroll in one. I was absolutely furious and said
after being on hold for so long, completely panicked that someone was using
my number, only to hear they wanted to sell me another plan, no way in hell.
Well that was a HUGE mistake because when my bill finally came in, that 30
minute call cost me $80! Now I'm doubly furious because the least she could
have done when she tried to get me to buy that plan was to tell me what that
30 minute call was costing me. So I call them again to bitch about the
outrageous cost and they tell me if I enroll in that plan right then, they
will submit a complaint and probably end up crediting my account for the
difference. I called back the next week and got some *** telling me it
was denied because I had rejected enrolling in my original call. When I
tried to explain why I declined, he laughed and made some smartass comment,
I told him to stick it up his ass and hung up on him. So my original 30
minute call (without the plan) cost me $80 and my second call last month
which lasted 38 minutes cost me $2.88. What an F'ing ripoff.

~Lindy~


It's astounding to know how many rip offs are going on these days and
especially with the phone companies.

I remember at one time I had US Sprint as my LD choice and was
extremely annoyed by all of their competitors constantly calling to
sign me up to their plan.

One night I had one company call me, give me the pitch, I tell them
No.

The next night another calls, I tell them No.

Then soon as I hang up, one calls within 2 minutes later.

By then I am so frustrated, I told them, "My gosh! What is this? Just
2 minutes ago, I said No to MCI and now you call trying to switch me
over to your company!"

Then there was one month when I looked at my phone bill and saw that
one of the companies automatically switched me to their plan when I
never even said Yes to it.

I called them up furious that I had been switched automatically
without my permission wanting to know how when I had been with US
Sprint for several years.

Their response was something to the effect of, "I don't know how that
happened but I can tell you our rates are better than theirs are."

"I don't care what your rates are. I have been with them for years,
don't want to change when the most the rate difference is probably
only a penny anyway."

Their response:
"How much are paying for your LD service with US Sprint?"

"I don't know nor care. I'm staying with them and don't appreciate the
choice of my having been switched over automatically by a company I
never agreed to take service from in the first place!"

"So there is absolutely no way we can change your mind even if we
offer you a cheaper rate than what you are paying now."

"Yes! There is no way you can change my mind and I would appreciate
you changing me back to the original service I had in the first
place."

Finally, during one of the next phone companies next phone calls to
switch me to their service, I furiously yelled the same things to them
telling them how sick and tired of them constantly calling and they
told me that they would take me off of the solicitor list.

"Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that all you have to do is simply
take my name off of a solicitor list and none of these phone companies
will ever be calling me again?"

"Yes, your name has just been removed from the list and you don't have
to worry about ever receiving any more phone calls from any of the
long distance phone companies calling you again."

After that phone call, I never received another phone call from
another long distance company again.

And aside from many of their pitches trying to outdo the other with
freebies this and that, this was the short version of the story.

:)

Then came the cell phone....



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