Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Car Warranty Scam

So we moved into the new house. We have a new phone number. Very few friends and family have it. No businesses or services have it. One morning I go outside to find I have a flat tire. I call Volvo roadside assistance and give them our new phone number. They come out and help me. Really nice guy, great service.

Within an hour I get a pre-recorded nasty-attitude call from an unspecified company stating that my Volvo warranty is about to expire and that they "have contacted me on multiple occasions regarding this problem" and I "have been unresponsive." They urge me to "rectify this situation immediately."

Huh? Excuse me? It's not like I'm late on my car payment. Extended warranties are optional. And you expect to make sales taking that kind of tone with me, pre-recorded no less? What do you take me for, an idiot?

I press the button to "opt out" of the offer. The line goes dead. I figure that's the end. But they keep calling. At least twice a week.

I try to opt out with the menu option they give me. It doesn't work. I try to talk to a person to "rectify this situation immediately." Surprisingly, even that doesn't get me a live person, when theoretically they've got a patsy one the line. I try to bitch to Volvo, since obviously they gave out my number. I get transfered around from one CS rep to the next, and never to the supervisor I was promised repeatedly I'd speak to next. I try to talk to the phone company. They "can't" help me without a police report, unless, of course, we buy caller-ID.

We're on the do-not-call list, people. This group is breaking Federal law. What good is the do-not-call list if it doesn't stop scams like this and no one has the authority to go after them (or, more likely, is willing to go after them)?

I don't have time for this. And our nation doesn't have time for Congress to go making all sorts of laws that make the lawmakers look good but do nothing to improve the lives of ordinary citizens one iota.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Along the same lines ... Allen and I can't figure out why congress is up in arms about some stupid baseball player taking drugs, but much less passionate about the important things like ... our nation is falling apart and making laws that infringe on personal liberty due to fear.