Uptick in do-not-call violations [telecom]

Here it's an outfit sending AC 918 and CID "TCIM", whose emissaries say, "Hi, this is [FirstName] calling from Bank of America to ... ."

When I interrupt to say, "That's funny, you need to tell your supervisor that Caller ID reports you as TCIM," they answer, "That's right, and we're calling on behalf of Bank of America to ... ."

When I suggest that, as I'm not interested in whatever they're offering, they put me on their own internal Do-Not-Call list, they answer, "The Do Not Call Registry doesn't apply here because you're already a Bank of America customer."

My response: "That would mean I have a customer relationship with Bank of America -- but not with you, who are merely a third party marketing partner. And anyway, what I'm asking is that you add this number to your own, in-house, Do-Not-Call list."

And *that* they nominally agree to do. We'll see :-) .

Cheers, -- tlvp

-- Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP

The easiest way to avoid the problem is to avoid being on their list in the first place. I always lie when banks or other businesses ask for my phone number: I think that since they're never going to call me for anything important (_that_ kind of service is gone forever), they deserve to have their time wasted.

Bill Horne Moderator

I've had legitimate calls from my bank's credit card side. They wanted to know if I had ordered $2K of flowers. Nope. I got a new credit card number out of that one.

On Tue, 12 Oct 2010 00:50:19 -0400, after tlvp wrote, Bill Horne as moderator added this

Actually, several banks *do* make legitimate use of my phone number, as follows:

should they encounter a charge -- or a pattern of charges -- that triggers their "suspicious-activity" flag, they phone me to inquire.

If the activity took place at some location far from my home base, they use my cellular number, otherwise they use my home number.

I'm always happy to be able either to confirm that yes, that was me, or, in one case, to be able to respond, "No, Good Grief, I did NOT charge anything to any vendor on the Isle of Man, please Refuse That Charge!"

Cheers, -- tlvp

-- Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP

It's bad enough when you forget your anniversary. But it's even worse when, after arranging for the flowers, your memory goes hiccup...

This is very inconsiderate of you. The fake number you enter corresponds to some innocent party who now gets these annoying calls through no fault of his own.

I always give my home and mobile phone numbers when opening a checking or a credit card account, so that they can call me in case of trouble, like suspicious charges. I have gotten several calls from Citi Card's suspicious-charge division asking if I had made a particular charge or charges. Most of the time, it was me. But once it wasn't, and they cancelled the account and gave me another number and card.

Once, I got a call that I had forgotten my card at a merchant (a large department store) after buying something. The apparently-honest merchant called Citi to report it. Five minutes after the transaction Citi called me on my mobile and told me. I responded that I would return to the store to retrieve my card. They said no, as a precaution they cancelled my number and sent to me a new card by over-night Fedex.

Obtelecom (in a way): Several years ago, while reviewing my credit card charges online, I spotted a $25 charge for Internet service in Leningrad, Russia. When I reported it, Citi agreed that it had to be bogus, and that my card had been compomised. They cancelled the charge, closed the account and over-nighted to me a new card. This is a good reason to examine your credit card and checking accounts several times a month.

Dick

Give me a little credit: this is, after all, a telecom forum.

I give out the busy-test number at a Boston-area CO.

Bill Horne Moderator

I too use a null phone number.

I haven't had the same kind of service from my bank.

At work, I returned to my desk to find a phone message that my bank called. I was upset since I feared a bad check or other problem with my account had occured. It was after they closed so I had to wait until the next day.

When I called back the next day I was told a certain individual needed to speak to me but he was out.

Finally I got a hold of that individual. It turned out he was a salesman trying to push me into stocks. I was furious and told him never to call again (a request he disregarded); and I also complained furiously to the branch manager. She said "oh, our customers appreciate learning about new opportunities".

Later on the bank was suspicious about a large check I wrote. They did _not_ call me but bounced the check, which got the vendor mad at me. There was nothing wrong with the check--they said "it looked funny". Had they bothered to look a little closer they would've seen a similar check a prior time for the same amount.

So, giving your phone number to a bank is not necessarily a good idea.

One might ask why I deal with such a bank. Unfortunately, thanks to the numerous mega mergers of banks, choices are very limited.

I will give them credit for one thing: when you call their 800 service number, you are allowed to press 0, skip the voice mail jail, and talk to a human promptly. Many organizations force you to go through the prompts ad naseum made it very hard to get a human.