Judge Blocks 'Robo-Calls' Selling Car Warranties

[steven johnson]

Source: New York Times

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 15, 2009
Filed at 7:35 p.m. ET

CHICAGO (AP) -- A federal judge has issued two temporary restraining orders designed to stop what officials describe as a wave of deceptive ''robo-calls'' warning people their auto warranties are expiring and offering to sell them new service plans.

''Today the FTC has disconnected the people responsible for so many of these annoying calls,'' Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz said Friday.

''We expect to see a dramatic decrease in the number of deceptive auto warranty calls, but we are still on high alert,'' Leibowitz said in a statement posted on the agency's Web site.

The FTC filed suit against two companies and their executives on Thursday, asking a federal court in Chicago to halt a wave of as many as 1 billion automated, random, prerecorded calls and freeze the assets of the companies.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/05/15/business/AP-US-Car-Warranty-Calls.html?_r=1

[Blue_In_AK]

1. I get about two of these calls a month.

I'm really glad to hear someone is making them stop.

[KittyWampus]

15. We get about 1-2 a week

[dmr]

35. I got one in the mail yesterday, & it looked very official

Official, as if I better act upon it to keep my vehicle under warranty. Official enough to fool a lot of people. Official enough that I mailed a letter to my state's attorney general earlier today to complain.

[customerserviceguy]

2. We've been getting them, too

and we're on the Do Not Call list. Some good that thing is!

[Bluzmann57]

3. I am of the opinion that the callers need to be in jail.

A friend of mine got one of these calls and his newest vehicle is a 1989 F-150 truck. So he has no warranty on it and never will. All these people want is credit card info I believe.

[Coyote_Bandit]

4. Now if they would stop the frickin scammers

that keep calling because they want to LOWER my credit card rates.....I'm taking the names of those scamsters and sticking pins in a voodoo doll.....

[dipsydoodle]

5. They'll just pop up elsewhere

These scams can be worse than the plague.x(

[robinlynne]

6. Please stop all robocalls! all of them. I dont want computers calling my home.

[JerseygirlCT]

11. Exactly.

If it's important enough to disturb me, then it had better be important enough to pay an actual person to call. *(Not that I'm likely to talk to you if I don't know you!)

[havocmom]

16. Yep. If they are gonna bother us all at home, the least they could do is HIRE people to do it

And the tactics are meant to confuse and/or intimidate people. I wonder how many older people who are not as sharp as they used to be get taken in.

It is criminal!

[Iowa]

18. Yes! And include politicians...

My worthless US Representative, Bruce Braley, is into robocalls now. He likes to pester his constituents with mindless self-serving pap. I told him to cease, and he just ignores it.

[robinlynne]

19. hell yes.

[JerseygirlCT]

30. That's the other problem

Other annoying commercial calls - you can tell them you're on the DNC list, and that they'd better quit it. But what do you tell a robo call? (And yes, I know that political calls are exempt from that).

Hillary's campaign somehow got my cell number - which I rarely give out - and I got 3-4 calls the day before our primary. I pay for those calls, thanks very much. And I'd already made my decision. But try telling a robot that.

I think that there should be laws against calling a cell number unless you've specifically been given permission to do so, myself.

[Old Coot]

7. I don't know if I have been getting these calls......

because I only answer the phone when I recognize the name or number on caller id.

[Orrex]

10. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[xchrom]

8. got one of those just as i opened this thread. nt

[robinlynne]

17. me too. as I was typing my response to this same thread!

[Orrex]

9. I get about three of those per week on my cell

And one or two on my land line. I never answer them, but they're still a pain in the pooper.

[Demobrat]

12. I get one of these calls every weekday at work

at exactly the same time. It's a recording so I can't make it go away. It's been happening every day since I've been at this number, over two years now, and it happens to other people in my office too. This calls for a celebration.

[LiberalFighter]

13. There needs to be a law requiring business phone numbers to be displayed for those with Caller ID.

AND phone companies be required to prevent Caller ID for businesses. Businesses using equipment or other means to hide their true phone number would be fined $50,000 for the first offense and $100,000 for each offense after that.

AND businesses be required to register every phone used under an assigned business number.

[Downwinder]

14. Include cell phones too.

They cost you money, especially if they leave a message. And somehow they put up a fake caller ID.

[Hotler]

20. If we could cut Schumer's pay 50% and...

make him start paying 20% of his health care maybe he and the rest would do something about outsourcing and health care. Only when it happens to them personally do they do any real good for all. If the robo calls didn't get through to our critters nothing would be done cause it would be a hindrance to business.

[Cresent City Kid]

21. I used to get them several times a day

I got on the "do not call list" and an unlisted number at my wife's request, but as the calls are random, these methods are useless. What I really hated was when I'd play along just to get a person on the phone to complain to, and they would ask for my phone number so I could be "removed" from their call list. "Phone number? YOU CALLED ME!"

The do not call list didn't stop the calls right away, but it was a great conversation starter with these parasites. If you get these calls, drop these two phrases: DO NOT CALL LIST and ATTORNEY GENERAL. It worked for me.

[Historic NY]

22. Now if they could stop the damn reduce credit interest rate robos..

I've filed several sworn formal complaints with the Federal court. It can be done on-line.

[tomm2thumbs]

23. it's about f**king time - whocallsme.com is full of incidents of those calls

you can quickly check the caller ID to see who is calling and then report it there for other's to track as well

[sce56]

24. I got one at work so I pressed a number to talk

As I spoke to the guy trying to sale me a warranty I gave him the particulars and since it was at work he must have been talking about the car we drive here to do the business right! I told him yeah our warranty ran out quite some time ago so how much will it cost to get a deal on a 500 MegaWatt Power plant circa 1959! all I heard was a click!

[JDPriestly]

25. We got a lot of these calls -- on a 1992 U.S. model car.

Can you imagine? As if there would still be a warranty on a car that old.

Somehow my husband got the calls to end.

[proteus_lives]

26. Great!

Those calls are fucking annoying.

And since it's a machine, you can't even give back a proper "fuck off and die."

[crim son]

27. About time!

Those people were driving me crazy.

[leftyladyfrommo]

28. I got two of these calls.

Came in on my cell phone which never happens. So I was pretty confused. Then saw in the paper that it was a scam.

[bikebloke]

29. I got several in one day.

So I let loose on the fraudster. Then she called back without saying anything, but you could hear the same call center background noise. Fucking shites.

I sold the last car I owned back in the early 80's, so I knew they were scammers.

The urgent credit robo-calls are from the same outfit. Maybe they'll cease, too.

[magellan]

31. We got one of these robo-calls today - for the first time

My husband hung up as soon as he heard the lead-in about our auto warranty expiring. We have no warranty.

I thought these people had been stopped?

[FloridaJudy]

32. I turn 'em in to the Feds

I take their number, and fill out a formal complaint. Not only am I on the Do-Not-Call list, but my 1993 Chrysler stopped running months ago. These people were eating up my cell phone minutes with their crap. They stopped after I lodged my third or fourth complaint.

I don't know if that had any effect, or if it was just coincidence, but it sure felt good to nail their slimy butts.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[JayMusgrove]

34. Good, but my calls come from Canada

New Brunswick, to be precise........I only get calls from them every few days.

I hope we can sue New Brunswick if these calls don't stop.

[Twitch14]

36. Robocalling a cell phone is ILLEGAL, period.

Because it can cost the receiver of the call money. You can report it to the FCC (don't hold your breath), but I hope this judge takes that into account and asks for the FCC records. Since I work for a wireless company, this has been a pet peeve of mine and I've been collecting and reporting any reports from my social group; here's hoping other people did the same.

[MindPilot]

37. Now they should have to pay restitution.

Restraining orders are not enough. They should have to go back through their records any pay the owners of every number they called a compensatory amount.

My telephone is NOT your sales tool.

[Mari333]

38. wow. a new business just opened in our small town,it may be toast now

one of my friends is a local reporter who is a bit naive. she interviewed the owners and the whole place was set up with small cubicles and phones. she said "OH I believe they call people to offer car warranties"/
I said "oh for christs sake its a car warranty telemarketing scam robocall place"
"Oh my!" she said.
this town has no jobs so its the perfect set up for one of these places . cheap labour. looks like its toast now, I will have to drive by tomorrow and see if the owners (who are from Chicago) are fuming or setting up another sweatshop.

[lonestarnot]

39. Sheet! Too late to rec!

:kick: Do we get any money? :evilgrin: