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From: v116kznd@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (David M Archer)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Automated Salesmen
Message-ID: <11374@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 25 Aug 90 21:09:34 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 597, Message 7 of 11


In article <11301@accuvax.nwu.edu>, CRW@icf.hrb.com (Craig R. Watkins)
writes...

>> Last night, I had a call from a computer at Kodak, trying to sell me
>> something.  

>Are you sure it was from Kodak and not just from some house that was
>possibly selling you Kodak products?  I certainly don't rule out that
>it was Kodak, but that just doesn't seem like the kind of thing that
>Kodak does.

I recall getting the same call, and thinking the same thing, "Kodak
has taken to computerized telemarketing?  Odd.".  So I listened a bit
longer and it ended up being an independant company, most likely one
of those companys that wants you to mail your film to them.  I guess
it was just another one of those cases where they are trying to
mislead you, in this case, making the answerer think that the
promotion/whatever is sponsored/whatever by a large company, Kodak.

Another call which I seem to get every couple months, is one of those
deals here they say to call within five minutes to claim a prize or
something like that.  With this one, the guy musically repeats the
number to call over and over again ... to claim your prize, call
540-xxxx, 540-xxxx, the number to call is 540-xxxx, call 540-xxxx in
five minutes to claim your prize, call 540-xxxx.  And then the seedy
part is where they are obligated to say how much the call costs, the
guy musically mumbles, call costs $5.40.  It's a fairly obvious
attempt to make the listener not hear the cost of the call, while they
are still legally stating the cost of the call.  One might say someone
would have to be pretty stupid to fall for that, but since you can't
ask a recording a question, someone with bad hearing might not hear it
quite right and not know it costs something.

I guess that's progress.  Nobody's walked up to me on the street and
tried to sell me a Rolex lately, I guess they must have all moved to
telemarketing.