Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!lll-winken!telecom-request From: rborow@bcm1a09.attmail.com Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Has Anyone Heard of This? Message-ID: Date: 1 May 91 16:57:33 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 81 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 325, Message 3 of 8 John Higdon, I'm asking Patrick to indulge me here as I tell you both what I found out regarding your telemarketing calls from 312-292-9000. I decided to dig deeper than Pat did (or deeper than he's able to, for that matter). Accessing the telemarketer's account, I learned much stuff. What I found out was quite interesting, so here goes ... First, the name of the "business" is "Combined Credit Service," as Pat had mentioned earlier. According to my records, they have only a few lines (they appear to have a hunt feature which doesn't reveal all its respective numbers, of course. They make all their outgoing calls off line numbers 292-9027 and 9028. Line number 9015 is used to accept collect calls (I'd bet from the people they call!) from all over the country. Lines 9000 through 9014 appear to be the DID lines receiving individuals' calls like yours, John. BTW, the several times I called their numbers, each attempt was NOT busy and was answered: "Awards Center, may I have your area code and phone number?" Looking through their long-distance calls (lots, too! Somebody from my company ought to sell 'em Pro Wats :-) ), they make hundreds of calls to most of the country, over 35 states from what I counted. California is one of their frequent places to call. Of course, it IS an overly-crowded state with plenty of places to call, but that's another matter, John. Most of their calls are of relatively short duration, from one to five minutes; however, there are some longer than 45 minutes! I thought you might be interested, John, about their calling patterns to the San Jose area. They made numerous such calls to the following San Jose prefixes: 224, 263, 448, 974, 298, 987, 996, 987, 272, 985, 748, 246, 441, and 978. Of these calls, only two showed repeated calls to the same number. Each prefix had many calls to different numbers, though. The 985 and 974 exchanges seem to be their favorites. How they got these numbers is beyond me, since many of the ones they dialed are non-published numbers. BTW, their calls were not done in any particular order or sequence; they seem to be random ones with little in common. John, if you want to discuss this particular aspect further, please E-mail me directly, as I probably shouldn't drag it on here any more than is necessary. Now, for the good stuff. I eventually called this joint and gave them my phone number (fake, of course), as well as John's claim #. Some annoying guy checked and said "Congratulations, Randall," (I used only my first name) "you have been computer-selected to receive ..." Geez, how special, I thought. The prizes he had described included a "31-inch, color Sony TV w/ remote control..." Blah, blah, blah. He went on and said that since I gave him this "special claim number," I was the proud recipient of a seven-day vacation to Orlando, Florida! Wanna go with, John? We could tour Disney World, and ... anyway, he explained to me what exciting things were in Orlando (his words): "Disney World, sunny skies, and beautiful beaches alongside the ocean." Now, correct me if I'm wrong, folks, but isn't Orlando in the middle of the state? Beaches? In Orlando? I've been there a couple times, and I'm STILL having difficulty trying to find the Orlando Ocean. :-) BTW, I wish we Chicagoans had sunny skies here. I wonder what that must be like. Looks like we'll all have to go to Orlando to find out. Enough of my digressing into sarcasm, though. To make a long story short, he finally got to the most important part of his shpiel: the costs to ME, the consumer. For *only* $199.98 for a year's membership, I could become a member of American Consumer's Bureau (they sure have plenty of names), "an organization of over 200,000 happy members, including members like IBM, Chrysler, .." For this "small fee," I could receive over $300 in grocery coupons, saving me "from five to six hundred dollars a year" in grocery costs (but there's only so much I could do with those 10c Charmin coupons). Other stuff I'd get, but you people get the point. All in all, John, just another typical telemarketing sleaze job. From the looks of their bill, though, they sure get to a LOT of people. I hope this information helped. Randy Borow AT&T Communications Rolling Meadows, IL. DISCLAIMER: The above represents the opinions of me only and not Ma Bell. She's busy enough on her own to worry about us little guys.