Tags: Scams
Ameri-who?
March 7th, 2005, by Rich.
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I just got a wonderful telemarketing call …
| Me: | Hello. |
| Me: | Hello?. |
| Me: | Helllllo? |
| Me: | [pauses] |
| Me: | Hello?. |
| Me: | Sorry I’m not receiving any audio from your end, so if you can hear me, hang up, or if you’re an automated dialler I’m just going to keep on so you pay for the call. |
| After just enough time for a generic answer phone message to have completed, a recording began to playback at me: | |
| Recording: | Congratulations! You have just won the jackpot! Hi my name is Michael Smith from the Corporate Reward Centre in Las Vegas. You have just won the jackpot! Please call ring free 0800 091 0084 to claim your prize and matching your claim code: Jackpot. Again that number is ring free 0800 091 0084. Congratulations, and we look forward to speaking to you. |
So, noting that my star sign is Inquisitive (with Curious rising) and knowing that 0800 numbers are freephone; I called them:
| Kitty: | Amerisuites Vacations this is Kitty, how may I help? |
| Me: | Who? |
| Kitty: | Amerisuites Vacations this is Kitty. |
| Me: | Sorry, What Vacations? |
| Kitty: | Amerisuites, like America but without the ca and add Suites. |
| Me: | Oh, OK, I’d like to collect my jackp… |
| Kitty: | *click* *beeeeeeeeep* [Kitty ends the call] |
My telephone number is registered with the Telephone Preference Service a UK body that regulates commercial phone spam, so legally they’re not allowed to call me, but they’re trying to force a loophole where commercial calls are banned but, they theorize, by calling it a competition, they can avoid prosecution.
So, not only has this company cold-called my TPS registered number, but they’ve also hung up on me, that’s just plain rude, I wanted to know who and what they are:
So, I called them, again:
| Carla: | Welcome to Amerivacations this is Carla. |
Carla proceeded to take my first name and asked for the number from which I’d called to check what prize I’d won. I gave her a false number. Surprisingly this had no ill effect because Carla came back and told me that I’d won £1301 towards a holiday in Florida, and that it was part of a prize fund allocated to 100 people and there were only 10 claims left on the fund - [irony alert] what luck!
Being a happy soul about this I mentioned that I’m in the UK, and that Carla didn’t sound local; she told me she was in Orlando Florida, and reiterated that this was a free call for me (just to make me really feel like I was special).
She then went on to explain that to claim my prize I’d need to pay the balance on a holiday in Florida at a Ramada resort near near Disneyworld - the package balance £598 for 16 days holiday for 4 - effectively an 80% discount.
The is is not a competition or a lottery, this company is selling holidays; there is no way to claim a “prize” without actually purchasing something, at which point they’ll discount the value of that prize from the purchase cost.
From the TPS website: “Under Government legislation introduced on 1st May 1999 and replaced on 11th December 2003 by the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, it is unlawful to make unsolicited direct marketing calls to individuals who have indicated that they do not want to receive such calls.”
Carla also explained that they are trying to rekindle interest in America as a vacation venue. She also explained that they are able to make these amazing offers because they keep their costs low, which they do in two ways:
- Direct Dialing.
- Word of Mouth.
Well, by direct-dialling me, unlawfully, they’ve certainly got a little word-of-mouth advertising.
The comments below add a lot of detail and you might also be interested in this followup article.
May 29th, 2005 at 7:43 pm
I’m inclined to agree - the type of people who are most likely to go online and actively seek information about an unwanted telemarketing call are either TPS people who feel affronted about the cheek of this company calling (e.g. me) or people who fear they may have been scammed (e.g. several people who’ve found this page).
May 29th, 2005 at 11:05 pm
I was scammed last 12 of this month, still waiting for the result. I spoked to trading standards, file reports to local police, phone florida FBI tomorrow, and the had complain to HELP FLA, waiting for barclaycard to tell me what to do next after I had sent 2 complain form. We wrote a cancellation letter but not sure if the address was right. we didnt accept the package that arrive cause its just non sense. i researched about Florida Law. They violated the Florida Sellers of Travel Acts by many categories.
I think we should phone the Florida FBI tommorow and tell them whats happening here. They should be stopped. They were really well trained and greedy with money so they couldn’t care less.
May 30th, 2005 at 10:03 am
Claire,
you are absolute right, we should organize ourselves and take action. Complaining won’t get us anywhere. Hunderds of people have clearly been scammed. We really should consider starting a class action law suit and get in touch with each other. One of the reasons why they can keep on scamming people is because apparently nobody seems to be prepared to take this to court.
May 30th, 2005 at 5:22 pm
I would love to take them to court. I have been in touch with the scotish small courts claim, but they are not sure what to do as it is in america, and dont know how to serve a summons on them. I am entitled to legal aid as I am on disability benefit.
I think we should all get together and do something.
May 30th, 2005 at 5:51 pm
Hmm - I just got a popup with a new phone number 0800 032 5589. Clicking through I was taken to the website urprize.com on that website there were also links to another site that’s not been mentioned before: destinationsforyou.com.
Surprise surprise, the domain registrant for both of these domains is Arif Rajan.
Happily the website hasn’t been properly set up, so it’s possible to see the content. One of the files here is the banner from Soho Vacations - another company of Mr. Rajan what has received lots of bad press.
May 30th, 2005 at 6:32 pm
I am trying to phone FBI Florida now, phone the #0844361888 2 pence per min. then phone the 001 850 224 4107. Im running out of time, im worried that barclaycard wont do anything.
I wrote again a cancellation letter to this amerivacation club and make sure ithey will signed at their end. Get in touch with the credit card in faud dept. Trading standards cant do anything and local police. LETS PHONE THE FBI FLORIDA !
May 31st, 2005 at 12:32 am
I think as many people as possible should phone the number. If everyone phoned when they have a spare moment it would completely jam their system and if you wind them up a bit it should make a few people reisgn eventually.
I’m glad people have found my soundboard calls. I have called them as Jack Nicholson and Arnold Schwarzenegger as well as Tom Hanks
May 31st, 2005 at 10:57 am
I’m over here in Australia and feel very much on my own. I have been reading all the above comments and acted on a few including the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Is there anything else anyone can advise me to do which can be done via email?
May 31st, 2005 at 11:26 am
I have recieved a letter from the Florida Department of Argiculture & Consummer services. They have mailed a copy of my complaint to Amerisuites and have asked the business to respond to the allegations. It could take up to 60 days.
Anybody who has not done so l urge you to make a complaint to them: http://www.800helpfla.com
It takes a while for them to respond but they will be in touch. Good luck everbody.
May 31st, 2005 at 1:29 pm
Hi,
I got a call from this company, thought something sounded odd so did a bit of surfing on the internet and came across this website. Anyway, looks like we can’t do too much about them calling us, although I did come across this website:
http://money.guardian.co.uk/scamsandfraud/story/0,13802,1430690,00.html
it tells the story of someone who, like us, was annoyed by the company so decided to bombard them with phone calls, afterall it is a freephone number.
I have rung three times today, each time with a slightly different slant, basically the idea is to get THEM to hang up. Here is how I have called recently….
1. I was a deaf person, and everything they said I insisted they shout it very loudly. I think the calls go through a call centre so this isn’t good for them.
2. I was a foreign speaker and couldn’t speak English too well, and as such they had to speak very slowly. When they told me I had to pay for a holiday I pretended to not understand and this went round and round in circles for ages.
3. I told them I was called Michael Smith and was calling to tell them they had won a prize for a holiday to Outer Mongolia. Then I asked for their credit card details because they would need to pay me £1,000 towards the cost of the holiday.
Anyone else got any good ideas as to how we can annoy this company? Come on, let’s get revenge for their intrusive recorded phone calls.
Anyone reading this who is feeling a bit bored pick-up a phone and call 0800 091 0084 and if you have fun like I did write and tell us all about it!
Have Fun Everyone!