I spoke with a woman calling herself "Amy Wise", a senior acct mgr., asking to have the incorrect number they had removed. They said if I didn't answer for 15 days, it would stop. I told her that was unacceptable. After 15 minutes of debate, she transferred me to a "Ms. Dodson", who succintly told me it would be fine, I would be on the 'never call again' list, and transferred me to an empty conference line mid-sentence when I told her I wanted to discuss how to reach them back.

Here is the information I got - I will continue to pursue this until they cease calling my line:

-"Amy" told me they were in Atlanta Georgia.
-There is both a call center area, and a 'headquarters'.
-The 'HQ' opens 10AM Monday.
-They often referred to the 'owners', rather than an executive or director - thinking this is a smaller scale operation.
-They use the same outbound number every day, at all hours of the day. Sometimes when I answer it is blank - this can be considered a harrassing phone call under many state laws. The telemarketer abandonment rate can only be 1%, or they are not in compliance with law. Betting it's higher based on the number of duds I get.
-There is a callback number, but only 'clients' get it - we need to find out what it is somehow. Getting a way to call back is KEY to stopping this. If anyone has a legit account with them (mine is some guy who doesn't even live here, and they gave me his home address and name of an associate over the phone! privacy breach of that poor sap!!)
-They have a numeric ID of each recorded call - get it right away, and the names of everyone you talk to - the more we map out the call center, the easier it will be to find them.

***Fighting back***: keep them on the phone as LONG AS POSSIBLE. This screws up their metrics - I heard concern in each of their voices when they told me how long they'd already been on the phone.


I also want to note - this is not against the callers - they're just earning their cash like the rest of us. This is against the unethical practices the "owners" have dictated to them, and I make a point to avoid swearing at them, or being anything other than annoyingly insistent that I get a way to call back and a confirmation that I will never be called again.

IF EVERYONE THEY HARASS DOES THIS, WE WILL GET THEM TO CEASE. Keep them on the line, ask them how they will ensure you never get a call again, don't accept the '15 days of not answering your phone' line they give you, and keep asking for a supervisor. Let them know they are preventing you from receiving other legitimate calls by dialling your line, and that you are being harassed. If you receive dud calls from them, let them know they're probably breaking the law. Keep them on the line until they say they've taken you out of the dialer itself! The line about 'we can't do that, it's in the computer, and we don't have an IT dept.' is BU***HIT. Someone there set up the 'computer', and the autodialer that feeds into their phones - keep them on the hook until they promise they've removed you from the dialer, and record the call if you can. Get the record ID from the caller at the start of the call - they have it and can give it to you right on the phone - it's a numeric ID.

Information is definitely how to stop this. If they'd taken me off the list the first four times I asked, I wouldn't be doing this now, but now they have my full attention. We collectively do have a way to fight back.


And for the record, they've been calling every day, several times a day, for a couple months now. My anger is not unwarranted. Waste of their money, too - poor business practice, FS of Atlanta; try distributing better policy to your abused call center and you'd be a hell of lot more efficient at getting the 'hits', instead of pis$ed-off little me wasting half an hour of three reps' time.

I vow to do that every time they call.

The message from the conf line Miss Dodson transferred me to, "You have been kicked from the conference call", indicates they're using Vonage.

:) Small operation, or one running on shoe strings.

Keep talking, FS...

"You have been kicked from the conference"

Sratch that last. Looked like Vonage service message (Dodson transferred me to an empty conf line when she hung up on me, got that message), but now, I see Cisco VOIP phones with the same... Looks like it might be the Asterisk open source PBX system (again, shoe string or small operation)...gosh, hope no phreakers get digging into that.

Who are these people?  Just get them to stop.

I answered and the caller disconnected.

What bloody nonsense! 15-days-of-not-answering-your-phone is *NOT* the legal standard to stop calling home phone numbers. EACH TELEMARKETER IS REQUIRED BY LAW TO MAINTAIN AN INTERNAL DONOTCALL LIST, TO PUT PHONE NUMBERS ON IT WHEN ASKED BY CONSUMERS, AND TO HONOR THE REQUEST FOR 5 YEARS.  http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/tcpa.html states:
"Company-Specific Do-Not-Call Lists
Whether or not your home phone number or numbers are registered on the national Do-Not-Call list, the FCC requires a person or entity placing voice telephone solicitations to your home to maintain a record of your direct request to that caller not to receive future telephone solicitations from that person or entity. The calling company must honor your do-not-call request for five years. To prevent calls after five years, you will need to repeat your request to the company, and it must honor it for another five years (and so on). Your request should also stop calls from affiliated entities if you would reasonably expect them to be included, given the identification of the caller and the product being advertised. Unless your home phone number or numbers are registered on the national Do-Not-Call list, however, you must make a separate do-not-call request to each telemarketer from whom you do not wish to receive calls.
When you receive telephone solicitation calls, clearly state that you want to be added to the caller?s do-not-call list. You may want to keep a list of those persons or businesses that you have asked not to call you. Tax-exempt non-profit organizations are not required to keep do-not-call lists."

they called my house, the lady said "Do you speak good English?" (I guess because of my hispanic name).  I said:  "What do you mean?"  She said:  "I'm with FS, and I don't want to waste your time or my time if you don't speak good English"  So I replied in good English:  "Please tell your company that you have confirmed that I do speak good English and send them my regards for caring about it...."  As I was hanging up, I could hear her giving me her speech about credit cards....Very, very funny

Take me off your call list.

This is an harrassing company.

Get called 6 times a day they are very rude and when i dig on them they switch me to another person then they hang up on me.

I get calls from this number.  They don't say anything.  Just hang up.
Stupid idiots.

This number calls my FAX line probably 6-7 times a day and has for about 3 months now. Getting real annoying. About to call AT&T with a complaint to try to figure out how to have it blocked. Wish me luck......

I recieve at least 5-6 calls from this number everyday.. I keep telling them to stop calling or I'm going to report this number..I agree with what everyone else is saying..NUISANCE.....................
We need to get them to stop bothering people.....

My wife and I received calls from 402-982-0699, after the second ring, we promptly answer the phone; but no one is there.  In my opinion, these are not "business calls;" because any company desiring to generate more business would be more professional when trying to contact a new prospective client (these are called "cold calls" in the business world.  Far from being professional, they are really "harrassing calls."  Why harrassing, one may ask?  Because I called them back today after 11:00AM and found out that they are supposedly a company named "Financial Services" who desire to reduce credit card rates.  I explained to the representative who aswered the phone that we receive nuisance calls from their phone number daily; and that I would request they immediately take our telephone number out of their database.  Within an hour, guess what?  Yep, another call received from 402-982-0699. And, guess what?  Yep, no one was on the line, again. I, again, dialed the number 402-982-0699 and spoke with another representative by the name of Amanda Davis.  Ms. Davis, again, assured me that she would have the telephone number removed.  I told her that if I received another telephone call from them that I would reserve my right to contact the local District Attorney as well as our Commonwealth of Virginia's Department of Consumer Affairs to file a complaint.  Again, at 4:45PM today, my wife and I were again distracted from our movie by yet another telephone call from 402-982-0699.  And, again, no one was on the line.  I dialed 402-982-0699 one more time, and asked to speak with a manager.  The representative supposedly transferred me to a manager by the name of Ms. Williams.  I explained to her that we receive calls daily from her company's telephone number; and when we pick up our telephone, there is no one on the line.  I explained to her that I called twice today complaining about the problem.  I was assured that she would ensure that our telephone number is removed from their database.  Let's hope that Ms. Williams, supposedly a manager at FS (402-982-0699) can get our land-line home telephone number successfully removed from their database.  I have nothing but time on my hands; and I am a man of principle.  I would wilfully expend my time filling what ever paperwork is required to ensure that company no longer is legally permitted to perform its business within the Commonwealth of Virginia, either personally, or electronically or via telephone or outside agent.  They are a NUISANCE.  They are very DISRESPECTFUL. And, they are HARASSING us with their NEGLIGENCE and NUISANCE.

Oh, scratch that, found a Cisco listing for the same. Looks like it might be the Asterisk open source PBX system (again, shoe string or small operation)...gosh, hope no phreakers get digging into that.

The message from the conf line Miss Dodson transferred me to, "You have been kicked from the conference call", indicates they're using Vonage.

:) Small operation, or one running on shoe strings.

Keep calling, FS...

Found a pattern, checking other lists - their reps use Miss so-and-so - calls from Miss Kennedy, Miss Shaw, Miss Dodson, etc. Ask to speak to each one if you can - get transferred back and forth, tell them oops, meant the other one. Waste a little more time, right before they hang up on you - tell them you had a deal in the works with a different rep and get sent over.

Also, see if you can provoke them into divulging more details.

> If I do pick up the line is dead.

Hey, Betts, that's illegal! If you can record each time, you could sue them for harrassment!

http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs3-hrs2.htm

Confirm your state protection again harrassing calls, and let them know you've got their number finally :) If you get a video tape and throw your phone on speaker as you pick up, (catching the caller ID plus audio of no sound), you'll have pretty good evidence to at least use to subpoena their records (and ID) with. Do what you can, and if you have any luck, let us know!

And for the record, they've been calling every day, several times a day, for a couple months now. My anger is not unwarranted. Waste of their money, too - poor business practice, FS of Atlanta; try distributing better policy to your abused call center and you'd be a hell of lot more efficient at getting the 'hits', instead of pis$ed-off little me wasting half an hour of three reps' time.

I vow to do that every time they call.

I spoke with a woman calling herself "Amy Wise", a senior acct mgr., asking to have the incorrect number they had removed. They said if I didn't answer for 15 days, it would stop. I told her that was unacceptable. After 15 minutes of debate, she transferred me to a "Ms. Dodson", who succintly told me it would be fine, I would be on the 'never call again' list, and transferred me to an empty conference line mid-sentence when I told her I wanted to discuss how to reach them back.

Here is the information I got - I will continue to pursue this until they cease calling my line:

-"Amy" told me they were in Atlanta Georgia.
-There is both a call center area, and a 'headquarters'.
-The 'HQ' opens 10AM Monday.
-They often referred to the 'owners', rather than an executive or director - thinking this is a smaller scale operation.
-They use the same outbound number every day, at all hours of the day. Sometimes when I answer it is blank - this can be considered a harrassing phone call under many state laws. The telemarketer abandonment rate can only be 1%, or they are not in compliance with law. Betting it's higher based on the number of duds I get.
-There is a callback number, but only 'clients' get it - we need to find out what it is somehow. Getting a way to call back is KEY to stopping this. If anyone has a legit account with them (mine is some guy who doesn't even live here, and they gave me his home address and name of an associate over the phone! privacy breach of that poor sap!!)
-They have a numeric ID of each recorded call - get it right away, and the names of everyone you talk to - the more we map out the call center, the easier it will be to find them.

***Fighting back***: keep them on the phone as LONG AS POSSIBLE. This screws up their metrics - I heard concern in each of their voices when they told me how long they'd already been on the phone.


I also want to note - this is not against the callers - they're just earning their cash like the rest of us. This is against the unethical practices the "owners" have dictated to them, and I make a point to avoid swearing at them, or being anything other than annoyingly insistent that I get a way to call back and a confirmation that I will never be called again.

IF EVERYONE THEY HARASS DOES THIS, WE WILL GET THEM TO CEASE. Keep them on the line, ask them how they will ensure you never get a call again, don't accept the '15 days of not answering your phone' line they give you, and keep asking for a supervisor. Let them know they are preventing you from receiving other legitimate calls by dialling your line, and that you are being harassed. If you receive dud calls from them, let them know they're probably breaking the law. Keep them on the line until they say they've taken you out of the dialer itself! The line about 'we can't do that, it's in the computer, and we don't have an IT dept.' is B***S***. Someone there set up the 'computer', and the autodialer that feeds into their phones - keep them on the hook until they promise they've removed you from the dialer, and record the call if you can. Get the record ID from the caller at the start of the call - they have it and can give it to you right on the phone - it's a numeric ID.

Information is definitely how to stop this. If they'd taken me off the list the first four times I asked, I wouldn't be doing this now, but now they have my full attention. We collectively do have a way to fight back.

this phone number calls several times a day through out the day and have even called past 8:00pm-that is frustrating and rude!!!!

I also get a call from this number (FS 402-982-0699) several times a day.  I usually do not answer.  If I do pick up the line is dead.  Whoever it is, they never talk or leave a message.  I would like to know who is doing this and what they want.  It is very frustrating.

This number calls twice a day and never leaves a message.

same here, i changed my number and forgot to put it on the "do not call list". they are calling several times a day, never leaving messages and not answering if i do answer the call. VERY annoying when i'm working from home on a different line in a different room!!!!

They call ALL the time!  They are SO rude and end up hanging up!  How can I get them to stop calling me 4-5 times everyday!!!

I have been contacted by this number at least six times a day for two weeks, i told them  to leave me alone and quit calling.  I just recieved another call as I was writing this.  They hung up on me when i asked for a supervisor.  Don't fall for this, it's a scam.  Talk to your credit card companies yourself, it's free.

I got a call from them today, very rude, my mom tried to take a message, they refused and said they are always told to call me back after 6.. By who??? I've never heard of them and there is no one hear who would tell them that! And they used my maiden name. Crooks. I'll go to my phone company about this....

Have received dozens of calls from this number. they never lkeave a message and when I answer they say they are calling in reference to my Visa card but when I asked them what visa card they hang up. When I called back they again hung up. Definitly a scam of some kind.

I get calls from this number preceded by an FS at least twice a day.  Sometimes as many as 3 or 4.  I never pick up and they never leave a message.  As a rule, I do not answer unidentified numbers and/or numbers I do not recognize and they almost never leave a message so I figure it's all a scam.  If you ignore them, after a few weeks they tend to stop or at least reduce in frequency considerably and will eventually stop all together.  It's frustrating but I will not acknowledge their calls by answering the phone.

I recieved phone calls from this phone number. They asked for your name and phone number and then the phone goes dead like no one is there. I think this is a scam.