I was at the gym and, to my surprise, my cell phone rang in the locker room. Normally I don’t even get signal in there. The phone number was not one I recognized. I answered it.
The news I then received stunned me.
The factory warranty on my car was about to expire.
At least that’s what the recorded voice said.
Not only that, but this was my second notice.
How could I have let this happen? How could I have been so asleep at the switch that I allowed my factory warranty be on the verge of expiration after already having received a first notice?
I am, of course, devastated by this news. I am a failure as a car owner. As a husband and father. Indeed, as a man.
Seriously: What the hëll is going on with these spam recorded phone calls?
PAD
• 
I get the same robo-calls from CVS Pharmacy. Once a month I get a call in the morning and then call in the evening reminding me to refill my prescription. . .
. . . because my current method of remembering to refill it by noticing I only have a few pills left in the bottom of the bottle apparently isn’t good enough.
Leaving the revelation after the jump…don’t DO that!!!
You had me all worked up. Thoughts of “Who died now?” floated through my mind. Abe Vigoda? Dear God, was it Abe Vigoda???
A sorry way to start a weekend. A sorry way indeed.
Posted by: Bill K.
I get the same robo-calls from CVS Pharmacy. Once a month I get a call in the morning and then call in the evening reminding me to refill my prescription. . .
What area code od the CVS calls originate from? Apparently i was supposed to get one telling me that my prescrption had been auto-refilled, but didn’t – i’ve been getting calls that have no name on the caller ID and i’ve been ignoring them.
PAD: Have you put your cell on the “Do Not Call” list?
(Incidentally – the first thing i thought of, reading your tease, was that 4E Ackerman had died… There was a false alarm on that recently, and io haven’t heard since that he has, but it’s only a matter of time – and not much of it, apparently.)
Hmmm. The factory waranty robocalls have been coming a lot the last few months. I do not get any other junk phone calls on my cell phone except for these. Heck, I even got one on my private direct line at work.
Early on, when I thought that there was a possibility that they might be legit, I held on and waited until I got a real person. Then, I asked them what model car were they calling about. The male caller sounded like he was calling from a busy room. He could not tell me what model car he was calling about. At that point, I told him that I was not interested.
I keep getting those dámņ calls at work. I think the guy who had my desk before me got himself on someone’s list.
These calls hit my cell daily, from at least 3 different numbers, and have been doing so for about 2 months. I added my number to the “no-call” list, but we’ll see if that does anything. I just don’t ever answer numbers I don’t know — then again, now I DO know these numbers!
Lol. Dude, I get those all the time. My favorite is the guy who sounds like this call is the thousandth of the day. He really is phoning in the call. “sigh, this is the se-cond warning , sigh.. ..”
I haven’t gotten a robocall for it, but I have received at least a dozen “final notice” letters and postcards for my car warranty. I say “at least” because I stopped counting at six. It amazes me that they could stretch the word “final” that far and still expect to be taken seriously.
If you have a car from one of The Big 3, it is your patriotic duty to extend the warranty. The money you spend may be just enough to keep them solvent.
What bugs me are live calls with robo-dialing. The robot won’t connect a person until after you answer, so you’re left saying “hello?” to empty air for a few seconds.
Heehee! Recorded messages stopped working in the 90’s. Thought it only happened in my country, though.
Wow, talk about negligence. Everyone knows you’re supposed to get your car wrecked before the warranty expires. If you have any trees you want to get rid of, this is an excellent “two birds, one stone” scenario.
(Unrelated: I click the ‘yes’ next to ‘remember me’ whenever I post, but I always have to re-enter my personal info.)
The only car-related junk (snail) mail I get, is from the dealer I bought my car from in ’95.
I get a greeting card for EVERY HOLIDAY on the calendar!
I could understand Christmas, and maybe my birthday, but I get ’em for Easter, Halloween, July 4th…what a waste of their money, if you ask me…
Maybe that’s why cars are so pricey?
I used to get warnings in the mail about renewing my extended factory warranty for my car, but I decided not to. Eventually, they stopped coming. However, I keep getting calls warning me about my “last chance” to renew my factory warranty. If I didn’t fall for that the last 69 times, what makes them think I’ll fall for it the 70th?
Yeah, we get phone calls warning us that our warranty is about to run out…
…AND WE DON’T EVEN HAVE A BLESSED WARRANTY!!!!
Great. I rent an apartment and still get robocalls asking me if I want to sell my house, but I don’t own a car and do I get robocalls asking if I want to extend my warranty? No. Now I feel unloved.
But is the warranty still good on Majel III?
I’ve been getting those same calls on my cell phone! I had previously thought cell phones were off limits to solicitors…
Jesus, Peter, when I read the first part of the blog entry before the jump, I thought some tragedy had occurred with your family. Shìŧ.
I was intrigued that “they” wanted to extend the warranty on my 1995 Ford Explorer Sport but, alas, it was not to be.
Believe it or not, 5 seconds before reading this post I got one of the “warranty calls” on my cell.
If you look up the numbers they claim to be from, they’re usually from phones listed for random folk, and various web pages indicate that multiple calls are being made from each number. Complete scam, and it’s unclear the do-not-call list can do anything given the level of deliberate misdirection. On the other hand, it’s crying out for some frisky state consumer division to go after wherever the base of these clowns is located.
I’ve been getting “This is your last chance to reduce your credit card rate!”
So, today, I held for a person, just curious.. First question I asked “So, which of my cards are you calling about…”
“It would be a visa or mastercard.”
“No, the bank.”
“We don’t have that information.”
“I see. So you will have a pretty hard time convincing them to drop my rate.. Kind of impressive it would be too, since its a DEBIT card.”
While I don’t get robocalls, almost every unwanted junk credit card offer (new cards, “checks” taken from your credit, special features) seem to come in envelopes saying “Important account information” or something like it. At this point I’d only show concern if I got something from a credit card company that *didn’t* have anything but my address and their address!
I can see it now at a con:
Fan #1: Who’s that Guy?
(Sign says Peter David, Writer of Stuff, But hey you should have known that by know.)
Fan #2: That’s Peter David!
(Peter is just signing autogrpahs, but he mumbles something about next time having the sign glow different colors)
Fan #1: Didn’t he like write the Hulk for about a Millenium?
(Peter Curses and says “Millenia, you git” under his breath, “And No”)
Fan #2: No, No, No, No! That’s the guy who got a second notice about his car’s warranty expiring by phone after apparently not getting a first notice.
Fan #1: Bendis wouldn’t let that happen
Fan #3, who was walking by: Dude, Bendis would have totally handled it before he got the first notice. Not only that, bu he would have written the new warranty by himself
Fan #4, also walking by: Yeah, but then it would have been the page count of the tax code and only have a total of 60 words a page and send the Chapters in drawn out periods of time.
(Peter just sits there fuming, all he’s done in the industry and one autocall eclipses it, the indignity of it, thinks this Bastion of writing)
Fan #5, A female Gossip: I heard that because of the scandal that happened, they had to move to the Bronx, and the wife had to get two jobs, and the kids had to enroll in Public school, the shame of it all.
(Smoke is obviously coming out of Peter’s ears, oh how he will kill them in the Next New Frontier Novel)
Fan #1: I don’t Like the way he’s looking at us, I think we should look for the Alternative stuff.
(They leave, A mother and her child are walking by, Child goes over to Peter)
Mother: Jimmy, stay away from that man, he got a second notice on his car waranty. That makes him worse than a Republican.
Shatner walks by,looks at Peter and just says “Denny Crane” and moves on)
Car, home and boat warranty have all been the subjects of robo calls on my cell and home phones. And none of the calls are from the people who those things were actually through. Oh, I’ve also been told that my “last chance” to save on my mortgage payment, car insurance or life insurance by a little recorded voice on the phone. It was funny when I was told that it was my “last chance” for five calls running by the same little recorded voice, but it lost it’s comedic appeal somewhere around the second month’s worth of calls.
Calls to the home phone don’t bug me that much… But eating up my weekend minutes?!? Maybe that whole “water boarding” thing isn’t such a bad idea after all…
There are basically only three people from whom I ever receive calls on my cell phone. They are, in order from most frequent to least frequent:
1. My husband
2. The car warranty guy
3. My mother
Having worked in Food Service, I have been witness to “Corporate Thinking” (it’s much like “Jumbo Shrimp” or “Military Intelligence”). They exist in a world all their own, where common sense is punitive and questions are rhetorical by nature.These corporate drones occasional see an idea from OUR world as new and inventive–it seems they have discovered “Spam”.
“Spam” is a proactive cheap method of advertising that requires no hourly wages to pay. Eyes become dollar signs, and the idea of annoying consumers is expected as an arbitrary percentage expected to be less than the percentage of consumers that will pursue such advertisements.
(Phone companies gladly sell off the numbers of their own customers to make more money, or even doctor/dentist/grocers/etc. when they receive the phone numbers of clients/customers.)
A lot of effort on many fronts goes into annoying us. It’s the downside of our capitalistic system. Few resist the anonymous sellout to make more money, and it’s easier than ever in the age of internet and private numbers.
*steps of the soapbox*
Dangit, where did that come from? I have to be careful where I step.
I get these in the mail, in post-card form, but never yet in the form of phone-spam. That’s truly obnoxious…
Wildcat
I get these same robocalls. First/Second/Final notice. Usually I don’t answer my cell phone and get half the message on voice mail. On the occasion I do pick up, there is an option to opt out of receiving them (press option 2, I think they say). Never works. Within days, I get the same phone call. So I finally started waiting to talk to someone and as soon as I mention that I don’t want these calls, it’s an instant hangup. It must have happened 10 times already. “Yeah hi, I’ve asked you guys to take me off…click!” Every time. And I am on the do not call list. Those áššhølëš.
My office gets calls like this fairly regularly. You can hear them running through the numbers, in order, cubicle by cubicle. If you can do it, the best way to get even is to tie up their lines — don’t hang up, or, better yet, agree to the renewal and ask them to hold while you dig out the necessary information. Then, of course, never pick up again. . .
Heh. I got one of those a couple months ago.
I live in Astoria, and haven’t owned a car since 2004.
I was recently informed the warranty on my Volvo was almost up. I’ve never owned a Volvo. Gotta be some kind of scam.
In this economy, even the crooks are getting desperate. I get these calls on my work phone all the time. I want to find these spammers’ phone numbers and hit them with spam calls advising them that the warranty on their souls has expired.
Of course, they will immediately know it’s a ruse. They haven’t had a soul for years!!
Yeah, I get those scam-from-scum calls. ON MY CELL.
I want a button on my next cell that sends a powerful bolt of explosive electricity to the other end of the line. Or at least a Dalek. “You are a robo-call! You will be exterminated!”
How come it is always the second notice? These scammers can only count to 2?
We get robocalls every few months for medical equipment that has to be replaced. After weeding through the three minutes of yes/no for every hose and clamp and screw and seal that might possibly be replaced, the voice signs off with the kicker: “Oh, by the way, you’re responsible for anything your insurance won’t cover.” click. If you don’t know that you’re covered, too late for you!
I dunno what is more irritating – spam phone calls about an expired warranty, or spam phone calls telling you “Congratulations! You have just won a blah blah blah”
If I get a real telemarketer on the other end, I try to be nice, listen to the whole introductory spiel (which is only, like, 15-30 seconds max out of your day) say no and hang up. If they persist and don’t accept the first “no”, then you can be irritating.
I was at the gym and, to my surprise, my cell phone rang in the locker room. Normally I don’t even get signal in there. The phone number was not one I recognized. I answered it.
The news I then received stunned me.
The factory warranty on my car was about to expire.
At least that’s what the recorded voice said.
Not only that, but this was my second notice.
How could I have let this happen? How could I have been so asleep at the switch that I allowed my factory warranty be on the verge of expiration after already having received a first notice?
I am, of course, devastated by this news. I am a failure as a car owner. As a husband and father. Indeed, as a man.
Seriously: What the hëll is going on with these spam recorded phone calls?
PAD
Well, don’t keep us in suspence man! Have you renewed the warranty yet or not?
I’m getting the same spam calls. The amusing thing is that, when they offer me cable TV service “in my area” or tell me that my car warranty is about to expire, they do so in English.
Why is this amusing? Because I live in Israel.
I’ve always thought of asking for that cable TV service and seeing if I can’t force them to agree to give it to me at the same price they give everyone else. They’d have to extend the cable pretty far…
From an early FRANK & ERNEST.
“An automatic dialing system has just sold my telephone answering machine 40 magazine subscriptions.”
I got messages like that regularly when I had a phone. They’re comparable to the crappy emails I get telling me that my PayPal account will be closed due to illegal access (I have one, but it’s empty), that Bank of America is closing my account when I don’t have one, or that I can get a better rate on my mortgage when I don’t own a house.
Pete. Evil Twin. Dear old friend. Ignore šhìŧ like that. Don’t bother with the Do Not Call list, because there are people out there who use the list for the very reason that they’re not supposed to. Go get yourself an antique car with no factory warranty, get good insurance, and drive that. You’re a wealthy man, buy one of Leno’s Dusenbergs. Let’s see them give you crap about a warranty on that!
Miles
I think several states are after the Robocallers but the forged called-id numbers aren’t helping.
I get the warranty calls regularly and got the interest rate call about my Visa debit card too.
I have Caller ID at home, so I never pick those calls up anymore. However, they also come at work and I can’t risk blowing off an actual customer call, so I have to pick them up there.
Sometimes, if I feel like poking them a bit, I’ll ask them questions like:
“So, which car are you calling about?”
(They never know, of course, because it’s a blind call)
“What’s my name?”
(They don’t know, they’re just calling 410-555-1234, 410-555-1235, 410-555-1236…)
“Where’d you get this number?”
(They can’t say)
I also like to point out to them that every number in the sequence my work number is in belongs to my company and that they need to take the entire area-code/exchange combination off their list.
Once I opened with, “My newest car is nine years old and has 79,000 miles on it, so I rather doubt anyone really wants to offer me a warranty on it,” or, “My factory warranty expired in 2005, so it’s a little late to be extending it.”
I actually got one guy so upset he hung up on me, which I understand is a major no-no for telemarketers (no swearing, no name-calling, just a little gentle prodding leading up to the phrase “wasting my valuable time”).
I’d love to be a fly on the wall at Galpin Auto Sports the next time somebody calls Beau Boeckmann to ask him about his car insurance…
“Well, the car I just bought is already insured. M’hm. M’hm. Oh, it’s a Chevy of sorts. M’hm. Well, it’s a forty-year-old car. Yeah, I just bought it. M’hm. Well, it’s blue, with a bubble top, two-seater… Oh, it’s got great safety features. Six headlights, but three are different colors. No, no airbags. No bumpers, either. It’s a hotrod, that’s why… Right now it’s insured with Lloyd’s for five million… I don’t think you can make me a better deal…” A few minutes of silence. “No, I bought it from a private owner in Juarez. Hm? Oh, his uncle had owned it. Well, it sat in front of their business for nearly twenty years. No, it wasn’t running. They used it for a dumpster. Hey, I got it for a cheap price, and all I needed was to restore it. No, it’s not something I could have bought new. The designer was a man named Ed Roth. Uh-huh. The man was an artist, what can I say?”
And of course, the poor gobsmacked marketeer can’t really explain to his boss what all that was about…
Some funny stuff. I get those calls at home just like everyone else. My favorite though is the one I get at work. I work in a bank and we will get the robocall telling us we have just “qualified” for a low interest credit card. It always makes me laugh, as if our company credit card isn’t quite good enough. I’m tempted to accept the card and see if the bank would pay the bill for that card….Nah I like my job.