Telemarketers Are Back, Car Sales Exposed

It's time to take a break from computing and focus on important stuff--like annoying phone calls and crooked car dealers.

Steve Bass

Steve Bass writes PC World's monthly "Hassle-Free PC" column and is the author of PC Annoyances, 2nd Edition: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things About Your Personal Computer, available from O'Reilly. He also writes PC World's daily Tips & Tweaks blog. Sign up to have Steve's newsletter e-mailed to you each week. Comments or questions? Send Steve e-mail.

Are you getting calls from telemarketers pitching carpet cleaning or mortgages? You're not alone. And they're definitely breaking the law. After you hang up on the dastards, I've got a fun read: Edmunds' "Confessions of a Car salesman."

Want Your Carpet Cleaned?

I was eating lunch when the phone rang. I raced to answer it--hey, it could have been my editor telling me I got a raise. They hung up before I could get to the phone, and they didn't leave a message.

My phone's caller ID display showed the number: 213/221-1021. The number's in Los Angeles and I'm in Pasadena. Odd, I thought, wondering who it was. So I Googled it.

The number appeared on both 800Notes and Who Called Us, sites that let you look up phone numbers from suspected telemarketers. One person writing on the 800Notes site said "Best Carpet" displayed on her caller ID and through Google, she traced the name to a toll-free number. Another person on 800Notes did some extensive research and found lots of toll-free numbers used by the company as well as spoofed numbers.

Social Engineering

I decided to try out my investigative skills and called 888/279-6054, the toll-free number I learned about on 800Notes. I floated a couple of questions to the woman who answered the phone.

"Are you Pro-Carpet Cleaning in South Pasadena?" (That site's closed and they moved to Los Angeles.) That, along with 24/7 Carpet Cleaning in Youngtown and Phoenix, Arizona, as well as Carpet Cleaning Services in Los Angeles, and Carpet Cleaning in Chicago, all listed on the Internet with the same toll-free number.

I acted confused, which is easy to do: "You're in Los Angeles and Arizona. How can you provide service in Pasadena?"

"We're a referral service."

"Where?"

"Alameda, in northern California."

"I have some unusual stains," I tried. "Can I get a local number and speak to the technician?" She caught on, told me have a nice day, and hung up. I tried a dozen more times and got different women. Once my question blipped their radar, they hung up.

I tried calling again, this time asking to be put on the Do-Not-Call list. Once I uttered those magic words, the woman hung up--without even telling me to have a nice day.

The way it should work is that once you register your home phone on the national Do-Not-Call list, telemarketers are prohibited from making telephone solicitations. It's pretty clear these people are ignoring the law.

This Is Dorothy Calling: Instead of carpet cleaning, you may be getting calls from Dorothy offering you a mortgage rate of 1.5 percent. 800Notes has entries in a number of spots; see 949-222-3046, 602-624-4822, and 429-0375.

Dig This: I have a new Web site for those times I'm on a really bad conference call with a really tenacious PR flak. In Stair Fall, like every game of this sort, the goal is to get high points by inflicting as much damage as possible. Use your cursor keys to move. My high is 380.

This Is the FCC Answering

If you've been victimized by these telemarketers, I suggest you file a complaint with the National Do Not Call Registry. (I did.)

Then follow up with a call to the FCC at 888/225-5322; press 1 for English, then 6 for unwanted calls.

For more information about telemarketing, including ways to sue the telemarketers once you catch them, check out Kill The Calls.

Dig This: Here's a way to aggravate your favorite IT guy or gal. Hide one or more tiny Annoy-a-trons around the office server. Then, as they say in those prankster catalogs, watch the fun begin. The IT person will hear a short, annoying beep at random intervals.

Confessions of a Car Salesman

What really goes on in the back rooms of car dealerships across America?

What does the car salesman do when he leaves you sitting in a sales office and goes to talk with his boss?

What are the tricks salespeople use to increase their profit and how can consumers protect themselves from overpaying?

It's not computing, I agree, but I found the story fascinating. Edmunds.com hired a journalist to go undercover and work at a couple of auto dealerships. His report is revealing--actually, an eye-opener--and an entertaining read. And it'll certainly help the next time I buy a car.