I am continually getting telephone calls from people wanting to sell me a new mobile phone, sort out my debt problems which I do not have, and buy my timeshare holiday week, even though I have used a service in the UK called The National Do-Not-Call List, or the Call Prevention Registry, which should prevent such calls or organisations making unwanted “cold” telephone calls to me.
As soon as I hear a foreign accent, sorry to say from the Indian sub continent, and they ask for “Mrs Mee Holt“, the hairs on my neck go up, I know that they will be trying to sell me something I do not want. She never uses the shortened name “Mee” from her name Mee Len.
“No you can’t. She does not live here any more.“, will only make them say, “Is that Mr Holt?“
Just thinking about it makes me mad, but then I expect they can get around UK laws by calling from outside the UK.
I apologise to those working in the call centers making these calls, I know I am rude to you and I cut you off. Sorry, I know you have a job to do and want to make money, earn a living, but I do not want to speak to you.
I also sometimes get telephone calls from people who want to buy the timeshare week. I wrote about one company Alpha Group Resales who sounded very convincing in their sales patter or talk. (see article).
They give a reference of the Timeshare Advisory Service and a telephone number. I wonder if when the number is called, it ends up in the same office as Alpha Group Resales or whatever name they are operating under now.
I still notice after a number of years, people are landing on my web site article after searching on Timeshare Advisory Service in a search engine, so the scam still seems to being used.
To operate this scam, taking a large sum of money at the outset by credit card, to register the sellers name and cover administration costs, the seller enters into a contract which contains a clause saying that if the seller ends or cancels the contract, the initial sum will be forfeited. Obviously, there are no buyers for the timeshare, and thus the buyer cancels the contract or arrangement with the company operating the scam, and looses their initial deposit.
I cannot understand how these people can sleep at night, knowing that the next day they are going to sell something to people that they do not want it, advertising space, search engine placement, listings in telephone books and directories, a name of a potential buyer who does not exist.
The credit card companies know that these scams exist, they must get hundreds of calls of complaints, yet they continue to let these companies trade and take money off unsuspecting people.
The banks must know about the scam emails, which promise untold wealth from a person who died in a plane crash, or from a military person who found a box of millions of dollars in the middle of the desert whilst fighting in Iraq and wants to share it. Why don’t they stop the unsuspecting public transferring money abroad to these people?
Worldwide government agencies know about these scams, why don’t they do something to stop it?
Oh Poo Poo, am I sounding like a grumpy old man?
Life is so hard and unfair.
Now read I don’t believe it
the Marmara Suadiye, Istanbul