I received a call form “Dealer Processing” which was very similar to this recording:
It actually may have been the exact same recording.
I said NO to the question about owning the car but it still said fantastic and told me to wait for an agent.
The call went into hold music for some time (VICIdial system default MoH) and then a recording played indicating that all agents were busy and I could press 7 to remain on hold or hangup and they would call back. I pressed 7 and waiting on the line.
At this time I could tell the phone line changed to another ring which seemed like the call actually transferred to a new system at this point which was probably a “legit” company.
Donna answers the phone and claims to be with “Vehicle Servicing Department out of Southern California.” Talked with Donna who claimed due to a technical glitch none of my information came through to her and she had to ask some questions.
Even though there was a “technical glitch” she still knew my name and the car that I drove and where I lived etc.
I was then passed over to James who was required to ask me questions in order to become “Verified to qualify for the program” by asking 2 questions
1) Does the car leak oil?
2) Any known issues with the car?
“GREAT!”
James, then informs me that I qualify to extend my factory warranty for up to 3 more years on the car without a vehicle inspection being required.
He also goes into the sales pitch of 3 year plan until 70k miles added to whatever I just told him on the phone with $100 deductables on all services and that since I qualify he can allow me to continue talking with his service specialist.
I’m then placed back on hold for a few moments and Donna starts to go over the programs with me.
She doesn’t actually go over any programs just informs me that I qualify and that her accounts department would be able to go over payment options and plans and that they work with veterans and help elderly get into plans that work for them if that was a concern of mine, it wasn’t.
I’m then placed on hold again for a few moments and Greg takes over the call. At this point I’m tired and somewhat disgusted at how they are playing this musical chair game in order to build confidence in that they are a legit full service enterprise. In reality the vibe I felt was that it’s 3 people sitting in a room together passing the phone around most likely laughing and drawing on a whiteboard about how stupid I am and that they are gonna eat lobster tonight on my dime.
Some items on this call that stood out to me as very suspect:
1) Unsolicited inbound call that has been calling me for months from the same fake number.
2) Recording that doesn’t work and always responds in the affirmative.
3) When being “transferred” between agents there was no music being played
4) After initial call recording sent me into the call queue the rings changed which indicates I’m traversing different phone switches to hide the true source of the call.
At the end of the call with Greg I started to ask where I would mail the checks to and he instantly got defensive and combative toward me. He suspected I was recording the call and started to walk back anything that was said like
“Who are you again why are you calling me!?”
“Why are you wasting my time with this if you’re not interested in warranties!”
Hope the above helps someone in identifying some signs of true telephone spam and why you shouldn’t be doing business with unsolicited calls even if they know your name and car you drive.