APLUS.NET Spamming My Cell Phone
So I got an unsolicited commercial phone call from the folks at APLUS.NET. (I'm not going to link to them for fear it will affect my google page rank.) Basically I've just settled into work at around 9:30AM and I get a call from some guy talking real casual saying, "Hey Matt! What's up?" I noticed the call was coming from an 877 number, so I suspected the guy was up to no good. The 877 area code is an overflow toll-free area code, so I suspected that calls originating from it are commercial. I was thinking... "hmm... a call coming from a 'commercial' area code and the guy's speaking to me like I'm his friend from college... scam!!!"Well.. I don't know if it's anything more than the APLUS.NET guys trying to drum up business. I stopped him in mid-sentence and asked how he had gotten my number. When he said he got it off the "call list," I was clear my mobile was being voice-SPAMMED. I immediately asked to be put on their "do not call" list and the guy said he would do so.
Afterwards, I did a little digging and found a site filled with people complaining of similar issues. Read for yourself over at Aplus Gets an F. Even more exciting, read the Better Business Bureau of San Diego's report on these guys. If you start googling for the phone number, you can find APLUS.NET is also the company behind the Veleka Predictive Dialer, a machine intended to maximize the utility of a telemarketing organization's human resources.
Apparently they're doing business under a number of names: A Plus Net, A+Net Internet Services, Aplus.Net Internet Services, Internet Abacus, LowFatHost.Com and Names4Ever.Com. I think the most telling part of the report are the words:
Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to a pattern of complaints. The company has resolved some complaints presented by the Bureau; however, some complaints remain unresolved.
And this got me thinking... didn't I just pay for APLUS.NET to try to pitch me some web services? Why, yes I did? Does that sound right to you? It doesn't sound right to me. So, after a little bit of googling, I found this page, The Truth About Cell Phones and the Do-Not-Call Registry, a the FCC's web site. It states quite clearly:
it is unlawful for any person to make any call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with express prior consent) using any automatic telephone dialing system or any artificial or prerecorded voice to any telephone number assigned to a paging service, mobile telephone service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call. This prohibition applies regardless of whether the number is listed on the Federal Government's National Do-Not-Call Registry.
More interestingly, this page has a link to the FCC's Complaints Page.
If you dig into California law, you'll find that they're supposed to immediately announce the purpose of the call if to solicit a sale. I'm getting this from California Business and Professions code, section 17500.3:
It is unlawful for any person to solicit a sale or order for sale of goods or services at the residence of a prospective buyer, in person or by means of telephone, without clearly, affirmatively and expressly revealing at the time the person initially contacts the prospective buyer, and before making any other statement, except a greeting, or asking the prospective buyer any other questions, that the purpose of the contact is to effect a sale, by doing all of the following:
- Stating the identity of the person making the solicitation.
- Stating the trade name of the person represented by the person making the solicitation.
- Stating the kind of goods or services being offered for sale.
The guy I was dealing with seemed to have forgotten to do this, opting instead to just start "chatting."
So... if you get a call from these guys and you don't want to hear from them again, be sure to ask them to put you on their "Do Not Call" list. They're supposed to respond by saying something to the effect that they're going to take you off the list and that it might take 30 days. The guy I was dealing with simply babbled something like "uh... yeah... uh... okay..." Sheesh. It's one thing to put my mobile phone on a telemarketing list, but these APLUS.NET guys seem to be avoiding even training their tele-marketers.
Oh well. Not my problem. I'm filing a federal and state complaint. There are fees involved; I'm sure APLUS.NET has a war-chest for such things.
So... if you get a call, out of the blue from 877-577-0877, you may want to avoid giving them your business. If they call you on your mobile phone, you can file a federal complaint. If they forget to mention they're calling you for the purpose of making a sale, that's a violation of state law.
Tags: telemarketing
20 Comments:
Thanks for the research on this. My cell phone got a call from that 877 number, so I was able to file an FCC complaint based on your info.
I received a call as well. I don't answer numbers I don't know. It's weird cause I just got this new phone today.
We regret some cellphone users who provide cell numbers for purchases or other registrations may end up on lists of individuals who are considered likely to be interested in our small business services. As a business who uses telemarketing to contact potential customers we are required to match each number against the Federal DO NOT CALL list in addition to accepting any request from a contact to be manually removed from calling lists. These are not only strict internal policies but Federal Laws with which Aplus.Net complies fully.
Hey, Aplus.net go and F___ yourselves.
You are obviously harvesting domain name whois info to get your phone numbers which is NOT ACCEPTABLE and possibly illegal.
You are about to get ruined in the blogosphere. Enjoy Scumbags!
PS. Are you also in compliance with Canadian law? Since you called me on my cell phone I'd really like to know.
VP Technology... I think I've got to agree with Wayne on this one (thought I probably would have said it a little nicer.) It's good that you understand that there are federal rules regulating your commercial behavior. But you've also got to understand that if you choose to do business in California, you MUST also abide by Californian law. Or rather... you don't have to do anything, of course. But you should understand that ignoring California law when operating in California leaves you open to financial liabilty.
Personally I enjoyed Wayne's way of saying it.
I subscribe to eVoice http://www.evoice.com/ myself. And, I use the local number they supply me with on EVERY "business" transaction requiring a phone number. I even have it printed on checks ... even though I rarely write a check anymore.
Only close friends & relatives get the REAL # & they don't get the eVoice #.
So, when I got a call from that same 877 # that apparently was recorded at 9:12AM Thursday, August 17 no phone rang anywhere. Instead, it was only delivered to my E-Mail, and I never bothered to play it until today, Saturday, August 19, 2006.
The only sound recorded was their genius telemarketeer BLOWING into the phone. How appropriate ... but even more appropriate if it had been a sucking sound.
Sooo, no need to rely upon a do-not-call list or laws that are on the books but NEVER enforced by the lame gubbermints who write them.
Unfortunately, there IS a price associated with this ultimate convenience. $4.95/mo. but like they say, FREEDOM isn't free, I guess.
So "vp technology" go-ahead, dial your ass off. And, like the Jimmy Buffett song lyric says: "If the phone doesn't ring, it's me."
And oh yeah, Have Nice Day ... and my you live in interesting times.
Very good informative write-up with good links to help with the problem. I filed a complaint with the FCC by following your link. I hope others will take the time to do the same. It only takes a couple minutes. Read the post above from VP technology. That is the a$$ h01e that is doing this illegal calling. Let's don't let them get away with this!!
To VP technology: Do you really get any business at all by doing what you're doing? Why would anyone buy anything from you when approached in such an intrusive manner? This is obviously a marketing experiment on your part. Time to end it before you piss off everyone and loose whatever legitimacy you may have one had (chuckle chuckle).
hey, look their number up on phonetrace.org
it shows you exactly what type of crowd we are deling with at Aplus.net
hey, look their number up on phonetrace.org
it gives you a pretty good idea of the what aplus.net is trying to do to us
I got 2 calls within about 4 weeks from APlus.Net. And it was the same scenario, "Hey can I speak to C.C.? I need to talk about *the website*." I knew immediately this was a WHOIS telemarketer. Plus, there is NO website! HA! And I only go by C.C. in my WHOIS info. Both times it was my cell phone. I was POd. I didn't think to ask for the Do Not Call until the second time. It looks like a whole year later, they're still up to their old tricks. Nothing has changed. These a-holes are just going to keep doing it, it seems. :( So it's up to us to keep the truth of their bad business practices alive.
I put a profile up for them on the Bad Business Bureau @Rip Off Report (2/15/07). Check out their other complaints, too. Here's a link to their complaints file:
Rip Off Report
APlus.Net really ought to stop farming from the WHOIS. It doesn't matter if they do what they can to abide by the law. Simply by farming the WHOIS will open them up to making mistakes. And I think Wayne was on to something: farming from the WHOIS is a violation of the TOS.
They are harvesting from WhoIs Information. I also work for a hosting company so I called the 877 Sales number and complained about their shady business practices and they promptly hung up on me. I called back to get on the do not call list and wanted to know how their dialing system works and how they got my number, transfer to techsupport, disconnect. So I got fed up, visited their site, and called their corporate headquarters.
I think it's time to put the heat on! Here is the information:
Corporate: 913-890-7700
The Call Center Director's name is Ken Thompson. I have left him a voice message to call me back.
Update:
Ken Thompson called back. He verified that the number was harvested from Whois information. I asked him what service (such as opensrs) they used to harvest the information and he said it was irrelevant. I told him that some of those service providers had agreements in place that prohibit the automatic gathering of information and he assured me that they were gathering through legal avenues but still refused to give me the list. I told him it looked like he was hiding something and he said he resented the accusation but still would not give me the list. I told him I could claim I had a million dollars in my checking account but it wouldn't mean anything. His words were "I don't see how that's relevant. I could tell you have I a Master's Degree and you don't." Further he claimed that the conversation was getting petty and promptly exited the phone call. His direct extension is 6980.
i got a call just now asking for my father i told him he was not here they told me ok bye and i google the number found this page apparently they didndt even gave me time to tell them how are they and tell them that they should not call again.
Please remove the comment from kelvin that has phonetrace.org mentioned. It's a prank site with a gay sex movie.
I got a call around 8-9 a.m. this morning. So it seems they are making their rounds again. I just called back and yes it is a prerecorded message from Aplus.net.
I got call this morning, i normal don't life phone which i don't recognize. how i avoid getting call from these guys again?
I just got one of these calls myself, coincidentally a few days after registering a couple of domains with godaddy.com. I assume since the law only says it is illegal to make these calls using automated means, they are just manually dialing the calls, which unfortunately seems legal, which it should be since the recipient pays in minutes/$$$ if they answer.
Now...I specifically asked if it was an automated dialer and was told "Yes it was". Also as an update, awhile back I received a confirmation letter from the FCC stating that they now have all of hte information they need and it has been turned over to their enforcement division.
Thanks for the info... I just got two cell phone calls from these clowns.
After an initial pause so they could actually pick up the phone from the automated dialer, a young lady says:
"May I speak to the person in charge of the website? The website 'sduffy'... "
Me: "What website?"
Her: "I'm sorry I don't have the domain name. Do you have a website?"
Me: "I don't think that's any of your business."
Her: "I'm sorry, I'm with Aplus.net webhosting..."
Me: "I'm not interested in webhosting."
Me: Files complaint with FCC
just got a call from them. didn't answer.
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