A quick story about my encounter with a "sports service"

I'm driving home from work a few weeks ago listening to my local sportstalk station. On comes a commercial advertising "4 winners tonight absolutely free on a recorded message." So....knowing better, but being bored & stuck in traffic, I call the 800 number.

After sitting through about 3 minutes worth of promotions for other numbers to call they finally give one game on the message.

Then the "fun" began !!

I keep my cellphone in my car....as in I don't carry it with me....and I therefore rarely get calls on it. Well THAT was about to change !! Every day for the next few days I noticed three to five "missed call - caller unknown" messages on the screen.

Then on a Saturday I was on the phone with my daughter, who I was on my way to visit, when a call waiting call came in. I asked my daughter to hang on. Those of you with daughters (as opposed to sons) realize that I had very little time to deal with the incoming call.

A loud voice comes on and says "MIKE" as if he has known me for years. I say "uhhh...and this is who?" And he says "IT'S YOUR BUDDY JOHN." ....uhhh who?? "YEAH....YOU CALLED OUR 800 NUMBER. YOU NEED OUR SERVICE, RIGHT??" Oh that.......no I was just calling becau "YOU WANT TO PLAY WINNERS RIGHT??" I say..."actually I was just talking to my daughter and you interrupted....and tell the truth I was just calling out of curiosity...and really didn't want some fast talking salesman calling me." He says "WELL YOU'RE A F*CKING ASSHOLE" at which point it became a pissing contest until I realized my daughter is on hold....so I told him to call back in 20 minutes. What the hell.....I had a two hour drive ahead of me and he was entertaining.

10 minutes later (finished speaking with my daughter by then) a different guy from the same place calls. This one is more polite. I told him about the first guy and he apologizes for his behavior....then proceeds to give me a pitch. I said several times that I would absolutely never use the service and he would better spend his time calling someone else, but he kept on pitching.

Long story short, I finally get him off the phone....but he left over a dozen voice mail messages over the next couple of weeks. I felt stalked !!! Finally I called him back and asked him which monitoring services he was registered with. He said none. I said that in that case we can never do business (not that I hadn't already told him that).

He proceeds to go into a tirade about monitoring services....insultingly tells me how little I know about them (actually he was right as far as that goes....I know nothing about monitoring services.....I was just hoping to use the mention of them to make him stop calling)....and insists he is "just trying to help me."

I finally said "please just stop calling." That didn't even make him blink. After a few attempts to ask him nicely to stop calling, none of which were acknowledged, I said in a loud voice "WOULD YOU PLEASE HAVE SOME MOTHERF-ING RESPECT!!??!!" He must have heard that because he said don't curse me, I'm not cursing you....and then he went back into his pitch....at which point I hung up on him.

I haven't heard from him since.....it's been about five days.....I'm starting to miss the little guy (haha).

Anyway......no real point to the story....just a story....maybe one question if anybody knows the answer and that is:

What is UP with these guys ????

Do you still have their number?

I need some picks for this weekend

Thanks

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by EverFresh:
Do you still have their number?

I need some picks for this weekend

Thanks<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hell...I have a long trip ahead of me. That boy sounds like good company.

seeing where you live - my guess is you were listening to 690/1150 OR 710

sorry to tell you this - but you are now f****d!

they are gonna call you all the time. legendary scamdicapper stu feiner was quoted as saying their plan is to call and call and call and eventually they wear you down and you pay for their services.

you might have told off these guys - but i am sorry to tell you - they are gonna sell your number to every f*****g service out there of scamdicapping status.

one time i made a call to dan pastorini's office for a "free" pick. for the next 3 YEARS i got calls at least 2-3 times a MONTH from all sorts of services. they all sounded the same as the call you got - and all rom services I KNOW got my number from dan.

when i bust services i ALWAYS do it from pay phone - this way they can't track me down - and they can call that phone until hell freezes over - and i'll never be there to pick it up.

as you found out the hard way - these radio spots NEVER give out free picks - they are nothing more than "bait and switch" tactics.

have fun getting a TON of calls from services for quite some time. the "best" is yet to come. wait until bowl season! these services are gonna call you EVERY DAY! same goes for the nfl playoffs.

i hate to say this - but if you can get a new cell phone number - DO IT! in the long run - you will be happier you did!

Winkyduck.....

Thanks for the good news *groan* !!

Btw....it was indeed 710

Keep a referees whistle by the phone. We you have a chance to talk, speak very softly so that they can barely hear you....then give them the whistle & hang up.

wouldn't *67 and then the number block out the caller id so you wouldn't get on lists? does it cost money on the cell to do this?

a quick story????

zapster,

great story kiddo, but if I was to tell you my experiences of late with these deadbeats, you'd be freaking out. I have had over 15 of these calls from these smooth talking salesmen and it always gets ugly and they just can't take NO for an answer. My line is always, I am broke and I am out of commission for at least 2 yrs and don't have a pot to piss in.. And they just continue on, as if they are not even listening to me. I've had 4 guys challenge me to come to MTL to come and fight me. I've told these losers to stop calling me, and they'd say, we will keep calling you till you send us some funds. I swear to god, I am not making this up. These guys are a bunch of idiots.

My new thing I do now is great. When I say hello, I say, wow, I am so happy you called because I was looking for a new book to send 25k to, and I guess I have found it now, then i say, can you hold on a minute Bob, pls whatever you do, don't hang up, I am just so happy you called. And then i leave the phone on the desk there for 7 minutes. I come back, and they are still there. Then i talk for 2 minutes, tell them to wait, the doorbell is ringing and to pls not hang up.. And then i keep them there for another 12 minutes, I come back, and he is still there. I do this for about 2 hrs, while I am putting in my bets of course, so i am not wasting any of my time. Then after he calls me back many times again to confirm, I laugh at his face and call him a sucker and tell him that he just wasted 2 hrs with me for nothing and to take a hike.. Then the fighting starts from his side with the go f yourself, your mother is a whore, and so forth. And I just sit there and say.. ha ha sucker.. i hope you enjoyed our 2 hrs together. I hope you had fun waiting on hold all this time..

sick - the only problem zapster would have is he can't do that on his cell phone - or if he can - he would eat up his minutes in 1 day.

yeah i realized that winky, that sucks. They even call me on my cell too. I hate that. And it costs me each time. I don't care as it's only 25 cents a min, but when I get about 4 calls a day that averages 3 min each call, that ends up costing me an extra 150 bucks approx with tax per month, just for these lowlifes. That bugs me. And the problem with this is that I have to answer each call and can't ignore them because they all say private number, and I have a lot of people that I speak to frequently who only call me with a private number. So I am fu cked. These lowlifes cost me close to 2 dimes a year in calls.

I am really considering changing my cell number, and only give it to my close friends and family, as it will only benefit me in the long run. But for some reason, i never get weekend calls on my cell, or I would have a field day with them, because that is when it's free.

You lost it all, quit gambling, and have joined Gamblers Anonymous. Go on the offensive; offer to sponsor them at a GA meeting and tell them how it's changed your life. Make like you've got religion and you want them to join the cause.

djking: *67 doesn't work when you're calling a toll-free line, they have the right to record the number apparently because they're paying for the call.

However, consider using these features if you want to hang onto your current phone number - these are from Southwestern Bell, but check with your phone company to find out what they offer ... and no, I'm not a salesman for Caller-id, lol, personally I'd change my phone number if that had ever happened to me ...

Anonymous Call Rejection

Sometimes callers - for example, some miserable cocksucking scamdicapper subhuman bastards - choose to block their names and numbers from appearing on a Caller ID display screen. If you'd rather not take a call from someone you don't know, you won't have to with Anonymous Call Rejection. If you receive a blocked call, your phone won't even ring. The caller will be told you don't accept anonymous calls.

To turn on Anonymous Call Rejection:

PICK UP The phone and press *77.

Note: In most cases, SBC Texas, SBC Arkansas, SBC Missouri, SBC Oklahoma or SBC Kansas depending on the service address, automatically turns on Anonymous Call Rejection for you when you purchase the service.

To turn off Anonymous Call Rejection:

PICK UP The phone and press *87

Call Blocker

Want to talk to that piece of shit slimeball scamdicapper who always calls at dinner? How about that guy that won't take "no" for an answer? Say, "Never call me again."

With Call Blocker, you can keep unwanted calls from getting through, because you can block up to ten numbers. You can also block the number of your last caller, even if you don't know who it was - that's called a "private entry." Blocked callers will hear, "We are sorry, the party you're calling is not accepting calls at this time."

To use Call Blocker:

PICK UP The phone, press *60 and follow instructions:

Set up a list of numbers to block
Add known numbers or "private entries" to your list
Remove known numbers from your list

Note: In some locations you must press 3 to turn your service on or off. Calls will not be blocked unless Call Blocker is on.

To turn off Call Blocker:

PICK UP The phone and press *80 and follow the instructions.


Privacy ManagerSM

Stop unidentified callers - before your phone ever rings! And don't talk to the blood-sucking weasel buttplugs unless you want to! Privacy Manager is a new call screening service that works with Caller ID to identify all incoming calls that have no telephone numbers provided and which are identified as Anonymous, Unavailable, Out-of-Area, or Private, and makes callers identify themselves in order to complete the call. You will know who's calling and have four options for handling the call. To hear a demonstration of the service, you may call 1-888-560-9299.

Here's how it works:

When a call comes through as "anonymous", "unavailable", "out of area" or "private", the caller will go through a series of self-identifying prompts before your phone even rings. The caller will hear:
"The person you are trying to reach does not accept unidentified calls. Your Caller ID was not received. To enter an access code, press 1. Or, to record your name so that we may announce your call, press 2."

If the caller announces his or her name, your phone will ring and "Privacy Manager" appears on the Caller ID box. You will know that this is a screened call and will have four options to handle the call:

Accept the call

Reject the call: "The person you are calling is not available at this time. Please try again later."

Send the call to CallNotes or an answering device.

Send a solicitor's rejection: "Attention! Phone solicitors - Please add this person's name and telephone number to your Do Not Call list. The person you are calling does not accept phone solicitations."

Callers with blocked numbers will be given the option to unblock their number for just this call, and the call will be connected.

You can provide frequent callers whose numbers are unidentified with an access code which will allow people who enter them to ring through to your phone without recording their name. Each access code must be ten digits long. We suggest using the area code and telephone number of the person who'll be using it. This makes it easy for the caller to remember and easy for you to recognize.

Call Forwarding forwards your Privacy Manager options to your forwarding location regardless if forwarding location has Privacy Manager.

You can access your "Profile Manager" to establish language options (Texas only), set up access codes, or change your Personal Identification Number (PIN) or switch the service on or off.

Sick: why the heck are you allowing scum to ride your back for 2 dimes a year??? That doesn't make sense - changing a phone number is no big deal, I've done it every time I had to move to a different state and different house (I am not a fan of cell phones so I'm talking a wired phone). Simply email most people with the new number and tell your utilities by phone - paying 2 dimes a year to hang onto a number is not smart at all. And I don't care if it's a number you've had for years and you like it, it takes about a month to get used to the new one and you'll wonder WTF you waited for.

I recently have a received a couple of calls from these scamdicappers. I have never called a free pick line or anything like that so I don't know how they got my number. Do you think possiblt they get numbers from sportsbooks? Possibly a sportsbook that went out of business?

As for the way I handle it. I always act very confused as if I'm a moron. "Huh? Football? What are you talking about? I have no idea what you're talking about" Eventually they lose their patience and just hang up.