Free Holiday.....not

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Ian B Walker

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 7, 2003
Messages
7,668
Location
Freckleton
Car
300-24, saloon and coupe, E300 24 valve diesel estate
Earlier this week we had a letter posted to us informing us that we had won a holiday. I usually throw these things away as soon as they arrive on the doorstep but my wife got to it fiirst. Unbeknown to me she contacted the people concerned and registered her claim. I was informed this morning, by my Telephone Provider, that I have been charged £115 for the phone call. So People Beware. If you are asked to phone these numbers, DON'T.

09061 270477
09061 240240


If you have been stung as we were contact www.ICSTIS.org to register your complaint or phone them on 0800 500212 (free)
 
That sucks. Can't do much can you? My parents got hit with a few dialer programs on their PC - dial premium rate numbers. My dad, not the most IT literate person didn't know what was happening until my my lmum ooked at the bill and asked me if it was to do with the internet!

I got a phone call saying I had one a holiday a few years ago. It was apparently as I had helped with some customer research (I possibly had but coudn't remember).

I got a letter with all the details, it was for two people at medium grade hotels etc, had to book through Thomas Cook.

I was really really wary.

I kept turning it down verbally when they phoned me, time after time, week after week, saga went on for ages.

The people calling got more and more senior, kind of pleading wih me, not understanding why I did not want the holiday!

I kept asking if they could give it to whoever came 2nd etc.

Eventually they stopped contacting me, I was so cautios and don't regret it, but in the back of my mind I kind of think I genuinly won a holiday and passed it up. It' the only thing that explains the bemused people calling me!
 
Ian B Walker said:
.... that I have been charged £115 for the phone call. So People Beware. If you are asked to phone these numbers, DON'T.

09061 270477
09061 240240

Some automatic systems that cold call people urge you to Press 9 now. If you do Press 9 but then hang up you are still charged several minutes for the call.
As many cold calls originate from abroad UK phone companies can do little to restrict the charges.
 
sad times

also beware:

- domain name renewals originating from a provider other than your own.

- winning a lottery or competition you have never entered that requires you pay registration fees or phoning a premium number.

- when selling a car on autotrader or ebay motors of foreign sellers who want to buy your car no questions asked, but in order to facilitate the export of the car you have to pay upfront the shipping and export/import duties which will be refunded in full when payment is made for the car (yer right)

- paying fictitious fines for traffic offences issued abroad (with vague details of the offence) which plays on the fact you have been abroad.

- aiding foreign nationals to transfer millions of U.S. dollars out of their country in return for a lucrative commission on the said millions. (Which of course requires your financial assistance in the first instance to free up the frozen proceeds). The emails usually start by stating that they have contacted you in confidence and you are known to be of a trustworthy source.. yer right.. they have never met you, and their reply email never works and they use a hotmail or yahoo account.
 
I've always been told to be careful if you ever receive via phone or mail any offer like this where it asks you to give a day when you will be able to collect your prize!


Cus thats when they rob your house! :mad:
 
You should seriously think about registering with the Telephone and Mail Preference Service.. Its free to join and is paid for by the idiots who phone you or junk mail you. Its completely stopped junk mail and unsolicited sales calls at home and for my folks when they subscribed.. http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/mpsr
 
I registered for that some time ago, but it still didn't stop a message being left on my NTL answerphone advising me I'd won a holiday and to call a £1.50/minute number - only it didn't mention the price bit!

One interesting thing, my caller id didn't show any missed calls, so it looks like they sent the message directly to my NTL voice mail. Crafty way to get people to call you back.
 
I've noticed that when these sales people cold call you to let you know you've won a holiday/ free kitchen / etc... there is always a slight pause from picking up the receiver to a human (?) talking. A friend in IT told me that they use computers to call dozens of numbers at the same time (auto dialliers?) and when they get a hit (i.e. you pick up), it takes a couple of seconds to connect through to the agent.
So now, if I get a pause on pick up, I simply hang up. You can double check by doing a 1471 - guarantee you'll get "number withheld".
 

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