[blakmac]

Just wanted to share this email with you all and see if anybody had any more information regarding this group of telespammers.

Quote

Hello,

I am an employee for a directory-assistance call center. One of our
clients is
a company named Service Bureau Networks, and I have come to suspect
the
legitimacy of the company and its practices. It is a long story and
probably
uninteresting to you.

I am contacting you because, in researching this company, I came
across a text
file, attributed to you, indicating that Service Bureau Networks is a
telemarketing company. I was wondering if you had any further
information on
that: what kind of calls they make, that sort of thing. I am trying
to put
together a small report to take to the company I work for, in the
hopes that
my company will drop theirs as a client, because I find SBN's
practices
repulsive. Any information you have would be greatly appreciated, and
should
you wish it your anonymity can be assured.

Thank you for your time,
xxxxxxxx

P.S. The company is also known as "TelSeven" (which has a
Web site at
www.telseven.com), and "Service Bureau Networks" is
apparently listed as a car
dealership in Ponte Vedra, Florida. Whether this information is of
any use to
you or not, I don't really know. I can provide a little more,
specifically in
regards to my dealings with the company at work, if you wish.

Anybody know anything at all? The TelSeven website really dosen't tell me anything except that they charge way to much for directory service.

Thanks in advance.

This post has been edited by blakmac: 26 June 2004 - 10:18 PM

[replax]

i'm kinda confused, was this an email from a friend or a random spam type email?

and i have never heard of the company before

[blakmac]

This email came from a person that found my list of telemarketer numbers on my site. I get stuff like this every now and then. Which reminds me, I have a list of telemarketer numbers, so if you have 'em, feel free to pitch in :P

[Strom Carlson]

I think that a lot of the telemarketing companies are seeing the writing on the wall, and, being scared shitless by it, are rapidly moving towards the inbound call center market instead.

[replax]

...in a kind of reverse telemarketing...

if you call aol for tech support, you will at some point in the call(usually toward the end) be propisitioned to sign up for some random thing. so instead of places paying telemarketers to pitch people, they pay aol to do the same. seems like the next step in telemarketing, paying tech support and utilities and such that people have to call to pitch people

[Bizurke]

actually from what I've seen there is more and more inbound centers switching to outbound, or even inbound centers closing and new outbounds opening. The city I live in is very dependent on telemarketing and customer service call centers and all the trends in the business tend to make the news here quite often.

[replax]

there are a few cities who exist solely to annoy people with their call centers and bulk snailmail. i know nobody in richmond va, and if i get a letter from there i junk it, because it is a credit card application. i, nor anyone whom i have asked, has gotten a legitimate letter from anyone in that city.

[av1d]

replax, on Jun 27 2004, 02:17 AM, said:

...in a kind of reverse telemarketing...

if you call aol for tech support, you will at some point in the call(usually toward the end) be propisitioned to sign up for some random thing.  so instead of places paying telemarketers to pitch people, they pay aol to do the same.  seems like the next step in telemarketing, paying tech support and utilities and such that people have to call to pitch people

Each time I call Verizon, which is every month because they manage to screw my bill up in some way, they try to sell me the highest long distance plan and DSL.
When I had the cheapest LD plan before, they were trying to get me to move a step higher. They're never happy.

And oh yes, if a customer representitve from any company asks you if
it's okay to review your account, say no. I haven't tried this yet but maybe
they won't be able to see which services you're subscribed to, and that way won't try to sell more services? If anyones tried this please enlighten us! :D

This post has been edited by av1d: 28 June 2004 - 12:29 PM

[chrix3]

Hi...New here :)
Just looking around online for info about telseven myself and came across this board.
They are intercepting toll free calls and and making it sound like they company you are trying to reach has changed thier number. by dialing the new number you sign up for thier service and get charged $4.oo + to make the free phone call you were trying to make.
lovely people.
:)

[Strom Carlson]

Something strikes me as being very illegal about that.

[jenly]

I, too, just got my company's phone bill and found a surprise chage from this Telseven company.

I called and they told me that when one calls an 800# that's been disconnected, a recording plays instructing the caller to dial some 1010# to get the new number. Of course, 1010#'s charge like 900#s, but in my mid-sized company, not many employees would care.

So I guess since the caller willingly dials the 1010#, it's not illegal for them to pull this scam. The company refused to remove the charge, my phone company reversed it back but that doesn't mean they can't pursue it. Doubt they will, though.

Bitch that I am, I'm writing to the FCC & the FTC :ranaway:

[trolanye]

Today I got the final phone bill from my old apartment, only to find a $6.16 charge from this Telseven company. I called OAN, saying, what is going on, I contest this, I didn't make the call. They said they'd give me a 25 % discount and claimed there was no way to contest the charge. I kind of figured this might be some scam, so here I am. I called the number on Telseven's web site, which is now simply a recorded message which repeats all the info on the web site. I've never heard of the number they claim I called. I'm on hold w/ 3rd party billing at SBC now; the billing guy I talked to @ SBC said there was always a way to contest a charge. OK, I got through. SBC removed the charge w/ pretty much no questions asked.
Moral of the story: Screw OAN, call SBC.