Obnoxious Police Telemarketers Tease You About Your Bedtime
Reader Chris, a donator to his local police department, is disturbed by the calls he has been receiving from the Richmond Police telemarketers. Besides being unusually aggressive and rude, one of their recent tactics involves placing phone calls late at night. One evening Chris tried to explain to this person that it was too late to take such calls to which the disgruntled telemarketer replied, "Ok little guy, you get to bed." Chris describes the strange phone calls, inside...
Hello,
I recently have been victimized by telemarketers identifying themselves as parties involved with the Richmond police department. On two separate occasions, the requests for donations far exceeded any norm that i have ever experienced. It's appalling to think that these are individuals representing police officers that I respect and support in every way I possibly can.
Phone call number one took place earlier in the week requesting donations for a program that hands out bears to children that have been victims to, or present at a crime. I explained to the caller that I was not in the position to donate the requested amount given my recent move to my new home; he said something to the effect of "some of these children don't even have homes". That's a sad fact agreeably, but that's by no means an appropriate "sales tactic". I actually forgot about it after a day or so until a call I received tonight. In hindsight, I wish I would have spoken with the individuals supervisor, but this is the next appropriate measure.
I answered a call at about 8:55 as i was walking in the door and received a call from an individual once again identifying themselves as a party working with the Richmond police department. This time, the individual was requesting donations for k-9's that go school to school to educate children on drug services; I informed the individual that the call was a little late and he proceeded to say " is it past your bed time? ", It's rather presumptuous of this individual to assume we are all on his sleep schedule. After explaining to the gentleman that it wasn't past my bedtime, its just a late hour to be calling me, he said "Ok little guy, you get to bed." I thanked him for his sarcasm and hung up the phone.
Can you please assist in identifying the parties that are handling these requests. They need to be given a manual, some training, or be held to some standards before they harass the general public. Remember, these people are using your good name - I may potentially never donate to the police department again due to this interaction.
Why are these individuals calling so late and or using these abrasive tactics?
Thank you for any assistance you can provide,
Chris [redacted]
We recommend first checking with the police department to confirm that these telemarketers are legit and not part of some phishing scam. If they are legit, they most likely work for a telemarketing company and operate on commission which might explain their rude tactics. If they were volunteering for the police department in this capacity it seems unlikely they would be behaving in this manner. The next logical step is to file complaint with the Richmond Police department whether this be a scam or legitimate telemarketing gone wild. Since Virgina uses the "1 party consent law" regarding the recording of phone calls, you could record some compelling evidence which could be used to expose these obnoxious callers. This type of evidence could be very powerful in trying to teach these jerks some manners since the police probably would not want to be associated with such unprofessionalism.
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Comments:
Exactly why my phone stays off the hook until needed for 911 calls. UGH!
Yet another reason why I have caller ID and refuse to answer the phone for numbers I don't recognize. If somebody really wants to talk to me I'm sure they'll leave a message. Also, my phone/answering machine can be set to play different ring tones based on caller ID, so family gets one, friends get another, etc. That way I know if I should pick up based just on the ring tone.
two words: caller ID.
Hey Chris - I'm getting the same types of Police calls up here in Northern VA but they have 757 area codes - not sure about yours.... They call ALL THE TIME, and I've just taken to not answering when I see the caller ID.
One night I told the woman on the phone I was not interested, and before I hung up I heard her yell (literally, YELL!) at me "BUT SOME OF THESE CHILDREN HAVE CANCER!" I heard her and said "excuse me?" and she goes "yeah - some of these kids have cancer AND they were victims of a crime, and you can't even find it in your heart to help them out? They are dying of pain!"
I was abhorred.
Just hang up and register for the do not call list. Even if it was a reputable organization, I wouldn't give out any information on a cold call. The only way they will stop is if we make it unprofitable for them.
These guys used to call my old business every day. They are relentless.
I have a cousin who is a Detective. He said that i should never give any of these charities any money. He pays hefty dues to the Detective's association, and it is more than enough to cover the expenses.
Most of these so-called charities that claim to work with police & fire departments are total scams.
If you were to see the paperwork from them, it almost always has a notation in agate type that your "contribution is NOT tax deductible as it's not a charity".
They usually state they're going to hold a picnic for kids in the summer. Yeah, sure they are!
And they're always rude & nasty!
I was getting calls from the "Veteran Police Fund" & when I answered the call after checking the Caller ID, my first words were "It's you crooks again" & before I could continue, he just said "You fucking asshole" & hung up.
When does this kind of thing become harassment? They're asking for money, so it doesn't? What a racquet...
My aunt gets similar calls constantly. She and my uncle donated to the Philly PD and FD a while back, and really can't afford to make any donations any more.
Yet they still call at least a couple times a week. They've pretty much started ignoring the home phone until someone leaves a message.
This is part of the reason I have no land line phone. The only unsolicited calls I get are from the occasional head hunter trying that got my resume through monster or something. Maybe once a year a sales call will slip through and I just say "this is a cell phone" and they never call again.
Whenever a police telemarketer calls, I just tell them I'm too afraid to reach for my wallet.
Steaming Pile's rule #1 - never donate anything over the phone. No pledges, no nothing. How the hell do you know who is on the other end? You don't.
Steaming Pile's rule #2 - never give out your personal information (other than what's printed on your checks, if you want to declare these contributions on your tax returns later) to any charity or political organization. You're just asking to have your mailbox stuffed with junk and be cold-called morning, noon, and night by every nonprofit with enough scratch to get mailing lists from every other nonprofit in the known universe. If you give one of them money, all of them will soon be beating a path to your door asking for some.
Steaming Pile's rule #3 - you're wasting your breath explaining to a caller why you can't give them any money (ex. "no, sorry, but my son in college needs the money more than Barack Obama does"). They will usually continue begging like a cat waking up from a nap with a jones for kitty treats until you hang up in their face. So save this step and go straight to the hanging up part.
Steaming Pile's rule #4 - sometimes it's easier to pick up, tell the caller to remove your name from their list, and never bother you again, than it is to let caller ID screen your calls. Many of the people (or more often, bots) who cold-call you at all hours couldn't care less how annoyed you get listening to your phone ring off the hook. Until you talk to a real live human and inform him or her that you're on the do-not-call list, or in the case of exempt nonprofits, that you don't do this sort of business on the phone, the bot will continue calling your number each and every time it comes up.
Hope this helps.
The do not call list doesn't apply to people calling on the behalf of charities.
DoNotCall won't work, since charities aren't covered by the List.
yeah, ditto the comments above. if you want to donate your money or your time to your local pd or fd, by all means, please do. but these outfits are shams. if you feel inclined to donate, talk to a cop or a firefighter - they can get you in touch with someone who will help take your money (& not call you 20 times/week).
& keep your eyes open for others too - i've also seen similar "charity work" with public schools, the veterans' administration, etc.
Check out [Whocalled.us] I have seen info on contacting these people and having your number put on an internal do not call list. The national DNC list does not cover charities so putting your number there has no affect on them.
Wow, I get calls like that all the freakin time. The last one was "Donate $50, and you could be part of our silver donators club, or $150 for the gold..." or something along those lines. I told the lady that if I was to donate, it would be nothing over $10. I LOVE telling them this, because of the answer.... "We only take a minimum of a $50 donation... would you like to pay by Visa or check?" I usually respond accordingly... "Look up the meaning of donation. I think you have it confused with subscription. You either take A DONATION OF MY CHOOSING, or nothing at all." and shortly after, I'm hung up on. Now mind you, I never actually was going to donate... but I do get jollies when I hear their answers to my lowballing.
It's criminal when they have a MINIMUM donation.
When i was in high school I had a summer job (it was all i could find at the time) telemarketing circus tickets for a company that claimed it represented a police organization. It was a total scam. If people didn't want to go to the circus we were trained to ask if they wanted to sponsor some under-priviledged kids so they could go. The sponsorship was the big scam they wanted us to push those because the money went straight to the company. I seriously doubt for all my efforts that not one under-privileged kid got to see the elephants.
Near the end of each campaign they would put the dialer on random and claimed that it was because a malicious former manager messed with the database and that was why we kept getting unlisted numbers and elevator phones.
yeah - i JUST got this land line last week as my cell is only for work purposes. I actually haven't received telemarketing calls at all yet, its just these unruly police donor representatives.
I've never donated over the phone - it's always been to things like " fill the boot "(firefighters) or donated to the officers in person. This just soils their good name.
I just was so furious last night when the guy on the other end of the line called me 'little guy', what if i had a kid in bed? what if i was a Dr. working a 24 hour shift and trying to sleep? I do have caller id, but the line is so new i'm just not terribly used to staring at the callers name before picking up. Lesson learned!
Thanks for the good tips though, guys.
Crooks. They probably have as much in common with Police Department, as I have with Queen of England.
I already "donate" enough to the local PD and FD in the form of property taxes. If they want more money for some pet project, they can but it on the ballot next year. I never donate to "police charities".
I received a call from some lymphoma leukemia society (i went to their website, and while I think it was really a charity, it was a little shady). Anywho, the first words out of her mouth were "I'm not asking for a donation today." After I told her I was not interested in distributing flyers to my neighbors she asks, "would you be interested in donating $25?"
I tore into her wondering why she was asking for a donation when she SPECIFICALLY said she was not going to ask for a donation. In the end I got her to admit that she lied to me and apologize.
@rewinditback: If you look through newspapers, you'll see a lot of ads for ''make money and help poor children''. All of these telemarketing companies hire all year round.
I get the police donation calls about twice a year, though my callers don't mention children. I usually ask them to send me something in the mail, and they do. I usually mean to donate, but kept putting it off and forgetting about it.
But now I don't even want to deal with them at all after the way I was treated the last time they called. A man called and tried to convince me to donate at least 5 dollars when I told him I was strapped for cash. I told him "No, maybe next time," and the conversation ended politely. Minutes later I got another call, from a woman this time who immediatly started to talk about "my donation." I interrupted her to tell her she was mistaken, that I never promised to donate and someone just called me, but she said "No, no!" and talked over me louder. I hung up on her. I guess she was mad that the guy who called me earlier took no as an answer.
@cmdrsass: I've never seen a legit ''police charity''. So don't waste money/time on them.
Most of these ''charities'' donate less than 10% of their collections to some random real charity.
And police won't ask for your money. Some officers may participate in financing campaigns (like Kid's Phone, etc.), but in these cases everyone state clearly that they are volunteering.
They are scams that have nothing to do with the police or fire. They use autodialers, ignore NDNC requirements, lie to you ect. Most are fly by night boiler room scams.
Just hang up as soon as they start their pitch. Don't talk with them, don't try to trick them with questions, don't mess with them. HANG UP.
I've been getting calls from these douchebags here in San Antonio, they usually cop an arrogant tone. But you know what shuts them the fuck up lickety-split?
When I say it will cost THEM $50 to talk to ME. They don't say much after that. They usually just mumble.
This tactic has worked surprisingly well with other telemarketer calls, too. It sure got Arbitron off my back.
I just tell them that I don't make charitable contributions or pledges by phone. I offer them the chance to mail me information about their charity, and I will consider a donation (NEVER agree to an amount on the phone - that becomes a "pledge" and the only information they'll send you is a bill). Some of them persist, but most of them usually hang up.
@Greasy Thumb Guzik:
LMAO @ "You fucking asshole""
If someone said that to me I would have been cracking up!
@highmodulus: Or even better : just tell them ''hold on'', and put them on hold, forever. They'll hang up. Plus, you're making sure they will harass less poor souls on this day, since they wasted precious time on your hold.
Didn't we cover this before on Consumerist?
#1 register number with Do Not Call registery.
#2 Get caller ID.
#3 Get anonymous call blocking (This has been the greatest thing since sliced bread, since a lot of telemarketers block their numbers).
I'll check back when the OP has filed a complaint with the local police department and initiated a call trace with the phone company. This is really not different from the calls we get here.
They've investigated these bozos and literally 95% of donations go to "overhead". Best reply to these scammers is, "Put me on your do-not-call list." "...Assh*le."
I work as a fund raiser at a University which is quite different than cold calling. As a reminder, if you are a member of the Do Not Call list it DOES NOT apply to charitable organizations such as a University. Cold Calling is when someone calls you out of the blue without a prior relationship. When a University calls there is definitely a prior relationship established because they only call alumni, parents or friends(when they have donated before).
Definitely use caller id. If someone contacts you and you would prefer to not be called again they are supposed to remove your name from the list.
When I lived in Wisconsin, I had a friend that did telemarketing that was supposedly for police departments in Michigan. But the company she worked for had no affiliation with any police departments or any charities. She was also paid in cash under the table. So, like many others said, this is probably a scam.
These calls particularly disturb me for two related reasons:
a) I feel like I'm being shaken down for protection money;
b) If I don't give I'll be put on some kind of sh!t list which means that should I call 911 I'll get put at the bottom of the list.
In fairness, I recognize that a) is real; but that b) is paranoia.
I've had the "police fund" people call me. I'd usually say I wasn't working and had no money BUT they'd still ask for a donation. The last time they called I told them to add me to their do not call list. The person shut up and said they'd stop calling.
Haven't had a call from them after that.
PS. Other commenters above are correct: these calls are typically made by professional telemarketing outfits that take a ridiculously large share of the donations. See, e.g. [www.guidestar.org] (Illinois Police Association, Inc fundraisers took $537K of $672K raised (80%)).
@EricaKane: Yeah, those damn people called me so often I reported them to Lisa Madigan. They're under an injunction not to operate in IL (as I'm guessing you know) because they're just fraudsters.
And they totally ignore the DNC list, for those who've mentioned that as an option.
In reference to the "one party consent law" mentioned by Jay, here's a link for state-by-state recording law...
@amyschiff: These are not charities, they're scams. Complain anyway and if it's paper mail, make sure to include a copy of their pitch, and be sure to circle the part about non-tax-deductibility.
There was some police charity around here that was sued by a local Sheriff's department for misrepresenting themselves. Since then, when one of those police charities calls, I just ask them about that.
Once, before that, though, they called me asking me to donate to some kind of fund for underprivileged children. The deal was that I was supposed to buy tickets for the children to go see a Johnny Paycheck concert. I told them that I hate poor kids as much as the next guy, but I thought that making them go to a Johnny Paycheck concert would be a little over the top.
@pinkbunnyslippers: 757 is Hampton Roads area. My area...I got this call as soon as my new number was listed. Said yea sure to whatever pitch [I was playing games wasn't even paying attention]. they sent me the stuff and I never sent in a check. Haven't heard anything from them since to get their donation.
Hang up don't waste your time, it's all a scam.
How fitting that these telemarketers are lying and cheating in the name of the local police department. Makes me wonder who trained whom in the art of lying and cheating...
You can be sure they're not cops. A cop should/will never call you asking for a donation. It's probably an rogue organization that asks you for donations, keeps the brunt of what they collect, and send, maybe 10-20% of what they've collected to the charity they claim.
Keep them on the phone as long as you want by stringing them along with no intentions of giving them any money or personal information. I usually find, "I don't really understand. Can you explain how it works again?" keeps them on the phone long enough to keep them from calling anyone else for a while.
I know from firsthand experience that many of these "police charities" are NOT affiiliated with your local police department..they just claim they are because the "charity" maybe donates a few dollars to police charities in your community. More likely than not, these charities only pay pennies on the dollar to any charitable purpose, most of your donation goes to the telemarketers and the scum that run the shell police charity.