Well, at least now we know the judicial system's tolerance level for this stuff.

Perhaps now they can go after the folks who offer to lower your credit card interest and the carpet cleaning company. The latter has called me weekly since early December. They are on their third caller ID phone number. I report them every time to the State AG office and the National Do Not Call folks. No legitimate company violates the do not call list. All of these people are crooks.

Headline should have read: Federal Judge Gives Warranty Robocallers UFIA.

:-)

@usa_gatekeeper: Yeah, it only took three instances within the judiciary and legislative branches for them to finally wake up about these slimebags.

No no, don't burn them. Everyone knows that the wheels of federal justice grind slowly...

...but they grind to a very fine dust in the most excuciatingly painful way.

@STrRedWolf:
We'll grind their bones to bake our bread

Funny how we the people can yell and yell about these calls but it took one congressman to get those calls during his dinner time, he makes one phone call and now they get stopped.

Now, if they could just outlaw robocalls all together, that would be great!

Dare I hope - perhaps some of the other robocalling companies will see the writing on the wall?

I'll belive it when I see it (or rather when I don't hear it). They'll be back soon enough.

@FooSchnickens: and the really sad thing is the companies will probably open up shop again a few weeks from now under different names.

I talked to one of them, They wouldn't warranty my 17 year old Buick.

Two Florida companies? But the calls I used to get would come from California...

I JUST got a call from one (11am, Saturday). Maybe it doesn't kick in till Monday?

@morganlh85: Or maybe it's contempt of court

Im still trying to get them to warranty my old pinto

Do we have name and addresses of these folks? I would just love to tell what I think of all the calls I've been getting.

I thought those warranty companies were mainly based out of Missouri, specifically the St. Louis area? Or do they subcontract their dirty work to random call centers?

Just goes to show you, they can get away with as long as they like until they start to call elected officials. THEN they do something about it.

And what do we burn with witches? "More witches!"

@Nogard13:

The vast majority of robocalls are already illegal, and especially these. Didn't stop them.

Too bad at least two other companies have sprung up. Unless they were responsible for that call I just got about "ADJUST YOUR CREDIT CARD RATE NAO! ZOMGZ!"

@dragonfire81: That's why the owners were named in the suit as well. Neither the companies nor the owners are allowed to do that crap, now.

@FooSchnickens: Big Fish. Slow turns.

Freaking a-holes are what the folks are. I hope the FTC reams them till they bleed.

@Brian James Schend: They don't care about the DNC...why should a court order phaze them?

@Allen Harkleroad: BUT BUT BUT BUT that'd be the government interfering with free market capitalisms!!!! We can't let that happen!!!!!!

@Megan Squier: I think they subcontract the calling to dozens of boiler-rooms around the country. A station here in Atlanta confronted the operator of a local one that was making the auto-warranty calls.

[www.myfoxatlanta.com]

@catnapped: You can bet your bottom dollar that Judge Grady will see that his orders are enforced. He is a great judge, and will not let these morons do more harm.

Yahoo.
Everybody, start posting senators' cell numbers on the Web! Hopefully, the "Account Services" a**holes will start calling, offering to lower their interest rates...

@sonneillon: So my mom's '62 Falcon is out of the question then?

Unfortunately, those aren't the only auto warranty companies doing this. People will still get calls from the others that weren't part of this judgement.

They called me and the first question they asked was "what year was my car?" I said 1941 and all I heard was . Screw these guys - divvy up their assets and send everyone they harassed a nice little check.

As long as there is the ability to hide or fake CallerID these scumbags will stay in business.

The "regulators" are too lazy to track down violators, that is until some politician starts getting the calls.

The "regulators" need to look at sites like 800notes.com and callercomplaints.com to get a better understanding of the extent of the problem.

*Does a little dance*

Audio of Judge Grady saying OH HELL NO would be the hottest new ringtone and/or internet meme!

Do they really it was just these two companies that were doing it?

I think they're gonna get a rude awakening next week when the calls just keep on coming.

How long did it take? I know those calls have been going around for a while. I hope they do stop, but what took so goddamn long?

@Eldritch: What about the ones from Missouri? US Fidelis has been busy doing this too and needs the same treatment.

These scumbags started robocalling my kids cell phone THE DAY we activated it and got the phone number. I hadn't even had time to finish setting it up so random numbers could not call it yet.

They also have been busy calling my cell phone that is on the DNC list.

Now could they just do something about the random Spanish robo-calls from New Mexico, Arizona and Texas area codes?

Of course, those who did buy warranties are now SOL. Best guess is that they were running a Ponzi scheme and revenue from future buyers was supposed to pay the expenses (assuming any actually got paid) from former buyers.

@morganlh85: I got one earlier today. Bastards!

@pattymc: yeah. We are getting several calls a day from these ones too, in addition to the car warranty ones. Why is it so apparently hard to stop such widescale scams?

My husband says we've had three spam calls today and that's a lot for the weekend. I was asleep for them (I'm recovering from surgery), but only because I'm hiding out in the bedroom specifically to avoid the constant ringing. I'd spend more time recuperating on the couch but the other day there were 7 calls in a three hour period so I couldn't nap. Driving me nuts.

I want a captcha for my phone line!

This was too easy.

The online White Pages showed a listing for Christopher Cowart. Job Title: Owner. Company: Trans America Warranty

Address: 1700 NW 64th Street, Ste 400
Ft Lauderdale, FL 33309-1801
Phone: (954)-771-9055

How about signing him up on junk mail lists and posting his number anywhere that "requests information." Show this punk what it's like on the other end!

The online White Pages revealed a probable office address and two likely home addresses for Mr. Damian Kohlfeld, listed as "member" of Network Foundations. It's got to be him.

The office address:
33 N La Salle St, Ste 2110
Chicago, IL 60602-4423
Phone: 312-386-1386

The home addresses:
41 E Eighth St, Apt 2A
Chicago, IL 60605-2169
Phone:(312)386-1386

2157 Clifford Road
Valparaiso, IN 46385
(no phone # available)

Enjoy!

Most people have caller ID and many phone services allow you to block numbers. Do we really need the federal government to protect us from telemarketers?

@usa_gatekeeper: It looks like the judge issued a (so-far temporary) smackdown as soon as the appropriate papers were filed.

@Eldritch: @bohemian: These days, there's no way to really say where the calls actually came from; I doubt even your phone company could (as opposed to the caller's phone company, which could probably tell).

My store has been getting the calls for reducing our credit card interest rates. I tried to keep the one lady on the line by asking her some questions and then when I said, "Oh, well, my husband handles this stuff, is there a number where I can call you back?" she hung up on me.

Of course, I would have just let the number loose on the internets, but the imaginary husband probably would have found it funny. :)