The Big Scam
This is not like those chain emails that you get! This is true because it happened to me! I have been pretty traumatized by a recent experience, but now I am past it enough that I can share it with you. Okay, I am WAY exaggerating, but it was a dumb mistake by yours-truly, so watch your comments.
We regularly get unsolicited phone calls. I am trained, so that when I answer the phone, if I hear a mechanical click and dead air, I immediately hang up before whoever has called me can locate my name on the computer screen and say "Mrs. Daniel Johnson?" or whatever.
About a month ago, we got this call from a place called Ark-La-Tex Water. The lady was super nice and asked me if I could answer a few questions about our water. I was feeling kind, so I did, and was off the phone in about one minute!
Woops. We weren't done.
They called back a couple of weeks later, and said because I answered questions about our water quality, I had won a free water evaluation in our home.
Well! I LIKE WINNING! I told them the guy could come on a Saturday, and they said he would take about 45 minutes.
Daniel was shooting laser beams at me when I got off the phone. The nature of his profession makes him very suspicious. It also makes him very private, and here is his wittle wife, opening his home for a stranger. I sweetly told Daniel that I would handle it.
Waterman came and said he needed both of us to participate. I made Daniel come in the kitchen and watch, and he had his laser eyes on again. Waterman started showing us stuff about our tap water. He ran some tests on it, and did some little trick things. It was interesting for about 15 minutes. But he stayed about two hours past the time it was interesting.
He wanted us to buy a Rainsoft water system. This is a home system that costs almost $8000, BUT WAIT! They have an easy finance option for only 19%! He was very pushy, and even got rude. Daniel had to escort him outside and lock him out.
Later, Daniel looked up Rainsoft complaints online and found oodles of dissatisfied customers. I am easily hoodwinked into helping other people. I buy magazines from college students in Walmart's parking lot. I give to random charities. Also, I want to have better water than my neighbors!
Because I have no sense, I can now add "answering the phone" to the list of things I am not allowed to do without supervision.
We regularly get unsolicited phone calls. I am trained, so that when I answer the phone, if I hear a mechanical click and dead air, I immediately hang up before whoever has called me can locate my name on the computer screen and say "Mrs. Daniel Johnson?" or whatever.
About a month ago, we got this call from a place called Ark-La-Tex Water. The lady was super nice and asked me if I could answer a few questions about our water. I was feeling kind, so I did, and was off the phone in about one minute!
Woops. We weren't done.
They called back a couple of weeks later, and said because I answered questions about our water quality, I had won a free water evaluation in our home.
Well! I LIKE WINNING! I told them the guy could come on a Saturday, and they said he would take about 45 minutes.
Daniel was shooting laser beams at me when I got off the phone. The nature of his profession makes him very suspicious. It also makes him very private, and here is his wittle wife, opening his home for a stranger. I sweetly told Daniel that I would handle it.
Waterman came and said he needed both of us to participate. I made Daniel come in the kitchen and watch, and he had his laser eyes on again. Waterman started showing us stuff about our tap water. He ran some tests on it, and did some little trick things. It was interesting for about 15 minutes. But he stayed about two hours past the time it was interesting.
He wanted us to buy a Rainsoft water system. This is a home system that costs almost $8000, BUT WAIT! They have an easy finance option for only 19%! He was very pushy, and even got rude. Daniel had to escort him outside and lock him out.
Later, Daniel looked up Rainsoft complaints online and found oodles of dissatisfied customers. I am easily hoodwinked into helping other people. I buy magazines from college students in Walmart's parking lot. I give to random charities. Also, I want to have better water than my neighbors!
Because I have no sense, I can now add "answering the phone" to the list of things I am not allowed to do without supervision.
posted by Amanda
at
2:11 PM
7 Comments:
Um...we have the Rainsoft water system. :)
Granted, we didn't pay for it or have it installed, but we like it. The only prob is remembering to put in a new light bulb when the weather turns freezing. Other than that...its cool!
Want a scam, just call Becky. She and her husband will hound you to death about the "opportunity of a lifetime"
whoa! i didn't know that! i will do some of the tests on your water next time we visit!
i think it is the salesmanship and the service and the financing that get the most complaints. not neccessarily the product.
calling becky would be my next thing to do, but daniel doesn't let me use the phone.
Heath's about to make me stop answering for donation pickup. They call, I feel obliged to say we'll have something on the front porch by 7am sharp the next Saturday...then Saturday comes n' goes with nary an object to be picked up.
Heeeehee...
bet they love that! do they take things anyway - potted plants, in-the-ground plants, mail...?
Hmmmm...now that you mention it, the trees we planted do seem to be mysteriously missing all their leaves...and look quite like twigs.
That's the Disabled Veterans of America for ya.
amanda, this is the reason that we don't even HAVE a home phone!
even still, it didn't stop Roger from jumping out of his skin and nearly running me over to get out of the kitchen when he saw the SBC guy knocking on our door.
did i mention that roger was naked and there is a floor to ceiling window in our kitchen?
oh, and that the blinds were open?
yeah. i think he learned his lesson.
HA! we sometimes learn lessons like that. i will walk through the house naked, then cover my "areas" and dash past windows. that would do little good if someone were actually looking. they would still get an eyeful!
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