re: AT&T tried to scam my 85yo father

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Those scum bags are the reason I got rid of my land lines this week.

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Oh, the reason we got rid of our land lines was because it wasn't 2002 anymore.

have you had a stroke or something? you've posted lootie in 5 threads this evening...

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I saw a report on telemarketers a long time ago. This included a CLASS on scamming. One of the key principles is to call old people, b/c they are often lonely since they're children have moved away and seldom call. Also old women are often widows. So they're more willing, even eager to talk with someone.

Another key: "Hello how are you today?"

The reason they begin like that
(instead of getting to the point) is to lengthen the call. Psychologically, the longer you stay on the line you more you are "invested" in the call. So the more likely you are to keep listening to their pitch

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This x100
Spent a lot of time with my parents while I was home on medical leave - these scammers would call them all day long, a dozen times per day. I kept trying to tell my parents to quit talking to them, don't even answer the phone - but the hard heads won't listen. Last time I went to visit they kept answering and talking to them because they "want to outsmart" them. Thing is, and I kept trying to emphasize this to my parents, they're not trying to scam you on this call. They're not trying to scam you on the next call. They're building a file on you based on these little nuggets you slip out each time so they can make a call six months from now that sounds so convincing that you'll drop your guard and cough up those credit card numbers. Last time I was there they were calling from cloned phone numbers of different hospitals because one of my parents had let it slip that they didn't use a particular hospital network - so now the scammers were calling from cloned phone numbers of Ochsner, Slidell Memorial, Tulane, etc trying to tell them of outstanding balances they could pay over the phone.

That's terrible

Their 1gb fiber is the tits though. Had it for 5 years now and gone out maybe 1 time . Pay 70 bucks a month for service and has never gone up. Yeah their customer service does suck that i admit.

Wait until he finds out we’re the fcc and rural service fees on the bill go to.

Did AT&T know the wire was cut by the water company at the time of the first call?

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the reason we got rid of our land lines was because it wasn't 2002 anymore

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I take of my mom. She is 84. Do you have any idea how hard it is to convince someone that old to use modern technology and give up a land line? I let them do the work for me. I turned my ringer off and let her answer "mike" from India. Finally after 25 calls back to back, she said she had enough. She asked me in her little old lady talk if I could teach her how to text. No problem
older people are scared of my moden tech. She is getting the hang of it.

I used to work for them and I despise that company with every ounce of my being. I haven’t owned anything ATT since I quit that place in 2009.