Telecommunication Customer Severvice Numbers

DIRECTV, INC	800-DIRECTV
Dish Network, INC	888-284-7116
COMCAST	800-COMCAST
COX ENTERPRISE, INC	888-269-9693
CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS, INC	888-438-2427

Wireless	View All

VERIZON WIRELESS	800-922-0204
AT&T Mobility	800-331-0500
T-MOBILE	800-937-8997
SPRINT	888-211-4727
ALLTEL CORPORATION	800-255-8351

Internet	View All

QWEST	800-201-4099
EARTHLINK	866-PPC-MBRS
UNITED ONLINE	866-841-1442
AOL	888-849-3200
MIDCONTINENT COMMUNICATIONS	800-888-1300

DIRECTV, INC 800-DIRECTV

Dish Network, INC 888-284-7116

COMCAST 800-COMCAST

COX ENTERPRISE, INC 888-269-9693

CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS, INC 888-438-2427

VERIZON WIRELESS 800-922-0204

AT&T Mobility 800-331-0500

T-MOBILE 800-937-8997

SPRINT 888-211-4727

ALLTEL CORPORATION 800-255-8351

QWEST 800-201-4099

EARTHLINK 866-PPC-MBRS

UNITED ONLINE 866-841-1442

AOL 888-849-3200

MIDCONTINENT COMMUNICATIONS 800-888-1300

Employee Discount Scams

Most companies have alliances with other companies to offer their employees discounts. I’ll take my recent experience with AT&T to show an example of how you can get scammed by these.

By the way, the scam comes from either shady sales people trying to make a commission or inexperienced employees that don't know what they are doing not the company itself.

I went down to the AT&T store to purchase a new wireless service. I informed the rep of my discount. They gave me the pricing, which I liked. They informed me it would take one to two billing cycles to receive my credit. I asked if they would back date the credit. The rep informed me that they would. If you read my previous post on dealing with customer service, you’ll understand why I called in shortly after to check my employee discount status.

I was told they did not see the “employee discount application” yet. However, it takes up to one or two billing cycles to show up. At the end of the second month, I called back. They informed me no application was ever submitted.

I went back to the store and addressed the issue with the store rep. She refused to accept any responsibility in the matter. She advised me I would have to wait another one to two billing cycles.

I called back into customer care. They did provide me with some credits on the account. This was most likely due to me calling in from the beginning and not just after the fact.

During this entire time I kept requesting what my future bill would be. It was always different and it was always higher than what they told me last time.

I went into a different store and spoke with them and customer care on the phone until I reached the bottom of everything. Here’s what was not disclosed to me from the beginning.

Employee credits apply to the voice and data portion of my bill but not the texting portion, which is mandatory with the plan.

What I did expect from the beginning, but the reps did not know, was the discounts did not go to the taxes and the pricing was taxed at the retail price and not the actually price I was charged.

In addition, they would not give me a discount on the second line I wanted to add. So, this forced me to go to Sprint and use my discount over there for my wife’s phone.

I’ve become painfully aware that, if you don’t have something in writing and in detail, large corporations will rape you financially. This has not always been the case. However with so many customers trying to call in and scam companies for credits, they no longer trust what customer say anymore and are less likely to fix it as they would have in the past.

World of Warcraft® Mount: Celestial Steed Scam

The link provided below does not take you to an actually directly to the battle.net website. It goes through a similar domain first with a ending of .tk not .net. World of Warcaft provides full time employment for some scammers; not that they actually put them on the payroll or anything.

Remember, anytime you want to examine a link in an email, hover ove the link and look in the lower left corner of your browser.

					Greetings! Freshly born from the Twisting Nether, the celestial steed flying mount lets you travel in style astride wings of pure elemental stardust. So saddle up, because this supernatural warhorse will fly as fast as your riding skill will take you, and it will travel at 330% speed if you have at least one other 330% mount. Once activated, this World of Warcraft in-game pet key applies to all present and future characters on a single World of Warcraft license. less than 10 minutes to complete. No account information is required to participate in this survey. we will be complimentary seat to the 50,000 players. You can log Web site application, we will be lucky players randomly. Please click this link to apply: https://eu.battle.net/support/en/ticket/status If your account passes the check successfully, we will send a code for the Winged Guardian flying mount to you in the form of e-mail! The World of Warcraft Support Team

If you no longer wish to receive Blizzard newsletters, or information relating to Blizzard products, please reply to this email using the subject line "Unsubscribe". To read our privacy policy visit: http://sea.blizzard.com/company/about/privacy.html ? 2004-2011 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. Blizzard Entertainment, StarCraft, Battle.net, World of Warcraft, and Warcraft are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., in the U.S. and/or other countries.

AT&T Mail Centre [lindymay6@sbcglobal.net] - Scam

Another weak attempt to scam sbcglobal.net users.

If you were to look at the html code for the link "CLICK HERE NOW !!!!" you'll see the link goes to http://yahohhgfffd.cwsurf.de. (I've removed the link on this post.) Do you honestly believe this is an official yahoo address?

Next, no professional communication is going to be sent out with four !!!!.

In addition, wouldn't someone in the U.S. use the word "center" and not "centre?"




Dear Customer,

Due to congestion in all Yahoo! Mail user accounts, there shall be a removal exercise of all used and unused Yahoo! Accounts. Yahoo! Inc would be shutting down several accounts.

You will have to confirm your Yahoo! account. So you are required to log on to your Online Yahoo! Account with the provided link below. 

To Update Your account CLICK HERE NOW !!!!

NB: Failure to to update your Yahoo! account will result to a permanent closure. 


Thank you for being a loyal Yahoo! Mail user.

We hope you enjoy the newest version of Yahoo! Mail. 

David McDowell
Senior Director
Yahoo! Mail Product Management

Battle.net Account Email Verification - Action Required

If you receive this email, examine the link, not the text. This link does take you to a battle.net login page. However, it does it through a 3rd party website. So, you log in as usual but they record you entry. Now you've been hacked.

Greetings!

It has come to our attention that you are trying to sell your personal World of Warcraft account(s). As you may not be aware of, this conflicts with the EULA and Terms of Agreement. If this proves to be true, your account can and will be disabled. It will be ongoing for further investigation by Blizzard Entertainment's employees. If you wish to not get your account suspended you should immediately verify your account ownership.

You can confirm that you are the original owner of the account to this secure website with:

https://www.battle.net/account/support/password-verify.html

If you ignore this mail your account can and will be closed permanently. Once we verify your account, we will reply to your e-mail informing you that we have dropped the investigation.

Regards,

Account Administration Team
World of Warcraft , Blizzard Entertainment 2011

Careerbuilder Job Scam - Company’s financial business

Another obvious job scam. As I've mentioned before any reputable company would sign their name too it. What's up with the lack of a signature. In addition, it states, "Thank you for your interest." I haven't applied for anything in the last 90 days. 

Also, look at "sufficient level of work ethics,' lol. there's a level to having work ethics? I thought you either had them or you didn't. 

Have you done the math on this? Part time is around 20 hours a week. 20 hours * 52 weeks is 1040 hours. $85,000 - $95,000 / 1040 hours is =  $81 to $91 an hour. Really? For part-time work and very little experience. Who believes this stuff? 

Thank you for your interest. After viewing your resume on careerbuilder.com, we have decided to contact you.

We have an excellent opportunity for you.

We are looking for:

Responsible and motivated individuals to assist in Company’s financial business. We value the exceptional people and provide our employees with an environment conductive for productive and long-term employment.

We offer:

- New concept. Commissions without sales.

- VERY competitive salary plus attractive bonuses plus  commissions with each order

- No Fees

- You can start tomorrow

- Compensation: $85,000 - $95,000 per year

- Employee Type: Full-Time/Part-Time

- Vacation (2 weeks for Exempt employees)

- 4 paid Company Holidays / 2 paid floating holidays

Large and stable corporation

Requirements:

- MS Office (Word) - basic knowledge

- Internet access and e-mail

- A sufficient level of work ethics

- Ability to learn fast and perform tasks in a timely fashion

- U.S. resident or green card holder

- You are not required to quit your current job.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Assist in company’s financial business.

- Perform financial tasks.

- Make reports.

We offer opportunities for internal advancement for the responsible employees. During the initial stage of work you will receive precise instructions and any possible help from the company’s Manager. Qualified candidates will be offered flexible schedules of work, competitive salary, bonuses and other benefits. Company covers all the reasonable expenses.

You will be able to plan your own working schedule (few hours weekly).

Please reply to this email if you are interested.

Hiring Department

Anti-Virus Scam

There are two Anti-virus scams I would like to bring to your attention.

The first one is caused by a virus on your computer. Your computer will notify you that your system is infected and the only way to get it fixed is to buy a certain virus protection program. The scam is the people selling you the program are the ones who but the virus on in the first place. They are not interested in selling you a program; just collecting your money. One way to identify this is if you have any spyware removal or antivirus already on your computer, it will not let you run them. This virus can be difficult to remove.

Your best option for removing this type of virus is to start your computer in safe mode and then run your antivirus and spyware systems. This should enable you to clean out the infections. If you just can't get it out, run MS config and look for a program in the startup menu that is all random characters. Stop that one from starting up. This will essentially quarantine the virus.

You still probably will not be able to access the internet. This is due to your browsers setting being set to a proxy server. You'll need to get your settings of the proxy option.


The second one is paying for antivirus. Many well know companies charge for their antivirus programs. This is not necessary for the average user. There are many good programs and companies that offer free antivirus programs that work just as good if not better than the paid services. Why pay for something when you can get it for free.

7 things remember when calling customer service.

1) Write everything down. You'll probably need it. Get every one's operator ID of some kind of identifier. If you can get contact numbers even better.

2) Don't be a jerk to the person trying to help you. Some agents will bend over backwards to help a customer until they piss them off. Then the brakes come on. Escalating higher is not always the best idea. Being polite and persistent is the best way to get the most out of customer service.

3) The customer service agent doesn't want to hear some sob story not related to the issue at hand.

4) Don't be an idiot. For example, don't complain about being on the phone for over an hour when you won't shut up.

5) Don't ask for $200 of credits for $20 worth of service. You lose all credibility with whoever you are talking too and they won't want to give you anything. If you make $200 a hour and the service person for the company is late, it's still $20 worth of service. You should have scheduled on your time off. Please refer back to rule number 4.

6) I know it's a pain in the ass but call back after you get off the phone to be sure the previous agent noted the account and did what they said they would do. Unfortunately, this has to be done or later you will wish you did.

7) Pay it forward. Give a compliment when it's due. What comes around goes around.

Photo Shop Direct Scam

Any reasonable company employee would include their contact info at the bottom of the message. In addition, no company is going to pay someone just to tell someone else that someone else is going to contact them. Seriously?

Hi.

Our firm "Photo Shop Direct" has found your resume in CareerBuilder database and believe you are a perfect candidate for a part time position available.

Position name is: Mailing Assistant.

General job requirements:

* Knowledge of such programs as Adobe Acrobat Reader and Microsoft Office
* Ability to print and scan documents
* Basic knowledge of the computer
* Ability to pick up packages weighing up to 30lbs.

If you think that you can meet these basic job requirements and are interested in joining our company as a well-paid Mailing Assistant, please contact us through e-mail.


Our Human Resources Manager will contact you within the following 24-48 hours.

BRITISH GOVERNMENT NOTICE(01-12-2011) AB Scam

Why a label this as a scam.

Attn: Beneficiary? If it's legit, why couldn't they use my name?
It's from Nigeria. Alarm bells instantly go off? If you don't know why, search Dateline News Scams Nigeria.
It's urgent. Please hurry before your brain engages.



BRITISH HIGH COMMISSION
Metro Plaza,Plot991/992
Zakari Maimalari Street
Cadastral Zone AO,
Central Business District,
Abuja, Nigeria.
TEL:             +234 80 769 61 875      .


ATTN: BENEFICIARY,


This is to inform you that I came to Nigeria yesterday from United States of America, after series of complains from the FBI and other Security agencies from Asia, Europe, Oceania, Antarctica, South America and the United States of America respectively, against the Federal Government of Nigeria and the British Government for the rate of scam activities going on in these two nations.

Right now, as directed by our Director, Robert S. Mueller, We are working in collaborations with the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). We have decided to waive away all your clearance fees/Charges and authorize the Government of Nigeria to effect the payment of your compensation of an amount of US$1,500,000.00  approved by both the British government and the UN into your account without any delay. We already have your name in our Claimant List as stipulated in article 41 of the Provisional Rules for claims.The Governing Council therefore devised a mechanism for the allocation of available funds to successful claimants that gave priority to the three urgent categories of claims and which, within each category, would give equal treatment to similarly situated claims. Only when each successful claimant in categories "A", "B" and "C" had been paid an initial amount up to US$1,500,000.00, thereafter other payments commence for claims in other ca


In conformity with the Provisions of article 40, paragraph 5 of the Rules, Information concerning the identities of individual claimant will not be made publicly.

See our press release below:

http://www.uncc.ch/status.htm
Now your new payment approved numbers are follows
United Nation Approval No; Un5685p,
White House Approved No: Wh44cv,
Reference No.-35460021,
Allocation No: 674632
Pin Code No: 55674
Certificate of Merit Payment No: 103,
World Bank Released Code No: 0763;



We are conducting a standard Process investigation on behalf federal credit Union Bank, United State Of America, The private banking arm of the international banking conglomerate. This investigation involves, a man Who Came To our Office Claiming To be your true representative. Here is his information for you to confirm to this office if this man is truly from you or not as the government will not be held responsible for wrong transfer.

For Paying Into The Wrong Account.
Name: Mr. Edward Marsh
Bank Name: Wells Fargo Bank
Bank Address: California, USA.
Account Number: 6503809428.

Please reconfirm to this office, As a matter of urgency if this man Is From you. As a matter Of Fact, we have actually been authorized by the newly appointed UN Secretary General, and the Governing body Of The United Nations Monetary Unit to investigate the unnecessary delay of your fund payment. However, we shall proceed to issue all payments details to the said Mr. Edward Marsh, If we do not hear from you within The next Seven working days from today.


I have a very limited time to stay in Nigeria here so I would like you to urgently respond to this message so that I can advise you on how best to confirm your fund in your account within the next 72 hours.

Regards,
                  
Agent:John Simmons
CONSULAR/DIPLOMAT
BRITISH HIGH COMMISSION
ABUJA, NIGERIA.
Phone:            +234 80 3217 2553      .
Website: http://ukinnigeria.fco.gov.uk/en