Jul 27, 2012 9:26 AM
Phone calls from company who "helps" rent my property?
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I've gotten 3 calls in the past few days from what seems to be some type of telemarketing company. They begin by asking about the availability of my property for September to November, then they begin a sales pitch about how they can help me rent my property in the slow months. Each time they call I ask them not to call me again and to remove me from their call list. Yet I continue to get calls and during the last call I asked to speak to a supervisor and was immediately disconnected. The phone number shows up as 407-900-2112 but if I try to call I get a recording that the number is out of service. I'm afraid this is a scam. In the first call, they said they were with VRBO. Is anyone else dealing with this?
Just pay them no attention anymore and I believe it is a scam.
I have received many of these types of calls from individuals purporting to represent all sorts of groups that will rent my home for me. They seem to come in cycles. I expect these companies scan online advertising sites and target owners for a period of time hoping to gain a sale.
Do not provide your name, property information, or any other information to these callers. In fact, I removed my name from my cell phone voice mail message in the event one of these calls goes into my voicemail. . I realized they could find information about me on the internet by using my first name, a name that is somewhat unusual.
I am in the habit of telling these callers they have reached the wrong number. I tell them I don't own a property. This pretty much ends the call.
I have not received any calls for several months, perhaps my strategy is working, although it's likely a new group will come along and I'll get swept up in the process again.
Remember, just say "I don't own a property, you must have the wrong number."
I just had a call from that number (407-900-2112) out of Orlando Florida. I listen to the lady's spiel and determined that she was just reading a script and did not in fact have any "guaranteed rentals" for me and that she only wanted to sell me a listing on their website. when I told her that I didn't appreciate calls from people who just want to sell me something and asked her not to call me again, she revealed her true nature and said, "I'd never rent a place from you anyway." This is one reason why I never do business with someone who calls me on the phone. Never!
If your number is on the FTC Do Not Call list, I hope you reported the violation. https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx
My phone is on the Do Not Call List but....I have it listed here and at VRBO so the FTC won't take action on it. I get maybe 3 or 4 calls a year from prospective guests whereas I get phone solicitations like this one about monthly. I've gotten business from folks who like to talk to the owner before sending a bunch of money and flying to Hawaii so I'm reluctant to take my number down. One of my best repeat guests likes to use the phone. So, I guess I'll just have to endure it. It's not that bad...at least yet.
Wow - just got this call today. Remembered we had read about this here and said we weren't interested. If there is another call, we will use thaxterlane's response and hope that ends it. Love this Community - we are not alone!
I got the call today, same number, but I missed it LOL.
Unfortunately, I didn't miss the misdial from Tx at 4:30AM. And the dumb "B****" called a 2nd time to be sure.
David
I have rec inquiries from two rental assistance firms. The Perfect Rentals in Orlando and Always on Vacation in CA. Have any of you used or heard of these firms? I'm new to the rental activity and don't want to make a mistake. Perfect Rentals indicated they lease to reitired military, police and fire retirees.
Thx
Richard
We advertised with Always On Vacation for a couple years but they were never really worth it and we stopped quite a while ago.
We appreciate you letting us know that you are receiving unwanted solicitations by telephone. We certainly understand what an inconvenience that can be. We do not proactively call or email customers to inquire about business performance or other related data.
If you've chosen to display your phone number on your listing, it becomes public information. You can add your phone number to the Do-Not-Call Registry, which may help reduce the number of unwanted calls, as well. To learn more, visit: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/donotcall
Please note that AlwaysOnVacation.com and The Perfect Rentals are NOT affiliated with HomeAway.com or VRBO.com.
Beth
HomeAway.com
Mahalo, Beth! From what I've read though, if you publicly list your phone number as I have chosen to do on your website, then you are not covered by the FTC Do Not Call List. Another exception are survey companies which always seem to call when I'm taking a nap!
I have been harrassed by this same "company" so many times (I lost count of the number of times they called me). It is very frustrating, especially considering the unethical rude nature of their employees. I have demanded several times that they stop calling me and remove me from their calling list, and their response is to argue with me until I hang up - and then call me again next week! I am also on the Do Not Call list as are 3 of my phone numbers, but they don't care.
I love the idea of telling them they have the wrong number, I will try that.
I just saw on public television last night a segment stating that while the FTC says that they are correctly enforcing the "Do Not Call List" that in reality this is not even close to being the truth and they spoke of ridiculous numbers showing that callers do not care!
My solution is to pick up and then quickly hang up any phone call that I get with an out of state number.
Doug
I would also suggest that you consider joining inumbr.com. It is a site that allows you to give out fake number so that your home or important number is never called.
Doug
So how is this a help? You list your "virtual" number and it's forwarded to your home number. Either way the unwanted call comes to your home number. Are you saying that the unwanted caller will not let it go past the virtual number? How does the unwanted caller know that's happening? Doesn't make sense to me.
I can see using the "Block specific callers from contacting you" feature, but at some point these creeps start using variable ID phone numbers much like SPAM emailers use fake return addresses. Hmmm...
Spoofing takes too long to set up for each call to make and I dont see it being used too much. States are also clamping down on spoofing.
Sorry, I might not have understood your question. Mine goes into a dump voice mail and when I go to it and delete when I want and choose to do so. You said that you do not do business with these type solicitors in early messages. Use Reservation Manager is what I do to stay away from calls. I rarely get phone calls at all even though I do have an inumbr # posted. Actually, I have not been called one time this past year.
You think you'e got it bad with vacation rental solicitors? They are a pain and often sneaky in how they first preface their call, but you should see how many telemarketing calls you get when your number is also an actual business line with automatic Yellow Pages/business directory listings! There are some companies that have a "bank" of telephone numbers, some almost identical except by one or two ending digits.
Unfortunately, the Do Not Call list does not apply to business lines or phone numbers listed as contacts on public websites (like HomeAway, etc.).
Just rec'd a call from this number and they hung up... won't answer that one again. 407-900-2112... must be an auto-dialer... rental scam....
Update: Another call came in an hour later from 321-392-0621 from Orlando.... they are "busy" today...
Yes, got two calls from them in the past week and recognized their number and didn't answer.
What I've just started doing is saving the bogus call phone numbers to my "phonebook" under the name DO NOT ANSWER.
Great idea
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