The website FTA-GODS.com focuses on all aspects of Free To Air satellite television. Today, administrator Ben Popken spoke openly, addressing the widely concerned issue of toll free number 800/888 confusion and the illegal practice of brokering and squatting “1-800” telephone numbers
Popken is alleging that an independent “DirecTV Marketer Steals DISH Network Customers Via 800 Number Squatting.” Popken wrote on the FTA-GODS website to address his concerns over the confusion between the United States satellite TV company Dish Network’s toll free number 800-333-DISH vs, the number Ben Popken dialed 888-333-DISH. Popken claims the representative that answered his call misrepresented the company as Dish Network, rather than the independent DirectTV marketing company it is.
Popken’s Full Transcript from fta-gods.com below:
A sneaky DirecTV marketer has bought up toll-free numbers that end in “DISH.” When DISH Network customers call up, the operators make it sound like they’re from Dish and offering them a free service upgrade, but in reality, they’re switching the service and slamming the Dish Network customer into a DirecTV service contract.
The real number for DISH is 800-333-3474, but this company has bought 888-333-3474, and according to reports on 800 notes, several other 800, 888, 866 numbers that end with “DISH.”
We first heard about it in a message left on our Consumerist hotline:
TRANSCRIPT: “I had to authorize a new Dish receiver. The number on the screen said 1-800-333-DISH. I dialed 1-888-333-DISH. I got a guy that immediately asked for my name, phone number, address, email address, and talked about the new specials that he could give me for being such a loyal customer. I kind of just wanted my receiver authorized.
And he says, these are some great deals, and you should get rewarded for being such a loyal customer since you’ve been with Dish Network so long.
Then he says, “if I send you these new boxes out, keep in mind that these are direct Tv boxes…”
It turns out that it was a DirecTV franchise that was capitalizing on people mistaking 1-800-333-DISH for 1-888-333-DISH. They’re not telling people who they are upfront and they’re getting a bunch of information when you’re thinking that you’re talking to a company that you already trust and have an account with. So it really ticked me off. It’s totally uncool. Hopefully you can print this and people won’t get confused anymore.” :END TRANSCRIPT
Very clever. If you accidentally sign up for this, best thing to do is a charegback. Unsurprisingly, the folks on 800 notes say the sleazy DirecTV marketers are not that nice about giving refunds.
The full FTA-gods.com article by Ben Popken can be viewed here
Read 800notes comments about 888-333-3474
More info on toll free number squatting can be found here
Filed under: Information | Tagged: 800 number squatting, 800-333-3474, 800-333-DISH, 888-333-3474, 888-333-DISH, ben popken, direct tv, directtv, dish, dish network, dtv, dtv.com, popken, squatting, toll free number | 4 Comments »
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