Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

oldfarmer50

houdini1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

ab348 said:

explorerx4 said:

Trailer for that movie is kind of dumb. Smoke only coming off the rear tires on an Audi?

I would suggest the entire movie is kind of dumb from what I have seen of it in commercials. If I never again see some action hero flying sideways feet-first through the air to crash through the window of a moving car, it will be too soon.

If you like real to life see A Walk in the Woods with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte. It is a real life like story about some old retired dudes kind of like most of us, who go on a 2100 mile trip through the Appalachian Mountains. Great dialogue, funny, and you can identify with it. Almost everyone in the theatre was over 50 years old, and many people applauded at the end. Magnificent scenery too.

https://youtu.be/cOF2LIAp9bw

Sorry, but the idea of a couple of old dudes in their 70s hiking 2100 miles is more unbelieveable than Transporters flying through moving car windows. I tried climbing a 2000 foot mountain last year and I swear I heard Jesus calling my name.

Now that you are warmed up, when are you going to tackle Everest ?

If I ever try that again the only Everest I'll be seeing is Everest Cemetary.

imidazol97

Stone Mountain GA would be forbidding for me these days. LOL

carnaught

Two can play that game.

Please don't re-start the game showing the vintage locomotive front looking like a new Lexus grill.

I..I...I'm still scarred from that....

imidazol97

carnaught said:

I..I...I'm still scarred from that....

Sorry about that. But I'll bet you're enjoying your car!

snakeweasel

andres3 said:

I didn't rely on anyone else's summary, but the summary is the correct interpretation of the study; so my summary would be the same as I cited.

Yes you did, why didn't you link to the actual study?

andres3 said:

Regarding relative speeds; that's all we have in the real world. The real world doesn't have a sample of one vehicle driving on it, so it doesn't make sense to talk about absolute speeds in real world scenarios.

Sorry but we have relative speeds and absolute speeds. if two cars are traveling down the same road in the same direction with car 'A' going 60 MPH and car 'B' doing 65 then the absolute speeds are 60 and 65 respectfully. However the relative speed of car 'B' to car 'A' is 5 mph. Both are relevant and both need to be taken into account.

andres3 said:

You cite Adelaide University but their study says "In July 2003, the speed limit on approximately 1,100 km of rural arterial roads in South Australia was reduced from 110 km/h to 100 km/h. A previous CASR study found that the speed limit change was associated with a 1.9 km/h reduction in average speed."

Irrelevant as the study was not addressing that but soething else, which is the relationship between speed and risk.

andres3 said:

Also, Adelaide study is flawed because of failing on the following:
1) Assuming certain low speed limits are "magical" safe numbers.
2) “Fails to highlight that outcomes only apply to free travelling speed crashes (about 28% of serious crashes)”.
3) “Fails to recognize that a high BAC applies to the whole trip whereas free travel speed applies to only part”.
4) Fails to recognize speeds above or below site-specific mean speeds are dangerous and result in crashes.

So it's flawed because they don't agree with your beliefs that speed has no relation to risk of an accident. OK fine

andres3 said:

Lastly, I think Solomon still applies because there are no "turns" on our freeways. Highways don't always have turns available. So the Triangle Research Group (hard to find any information on them) has done nothing to disprove Solomon in relation to roads that have no turns; such as Interstate Freeways.

The problem with that is that Solomon published his findings in the early 60's (1963 if memory serves) using data collected during the 50's. Now we didn't start building the interstate system until '56 and until then our "freeways" were limited to a few hundred miles of turnpikes on some east coast states. And in the later part of the 50's there really wasn't much completed and open with regards to rural interstates. So Solomon's data was mostly drawn from rural non-interstate roads where you have a lot opportunity to approach turning traffic.

So yeah the Triangle Research Group (as well as others) did do a good job on disproving Solomon.

snakeweasel

andres3 said:

A lot of truth to that, in that speed differentials are the real danger, since speed only matters when and IF you run into something.

Sorry but speed can matter regarding if you get into an accident or not. A faster moving car is harder to control and to steer therefor making it easier to lose control and/or harder to avoid obstacles.

If you don't believe that then tell me why do you slow down when you make a 90 degree turn.

snakeweasel

stever said:

Hit the Chevy/Caddy dealer this afternoon. Wanted to see the used Hyundai Elantra GT but of course it'd had been sent back to their El Paso sister dealer. With caller ID I'm loathe to call ahead to verify that cars on the web inventory are still there - guess I'll have to start buying TracFones and tossing them after my dealer visits so the salespeople can't track me down.

When you call them start with dialing *67 then your phone number i.e. *673125551212 for (312) 555-1212, this should block your phone number for that one call.

snakeweasel

Mr_Shiftright said:

Road and Track once did a study where they asked professional race drivers to drive and "find the speed where they could no longer be distracted"---that is, where they put down the cigarette, stoppped driving with one finger and hunkered down and got serious. The result was around 95 mph, which is, in my opinion, a speed above the competence level of 90% of American drivers.

I would say more than 99%. Professional race drivers are highly trained and heavily experienced in operation a car at high speed and have skills that the average driver doesn't come near to.

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

Sorry, but the idea of a couple of old dudes in their 70s hiking 2100 miles is more unbelieveable than Transporters flying through moving car windows. I tried climbing a 2000 foot mountain last year and I swear I heard Jesus calling my name.

There have been at least two dozen recorded individuals who have hiked the entire 2100 miles of the Appalachian trail after reaching their 70th birthday, the oldest was 81. think about that when you cruise the parking lot looking for the closest space.

Now how many people have flown through the window of moving cars?

Mr_Shiftright

In my opinion, if you're driving at 95 mph at the same level of awareness as you do at 65 mph, you are asking for trouble. How so? Consider:

65 mph = 93.5 feet per second

95 mph = 139.3 feet per second

So at 65 mph it will take you approx (including 1 sec reaction time) about 345 feet to stop.

At 95 mph, well over 600 feet.

So if you are operating under the assumption that there's little difference between 65 mph and 95, and you see an object ahead and use your "65 mph time/distance brain", you're screwed.

snakeweasel said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

Road and Track once did a study where they asked professional race drivers to drive and "find the speed where they could no longer be distracted"---that is, where they put down the cigarette, stoppped driving with one finger and hunkered down and got serious. The result was around 95 mph, which is, in my opinion, a speed above the competence level of 90% of American drivers.

I would say more than 99%. Professional race drivers are highly trained and heavily experienced in operation a car at high speed and have skills that the average driver doesn't come near to.

snakeweasel

qbrozen said:

abacomike said:

Not only that, I would think there aren't too many cars in the U.S. that could be driven at a sustained speed of 95 mph for any extended period of time.  Just my opinion based on an educated guess - the average age of a car in the U.S. is 11 years old.  I would not dream of driving an 11 year old car at 95 mph sustained speed.

Oh, I think you are underestimating what cars are capable of. Back in '92, I drove a '78 Mercury Zephyr with straight 6 and 3-speed auto across 3 [small] states at a sustained 95-100 (rough guess since the speedo numbers only went up to 85 at the 5 o'clock position and I had the needle firmly pegged straight down at 6 o'clock). And, more recently, I did something similar in my wife's minivan driving back to NJ from FL. Granted, it wasn't 11 years old, but it was packed to the gills AND had an additional 2.5-foot high pile of luggage strapped to the roof.

I would say there aren't many cars that CAN'T drive at a sustained 95. Now, whether or not they are properly maintained to keep them safe at that speed is a whole 'nother issue. Not a day goes by that I don't see people driving around with at least 1 dangerously underinflated tire.

I would question the speed rating of the tires first, most passenger vehicles tires are rated for between 105 and 125 MPH IIRC so doing 95 is getting close to their maximum speed. And if those tires have a lot of miles on then I would be cautious about pushing the tires that fast. Another thing is that more manufacturers are coming out with turbo charged sub 2 liter engines to meet CAFE standards. I can't see those cars doing 95 MPH continually without some negative consequences to the engine.

snakeweasel

tyguy said:

To be perfectly honest, I can't think of a single topic other than politics that shouldn't be posted here.

What? No politics? I want to know what President John Adams knew and when did he know it? We need to get to the bottom of this.

snakeweasel

graphicguy said:

Again, way too soon to think about my next car, I did stop in to a couple of dealerships. When this current fiasco is over, I'll have to set my sights on the next car to grace my estate. I've ruled out just about any make/model with even a hint of reliability issues. That steered me towards the reliability trio of Acura/Infiniti/Lexus.<?blockquote>

Way to soon for me too but I saw that Buick is coming out with a new ragtop so I will go see that when it hits the showrooms. The wife wants to get another ragtop when it comes time to replace mine and I am not to thrilled with whats out there now. On a related note I hit 100K miles yesterday

graphicguy said:

Told the Infiniti sales person my predicament, that I wouldn't be in the market for awhile, and that it could take a month, or two, maybe more, before the Cadillac buyback is finally done. He was very sympathetic, but didn't take long to chime in...."I've never seen an issue that you describe with Infiniti, and I've been here 11 years." Good to know, but doubt he would say anything about Infiniti buybacks to me, anyway.

Had a coworker a few years ago that had an Infinity, if you take your story and replace "Cadillac" with "Infinity" and you practically have his story.

But then again as I said before, if I avoided a company because I heard a horror story about them I would be walking around barefoot and naked.

Good luck getting that image out of your head.

snakeweasel

Mr_Shiftright said:

In my opinion, if you're driving at 95 mph at the same level of awareness as you do at 65 mph, you are asking for trouble. How so? Consider:

65 mph = 93.5 feet per second

95 mph = 139.3 feet per second

So at 65 mph it will take you approx (including 1 sec reaction time) about 345 feet to stop.

At 95 mph, well over 600 feet.

So if you are operating under the assumption that there's little difference between 65 mph and 95, and you see an object ahead and use your "65 mph time/distance brain", you're screwed.

snakeweasel said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

Road and Track once did a study where they asked professional race drivers to drive and "find the speed where they could no longer be distracted"---that is, where they put down the cigarette, stoppped driving with one finger and hunkered down and got serious. The result was around 95 mph, which is, in my opinion, a speed above the competence level of 90% of American drivers.

I would say more than 99%. Professional race drivers are highly trained and heavily experienced in operation a car at high speed and have skills that the average driver doesn't come near to.

Do not forget that a car going 95 MPH is exerting more than twice the energy of the same car going 65 MPH and therefore would require more than twice the stopping distance.

stickguy

I have not gone 95 since my much younger days.

but I do know that in the recent past, on a few different highways, in both my cars, I have crept up to 85 or so without realizing it, and it still felt like I was just loafing along. the Acura in particular just does not really clue you in.

Heck, based on the instant MPG readout, I know I have gotten it up to at least 78 and had the VCM kick in, so it was running on 3 cylinders doing it!

oldfarmer50

snakeweasel said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Sorry, but the idea of a couple of old dudes in their 70s hiking 2100 miles is more unbelieveable than Transporters flying through moving car windows. I tried climbing a 2000 foot mountain last year and I swear I heard Jesus calling my name.

There have been at least two dozen recorded individuals who have hiked the entire 2100 miles of the Appalachian trail after reaching their 70th birthday, the oldest was 81. think about that when you cruise the parking lot looking for the closest space.

Now how many people have flown through the window of moving cars?

Yeah but how many looked like Robert Redford?

graphicguy

No denying that Bose is better at marketing than they are at designing high end audio for the home or the car. But, I have to admire them because they were the first to capture the car audio market without being associated with a car manufacturer.

Trying to recall (and I'm sure you guys will correct me if I'm wrong), but I equated Philco with the Fords my Father drove. GM was Delco. Not sure who Chrysler was affiliated with.

Got a call from Cadillac Customer Service on Tuesday. Not sure if it's related to the Attorney General filing, or not. Previously, all they wanted was to find out if the dealer had contacted me. I was on a con call at the time, so I let it roll over to voice mail. Paraphrasing, they wanted me to call them back to "talk about" a resolution with the Cadillac.

I read that in a couple of ways. One, they want to regurgitate the same tired lines of..."deny the problems exist....car is performing as designed (I love that one....failing power steering, stalling, inoperative CUE are now design features)....can't replicate the problems (even though I've successfully done so with their dealer service personnel), etc".

Or hopefully, they're finally going to tell me they're buying the CTS back.

My thinking it's more the former rather than the latter, in which case I'll be even more irritated than I already am.

I called back. Got their voice mail. Left a voice mail. Called them again yesterday, and left another voice mail. Guess my issue isn't on the front burner for them after 5 months of them stonewalling me.

AB...curious...you said you'd look at a Lexus but not the GS. Which one would you focus on? I think you and I have similar automotive tastes, so would like to hear your opinion.

ab348

I looked at the ES early on last time I was in the market, and while I really liked the interior in particular, overall the image of the car was too Camryesque for my liking. I am wary of the GS mostly because I never see any around here and so I conclude it is a tough sell due to pricing or other reasons. But I really like the RC (aside from the grille, but that applies to all Lexus vehicles these days). As a single guy I don't need a back seat very often so interior room is less of a concern.

driver100

GG, Hope it was the Lemon Law people with some good news!

driver100

We bought our 2012 Passat 3 years ago...this is the car that is in Florida.

So this morning I get a long distance call from Mike somebody who says "Did you read over your service policy when you purchased your car?"

So I said sure.

He said well do you know you owe us a payment for your service policy.

I said get lost.....slam down the phone.

dino001

Mr_Shiftright said:

In my opinion, if you're driving at 95 mph at the same level of awareness as you do at 65 mph, you are asking for trouble. How so? Consider:

65 mph = 93.5 feet per second

95 mph = 139.3 feet per second

So at 65 mph it will take you approx (including 1 sec reaction time) about 345 feet to stop.

At 95 mph, well over 600 feet.

So if you are operating under the assumption that there's little difference between 65 mph and 95, and you see an object ahead and use your "65 mph time/distance brain", you're screwed.

Totally agree. Those are just "linear" differences based on passage of time. There are some significant physical differences that are even more pronounced. Air drag is over twice (95/65)^2, which means 100% more power required to move the car less than 50% faster. Higher power required means more energy to disperse: heat, friction, etc. 95 mph is definitely much closer to the traction limit of tires, no matter how good the tires are. It means any kind of oil slick on the road, any bump, any loss contact becomes exponentially more dangerous. And so on.

Unlike Snakeweasel I'm not putting as much credence into those studies that say unequivocally and without any qualification that "speed kills". As a former researcher, I can say that the results and their interpretation are often dependent on who pays for the study, plus I also am painfully aware how statistics interpretation can be bent to "support" preconceived thesis. It's often hidden in the choice of tracked variables. However, anybody who casually thinks that 90+ mph is a relaxed speed that anybody can simply leisurely cruise, is deluding themselves. 90 mph is potentially dangerous speed that requires all drivers attention even on a sunny day at a straight road. Even 60 mph may be too much in some conditions (narrow road, traffic, fog, rain, etc.).

Design of roads, traffic, as any other engineering job, is a balancing act of multiple competing interests and sets of constraints. Economic interest of moving goods and people fastest possible way competes with safety, fuel economy, environmental interests, etc. Public and officials love simple answers. I'm inclined to believe that "speed kills" is one of those demanded simple answers. Speeding individual is already unsympathetic figure, so it costs very little political capital to blame all ills of our transportation on those who "don't care about our lives" and portray police and politicians as father figures concerned for nothing but our safety. The truth is always more complicated.

graphicguy

driver100 said:

GG, Hope it was the Lemon Law people with some good news!

Thanks, Driver. I hope so, too. If not, the fight continues.

graphicguy

Real time update. So, on a whim, I called the Cadillac resolution center again. Lo and behold, I got a living, breathing, real, live human who's working on my case.

So, I don't know if it's just lip service. But, after I explained EVERYTHING to her, she said it was unacceptable what has happened (WOW...that's the first I've heard anyone from Cadillac say that). She asked what I wanted to do. I told her. Buy back the car for what I paid for it....plain and simple.

She said she needed to talk to the Regional Rep. I've been telling them that all along. At the end of the day, I could go round and round and round with the Regional Rep for weeks/months, too. So, we'll see.

She's supposed to call me back with something tomorrow a.m.

Won't hold my breath, but I hope so, and hope for good news, too.

Michaell

graphicguy said:

Real time update. So, on a whim, I called the Cadillac resolution center again. Lo and behold, I got a living, breathing, real, live human who's working on my case.

So, I don't know if it's just lip service. But, after I explained EVERYTHING to her, she said it was unacceptable what has happened (WOW...that's the first I've heard anyone from Cadillac say that). She asked what I wanted to do. I told her. Buy back the car for what I paid for it....plain and simple.

She said she needed to talk to the Regional Rep. I've been telling them that all along. At the end of the day, I could go round and round and round with the Regional Rep for weeks/months, too. So, we'll see.

She's supposed to call me back with something tomorrow a.m.

Won't hold my breath, but I hope so, and hope for good news, too.

Too bad you aren't recording these phone calls .. for someone (anyone) at Cadillac to admit that it's unacceptable is a major win for you.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

We bought our 2012 Passat 3 years ago...this is the car that is in Florida.

So this morning I get a long distance call from Mike somebody who says "Did you read over your service policy when you purchased your car?"

So I said sure.

He said well do you know you owe us a payment for your service policy.

I said get lost.....slam down the phone.

This couldn't have been from the dealer. Was this a scam? Did caller ID say Nigeria or Russia?

oldfarmer50

graphicguy said:

Real time update. So, on a whim, I called the Cadillac resolution center again. Lo and behold, I got a living, breathing, real, live human who's working on my case.

So, I don't know if it's just lip service. But, after I explained EVERYTHING to her, she said it was unacceptable what has happened (WOW...that's the first I've heard anyone from Cadillac say that). She asked what I wanted to do. I told her. Buy back the car for what I paid for it....plain and simple.

She said she needed to talk to the Regional Rep. I've been telling them that all along. At the end of the day, I could go round and round and round with the Regional Rep for weeks/months, too. So, we'll see.

She's supposed to call me back with something tomorrow a.m.

Won't hold my breath, but I hope so, and hope for good news, too.

Seems all your contacts with government agencies paid off. 35 years ago I had a problem with a Dodge. Dealer told me to go pound sand. Changed their tune after I filed a complaint with the state AG.

driver100

Michaell said:

graphicguy said:

Real time update. So, on a whim, I called the Cadillac resolution center again. Lo and behold, I got a living, breathing, real, live human who's working on my case.

So, I don't know if it's just lip service. But, after I explained EVERYTHING to her, she said it was unacceptable what has happened (WOW...that's the first I've heard anyone from Cadillac say that). She asked what I wanted to do. I told her. Buy back the car for what I paid for it....plain and simple.

She said she needed to talk to the Regional Rep. I've been telling them that all along. At the end of the day, I could go round and round and round with the Regional Rep for weeks/months, too. So, we'll see.

She's supposed to call me back with something tomorrow a.m.

Won't hold my breath, but I hope so, and hope for good news, too.

Too bad you aren't recording these phone calls .. for someone (anyone) at Cadillac to admit that it's unacceptable is a major win for you.

I don't think it was the Cadillac people who have said that yet. I believe it is the Lemon Law people. I have to say, if they can't resolve this to GGs satisfaction then they are useless.....if ever there was a clear cut case of a lemon this is it....even though I haven't heard the other side because there is no other side to hear from.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

We bought our 2012 Passat 3 years ago...this is the car that is in Florida.

So this morning I get a long distance call from Mike somebody who says "Did you read over your service policy when you purchased your car?"

So I said sure.

He said well do you know you owe us a payment for your service policy.

I said get lost.....slam down the phone.

This couldn't have been from the dealer. Was this a scam? Did caller ID say Nigeria or Russia?

The phone number was 424-354-4130 and I am pretty sure they are the ones who call about every 2 weeks to try and sell us an extended warranty. Not sure where 424 is but if it was Nigeria, Russia or India the guy speaks perfect English, or as Sarah Palen says, perfect American (forgot, not supposed to get political). It would be good if some of the customer telephone reps could speak English as well.

imidazol97

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-424-354-4130

Beverly Hills. Some said that automatic dialer often hangs up on people who do answer. Seems to
be car "warranty" sales company.

driver100 said:

Sarah Palen says, perfect American.

Unnecessary political comment.

oldfarmer50

imidazol97 said:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-424-354-4130

Beverly Hills. Some said that automatic dialer often hangs up on people who do answer. Seems to
be car "warranty" sales company.

driver100 said:

Sarah Palen says, perfect American.

Unnecessary political comment.

Might not be Beverly Hills. Google "phone spoofing". There are services that disguise your number with an area code from anywhere in the world. So you could be calling from down the block and caller ID reads Beverly Hills.

There was a case last year in my area where a lawyer hated his neighbors so he would call them day and night from phony phone numbers to harass them and make them think numerous people were calling.

fezo

Driver - oh, just write him a check. What possible harm could it do?......

stever

If you bought a new car instead of used because low rates and/or longer-terms loans kept the monthly payments more affordable, please email PR@edmunds.com by 9/11/15 to connect with a reporter.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-424-354-4130

Beverly Hills. Some said that automatic dialer often hangs up on people who do answer. Seems to
be car "warranty" sales company.

driver100 said:

Sarah Palen says, perfect American.

Unnecessary political comment.

Thanks for the info imid....now it makes sense.

Is there an agency that can look into this outfit and close them down.

I wonder how bad it would be if someone fell for their phony extended warranty program - try to collect on that!

Nah, not unnecessary political comment....just a came to mind, if Sarah said it I can quote it, has nothing to do with politics. If George Clooney, Hilary or Yogi Berra said it I still would have put it in.

driver100

fezo said:

Driver - oh, just write him a check. What possible harm could it do?......

I am sure he would prefer my credit card number.

driver100

driver100 said:

imidazol97 said:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-424-354-4130

Beverly Hills. Some said that automatic dialer often hangs up on people who do answer. Seems to
be car "warranty" sales company.

driver100 said:

Sarah Palen says, perfect American.

Unnecessary political comment.

Thanks for the info imid....now it makes sense.

Is there an agency that can look into this outfit and close them down.

I wonder how bad it would be if someone fell for their phony extended warranty program - try to collect on that!

Nah, not unnecessary political comment....just a came to mind. If Sarah said it I can quote it, has nothing to do with politics. If George Clooney, Hilary or Yogi Berra said it I still would have put it in. Let's not be too overly politically correct about every little comment.

ab348

oldfarmer50 said:

Might not be Beverly Hills. Google "phone spoofing". There are services that disguise your number with an area code from anywhere in the world. So you could be calling from down the block and caller ID reads Beverly Hills.

Heck, I get calls fairly frequently that caller-ID says are from MY OWN PHONE NUMBER. Why or how they do that I cannot understand. I am at the point now where I never answer 1-8xx calls or even most long-distance calls on my landline unless I recognize the number or name. I also have a little gizmo connected to my phone that has a button on it. When I get one of those unwanted calls, I push the button, it "answers" and plays a message contained on a chip that says something along the lines of "This phone is not configured to accept unsolicited calls. Good-bye." Best $1.98 I ever spent.

Anyone I actually want/need to talk to gets my mobile # now. I give that out very sparingly. Amazing how a formerly invaluable service like the telephone has been converted into a huge annoyance.

dino001

driver100 said:

We bought our 2012 Passat 3 years ago...this is the car that is in Florida.

So this morning I get a long distance call from Mike somebody who says "Did you read over your service policy when you purchased your car?"

So I said sure.

He said well do you know you owe us a payment for your service policy.

I said get lost.....slam down the phone.

I had once a message on my answering machine from "IRS" that they are going to sue me. Of course a robo-voice no details. They did leave a number to call back. I went on the FBI site to report it, thought perhaps if acted quickly they may give them a call and track those guys. These "IRS" calls are reaching epidemic proportions. As expected, no follow up. Your tax money at work.

driver100

ab348 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

Might not be Beverly Hills. Google "phone spoofing". There are services that disguise your number with an area code from anywhere in the world. So you could be calling from down the block and caller ID reads Beverly Hills.

Heck, I get calls fairly frequently that caller-ID says are from MY OWN PHONE NUMBER. Why or how they do that I cannot understand. I am at the point now where I never answer 1-8xx calls or even most long-distance calls on my landline unless I recognize the number or name. I also have a little gizmo connected to my phone that has a button on it. When I get one of those unwanted calls, I push the button, it "answers" and plays a message contained on a chip that says something along the lines of "This phone is not configured to accept unsolicited calls. Good-bye." Best $1.98 I ever spent.

Anyone I actually want/need to talk to gets my mobile # now. I give that out very sparingly. Amazing how a formerly invaluable service like the telephone has been converted into a huge annoyance.

I like the sounds of that device. Can I get one with a high pitched squeal that will temporarily plug up their ears?

I am getting crankier in my old age.

driver100

dino001 said:

driver100 said:

We bought our 2012 Passat 3 years ago...this is the car that is in Florida.

So this morning I get a long distance call from Mike somebody who says "Did you read over your service policy when you purchased your car?"

So I said sure.

He said well do you know you owe us a payment for your service policy.

I said get lost.....slam down the phone.

I had once a message on my answering machine from "IRS" that they are going to sue me. Of course a robo-voice no details. They did leave a number to call back. I went on the FBI site to report it, thought perhaps if acted quickly they may give them a call and track those guys. These "IRS" calls are reaching epidemic proportions. As expected, no follow up. Your tax money at work.

The IRS scam. That is a popular one right now. They tell you to get a temporary credit card, load it up with $1000 or whatever you owe - and then call them back or you could be fined and go to prison.

That one and the grandson who is in trouble and needs some bail money. Something he didn't do but he doesn't want to go to prison. Please wire some money.

What a life....having to scam people to make a living.

oldfarmer50

imidazol97 said:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-424-354-4130

Beverly Hills. Some said that automatic dialer often hangs up on people who do answer. Seems to
be car "warranty" sales company.

driver100 said:

Sarah Palen says, perfect American.

Unnecessary political comment.

Not to mention he misspelled PALIN.

For the record, they speak perfect English in Canada. Down here we speak perfect American.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

imidazol97 said:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-424-354-4130

Beverly Hills. Some said that automatic dialer often hangs up on people who do answer. Seems to
be car "warranty" sales company.

driver100 said:

Sarah Palen says, perfect American.

Unnecessary political comment.

Thanks for the info imid....now it makes sense.

Is there an agency that can look into this outfit and close them down.

I wonder how bad it would be if someone fell for their phony extended warranty program - try to collect on that!

Nah, not unnecessary political comment....just a came to mind, if Sarah said it I can quote it, has nothing to do with politics. If George Clooney, Hilary or Yogi Berra said it I still would have put it in.

A woman at work told me her daughter got a telemarketing job selling warranties over the phone. Seems she was pretty good at it and convinced many to buy. I guess all the hard sell and deception got to her after a while. She quit.

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

dino001 said:

driver100 said:

We bought our 2012 Passat 3 years ago...this is the car that is in Florida.

So this morning I get a long distance call from Mike somebody who says "Did you read over your service policy when you purchased your car?"

So I said sure.

He said well do you know you owe us a payment for your service policy.

I said get lost.....slam down the phone.

I had once a message on my answering machine from "IRS" that they are going to sue me. Of course a robo-voice no details. They did leave a number to call back. I went on the FBI site to report it, thought perhaps if acted quickly they may give them a call and track those guys. These "IRS" calls are reaching epidemic proportions. As expected, no follow up. Your tax money at work.

The IRS scam. That is a popular one right now. They tell you to get a temporary credit card, load it up with $1000 or whatever you owe - and then call them back or you could be fined and go to prison.

That one and the grandson who is in trouble and needs some bail money. Something he didn't do but he doesn't want to go to prison. Please wire some money.

What a life....having to scam people to make a living.

You would think that no one would fall for that "grandma I need bail" scam but I know someone who was actually withdrawing the money from the bank when a sharp teller told her what was going on. She was a former school teacher so you'd assume she had heard every scam from her students over the years.

I guess everyone is vulnerable if caught at the right time.

stever

We got a call from the MIL's bank up in the UP for the same scam, only it was her nephew who needed cash to get out of Ecuador.

Shelby GT350 anyone? Starts at a relatively modest $47,870.

robr2

ab348 said:

Might not be Beverly Hills. Google "phone spoofing". There are services that disguise your number with an area code from anywhere in the world. So you could be calling from down the block and caller ID reads Beverly Hills.

Heck, I get calls fairly frequently that caller-ID says are from MY OWN PHONE NUMBER. Why or how they do that I cannot understand. I am at the point now where I never answer 1-8xx calls or even most long-distance calls on my landline unless I recognize the number or name. I also have a little gizmo connected to my phone that has a button on it. When I get one of those unwanted calls, I push the button, it "answers" and plays a message contained on a chip that says something along the lines of "This phone is not configured to accept unsolicited calls. Good-bye." Best $1.98 I ever spent. Anyone I actually want/need to talk to gets my mobile # now. I give that out very sparingly. Amazing how a formerly invaluable service like the telephone has been converted into a huge annoyance.

Ever get a call with nibody there?  That device doesn't do any good because just by answering the phone tells the caller it is a good number which is then sold to another company that uses live operators. 

houdini1

driver100 said:

dino001 said:

driver100 said:

We bought our 2012 Passat 3 years ago...this is the car that is in Florida.

So this morning I get a long distance call from Mike somebody who says "Did you read over your service policy when you purchased your car?"

So I said sure.

He said well do you know you owe us a payment for your service policy.

I said get lost.....slam down the phone.

I had once a message on my answering machine from "IRS" that they are going to sue me. Of course a robo-voice no details. They did leave a number to call back. I went on the FBI site to report it, thought perhaps if acted quickly they may give them a call and track those guys. These "IRS" calls are reaching epidemic proportions. As expected, no follow up. Your tax money at work.

The IRS scam. That is a popular one right now. They tell you to get a temporary credit card, load it up with $1000 or whatever you owe - and then call them back or you could be fined and go to prison.

That one and the grandson who is in trouble and needs some bail money. Something he didn't do but he doesn't want to go to prison. Please wire some money.

What a life....having to scam people to make a living.

Prison might not be so bad. Minimal work, if any. Free health care. Free dental care. Free rent. Free food. Free utilities. No telling what other free stuff they get. WHAT? NO CARS? Forget it.

abacomike

I got one of those IRS calls - in fact I got two of them.  I yelled at the guy who said he is with "IRS" threatening him.  When he responded and did not say "The IRS", I knew it was a scam.  I asked for his phone number, but he refused to give it to me.

I've been getting calls from some computer scam that said my computer had a virus.  I asked him how he knew it was infected - he responded that they monitor all computers that are infected with viruses.  Unbelievable.

I also get a lot of calls from some credit card scam.  It just doesn't stop.  I never get calls on my cell phone, just the house phone.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

imidazol97 said:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-424-354-4130

Beverly Hills. Some said that automatic dialer often hangs up on people who do answer. Seems to
be car "warranty" sales company.

driver100 said:

Sarah Palen says, perfect American.

Unnecessary political comment.

Not to mention he misspelled PALIN.

For the record, they speak perfect English in Canada. Down here we speak perfect American.

No, in Canada we speak perfect Canadian...eh!

dino001

I have a number ID and simply don't pick up calls from numbers I don't know. Only once a scammer actually recorded themselves and it was clearly a voice generator.

There are other nuisance calls I get on my cell, usually legitimate, but unwanted solicitations, but those go away, if you wait and press prompted button to remove yourself from the list.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

imidazol97 said:

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-424-354-4130

Beverly Hills. Some said that automatic dialer often hangs up on people who do answer. Seems to
be car "warranty" sales company.

driver100 said:

Sarah Palen says, perfect American.

Unnecessary political comment.

Thanks for the info imid....now it makes sense.

Is there an agency that can look into this outfit and close them down.

I wonder how bad it would be if someone fell for their phony extended warranty program - try to collect on that!

Nah, not unnecessary political comment....just a came to mind, if Sarah said it I can quote it, has nothing to do with politics. If George Clooney, Hilary or Yogi Berra said it I still would have put it in.

A woman at work told me her daughter got a telemarketing job selling warranties over the phone. Seems she was pretty good at it and convinced many to buy. I guess all the hard sell and deception got to her after a while. She quit.

They called about every 2 weeks about getting the extended warranty and that scam could have some credibility, after all you assume the car dealer gave them your information. But, the car has about 5k miles on it in 3 years, and that was explained about the first 8 times they called. Several times they were asked not to call again, but I am sure they don't keep records of requests.

It must be a real boiler room, and though that lady may have got lots of new customers for them, she probably got an earful most of the time too.

driver100

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

dino001 said:

driver100 said:

We bought our 2012 Passat 3 years ago...this is the car that is in Florida.

So this morning I get a long distance call from Mike somebody who says "Did you read over your service policy when you purchased your car?"

So I said sure.

He said well do you know you owe us a payment for your service policy.

I said get lost.....slam down the phone.

I had once a message on my answering machine from "IRS" that they are going to sue me. Of course a robo-voice no details. They did leave a number to call back. I went on the FBI site to report it, thought perhaps if acted quickly they may give them a call and track those guys. These "IRS" calls are reaching epidemic proportions. As expected, no follow up. Your tax money at work.

The IRS scam. That is a popular one right now. They tell you to get a temporary credit card, load it up with $1000 or whatever you owe - and then call them back or you could be fined and go to prison.

That one and the grandson who is in trouble and needs some bail money. Something he didn't do but he doesn't want to go to prison. Please wire some money.

What a life....having to scam people to make a living.

Prison might not be so bad. Minimal work, if any. Free health care. Free dental care. Free rent. Free food. Free utilities. No telling what other free stuff they get. WHAT? NO CARS? Forget it.

Yeh, and I could probably play soccer or baseball most of the day too. Do they have tennis by any chance? I may have to consider that.