ABC Warehouse, ABC Warehouse gives customer credit card information to telemarketers! Detroit Michigan
After making an appliance purchase from ABC Warehouse, I was hounded for well over 4 months by a telemarketer from their service company to buy an extended service warranty. After repeatedly telling this woman that I did not want it, I finally told her not to call again and hung up on her. A week later, I discovered that my credit card had been charged almost $300 for a service contract that I did not want and that I had not authorized.
I contacted ABC Warehouse, as well as their service company, Advanced Telephone. People at both businesses communicated to me that it is routine that a telemarketer be given the personal information (credit card number, physical address, and whatever else might have been entered on the original purchase invoice) from a sale.
Neither the VP of Operations at ABC Warehouse nor the President of Advanced Telephone seemed especially interested in pursuing answers to this egregious form of privacy invasion and fraud. They also implied that it is not uncommon for customers to complain about extended warranty charges to their credit card, whether they were authorized or not.
The simple truth is that if you make a purchase from ABC Warehouse, your personal information will rest in the hands of telemarketers who will then mercilessly attempt to sell you an extended warranty and perhaps, as was the case with me, use your credit card to sign you to an extended warranty.
I am angry because 1) my credit card was charged without my authorization, 2) my personal information was/is in the hands of someone with questionable scruples, and 3) every person with whom I spoke at both ABC and Advanced Telephone seemed unwilling to address my concerns.
If you have had an unauthorized charge made to your credit card by ABC Warehouse via it's extended service contract company, I would like to get in touch with you. I am in the process of investigating the potential for civil litigation and what might be a class action lawsuit.
If you have purchased from ABC Warehouse or plan on making a future purchase, you may be well-advised to think twice, since everything you list on your purchase invoice will end up in the hands of a telemarketer.
Consumer48315
Shelby Twp., Michigan
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Concerned Husband
Romulus,Michigan,
United States of America
About ABC Warehouse Call Center
#2REBUTTAL Individual responds
Fri, October 14, 2011
This is not a rebuttal but a Consumer Alert! When ABC Warehouse calls you fo Your extended warranty. Your credit card is not safe. The credit card numbers on cards that the staff calls you from. The agents calls and asked the customer if they wanted the extended warranty. The customer asked is my credit card number safe? The agent had to reply yes your information is on a scrambler system and it distorts the numbers. Everyone in the call center has to say that. In fact the cards are left exposed to everyone on desks. The manager tells the customer the same thing. Your number is safe. When in fact your number is not safe. The company needs to change the way they operate. It should be up to the consumer if they want their personal information and credit card number on file. Not businesses. They should have to asked and the company will honor the consumer's decision.
ABC Call Centers should be honest and have integrity, and honorable work ethics. They should have on the premise a shredder or have a contract with a shredder company. Then the agents could have integrity for now they don't. To bad they don't have the equipment and have integrity to say, "Your credit card information is currently in my possesion and if you want the extended warranty then I can run it through". If the consumer doesn't want the warranty then the customer could say no thanks please destroy my information (I would think by law not sure but I would think ABC Warehouse is obligated to shred the consumer information). Any employee caught stealing the information will be terminated and prosecuted to the full extent to the law as Credit Card thief.