We've been getting calls at our new number. Three, four, sometimes five times a day YPOR calls us from a Milwaukee area code. (Wanna know where people are calling from? Go here!)

First, some seemingly irrelevant background, but don't worry, I'll tie it all together:

I'm having a little battle with the Charleston paper. All I want are the Sunday coupons ($1.75 each week, on the stand). The newspaper does not have a Sunday only subscription - I had to sign up for Sundays and Wednesdays, for $9.80 a month. Not too bad, I'll get all the ads and the convenience of the Sunday paper at my door. Then they 'upgraded' me to a weekend subscription - Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays for the same low price. Then, another upgrade (they're not trying to inflate their circulation numbers or anything). I'll get the paper every day!

Great. Most days, the paper went from the driveway directly to the trash. I didn't even take it out of the plastic bag. Also, looking up the grocery specials online is much more convenient for me.

Upon further reflection, I decided that instead of transferring our subscription to the new house, I'd just cancel and buy it off the rack. I'm out and about most Sundays for church, so it's not an extra trip.

Well. I called Monday (July 23). The customer service rep told me they do have a Sunday only subscription, but she's not allowed to sell it. And, our account was cancelled on July 21, because we'd moved. Who are these people, Big Brother? How did they know I moved? They don't send me a bill, I didn't call them. Anyway, I'm going to have to call them again tomorrow because our card was charged for a month's delivery on July 20 - and they stopped delivering on July 21, and I didn't notice until I balanced the checkbook today.

Since July 21, we've been getting the YPOR calls. The phone rings, I answer, there is a hangup. Later, the phone rings... another hangup. And so it goes.

The rumor on the Net is that YPOR (Yellow Pages Opinion Research) dials numbers to find out which ones have people who will answer the phone. I'm sure they get a premium for these qualified numbers. If you call the number back, they instruct you to enter your phone number or else the hangup calls will continue. Yeah, I'm going to give them a working phone number - and perhaps even a claim for 'prior business relationship'! Apparently the Do Not Call list is not a deterrant.

What does that have to do with the paper? Well, several internet tin foil hat conspiracy theorists have noticed that the calls started when they complained about their newspaper carrier, or cancelled a subscription. I just checked my caller ID - I've had 8 calls since July 23.

Coincidence?

FYI - the two numbers that seem to be used are YPOR 414-208-1035 and 440-331-6633.
If they call you, don't answer!

Labels: Rants and Raves