A couple of years ago I answered my phone. A chipper voice came on and said "Hi! I'm Rachel from Cardholder Services". By the time she got this far I had decided two things. First, this was a robocall. Second, this was a scam. I was right in both instances. Rachel went on to assure me that there was nothing wrong with my account but if I pressed "one" she could lower my interest rate. Thus began a relationship that continues to this day.
I have tried numerous tactics to get Rachel to stop harassing me. At first I hung up the phone. Then I pressed "one" and politely asked to never be called again. Then I pressed "one" and rudely asked never to be called again. At some point I was given an option "three" that supposedly would cause the calls to stop. I selected option "three" several times. The calls did not stop. I did an Internet search on "Rachel from cardholder services". I got millions of hits, most of them from 2009. No one had found a successful strategy for getting Rachel to stop.
Some people had run down names, addresses, and phone numbers for the people behind Rachel. The FTC had supposedly shut down these operations (at least one in Florida and one in Arizona). But the calls keep coming. A number of the posts were from "troubleshooter" people associated with newspapers or TV stations. They were unsuccessful. A couple of tech savvy people had apparently run down identity information on the people behind Rachel. But none of this has stopped nor, as far as I can tell, even slowed these people down.
This is a scam. If you go along you will be asked for your credit card number and your social security number. One of the tip offs that this was a scam was that they don't know the name of the bank that issued your credit card. And the two pieces of information you least want to give people who are at a minimum unethical are your credit card number and your social security number. But if you ware stupid enough to do this you will be offered a credit card for a different company with a low "teaser" rate. I'm sure the rate goes up quickly to one that is higher than your current rate. That's how they make their money, from kick backs from the company that issues your new credit card. They may also get money from selling your old credit card number and social security number to crooks. I don't know that they do this but I wouldn't be surprised.
Now theoretically what you should do is file a complaint with the FTC. You can do this at www.ftc.gov. But the form asks you the name and phone number of the company you are complaining about. You will NOT be able to get this information from the person who answers the phone on behalf of Rachel. So the complaint is pretty much useless. If it was useful Rachel would have been shut down years ago. Also the FTC makes you jump through hoops before you can even fill out the form. The FTC has been rendered pretty much toothless by the "get the government off your back" crowd. So that doesn't work either. In spite of all this, I twice filed complaints with the FTC about Rachel.
The FTC run "Do Not Call" list is also supposed to provide some protection from Rachel. I have been on the "Do Not Call" list almost since the day it was created. It doesn't work very well. I also get repeated robocalls from a company that offers to clean my ducts. For whatever reason, I have not gone after them as hard as I have tried to go after Rachel. Then there are the various calls from other businesses (rare), charitable solicitations (more often and exempted, I believe, from the "Do Not Call" law), and pollsters (very frequently since it is politics season and also, exempted, I believe). I also saw something on the web about a Credit Card exemption in the "Do Not Call" law. I am not sure this is correct. If it is, it shouldn't be there but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. So "Do Not Call" doesn't stop Rachel.
I don't have caller ID on my phone. It is an extra charge that I don't see why I should have to pay. But I understand that if you do have caller ID you either get a "blocked" (bad enough) or a fake number. Apparently the Rachel people have the technology that allows them to substitute a different number on the caller ID display. This is one of the many ways they hide their identity. So caller ID doesn't work either.
If you press "one" you are eventually connected to a live person. Most of the time when you contact a company and get through to a live person you get a call center employee. I have a lot of sympathy for call center employees in general. The job doesn't pay very well and usually comes with no benefits at all. Generally these employees are polite and will try to be helpful. Unfortunately they work in a straight jacket of rules that guarantee they have almost no power. They are not responsible for the defective product or bad service you received but all they are allowed to do is "take the information". And many times they are paid more if they can keep calls short. So they can't even stay on the line while you vent. All in all, most call center employees are involved in a thankless job. They know it and would trade up in a minute to a better job if they could get one. But especially in this economy that is hard to do. So that's the story with call center employees in general.
But it is NOT the story with Rachel people. Usually they cut me off as soon as they figure out that I am not going to fall for the scam. Lately I have started being abusive as nothing else has worked. And on two occasions they have retaliated. In the first case after I abused one of them I got a call a few minutes later. In talking to the person I was eventually able to figure out the the Rachel person had given out my number to someone who had called in and told them I would take care of them. And then today I got my morning Rachel call. I abused the person who came on the line. Then I got a call again from Rachel an hour or so later. In this case the Rachel people are in on the scam so don't feel you are under any obligation to be nice to anyone you get through to on a Rachel call. They are NOT the usual innocent call center employee just trying to get by.
Then there is the question of whether the Rachel operation is legal under current law. I believe the answer is no. They are engaged in deceptive practices. They are required by law to disclose the name and location of the company they represent. They won't do that. They are also involved in "bait and switch". That is, if you don't listen closely they give the impression that they represent your current credit card company. But they don't. They claim they can "reduce the interest rate on your current credit card". They can't. They can switch you to a different credit card that may have a lower rate for a short time. But they can't change anything about your current credit card. They don't even know what your current credit card is unless you tell them. They know very little about you. They are doing what is called a "cold call". They then try to extract information from you that they have no right to.
So what do they know about you? They know your phone number. They called it. And there are various "white pages" services on the Internet that will supply a name and address to go with your phone number. So they know your name (or at least the name of the person owning the phone number) and your address. They will try to use that information to get credit card, social security, and whatever additional information out of you they can. Don't give it to them.
There are various law enforcement agencies that are supposed to shut this kind of thing down. I have alluded to the toothlessness of the lead Federal agency, the FTC, on this manner. The lead state agency is the Attorney General's office. Florida and Arizona are notorious for being "business friendly" states. For about 100 years Florida has been known as the home of some of the most outrageous real estate scams in the country. Arizona has seen more than its share of scams (Google "Keating 5" for a good example). It's real estate market is one of the worst in the country in part due to a long standing pattern of "pro growth" real estate regulation. So it is not surprising to find that they are identified with Rachel. As for the other states, it is very hard for a state agency to deal with this kind of cross state problem.
Finally, lets not let the phone companies off the hook. Their lobbyists have been very effective at making sure the laws, both at the federal and state level are pretty toothless. 800 service is not the moneymaker it used to be. But 800 use represents a revenue stream that is still valuable and profitable to the phone companies. It would be nice if consumers could block this kind of thing. But the phone companies listen to the 800 companies and the congress listens to the phone company lobbyists. If you surveyed consumers they would have preferred the "Do Not Call": law to have fewer exemptions and for the penalties to be harsher. But congress works for lobbyists not voters.
So what is to be done. If you are not one of Rachel's victims, count your lucky stars. If you are, feel free to heap as much abuse on the Rachel operator as your creativity can come up with. This is a business that only is profitable if costs are low. The time you spend with an actual person is the most expensive part of the operation. So spend as much time with them (without buying anything or giving out any information) as you can. If the Rachel call center costs go up without an increase in sales the whole operation becomes less profitable and might get shut down. And feel free to abuse the operators in any way your imagination can come up with and your conscience permits. They are not the usual innocents. They are in on it. They are knowingly working for a criminal enterprise. Their income, such as it is, comes from crime. They are criminals and should be treated as such. I do have another idea. But it is pretty harsh. I don't want to go there if I don't have to.
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