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06-01-2005, 04:32 PM #1Disabled
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Charter Communications Spammed me Today.
We've been using Charter for our Cable TV Services for about 14 years now. About 2 weeks ago, We recieved a call from them offering to sell us their cable internet services.
I declined, stating i couldn't afford the required hardware, or the service fees. And they tried offering me a discount on hardware, but i really wasn't interested, because i have always heard bad things about their cable internet services.
Well, as the call was ended, they asked me for my email address. I told them i would give it to them for their records, but i do not wish to recieve any promotional email from them.
Well, today I recieved the following email:
You can end your unsatisfying relationship with dial up today by
switching to high speed Cable Internet from
You can end your unsatisfying relationship with dial up today by
switching to high speed Cable Internet from CHARTER. With Cable
Internet, you can enjoy all of these benefits of broadband:
Always on connections – no waiting or premature disconnectionsFaster
speeds – download, chat, email, and browse up to 25 times
quickerAbility to simultaneously share Internet connections between
other household computers
Those benefits are just the beginning. For a limited time, you can
experience the wonders of high speed Cable Internet from CHARTER and
take advantage of a special deal that includes:
Introductory promotion: $19.95/month for the first 12 months. 2 Free
Plane Tickets
Speeds of 384-1500 Kbs download and 128 Kbs upload.
Monthly price of 19.95
Not convinced yet? We'll even throw in a Free Broadband Optimizer to
optimize your broadband connection. <span style="background-image:
none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll;
background-position: 0% 0%">Click here or call 1-866-333-8148 to take
the next step toward bringing broadband Internet to your home.
To unsubscribe, please send an email to:
unsubscribe-13@mail.buytelco.org with the address: worried@gmail.com in
the subject line.
BuyTelco
1915 Harrison Street
Hollywood, Florida 33020
Email headers:
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To: worried@gmREMOVEail
Subject: Money Saving Offer from CHARTER for High Speed Internet at 75 Dunlap Cir
Reply-To: reply-13@mail.buytelco.org
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From: "CHARTER Customer Service" <reply-13@mail.buytelco.org>
They're lucky they're the only cable providers in my area
[changed code to quote]Last edited by anon-e-mouse; 06-02-2005 at 02:39 AM.
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06-01-2005, 04:34 PM #2Web Hosting Master
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And how, might I ask, do you know it's from Charter directly or itself? Do you believe every email you get? I guess it's about time that I really start considering those Nigerian scam emails I get!
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06-01-2005, 04:38 PM #3Disabled
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Considering i gave the same damn company my email two weeks ago, i think it's obvious it's from the same company.
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06-01-2005, 04:48 PM #4Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by mikeylove
Considering i gave the same damn company my email two weeks ago, i think it's obvious it's from the same company.
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06-01-2005, 04:49 PM #5Web Hosting Master
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Charter has been good to me, about 5 years and zero downtime or problems. No "lag" on major times (noon to midnight).
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06-01-2005, 05:57 PM #6Disabled
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How is it obvious? To accuse them of something of which you have no proof that they've done is just slanderous. Your email headers show absolutely no indication that the email is from them directly, unless you can prove me otherwise, and in which case I'd be perfectly happy and willing to listen to what you have to say. Granted, it could be from a service which they've hired to send out email, but even that seems doubtful, as the email is extremely poorly and unprofessionally done. What is this business about "2 FreePlane Tickets"?
I use charter for 12 god damn years, and not once recieve a single email about their company.
Then one day they call me, and they get my email address.
Then 2 weeks later, I recieve an email from 'someone' advertising the services that charter offers.
The company isn't that big. Hell, the greater part of the area i live in is covered by comcast. I doubt they would resort to national spamming when they don't cover a national area.
Even if it wasn't specifically them. They had to have given a database of customers off to someone for advertising for their company.
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06-01-2005, 06:11 PM #7Junior Guru
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Originally posted by SniperDevil
How is it obvious? To accuse them of something of which you have no proof that they've done is just slanderous.
Anywho i got a wierd email a bit ago it had the return address for the NIH and the beinging and ending of there medwatch emails and I am a subscriber to the HIN med watch list could just be some screwd up errors and crap.
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06-01-2005, 06:48 PM #8Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by davef139
Libel.. slander is spoken
Anywho i got a wierd email a bit ago it had the return address for the NIH and the beinging and ending of there medwatch emails and I am a subscriber to the HIN med watch list could just be some screwd up errors and crap.
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06-02-2005, 02:50 AM #9
It looks to me you are signed up for something, they have traced your IP to charter and now they are sending you "targetted" spam.
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06-02-2005, 03:05 AM #10Disabled
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My IP has nothing to do with charter. My IP tells them that i am connected in detroit via level3. This same modem pool connects people in the metro detroit area.
They called me on the telephone and asked me if i was satisifed with charter's service, and if i would be interested in purchasing cable internet service with them.
I said the service was good, and i declined their offer for cable internet.
As the call was ending, they asked me if i would give them my email address "For their records". I gave them my gmail address, and followed up by saying "But don't send me any promoational offers.".
If i tell them to not send me any promotional offers, but they do anyway, that is spam.
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06-02-2005, 03:30 AM #11Disabled
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The same thing happened to me after I gave out my email address to our cable provider (Cox Communications) which their service in Louisiana SUCKS. I got spammed constantly about their High Speed Internet (what an original name for their internet service HUH!)
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06-02-2005, 04:02 AM #12Web Hosting Master
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Giving your email address to a telemarketer may be literally giving it to a spammer. Have you contacted your cable company to ask if they ever hired the telemarketer? I wonder if this could be a ploy for harvesting email addresses. Cold call people pretending to be promoting the cable company's internet. Send spam ostensibly promoting the cable internet. If anyone makes the mistake of "unsubscribing", you have a confirmed email address for the spam list.
I would forward the spam to abuse@ibm.com, abuse@networksolutions.com
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06-02-2005, 04:07 AM #13Disabled
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Originally posted by Disgruntled
Giving your email address to a telemarketer may be literally giving it to a spammer. Have you contacted your cable company to ask if they ever hired the telemarketer? I wonder if this could be a ploy for harvesting email addresses. Cold call people pretending to be promoting the cable company's internet. Send spam ostensibly promoting the cable internet. If anyone makes the mistake of "unsubscribing", you have a confirmed email address for the spam list.
I would forward the spam to abuse@ibm.com, abuse@networksolutions.com
Good Thinking!
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06-02-2005, 04:13 AM #14Aspiring Evangelist
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I've had mass downtime with Charter along with many people in my area. Sometimes I have to reboot the modem to get back online and other times its down for weeks at a time. Their tech support is unorganized and usually idiotic. Now they have those stupid voice bots you have to go through. Too bad Im not in charge of ISP selection.
"The impossibility of conceiving that this grand and wonderous universe with our conscious selves arose through chance, seems to me the chief argument for existence of God; but whether this argument is of real value I have never been able to decide... The safest conclusion seems to be that the whole subject is beyond the scope of man's intellect." - Charles Darwin
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06-02-2005, 02:30 PM #15Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by mikeylove
My IP has nothing to do with charter. My IP tells them that i am connected in detroit via level3. This same modem pool connects people in the metro detroit area.
They called me on the telephone and asked me if i was satisifed with charter's service, and if i would be interested in purchasing cable internet service with them.
I said the service was good, and i declined their offer for cable internet.
As the call was ending, they asked me if i would give them my email address "For their records". I gave them my gmail address, and followed up by saying "But don't send me any promoational offers.".
If i tell them to not send me any promotional offers, but they do anyway, that is spam.
Why in the world did you give them your email address? If a telemarketer calls you up, you decline their "goods" or sales pitch. Why would you give them further ways to contact you?
I've had Charter Cable/Internet since Charter moved into the St. Louis, MO Metro area, and I've never recieved a call from them trying to sell me anything.
Are you sure it was Charter that called you, and not some other company doing promo work for Charter, or just some other company in general?Happily hosting @ Dathorn.com (Since 3/2003), Ispeeds.net (Since 2004), & Quadspeedi.net (Since 7/2005)!
Hosted @ FDC for 9 Years
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06-02-2005, 03:46 PM #16Web Hosting Master
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If someone is doing promo work for Charter, then it is Charter that is responsible. Qui facit per alium facit per se--who acts though another acts himself. Charter would be responsible for any spamvertising by its agent. However, there is unconfirmed suspicion that Charter may have had nothing to do with this. It could have been a ploy to collect fresh, functional email addresses for other spamming.
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06-02-2005, 03:51 PM #17Disabled
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Giving them my number was a bad decision. But, at the time i didn't believe it was a telemarketer. I believed it was a normal old customer service call.
we're on the do not call list. Doesn't that prohibit them from calling us for marketing purposes?
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06-02-2005, 03:57 PM #18Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by mikeylove
Giving them my number was a bad decision. But, at the time i didn't believe it was a telemarketer. I believed it was a normal old customer service call.
we're on the do not call list. Doesn't that prohibit them from calling us for marketing purposes?
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06-02-2005, 04:20 PM #19Web Hosting Master
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Mikey, you should complain to Charter in any case. If it is their agent, they are legally responsible. If someone is spoofing being their agent, it is creating problems for them that they should know about. The problems it creates for them might provide the incentive for them to apply more resources than you have to go after these guys.
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06-02-2005, 04:29 PM #20Disabled
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Did your caller I.D. show that this call came from Charter?
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06-02-2005, 04:45 PM #21Web Hosting Master
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Chances are very good that even if the caller ID were working the number would be shown as "Unavailable", "Out of Area", or "Anonymous". And now there is even telephone spam technology to forge fake numbers to caller I.D.'s. With teleparasites as with spammers, rules and enforcement are different things.
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06-02-2005, 06:58 PM #22Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by mikeylove
Giving them my number was a bad decision. But, at the time i didn't believe it was a telemarketer. I believed it was a normal old customer service call.
we're on the do not call list. Doesn't that prohibit them from calling us for marketing purposes?
What about an established business relationship?
A telemarketer or seller may call a consumer with whom it has an established business relationship for up to 18 months after the consumer's last purchase, delivery, or payment - even if the consumer's number is on the National Do Not Call Registry. In addition, a company may call a consumer for up to three months after the consumer makes an inquiry or submits an application to the company. And if a consumer has given a company written permission, the company may call even if the consumer's number is on the National Do Not Call Registry.Happily hosting @ Dathorn.com (Since 3/2003), Ispeeds.net (Since 2004), & Quadspeedi.net (Since 7/2005)!
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06-02-2005, 08:00 PM #23Aspiring Evangelist
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Wow, such a huge thread because of one spam eMail. GET OVER IT
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06-02-2005, 08:11 PM #24Web Hosting Master
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Every spam is "just one spam". That is why every spammer gets treated with zero tolerence.
If this really was telemarketing by Charter, the first one technically did not violate the Do Not Call list, because of the prior business relationship. It would violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to disregard a specific instruction to not call again in the future. It is also contemptuous of customers to misuse the loophole.
The spam violated a specific prior instruction not to send it.
And of course if this was spoofing of Charter, then it is just the beginning of the misuse of an email address that will be resold, especially if it is confirmed as a "remove request".
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06-02-2005, 09:10 PM #25Been around for too long...
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http://www.buytelco.net/
Looks like they've got affiliate deals with a bunch of broadband providers, but they're not marketing directly for them? Just a guess.
- Matt