Bank Of America, Bass Pro Shops Rude, Unprofessional, Harassing Telemarketing Phone Calls Charlotte North Carolina

5/01/07

Bank of America
100 N. Tryon St.
Bank of America Corporate Center
Charlotte, NC 28255
(704) 386-5681
(704) 386-6699

To Whom It May Concern:

Mr. Bill Burris who is a Bank of America Privacy Assistant and Department Manager sent a letter to my wife on April 25th, 2007.

In the letter addressed to my wife he writes, This letter confirms a request you made in response to the phone call we placed to your home on Friday April 20, 2007

The problem with Bill Burris's letter is the fact that he is fabricating an event that did not occur!

Nobody at Bank of America called on April 20th, 2007 and nobody from Bank of America talked to my wife during that week, nor did they talk to my wife the week before or the week after.

Furthermore, my wife did not make any such request because there was no possible way that anyone at your company could have talked with her!

He also writes, Our purpose for calling was to allow you to obtain maximum value from your Bank of America account by offering you the option of enrolling in Bank of America's identity theft program.

A good question for Mr. Bill Burris Since it is estimated that Ninety-Five Percent of identity theft is an inside job from company employees is he saying that my wife needs to buy identity theft insurance protection for her credit card because of dishonest Bank of America employees?

This is an important question because Mr. Bill Burris's letter dated April 25, 2007 describes a Fantasy Event an event that did not occur.

In other words, he doesn't seem to have a problem in sending a letter that could conceivably be presented to a court as documentation, documentation that if accepted by the courts would be of benefit to Bank of America even though it did not happen as described and could not have happened!

Is this why your company is pushing an Identity Theft Program because she needs to protect her credit card from Bank of America employees who falsify documentation?

I should point out that the only phone call that came in that day was from 941-729-7201 and that number is from a Telemarketer that has falsified the caller ID number and caller ID information.

Is he saying that Bank of America is making illegal Telemarketing Call's from that number?

He also wrote, Federal and state laws regarding telemarketing activities generally allow companies to call people on the Do Not Call lists when there is, as in your case, an existing business relationship.

Well that sounds very impressive, very impressive indeed!

My response is as follows: In the Matter of Consumer.Net, Complainant, v AT&T Corp., Defendant, Adopted December 17, 1999 and released December 28, 1999, File No. E-98-46, it was ruled by the Federal Communications Commission that the telemarketer is required to maintain a Do Not Call list by phone number not by individual!

So what this means each time your company called my home your company and your third party partners like Synergy Solutions violated the Federal and State Telemarketing Regulations.

It also means that every time your company Bank of America' and your third party partners called and refused to identify themselves to who ever answered the phone, that this was a clear, flagrant and willful violation of the 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act!

I would also like to point out that the Arbitration Claus that Bank of America has on my wife's credit card is for my wife and does not apply to me... I am not a BoA customer!

I just reread my rebuttal and to me it appeared as I was calling to an a*s which I certainly was not. I have no idea what happened when I typed that out.

If you ever happen to get a live telemarketer on the phone, interrupt their sales pitch and say "put me on your do not call list." All companies have to keep such a list internally even if national do not call doesn't apply to them. Every time I've done that, the calls stopped soon. You would think that if someone has bothered to put their number on NDNC, that they would not be receptive to exempt telemarketing either. But companies still try it because there are people who will buy whatever they're pushing.

It's best to follow up in writing as well. No elaborate letter is necessary, just tell them that you want to "opt out" of all telemarketing and all sharing of your personal information for any marketing purpose.

You will stop all marketing related calls that way. But if you are late on payments or the company otherwise has a direct business reason to call you, they still can.

Perhaps I am missing something, but since when does getting unsolicited telemarketing calls constitute a rip off? I mean, what exactly did you lose due to getting these calls? All I can gather from your report is the following:

1- You willingly entered into a voluntary relationship with this bank; therefore, the bank has the right to call you per the terms and conditions of the business relationship. After all, you DID give them your phone number for this purpose when you initiated your credit card application.

2- No one cares about your previous brushes with the legal system, stalkers, accused murderers, etc. This has absolutely nothing to do with the issue at hand, and does not gather any sympathy on your behalf.

3- Having established the fact that this particular company has the LEGAL RIGHT to contact you by telephone, if this is bothersome to you why don't you screen your calls via Caller ID or an answering machine, and selectively answer your phone based on who you would and would not like to talk to? Or simply change your phone number. It is not rocket science.

4- Your claim about "harassment" is not only completely unfounded and highly exaggerated, but could have been completely resolved by #3 above.

John,

Thank you for the comment. Most people don't know what will happen if they sign up for a Kroger, Safeway, Best Buy, or Bass Pro credit card... if it is handled by Bank of America, then because you now have a business relationship with them, they will start calling.

It is my hope that the following letter will help the fans of the Rip-Off Report website.

4/20/07

Bass Pro
300 Cincinnati Mills Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45240
(513) 826-5200
(513) 671-5281

Attention: Jerry Rogers Cincinnati Bass Pro Manager
John L. Morris, President Bass Pro Shops Inc.

Re: Continued harassing Telemarketing Calls


To Whom It May Concern:

The purpose of this letter is to provide additional points and documentation concerning the ongoing rude, unprofessional, illegal and harassing Telemarketing phone calls to Bass Pro Credit Card holders/customers by Bank of America and the third-party Telemarketing firm Synergy Solutions!'

First point that I would like to make:

Bank of America and Synergy Solutions will cite a loophole with the Federal Trade Commission's rules that allow a business to call if a business relationship exists with the person being called!

This is why Synergy Solutions will ask for specific people and refuse to identify themselves to people who answer the Telemarketing Phone Call. It should be noted that the past court cases have determined this to be in violation of the Do Not Call rules and regulations. Bank of America and Synergy Solutions are fully aware that my wife is the person who applied for the Bass Pro Credit Card.

Let's say that an 18 year-old person, who still lives at home with their parents, applies for a Bass Pro Credit Card it does not matter that the parents registered their phone number on the National Do Not Call list, Synergy Solutions and Bank of America will just refuse to identify themselves and will call one, two, three or four times a day Imagine for a moment, the parents anger and frustration when they find out that the rude, unprofessional, harassing, and illegal Telemarketing Calls to their home is because of a Bass Pro Credit Card that they never applied for and do not have!

What makes this so bad is if the parents realize that it is a Telemarketing Call and if they say, Place this number on your Do Not Call list, Bank of America and Synergy Solutions will ignore that request and continue to call over and over and it does not matter if the parents phone number is registered on the National Do Not Call List because Bank of America and Synergy Solutions refuse to comply with that list because they are calling for the child!

Guess whose reputation is damaged by this illegal activity Bass Pro is the company who gets the blame!

My telephone number is registered on the National Do Not Call List. The fines can be $11,000.00 dollars per violation for violating the FTC rules!

In addition to the FTC rules, the Federal Communications Commission rules and regulations also apply and the fines can be $500.00 per violation and it should be noted that the violation can be doubled or tripled at the small claims court's discretion!

FCC rules/regulations also consider, when requested, a refusal to send a companies Do Not Call policy as an additional violation. Bank of America has refused to send me their Do Not Call Policy as required by FCC rules and regulations. In addition, I have yet to receive Synergy Solutions Do Not Call Policy as required by FCC rules and regulations!

It should be mentioned that the FTC rules and regulations are a supplement to FCC rules and regulations they are not a replacement!

When Bank of America made that first illegal Telemarketing Call to my home, they did not expect to receive a complaint letter from me that very day. I also sent a Carbon Copy to the Ohio Attorney Generals office and I have been sending some copies of the letters to Synergy Solutions as well.

All of the letters including this one are Public Record' and document numerous violations of the Telemarketing Act. I have also reported the incoming Telemarketing Phone Call Numbers to the FTC. In addition to all of this, I have been posting some of the documentation on the Internet.

I am not required to do any of this!
Now it is my hope that the President Bass Pro Shops, Mr. John L. Morris, will look into how Bass Pro Customers are being treated by Bank of America and by Bank of America third-party associates like Synergy Solutions!

I would encourage John Morris to: Google 866-233-2773 and read the complaints. Google 866-228-8944 and read the complaints. I would also encourage you to look up who called.us website, 800notes website, and the rip-off report websites and read the complaints. (There are over 610 Bank of America complaints just on the rip-off report website alone!)

I would also encourage you to look at the FCC website and see for yourself what the FCC says!

Please ask if the Bass Pro legal department or marketing department took the time to see how many complaints against Bank of America are with the various Better Business Bureaus? (The answer I stopped counting at 7,000 plus complaints in the last 36 months and I am not including the legal actions taken by various AG's.)

Mr. Morris, if Bass Pro had 7,000 plus complaints with the BBB alone, would you be concerned and Bank of America is abusing Bass Pro Customers with repeated and illegal Telemarketing Calls!

In closing: My wife and I have met Jerry Rogers who is the Cincinnati Bass Pro Manager I think it is important that I mention the fact that he is a professional and the fact that he does treat your customers with courtesy and respect it is unfortunate that Synergy Solutions and Bank of America do not!

Sincerely,

Jay Private

Cc. Marc Dann, Attorney General of Ohio
Kenneth D. Lewis, Bank of America Chairman & CEO
Lori Fentem, President Synergy Solutions
www.ripoffreport.com

I am a BofA customer and I know for an absolute fact that at least once per year, you have the opportunity to OPT OUT of telemarketing calls.

You get a form in all of that junk with your statements that people never read, and you can just fill it out and mail it back to them.

I did this a long time ago, and I get no telemarketing calls.

You can also call them and make the request.

Very simple solution.

exploit this "loop hole" as you put it but what it is, is a stipulation that if you have any form of business dealing with a company, they can call you.

Keep in mind my phone rings constantly from these types.
Keep in mind my beef with this is assholes that call like you did indeed have some kind of relationship or called them when you have no idea who the hell they are-i.e. mortgage and satellite scammers.
whocalled.us is loaded with the same type complaints.
So keep in mind-you are far from alone.

exploit this "loop hole" as you put it but what it is, is a stipulation that if you have any form of business dealing with a company, they can call you.

Keep in mind my phone rings constantly from these types.
Keep in mind my beef with this is assholes that call like you did indeed have some kind of relationship or called them when you have no idea who the hell they are-i.e. mortgage and satellite scammers.
whocalled.us is loaded with the same type complaints.
So keep in mind-you are far from alone.

exploit this "loop hole" as you put it but what it is, is a stipulation that if you have any form of business dealing with a company, they can call you.

Keep in mind my phone rings constantly from these types.
Keep in mind my beef with this is assholes that call like you did indeed have some kind of relationship or called them when you have no idea who the hell they are-i.e. mortgage and satellite scammers.
whocalled.us is loaded with the same type complaints.
So keep in mind-you are far from alone.