I received a call that dropped after 10 seconds of answering. I called back via POP-TOX, it says this is an unknown number. Google shows no record of this number so far.
Tag: automated
16263774256 – Spam Caller Using?
I received an automated call from ‘Pasadena’ at 16263774256, calling to update my Google listing. I hung up, and called back via POP-TOX, and it sent me through to UEI college – I found this strange, so I looked them up online, their phone number listed is 1 424-286-9990. I called this number, and was surprised to hear both the menus for these numbers was the same.
I tried to speak with their staff in an effort to make sure both menus were in fact the same, but the person who answered refused to give their name and said that they were unable to transfer calls within their call center.
Unable to recreate the automated call from ‘Pasadena’ claiming to be Google, I can only assume they were able to use the number somehow via an automated dialing service, or, on a long shot, that students at UEI have an interesting sense of humor.
CONTENA – UNDERHANDED MARKETING PRACTICES
The below email is a sample of the emails I’ve been receiving asking to join CONTENA, a place where writers are supposedly able to make a career off using.
| Sarah, There are certain points during our lives when a single positive action or decision can reward us for many years to come. In January we did some skiing while working remotely from Snowmass Colorado and many decisions needed to be made! I can actually trace the beginning of Contena to a single action I took on April 20th, 2015. I was sitting in my living room, decided to open up a text editor, and began to outline a new service that would make it easier to find remote work. The document I created was 2 – 3 paragraphs max. That single action, led to other actions, which eventually led to me launching a site that has now helped thousands of people land amazing clients and work from anywhere. Deciding to take that first step or action was the second BEST DECISION I’ve ever made. (The first was marrying my wonderful wife, of course). So now it’s time for YOU to make a decision. Maybe you want to build a great remote business that gives you the freedom and flexibility to work from anywhere like Cristee: Maybe you want to be earning $3,000+ per month on the side from freelance writing a few months from now. Maybe for you, it’s not about working from an exotic location, or earning a specific dollar amount, but about pushing yourself to try something new and proactively building a future that you control. Whatever the motivation, there is no “ideal time” to take action, there is just now. Waiting for the “perfect time” or the stars to align is just an excuse we make to ourselves which prevents us from taking action and making any real progress. Just click the button below, and join us. You can have your business up and running by this time next week. Think about that for a second… I’m ready to build a GREAT writing business with ContenaRemember – Contena is more than just a service that helps you to launch your remote writing business. When you join Contena you are making a commitment to yourself and to your future. So do yourself a favor and take that first step. Once you do that, we are here to help with the rest. Kevin PS… At a fundamental level, Contena works because we show which actions will have the biggest impacts and where you *need* to be focusing your time and energy. We all wake up with a finite amount of hours and energy in the day, so it’s important to focus on actions that will yield the greatest results. Let’s say you search for clients 3 times a week and with Contena you save 30 minutes on each of these searches. Over the course of a year – this is almost 78 HOURS of time recovered. Almost two full work weeks! This isn’t taking into account the value of what you learn from our courses etc.. that is just the time saved from doing what many writers consider to be the most tedious task when it comes to freelancing! Yes, I’m ready to get started with Contena! |
But after finally receiving an limited time offer email saying there was room, I was disappointed to see the price was not what it had said before. So I decided to hold off. But I was then bombarded with emails saying ‘Last chance!!!’ from October 1st to November 2nd, so I replied as per below.
“I’m really getting tired of these emails. You wouldn’t let me sign up a few months ago. So when I saw your email saying Contena is ready for writers I was extremely excited. But then, the price had been raised, the price of joining, which had super unclear charges – either way making it not feasible for me to join. Then you send emails stating last chance blah blah – which was total BULLSHIT LIES because you KEEP emailing stating that it’s my last chance. This is false marketing and I will be making a post about your underhanded dealings.”
Life gets in the way, and I find myself writing this post almost a month later to me replying to their email. Since then however, I have received no response, yet no end in the ever incoming stream of emails, an additional 9 emails, making this a total of 45 emails received since Sept 18th. I’ve included screenshots to show titles to of these emails, my favorites being ‘Contena Closes Tonight!’ followed by an email 6 days later like nothing had happened.
But what really got me going was the texts I received yesterday.
I don’t remember having to give my phone number, and when I went into the account settings to remove my private information, (greeted by their latest marketing scheme below) it’s not an option!
I’m super disturbed with their underhanded practices and lack of actual human communication, which makes me question is my information truly safe? Will anyone return my email?
