I have been getting these boiler room calls so often that I’ve begun to remember the numbers and just don’t answer them. But the robocall voice still leaves a voice mail, which wastes my time and minutes.
I have my phone numbers on the Do Not Call List, so all their calls are illegal. I have reported the numbers dozens of times to donotcall.gov but it never helps. The CallerID shows fake local numbers that are disconnected.
It’s something about the ARRA act that was passed by congress. This allows the contractor to collect a rebate from the gov’t.
I have dealt with these crooks before, when I didn’t have CallerID and I didn’t know who was calling. They talk their spiel and then ask you how much your electric bill is. If you tell them anything less than $150, they say you’re not a candidate and hang up. Apparently the rebate applies to those who have a large enough bill to qualify.
These nasty people are from a local solar contractor that is breaking the law thousands of times per day. The fine for each illegal call is $500, but since they willfully and knowingly break the law, the fine is tripled to $1500. So these crooks may owe fines in the millions of dollars per day.
I (and everyone else) hope the gov’t hunts them down and busts them so they will never make another call. But I wouldn’t bet on that happening. 🙁
Update – I talked to one neighbor and he said that the solar panels he got are not his, they are owned by the company. I’ll have to ask him what the arrangements are.
