Have you gotten an email forwarded to you by one of your friends lately saying that one day very soon the list of all cell phone numbers is going to go public and you will be spammed by unwanted sales calls?  Actually, it’s not going to happen.

There are some rumors that just will not die, and this is one of them.  Since at least 2004 there’s been an email making the rounds that says that all cell phone numbers are about to go public and be released to telemarketers.  According to the email, you will be spammed by sales calls (and they will go on your cell phone bill) unless you call a special number at the national Do Not Call (DNC) Registry to get your cell phone number blocked for the next 5 years.

So, what’s the real deal?  Well, there is a national DNC Registry, and there’s no harm in registering your cell phone number on it, but there is NO national release of cell phone numbers scheduled or planned.  According to the Web site snopes.com, this rumor started several years ago when some of the major wireless companies planned to create a 411 national directory.  In the end, the directory never happened – but the rumor that it’s out there and telemarketers will soon have access to it just won’t go away.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a special Web page about this story-that-will-not-die.  On it they say that:

• Cell phone numbers are NOT being released to telemarketers, and you will NOT soon be getting (more…)

Eight months after Better Business Bureau (BBB) first warned consumers about the questionable operations of a Missouri office supply company, BBB says the company appears to be continuing to deceive businesses across the nation.

In recent weeks, complaints have accelerated against SVT, Inc., based in Columbia, Mo. BBB logged 17 complaints about SVT in November. At least one Southern Arizona consumer has filed a complaint against SVT.

Businesses most often complained that company salespeople lied about knowing top company officers in an effort to make sales. Others said SVT salespeople erroneously told businesses that SVT was relocating and that it was liquidating supplies at significant savings.  The businesses also complained that SVT overcharged them for supplies and shipped far more products than were ordered.

An employee of a Utah boat parts and accessories business said SVT billed his company more than $5,600 for supplies estimated to be worth about $250.

Kim States, BBB President, called the sales methods used by SVT marketers “seriously misleading and completely unethical.

“Based on the complaints we are seeing, anyone receiving a telemarketing call from SVT should hang up immediately and warn others with their business to do the same,” States said.

On March 26, BBB issued an alert describing similar tactics used by SVT phone solicitors.  At that time, Michael O’Keefe, who described himself as an owner of the company, said the complaints to BBB represented only a tiny fraction of SVT’s 11,500 customers.  He said most complaints were a result of communication problems between customers and SVT salespeople.  “We had to let some people go when we had problems,” O’Keefe said then.
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