Does anyone have an easy way to record phone calls? Because I am sick and fucking tired of calling 800 numbers 3 different times and talking to 6 different people who give me 9 different stories, and having absolutely nothing except my word (which they don't believe) to say that this is what someone else just told me, and therefore please do this. It's bullshit. And they think if they give you the runaround long enough you'll give up. And every time you ask a question they put you on hold for 20 minutes.
Verizon is by far the worst offender, (I can't tell you how much of a pain in the ass it was to move because they screwed things up again and again and again) but it's Bank of America who's pissed me off today. A little while back I called them about a mistaken late fee on my April mortgage payment. The lady said pay it, we'll waive it, and it will get deducted from next month's payment. This didn't seem like a great idea, but after confirming it a few times very specifically I went ahead and did it. When it didn't get deducted this month, I called back today, and they tell me they waived a late fee for May, you can pay however late you want this month. I told them they were idiots, it was for last month, and you need to refund me what I payed, and they say well now that you've payed it we can't refund it, but if you had told us at the time we could have waived it for April right then on the phone.
I had a name (Kelly) and extension (4064) for the lady I talked to the first time, but there was never an opportunity to enter an extension, and when I tried to say can I talk to her again they said no, you're auto assigned. So why the hell did she give me that info and tell me to call her back to verify it got waived?
In the end I bitched enough that they got me to the right person and it was taken care of, so that's something. And it only took about 50 minutes. Verizon I would probably still be on the phone tomorrow trying to get it sorted out.
I just feel like if I could record the calls easily I could confirm that I wasn't making this stuff (which is a possibility) and plus they would make for great blog posts or news stories or something about how terrible this entire process is.
Ok, I'm done venting.
I have had so many frustrating experiences on the phone with people that I have also wanted to be able to record phone conversations before. It is a trick situation though, in some states recording a conversation on the phone without both parties consenting is a crime, so you should look into that and call from the appropriate state or district. The best/cheapest device I have found for something like this is an earbud/mic plug-in with a recording device attached as well. You can get it for like $25 if that sort of thing interests you. Here is a link http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2141764.
ReplyDeleteI for one would love to hear the audio of you dealing with people on the other end of 800 numbers.
Is it consent or knowing? Because I'm more than happy to tell them I'm recording the call. If they don't consent and hang up though that doesn't help anything. . .
ReplyDeleteThere are whole websites dedicated to this kind of shit, but my guess is that if you need to tell them, you do tell them, and the conversation continues then you are in the clear.
ReplyDeleteThe law is designed to prevent illegal tapping of phones, if both callers do not realize the call is being recorded then that is a federal crime. Some states take such laws the extra distance to 'protect people' and require that both parties are aware of the recording. I think a lot of states are single consent states though, so only the person recording needs to know about recording. Also, I'm not sure how it works with 800 numbers because those guys have already gotten your consent to record their calls most of the time, so you might be in the clear anyway? Laws are confusing.
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