9053700460

Telemarketing is legal but it should not be.  It is highly harassing to some people, especially when no one answers and especially when people get numerous telemarketing/scam phone calls each week/month and especially when it is with an automated dialer, if we and the phone call are that important have a human call us, I do not care about your company saving a few bucks with automated dialers.

Received a call again...nothing but dead air, and we are supposed to accept this???  

"But we do have the right to test market a particular medium without being bullied into submission by being called scammers."

Sure and we have the right not to receive harassing phone calls in our home, a dead air call can be considered a harassing call and is punishable by law.  Obviously the third party hired is an absolute joke.

About the woman who calls herself Lisa for the Haverhill Institiute of Staging and Design - doesn't her voice sound similar to Anna from The Moving Company?

11:36 am Saturday, came up as 'long distance' on the call display. I said 'hello' several times and no one answered and then I heard a click about 30 seconds into it.

Mr. Okada, I respect your company's right to test various marketing methods, but these calls are just dead air - how can that possibly be a successful marketing campaign? Instead, people Google the number and come to web sites like these to rant about your company. Not the kind of coverage you're looking for, I bet.

Also, why should I have to call a long distance number and spend my own money to be removed from your calling list? Seems a bit flawed to me. If your company still thinks that disturbing people at home is the best way to market itself, could you at least have an option provided at the very beginning of the call to 'press 1' to be disconnected and be removed from your list? Those who are interested could stay on the line.

Obviously you're new to the business world and have a lot to learn. Perhaps you can take notice of the comments posted here (and on several other sites that come up on a Google search) and find a more productive way to market your company without annoying the general public. If your product is a good one, you don't need to stoop to the level of interrupting people in their homes to sell it.

I just got a call...Okay,its Sunday,and dinner-time do they have no respect for people or what?

So sick of these idiots!! Totally annoying

We are under the impression that the service bureau that was calling on our behalf is also calling for other clients as well using the same 'telephone numbers'. Accordingly, when people see the '905' number on their screen, they assume it has been from our campaign and that we have been dialling them relentlessly. This has not been the case.

In any event, our contract for 416/905 has ended and we will NOT be re-newing it. Although we understand this type of marketing approach to be legal, we still have an over-riding committment to ensure our marketing efforts do not encrouch upon the quiet enjoyment of people in their homes.

There are a few other jurisdictions in other parts of the Country that will conclude shortly and when those contracts end, we will not renew them either.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your feedback.

Ormon that is too funny, I have a number that bell gave me 3yrs ago, it's unlisted but we still get calls for the prievious phone number owner, I got so annoyed I just tell everyone that the person is dead. Seems to halt the calls .....for a while. I guess they figure dead people need stuff moved too...lol
Cheers

ended eh?
hmm April 26th 2008 1200hrs they call.
Tks

So much for not calling!!!

May 1st 2008, 11:49am

We received a series of calls from these "people", from two of their affiliated telephone spam operations. We spoke with someone at the company after the first wave of spam calls. They said they were mortified at the CRTC breaches and we were assured that it would be "handled". Two weeks later, we now have a further onslaught of telephone spam from them.

We called Rick Okada (1.888.978.2433) and he refused to comply with CRTC legislation requirements to provide information, and simply stone-walled.

Our counsel has proceeded with action against them, through the CRTC, and civilly. We encourage everyone to take similar action. You can contact the CRTC with your complaint online at: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/RapidsCCM/Register.asp?lang=E

Or by phone: 1-877-249-2782
Or by fax: 1-819-994-0218
Or by mail: CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0N2

Together we can help stomp out all of the intrusive, uninvited and unwelcome telemarketing scum! Bury them in paperwork and administrative hassles! That's the key: Making it adminstratively expensive and unappealing for these scumbag companies to telemarket.

The writer "Go to the CRTC" is clearly upset however is making a very broad reaching assumption that beause the writer simply received 'a call', that it must be from us.

With all due respect, we cannot provide information where we are not the party involved.

Haverhill does not employ or use 'affiliated' telephone spam operations and I welcome him/her to provide details for us to assit in following up.

Haverhill did test the use of 'voice-mail message broadcasts' from a third party and we have not re-newed our original contract with them. The remainder of our contract is finished the week of May 12th, and as promised, we will not be renewing it either.

If we knew this type of sentiment existed about telemarketing, we would not have commenced with the test campaign in the first place, especially knowing we could be blamed for other company's calls.

This community should remain mindful that telemarketers are not going away so quickly and unlike Haverhill, most companies do not care if they offend people with their marketing campaigns and won't comply with your wishes to cease as we've done.

In conclusion, I agree with the above writer on one fact: If you feel strongly offended about being called, then feel free to complain to whomever you wish, just ensure you have the right company and demonstrate supporting evidence thereof.

Thank you.

Telemarketing is like the spam of the phone network. I run a permission based or opt-in email marketing program for companies. We PAY for the names from reputable web sites like Yahoo and AOL and your local ISP's. The names we buy are the names from people who have asked or agreed to information based on their specific interests checked when subscribing.
That telemarketers were required to do the same. I don't answer unnamed calls and if you really want to take a bite out of telemarketers - most of them buy your info from magazines you subscribe to. So, stop subscribing and not only will your ttelemarketing calls subside - but so too will your junk mail!

Hope this helps,

Jinqx

opps! caller type was misunderstood. I am not a telemarketer. Just an interested party trying to help those individuals who want to stop the pain of calls! J

Thanks to all for the insight!!! I almost sent these people $1046 of my money!!!! Scam artists.... thanks again to all for their postings.
Found it kind of strange that "Patty" called me less than 2 days after I spoke with her to see if I was going to enroll...a little pushy, no?

Rick Okada?  Is that the same Rick Okada who has a stake in THE ASHLEY MADISON AGENCY (www.ashleymadison.com), a company that makes money by providing an online meeting place for couples to cheat on eachother?  Here's a link to a CBC story about this little online enterprise in which a "Rick Okada" is described as the agency's "Marketing Director and Media Buyer":

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06021708.html

"Marketing Director and Media Buyer".  Hmmm.  Isn't that more or less what this "Rick Okada" character said he did at that "Housecapades" outfit earlier in this thread?

If these two "Rick Okadas" are in fact the same person, then in my view any shred of credibility that chump may have had just evaporated.  These people tend to operate in that "grey area" between what's lawful and what's not, and as a result they tend to be very litigious types who pay lawyers hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees to keep them out of trouble just long enough to make a few million and disappear to Costa Rica or some other secluded place where they think nobody will ever find them.  Just going back and reading his rant strongly suggests that he's one of these types.

Wow, I'm sooo glad I found this message board!  I saw the ad for Haverhill Institute in one of our local newspapers and was so excited.   I went to the website, got some info, also spoke with "Patty" (same as above) and was about to enroll, however I decided to do a little more research before I hand over $1042!.  I would love to be able to speak with anyone who has graduated from this program and has been hired from Haverhill.  I've read that so far, they have hired 100% of their graduates.  Also, Rick..is there some sort of info session i can go to to get more info in person?  I live in the Vancouver area

Hi, Tina ~ I've been trying to wade through Haverhill Institute info, as well, and have been considering enrolling. I, too, would like to hear from any graduates out there. Also, Tina (or others), are there any other reputable and dependable staging/design companies you would consider? It's nerve-wracking trying to decide what is reliable out there!

Too bad, I was going to enroll as well... I just googled the name to get to their site and i clicked on this by accident... maybe it wasnt an accident.. good to hear everyones opinion.

This message board has gotten waaaayyyy out of hand. I've had my home staged by haverhill and they were very professional. The girl that showed up was their employee and spoke very highly of them. (her name is jacquline) sounds to me like a bunch of jealous competitors spouting off. too bad people use these places for these reasons.

Mr Okada,

While I agree that the telemarketing for the Haverhill "Institute" may be legitimate, the school itself raises red flags with me. The work load is exceptionally high coarsand the pay rate has dropped $5 an hour.
The course workload is recommended to be completed in 20 hours. It took a hard-working freind of mine at least 150hrs and some personal expence to complete neary all the assignments. The expectation that one student can get 5 homeowners to have their homes completely re-staged is unreasonable. Add to that the fact that each of those homes was to have every conceivable room imaginable.
So these facts give me pause to think that, simpy, the school collects the $1200 tuition and expects hardly anyone to complete the course.
That seems clear to me. What do you say to that, Mr Okada.