Paul followed up on Thursday, June 16, 2005 1637:
20050615-1132 inphonic.com ...
I agree - this looks damning enough for me. Do note that clearcut seems to be an "affiliate" - They are in Texas, inphonic is in Maryland (and in NY). I am now entirely certain that "clearcut" is guilty - If an email or telephone call to inphonic doesn't get any response, I'd list them too (it does look like "affiliate" abuse though, since you say that clicking does not take you to inphonic).
I did say that they have "strange" (at best) pricing options and a very sophisticated (and not in a good way) web site.
BTW. The reason I like inphonic, is that they tend to payout 60-80% of the commision to the customer - so rarely is the phone "free", usually you get paid $150 to $250 to take it (e.g. I got paid $500 for my last two
phones).
If clearcut is *only* offering "free", that is unusual, even for the
affiliates.
Paul Shupak track@plectere.com
P.S. They have an 800 number, mostly staffed by peons, but ask for a manager and somebody will actually call back the next day (my experiences) - I didn't want to give out a Social Security number (and didn't).
On Sunday 5/22 I did cancel our Cingular (formerly AT&T Wireless) service. Am biding time until Vonage's new wi-fi VOIP service launches.
I double-checked though, and _found_ my opt-out letter that I had mailed to AT&T Wireless on August 30, 2004. If I keep digging I could probably find the little green certified mail receipt too. Maybe when the acquisition/merger happened, someone 'lost' my preferences? Maybe an unhappy camper took a list of email addresses from their former employer for resale purposes? Who knows ...
You raise good points Paul, so I agree it's worth more legwork on my part before asking anybody to pull the trigger. I will be sure to contact them in the morning. Will describe the problem, ask if they can definitively tell me how my address got into their list, and ask them to please confirm in writing that they have purged it for good.
If they can meet me most of the way on these requests, great!
Please take no action on this domain until I get back to the group. Thanks again,
Sean