The in basket: Persistent come-ons from strangers trying to sell
you extended vehicle warrantees have been getting a lot of
comment.
I asked the state Department of Licensing if such information is
public and available to purveyors of such harassment.
The in basket: Persistent come-ons from strangers trying to sell
you extended vehicle warrantees have been getting a lot of
comment.
My mother, Allyne, said the unsolicited calls became to frequent
she complained to the dealership where she bought the car and they
told her to ignore them.
A neighbor who got a card in the mail making the pitch wanted to
make sure I knew it was a scam.
And the “Porch Potatoes” who gather for morning coffee at PJ’s
Market near my South Kitsap home said many of them had received
such cards in the mail, which seemed to know not just their
addresses, but their makes of vehicles.
I told them I’d ask the state Department of Licensing if such
information is public and available to purveyors of such
harassment.
The out basket: Brad Benfield of the DOL says his department “has
received a couple dozen reports of this activity from citizens
and our own staff. We have done some preliminary research and
have
discovered this is a national problem with vehicle owners in many
states
receiving solicitations for these extended service contracts.
“Based on what we have learned so far,” he said, “our
best advice is for consumers to use extreme caution when responding
to
these service contract offers. We do not yet know if the
service
contracts offered are legitimate, but we have heard reports that
these
companies use hard-ball selling tactics that may require paying
significant charges before even seeing these contracts. We also
have
concerns that some of these offers could simply be scams to
accumulate
personal information and credit card numbers.”
Victims of such companies should file a
complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, Brad said. “I can
also
tell you this activity is being investigated by our state’s
Attorney
General and his counterparts in other states.
“Vehicle registration information is generally protected
from disclosure by both state laws and the Federal Driver
Privacy
Protection Act,” he continued. “However, there are exemptions
within these laws that require us to release the names and
addresses of vehicle owners for
legitimate business reasons. These exemptions include using our
data for
market research, loan and insurance underwriting and automotive
recall
notifications.
“We have (contacted) some of these extended service contract
companies to find out how they are getting their information.”
(They say) the vehicle owner data comes from a variety of sources
including vehicle dealerships,
national oil change service chains and auto data companies that
contract
with DOL. The DOL contractors contacted by us deny providing data
for
these uses.
“DOL is reviewing and strengthening the contracts
we have with the private companies that receive our data. We also
are
developing new compliance tools to help us identify companies that
might
be allowing others to use data we provide in ways not approved by
our laws
and contracts. We intend to hold those who violate our
contracts
accountable.”
