Angry Phone Users 'Rickroll' Robo-Call Company

[underpants]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520321,00.html

Millions of Americans have gotten the call.

"This is the second notice that the factory warranty on your vehicle is about to expire," says the recorded voice at the other end of the line.

Most people hang up. The machine calls again later.

Michael Silveira decided to strike back. The 22-year-old laboratory technician, who doesn't own a car, says he was getting unsolicited sales pitches as often as twice a day on his cell phone.

So last week, Silveira began calling back an auto-warranty company that has become the focus of an Internet crusade. He left it voice-mail messages that contained nothing but a recording of Rick Astley's 1987 hit song "Never Gonna Give You Up."

Using phone numbers for Auto One Warranty Specialists Inc. that users posted to a Web site called Reddit.com, Mr. Silveira joined dozens of activists who have peppered the warranty company with messages including elevator music, threats and offers of rude services.

[Orrex]

1. Rick Astley. A force for good at last.

[jgraz]

2. 800 930 2791. Call Us Toll Free Today!

http://www.autoonewarranty.com/

[Stinky The Clown]

12. Hahahaha "That maibox is full. Goodbye"

Call them .... ress the number to speak with the next available agent. Some clicks. Then the recording, above.


I

LOVE

IT

[Veruca Salt]

14. Or if you're feeling really vicious and have some extra loot to spend...

http://www.prankdialer.com/step3a.php

[DesertFlower]

3. great idea.

i kept getting them on my cell phone -- then recently on my home phone.

[CoffeeCat]

4. If everyone in America...

...collectively agreed to not hang up--and push 1, instead--and then proceed to talk with them and string
them along for ten minutes--we could bankrupt the company.

It would be nice to see them go under because they couldn't pay their phone bill.

[nichomachus]

23. You want to be careful of that

If you press #1, no matter what you say to them, they record the fact that you did respond. Then, they compile lists of people who respond and sell them to other telemarketers -- at a much higher price. These are premiums.

In fact, if you answer at all -- even if you subsequently hang up -- they compile lists of who answered the phone at what time and sell those lists to other telemarketers. Again, these are worth more because now they know when to call you.

If I don't recognize a number, I just let it go to voice mail.

[John Q. Citizen]

5. Thier vboice mail boxes are full. What's with that?

[Skidmore]

6. What the hell does "rickroll" mean?

I really don't know.

[Brother Buzz]

7. Never Gonna Give You Up

Rickrolling is an Internet meme typically involving the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up". The meme is a bait and switch: a person provides a web link that he or she claims is relevant to the topic at hand, but the link actually takes the user to the Astley video. The URL can be masked or obfuscated in some manner so that the user cannot determine the true destination of the link without clicking. When a person clicks on the link and is led to the web page, he or she is said to have been "Rickrolled" (also spelled Rickroll'd).

[eShirl]

11. wikipedia entry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickroll

Rickrolling is an Internet meme typically involving the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up". The meme is a bait and switch: a person provides a web link that he or she claims is relevant to the topic at hand, but the link actually takes the user to the Astley video. The URL can be masked or obfuscated in some manner so that the user cannot determine the true destination of the link without clicking. When a person clicks on the link and is led to the web page, he or she is said to have been "Rickrolled" (also spelled Rickroll'd).

As the practice has spread, two of the various Rickrolling videos available online have been viewed more than 36 million times combined.<1><2> These figures track the total number of visits, not individual viewers. Rickrolling has extended beyond Web links to playing the video or song disruptively in other situations, including public places;<3> this culminated when Astley and the song made a surprise appearance in the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade,<4> a televised event with tens of millions of viewers.

-continues-

[RandomThoughts]

8. I am posting Rick Astley Video,

But I am not Rick Rolling am I,
because the thread topic is about the song, so it is in context and not a rick roll!

Get it :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7F9VcMpdUA

:rofl:

Edit: just my attempt at humor, How did I do?

[SoCalDem]

19. and then there is the EVIL Rick-roll.. for people you really want to piss off

WARNING!!! if you click it...

click, then turn volume off ..open a new tab, and let it play out or you'll have to keep at it a while to stop it.. It does stop eventually.. It's an evil one:)

[RandomThoughts]

22. Yea, I think it is bad also.

But in some way it showed a set of hypocrisy, where people admire beauty pageants, then criticize the imagery in that video, but at the same time it has the stumble, the wink, the shadows, and a bad end. Really bad, but it also has someone saying they don't care what people think of them in the song, so maybe that is a test to see if a person will judge, to find the muzzle flash of those that judge.

Its really deep, and does not get an endorsement, just an acknowledgement of the complexity and yes, should have had a warning of the possible badness that could be from it. I think it is bad, without saying the people in it are bad. But again its all interpretation, so it turns back on itself, so I just ignore it. But with the very little solid good interpretations in it, I probably should have not even posted it.

Everything has some good and some evil. And when watching that a couple times it looked like more of the dark side to me also.

Might be why I typed I am not rick rolling twice.

Probably shouldn't have posted it because of the idea of sharing that which is good, but I make mistakes also.

Edit: LOL I thought you were saying the one I posted was bad, since you responded to my post, but you were talking about your own link in yout message. ughh.

[Wednesdays]

9. K&R

:kick:

[Gregorian]

10. Now if we can just get Americans to be this outraged over torture and war.

Rick Roll the White House instead. Oh, is that a crime? I meant it metaphorically.

[jgraz]

13. We need to have Torture and War start calling people during dinner

[Forkboy]

16. I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the truth you just posted.

[Mythsaje]

20. That's a DUzy...

"Hello, this is the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse Calling for Torture and War Insurance. Oh, did we interrupt your meal? We're so sorry. We'll make this brief. Are you happy with your insurance company? We thought not. We're currently offering a special Torture and War discount for our soon-to-be valued customers."

<click>

[CraftyGal]

15. we get these stupid calls in Canada too.

Hmm something to think about....

[lpbk2713]

17. Glad to see Rick Astley's career is making a comeback.

:rofl: :rofl:

[jberryhill]

18. He was never going to give it up

or let us down.

[OswegoAtheist]

21. I keep getting calls from these people...

...and I don't even own a car. Is it one company, or a lot of little ones using the same spiel, because I've asked twice to be put on their no-call list.

Oswego "Who needs a second warranty when they don't have a first warranty?" Atheist