Hunt for Rachel from cardholder services takes me to a company in Florida, but she wasn’t there
Posted on June 26th, 2009 – 4:32 PMBy James Shiffer
Last month, a Whistleblower reader sent me on a quest. Rachel from cardholder services has called this guy, as she has zillions of other people, and he wanted her to stop. You can’t tell where she’s calling from with your caller ID, and once you get a live person, he or she won’t tell you either. She has even called people at the FTC, who so far haven’t been able to stop Rachel, or her sidekicks Heather and Michelle.
A reader named Bill claimed to have found Rachel, after he followed the recorded directions, got a breathing human and badgered the person to give him a callback number. That connected him with a credit repair company called DHC Financial Services Group LLC at 5300 Recker Highway in Winter Haven, Florida. That’s right, Florida, Whistleblower readers.
The company pitch: “Our mission is provide each and every client with a financial plan that will eliminate your debt 3-5 times faster than your current payment practices, without having to make any larger payments than you currently are. We guarantee to show each client an initial savings of $2500 in interest and finances charges overall or the service is free.”
I got through to Jeff Turner, chief financial advisor for DHC Financial. Turner said the company doesn’t employ any Rachels or Heathers. DHC Financial is an “inbound call center,” meaning they don’t do any telemarketing, and the “leads” that come in are “scrubbed.” When I asked what that meant, Turner said it hides the origin of the leads. So DHC Financial contracts with other companies to do its telemarketing, I was told. Therefore, Rachel could be working on contract for DHC, Turner acknowledged. But he had never heard of her. And, he said, DHC hasn’t marketed in Minnesota for some time.
So Rachel may be a woman with multiple allegiances, a saleswoman for hire. My search continues.
13 Responses to “Hunt for Rachel from cardholder services takes me to a company in Florida, but she wasn’t there”
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James Eli Shiffer started the Whistleblower blog and column in 2008. A reporter and editor for 20 years, Shiffer is fascinated with the stories of regular people and believes in the power of journalism to make their lives better.
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June 27th, 2009 at 11:22 am
you got lied to. After today’s 9AM call, I called DHC, and got a shockingly nice lady in customer service, who said she’d remove me from the telemarketing list. Said it would take 15 days. Pretty much admitted they were ‘cardholder services’ and acknowledged that reps hang up on callers if they ask to not be called. So, maybe call back, or even better, send a certified letter to the main office. If they ‘contract’ telemarketers, it is still their company. But my call seemed to be to customer service, who said they do telemarketting.
June 27th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Nope, he wasn’t lied to.
He just made the story up.
Shiffer just makes this stuff up.
And he edits his posts.
The good news is that I can just change my e-mail
and post again.
Sorry, Jim, but you need to get a big-boy job.
June 27th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Im receving this same call and im in canada its very
annoying and the law needs to do something about these
dumb people ive asked them to stop calling but they
havent
June 28th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Hey david.
who is the good news for.
It certainly isn’t for us.
The readers.
speaking of big boys.
maybe you could get a clue.
and become one yourself.
and not be a message board troll.
:-).
June 30th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
This is not funny…i am out for blood.
I am also on the do not call list.
Last June, late evening,
my pet was dying and i was trying to figure out
which emergency room to take her too, and these
bastards kept calling me back..they just about
drove me mad, while i was dealing with an EMERGENCY.
I think these people should be hunted down and shot.
July 1st, 2009 at 12:04 pm
I’m on the National Do Not Call registry. I think the
company should be set up as an example. I receive calls
from “Rachel” every couple of weeks. Several times, I
asked to be removed from their list, and was told I was.
The calls continue. Now, when I ask for contact information,
they simply hang up on me. What use is a National Do Not
Call registry if there’s no way to identify who’s calling
illegally?
July 1st, 2009 at 6:29 pm
I have been calls from these assholes for 3 weeks now. I am on the Federal and Stae (WA) Do Not Call registry. And yet these jagoffs continue. The fine for calling a number on the DNC registry is $500.00/offense. SO far, these bastards are in for $5000.00. I have turned over what info I have to the Wa AG as well as the FTC. Personally, I hope their genitals are removed to prevent the possible conception/breeding of future mouth-breathing telemarketers.
July 6th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Island Despot - blow me
July 9th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I have been harassed repeatedly by Cardholder Services in violation of Do Not Call. Today, I read the woman at the other end off (but no threats other than reporting them to law enforcement and for violating Do Not Call) in the hope that they might stop. A few minutes later, a man called me back and began to read me off for abusing “his girl.” I told him that, as they were making harassing phone calls I would speak to her and to him in any manner I chose. At some point in this heated exchange, he said, “I am going to send somebody to your house to kill you.” I replied, “You have just committed a felony,” at which point he hung up. This is probably reportable to law enforcement as a terroristic threat.
July 16th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
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