Preferd Long Distance your days are numbered

After getting a heads up from my friend Jeremy Seda of Xtensive Multimedia Solutions about this scam telephone service I blogged about it.  I guess a few people read the posting, or the word got around and people are starting to wise up to the game they play.  In the extended post is a comment from one Walter Ford who details his experience.  I am glad that this technology may be helping people avoid scams.

Two days ago, 6/14/2005 I was contacted by the same company. They referred to themselves as "SBC Preferred Long Distance". While listening to their pitch I asked several times if they were SBC, they answered yes. Near the end of the call they asked for my name, I replied that if they really were SBC they would have my name. I asked if their company name was "Preferred Long Distance" and they replied yes. I terminated the call immediately.

Comments

[Tom DeLuca]

Just got a marketing call from this company, "Preferred Long Distance", they said they had an "agreement" with SBC and would lower my long distance rates, then said they were two separate companies that are not affiliated, then I did a internet search on them and pulled up this site while I was on the phone with them.

Thanks for creating the awareness.

[Amy Z]

Thank you for the info! I just recieved a call from Preferred Long Distance, and they also made it very clear that they were a separate company. They had the wrong company name, and they didn't have my name at all. When I asked how I could independently verify the validity of the offer, I was told that the verification company would call me back, and I would receive a letter in the mail. I was not given any proactive steps to take. I Google-searched the company name, and although they have a URL, it came up completely blank (not even a "can't be found" or 'splash' page: just a blank screen). I immediately cancelled.

[Erin F.]

I received a phone call from Preferred. Their salesman actually told me that they were "Preferred, Inc." but are known as Preferred Long Distance. He gave me the double talk that they are affliated with SBC but in the "new" deregulation, they are a separate company. Without knowing it was a scam, I asked if I could call back when I verified his offer. I got put to a supervisor who started giving me the schpeel. I told him I only wanted a call back number. He said he would fax me their info. 5 hours later ... no fax and not much online except scam warnings. Their own web site doesn't even work!

I am glad that I put a security password on our account with SBC earlier this year so nobody can access changes. I highly recommend doing that by calling the SBC number on your bill if you haven't already.

[Eric Q]

Concur w/earlier sentiments on this being a scam. The company does not provide a clear differentiation from (in my case on the West Coast) SBC until pressed. No web info is provided when asked, but for some reason, the company is getting good Google search placement with this same blank site (www.preferredlongdistance.com). Perhaps just having a link is good enough for some customers.

Anyway, the Salesperson with whom I dealt told me the company was based in Tennessee and their number was (931) 840-4681. Anyone with the time or sleuthing instincts to ferret this scam further might want to research it. Additionally, the Web site info is:
Registrant:
The FIEN Group
4801 Encino Terrace
Encino, CA 91316
US

Domain Name: PREFERREDLONGDISTANCE.COM

Administrative Contact :
The FIEN Group
[email protected]
4801 ENCINO TER
ENCINO, CA 91316-3731
US
Phone: 818-728-1110
Fax: 818-728-1180

Thanks for posting this to aid consumers.

[Jeff W]

Just hung up from a phone call from Preferred Long Distance. I was treated so poorly, that I called the customer service number on their website and complained. Then found this site with other dissatisfied people. They are still working the cost savings scam, so beware. When I told them I would not be interested he began to berate me and finished the phone call with "You have a blessed day sir". He refused to give his name as he hung up in my ear.

[Becka]

The company I work for is selling PLD. Is it really a scam?

[Jeff B]

Just received the same call. I smelled a scam and asked the guy for their website address so I could look into it and call them back if I was interested (a tactic I recommend to anyone... I tell them I don't purchase from marketing calls but will contact them if I decide I'm interested). Anyway, he told me their URL was www.pldtel.net this is different than the one I found listed on this site, just wanted to let you know. There is actually info on that site, but VERY little, clearly a back room operation. Thanks for the site and the warnings. I'll know now when they call back.

[Beau]

I was scammed by "Preferred Long Distance" one hour ago. He went through a long selling point with me without giving me a telephone number. At the end, he said that for our switch to be FCC legal, we need to have a third party verify that I am making the switch. The Preferred Long Distance marketer "verified" my call by calling "a verifying company" as a third party on the line. The verification company name they gave me was "Capital Verification, Inc.". After I realized I was scammed, I called back "Capital Verification", and IT CAME BACK AS "Preferred Long Distance"!!!!!

** Their number is 1-888-235-2026. **

They will try to tell you they cannot cancel the switch or they cannot find the order and that they will call you back. THIS IS A SCAM TOO!!! I insisted that they cancel right now, she put me on hold for two seconds and came back and said "Okay, it's cancelled."
Beware. They will try to fool you at every step. The names of the people were

Brian=the marketer.

Scott=the "Capital Verification" representative.

And Diana=the person who took my call when I called back "Capital Verification"'s number.

[Suzette]

I own a small business in Utah. I was contacted by Preferred Long Distance about switching my local phone service. They did not require any contracts and requested that I just "give them a try." As a business owner, I am always looking for money-saving offers. I gave them a try, that was 1 month ago. I just got my first bill, it was exactly as promised. I am still skeptical and I will continue to check my bills very thoroughly. Thanks for the heads-up.

[Dan]

I own a small biz in Seattle, and was contacted by the above 'consolidator' of discount telephone services. They have been very relaxed, no pressure, though also very good at calling back when i asked. Their info is right on the web at www.pldtel.net.

When googled, the results show their paperwork with various regional phone providers. Being as cautious as the guy posting above, I looked up their former and current URLs in a "who is' database, to see if there is a rellationship. The .net one replaced the older .com URL. What gets me is that their website is just a single GIF, with no actual text. Seems iffy in this day of easy-to-build websites. The former URL, preferredlongdistance.com, mentioned early on in these posts, was registered by Mark Fien (Encino, CA) of the FEIN Group, who's URL "www.thefiengroup.com" shows them as a legit company who shows up all over the internet searches. Even names his family So he's not exactly avoiding the world.

HOWEVER:
The current URL, "pldtel.net" is registered with
Preferred Long Distance
16830 Ventura Blvd.
Ste. 350
(also!) Encino, CA 91436
The web registrant's Technical Contact:
Preferred Long Distance [email protected]

This proves a relationship to the former URL, complained about in the above posts. You be the judge, but don't reach for the noose too quickly—.

So despite their kind attitude and low-pressure salespeople, i remained somewhat wary and bought a little research time. I am sure the salesperson will call me back to sign me up, and i will show him these posts and post his reaction here. his reaction and answers about negative posts as well as the shoddy appearance of his operation will tell all we need to know.

Companies are bought and changed all the time. They might have a legit business, so let;s see if Suzanne (above) posts her findings after a few months. i hope she proves them to be legit and actually honest. Then, we all benefit.

[David]

I also received a solicitation from someone at PLDtel, and was put off by what I read above. it's not exactly reassuring to read such damning claims, but then again, it;s hard to gauge the reality of who wrote it, and if they are over-reacting to what they don't understand.

Personally, I'd prefer that someone at PLDtel comments here to clear up the air. They should state theirr name, job title and contact info if they work for PLDtel, and legitimize themselves whilel adressing each of the negatives above.

if they prefer not to bother, then they will surely lose business that they could avoid.

[Randy]

Hey David, me too. This is simply a place where people who have had bad experiences have posted their own stories. There may be one million happy PLD customers out there, or maybe not. Either way it would certainly be in the interest of the company to engage in the conversation. They may have lost sales due to the postings here but the reality is that they should know the customer's opinions of their sales techniques ... maybe they will change them.

[Penny]

Hi everyone who found this site. I am located in Columbia, Tn. The people calling you are not from PLD. They work for a company called C-Tel. There are 2 locations. One here and the other is in Nashville, Tn. I am not sure if it is a scam or not. If you search it there are 2 listingd for PLD. One was buy Quest and I am not sure who the other is. But when you work for C-Tel and you boss says, "I don't care what you say just get me sales" It makes you wonder.
I personally am one of the people that USED to call and try to get people to switch over, but I left because I did not think it was right.
Keep an eye out for slamming. I have heard about them doing that also. Also if they can not sending you something in writting or fax you anything.....DON'T DO IT.
Just be careful. If you think something is up, don't do it. Good luck to everyone out there.

[J]

I just received a bill from Preferred Long Distance, and I use AT&T Internet phone service. Strange that there would be a long-distance charge associated with Internet telephony. Then again, my bill consisted of zero minutes of usage charge, but $15 of taxes. Very odd.

[telecom]

I am interested in learning more about PLD. If you were contacted by PLD or if you have sold their services, I would be interested in speaking with you. Please click on my name to email me. Thank you.

[Liz]

I'm a receptionist who answers the phone for three organizations. I get calls from PLD almost daily. I just had a conversation that went like this:

"I need to speak to the person in charge of the AT&T account."
"May I ask who's calling?"
"Brandi."
"What organization are you calling from?"
"Preferred."
"Preferred what?"
"I need to speak to the person in charge of the AT&T account."
"Do we have a current business relationship with you?"
"ExCUSE ME? I SAID I need to speak to the PERSON in CHARGE of the AT&T ACCOUNT."
*click*

I found you via Google and I'm glad to get some confirmation that these are complete junk calls.

The locations in Tennessee and the business address in Encino might explain why all these calls come from 213 area codes and have southern accents.

[MC H]

I am being scammed by Preferred Long Distance. They told me they were a part of AT&T and when I called AT&T I was told they were not. I immediately asked AT&T to switch me back, they did, but I still got a bill from PLD. Now they are threatening me with some collection agency called American Recovery Services. I would like to know of any class action suits against these people. They are unrelenting.
Thank you.

[Mark Ramsey]

This is pretty amazing. I just got this call myself and while they told me they were not associated with ATT (eventually), they began the call by saying they were "calling about my ATT account" and when I asked if they wanted me to change my account they said "no, only add new features."

How is it that this is legal???

[Chris Rowe Martinez]

I just about fell for it. The first clue was when they faxed me the comaprison of the AT&T plan I was on against their prices, there was no logo, no phone # no address no nothin'! Then when it came time for the "verification" process I started to get a little wary when they said not to askt he verifier any questions. As I was on hold I googled the phone number and thankfully found your site before I fell all the way in.

[Jalal S]

I was just called about this as well, just like Mark Ramsey I was nearly pulled into this as well. I've come to make a habit out of researching services offered to me. So many scams out there now a days.

[Brian]

Very quickly on Preferred Long Distance (PLD). I listened to and talked a long time with the PLD salesman today, Jan 23, 2008. It all sounded great. I was wanting to switch from Qwest and get this good service at these significantly better rates. Yes, I’d get a bill from PLD but I’d still be using Qwest equipment, lines, etc. The PLD salesman was very clear that PLD and Qwest were separate companies and competitors of one another. I said yes to the verification company. Then did more Internet searching; saw positive and negative posts out there. Decided to do a little more due diligence so called PLD at 888-235-2026 (salesman had told me this was the phone number of “Capital Verification” (CV) that verified with me my order) but it turned out to be corporate office of PLD. I asked Deanna there for phone number of CV so I could verify it was really CV, a company separate from PLD and not just a voice form PLD’s offices, but she told me she could not give me CV’s number; I said she could but wouldn’t; I asked for her supervisor but she said she was the supervisor, so I pressed for the next one up and finally she got Tracy (female) on the line for me.

Deanna and Tracy were both curt and snippy with me and Tracy also refused to let me do my due diligence by giving me a phone number for calling CV. Tracy said I sounded doubtful that I wanted to switch to PLD so she’d cancel my order. I said, no, I just want to study a little more and that I was practicing due diligence. She implied okay, I won’t cancel you yet, do your due diligence and suggested I look up PLD on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Encino, CA.

I did go to BBB of Encino online, and PLD there is rated “B” – not great, not bad, but they list PLD as involved in pagers, not reselling/wholesaling phone services. I called Qwest and they said PLD is a real company and a competitor of theirs (actually, a big customer of resells service). I then called PLD again at the –2026 number and asked to speak with Tom Burnett, the salesman who first talked with me (very friendly, articulate, good salesman) but Deanna said they couldn’t let me talk with him, so then Tracy got back on the phone. Tracy also refused to let me talk with Tom. Tracy said she’d cancelled my order. I asked if she did so even though I said I didn’t want to cancel it and she said, yes, she did. I explained I was just wanting to execute due diligence and if they were a legitimate company with a good service I wanted their service but she was curt and said she didn’t think I wanted the service so cancelled me. I asked to have CV audiorecord that she cancelled my order and she refused that; I asked her to audiorecord her saying this and she refused; I asked for PLD’s website URL and she said they don’t have one; I asked her to send me an e-mail verifying she cancelled my order and she refused to do that; I said I’d get one of my office assistants on the phone to witness Tracy telling me she cancelled my order and she agreed to that, so we did.

I wanted to get a new service and pay less and say complimentary things about PLD but I cannot. I think their behavior is strange, to say the least. The folks in the Encino office were much less (that’s an understatement) ready to serve me and make sure that I could do my due diligence than was the salesman Tom Burnett. The overall attitude seemed to be, If you are taking up a little too much of our time and asking in-depth questions to make sure you don’t get scammed/taken, we are not at all interested in your business, so, goodbye. Also, it seems odd they couldn’t send me an e-mail and don’t have a website in this day and age.

--Brian in Salem, Oregon, [email protected]

[J.M.]

FYI: PLD is at it again in southern California! Recv'd a call today with a similar sales pitch, saying they were "working under a billing agreement with AT&T." Having just been slammed a few months ago, I asked her if my AT&T rep would know about this if I called her. She said yes. She also refused to give me a number where I could reach her at PLD.

Of course, when I called AT&T they know nothing about it. Fortunately we already have a freeze on our lines thru AT&T after the last incident, so we should be fine. Ask your carrier to do that for you, so that no one can switch your long-distance service without a written authorization!

[Whatever2002]

Just got a call from them saying they were associated with AT&T and were confirming that they would lower my bill by X amount. About 45 seconds into I wished the salesperson a nice day and hung up on her.

[Curtis]

I got SCREWED by prefered long distance. Same scam as everybody else... They sent me to collection because I refuse to pay.

[Nick]

I also just received a call from Preferred Long Distance. Spent a fair amount of time talking to them, sounded good... too good. Toward the end they switched me to a third party Capital something, during that verification I googled the name and found this site, needless to say I told them to cancel everything. Seconds later I received a call from PLD again, told them I found some negative info on their company and wanted to do a little research before I signed on. Yeah, they hung up on me, guess I dont need to spend anymore time looking up their company. Thanks for having this site up.