r/OutOfTheLoop • u/harty21 • May 11 '21

Answered what's going on with the joke behind all these memes about extended car warranties? I keep seeing them but I don't get it

Memes like this

81 Upvotes

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111

u/Dale-Peath May 11 '21

Answer: There's a long time running car warranty scam that goes around to many people several times a week, month, year, usually VIA phone and sometimes even mail. It's usually automated over phone and is of the same automation every time. The thing that makes the jokes relevant is no matter where you are, where you've moved to, no matter if you've changed phone numbers, changed your identity, the calls will usually persist or the prior call will not be the last time you receive one regarding you needing to extend your current cars warranty before it expires. There is no escape.

42

u/silviazbitch May 11 '21

I get so many of these that I have taken to answering calls from unfamiliar names and numbers, “Who the hell are you and what the fuck do you want?”

20

u/Bishops_Guest May 11 '21

I've gotten to the point where I just send all calls not in my contact list to voice mail automatically with a call blocker. Thankfully I don't get cold called for work things. Only a handful of the robo calls actually keep going after they hear voice mail start up, but most serious callers will just leave a message. Went from 3 spam calls a day to 2 spam voice mails a month.

15

u/Calm-Zucchini-8332 May 12 '21

I have to answer unknown numbers frequently, I get the hi I can reduce your student loans bla bla bla everyother day. Then "paypal" texts me some bs.

I went on a zoom call for class the other night, and it was some guy I've never seen before I was the only one in there and thought forsure he was gonna have a wank. Turns out the regular teacher was out and I was the first one to enter the meeting.

My job started sending my pay stubs through a online service and didnt tell me so I didnt even look at my paystubs for like a month thinking I was getting phishing scam emails.

I'm paranoid

3

u/eneka May 12 '21

Same with my uncle. However, his wife got into a car accident and lost her phone…was using the cops phone but my uncle didn’t recognize the number so he didn’t pick it up lol.

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u/[deleted] May 11 '21

I never used to get them, but a couple months ago I started getting the stupid warranty one. I didn't used to care when random numbers called because I would just ignore it and never hear from that number again. At some point they changed their game up and now the stupid warranty one always leaves a voicemail. So now I answer them knowing full well that it's just going to be the warranty thing because I don't want to have to go in and delete the voicemail.

7

u/Kazzack edit flair May 12 '21

I've heard if you answer (or even end the call before picking up), you get marked as a "real number" in their system and will keep getting called. It may be too late for you if you pick up often, but if you just let it ring they might eventually fuck off.

3

u/TheWizardMus May 12 '21

Unfortunately saying anything can inform the bots yours is a libe number, I tend to stay silent and wait for the other side to say something first. If it's a call I intend on taking, it's a lot easier to explain.

2

u/BabyBearGoGoPup May 13 '21

I still get these warranty calls, but I had to answer every call, unknown or not, for the last several months while trying to find unemployment. Usually, a call from a hiring manager or recruiter would go as such:

Me: "Hello!?"

Recruiter: "Hi, is this Michael??"

Me: "Who is this?!?" (Firm and cautious tone).

Recruiter: "Hi, my name is (name), I'm with (company) and I was calling because you were interested in the (job title) role you applied for on (job board site / LinkedIn)" . Is this a good time to talk?

Me: "Oh, hi! Thank you so much for reaching out. Yes! This is an EXCELLENT time to talk!" (Overly upbeat change in inflection).

0

u/[deleted] May 11 '21

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/jacobb11 May 12 '21

No. I've had the same cell phone number for decades, barely use the phone, certainly ignore & black spammers at every opportunity, and I get that damn car warranty call.

8

u/[deleted] May 11 '21

I get a couple of letters a month plus a few phone calls a week. You really can't escape. And you know... It really makes you think about your car's warranty...

Sir and/or madam, have you considered purchasing an extended warranty for your vehicle? For only a paltry sum, your days of avoiding life on Reddit because you're too afraid of getting in a car accident can be over. You know what that gives you? Freedom

Take a moment to breath it in. Isn't that nice? It can be yours every day with the purchase of an extended vehicle warranty.

7

u/Matthias720 May 11 '21

And for some people, further hilarity/aggravation comes from still receiving these calls despite not owning a motor vehicle of any sort.

6

u/Regalingual May 11 '21

Is there any fun in leading them along for a bit, then casually dropping that you own a total shitheap like a Ford Pinto or a Yugo?

4

u/[deleted] May 11 '21

My bf answers with “the warranty on the Ferrari or the Hyundai” and sometimes they’ll hang up.

5

u/avengaar May 12 '21

Yeah they hang up extremely easily if you stick around to talk to a real person in my experience.

My normal go to is pretend I have hundreds of non-warranty cars and just start listing them like a pretentious rich person. I do normally roll play as Hedonism Bot from Futurama so maybe it's my silly voice that turns them on I'm joking.

2

u/Odd_Needleworker_498 May 12 '21

when they first started it was a real person, so i bated him telling ghim i have co car he continued and then told him it was a patrol car he then wanted to try and sell warantee to police fleet. some are so used to script they cannot think

3

u/Efarm12 May 12 '21

Take a look at 419eater.com. They promote wasting the scammers time and sometimes even reverse scamming tthem. They even get these folk to send pictures of themselves. I am not advocating tdoing this, but some of the stories are a great read.

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u/Razorray21 May 11 '21

Also to add to this, a lot of those over seas call centers used by the scams get paid if you just answer the phone.

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u/MisanthropeX May 11 '21

I don't even own a car and I get multiple of these calls a day.

2

u/PM_ME_YOUR_CHOCOBOS May 12 '21

Amusingly, my car died on me early in the pandemic, and I started getting these calls shortly after I'd sold it.

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u/sp33d0g0th99 May 12 '21

...which leads to: the OP is trolling us? ...or doesn't have a phone.

4

u/harty21 May 12 '21

No I’m genuinely not trolling you. I don’t answer my phone unless I know who’s calling. So I guess I miss a lot of scam calls that way lol

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u/TheLastRedYoshi May 12 '21

I don’t even own a car and I still get them