Walmart and Synchrony: Bretty talks with them about their Stupid, Stupid Call Center

New Scam. Legal? Maybe. Ethical? Hell, no. I must be on some type of Scammer Phone List. Guess I deserve it since I scammed countless people when I was a bad guy. Anyway, got a call from (866) 611-1148. Robocall call saying I qualified for an interest reduction on my credit card. I thought that was pretty interesting because Bretty doesn't have any credit cards. So I pressed the button to take me to a live person.

I was connected to an Indian call center. Fellow asked if I wanted lower interest. I said yes. He asked on which card. I said on the card he called me about. He asked which one. I said yes. Which one? Yes, that one. What? Yes, the card you called me about. We went around exactly like that for a good 10 minutes. 

Finally, he says, "Sir, I need to know which credit card you want to reduce your interest rate on?" I told him I needed to know that as well because I don't own any credit cards. The Dude exhales and hangs up on me.

So I called back. Number goes to WalMart Credit Services. So I immediately think some screwball Indian scam center is spoofing the Walmart number and trying to rip people off. I figure I can do my good deed for the day, connect to customer service, have them forward me to the security/ fraud dept. where we can chat. I might get a nice "THank You" and then I can go on my merry way.

First, getting to a live person. Oh. My. God. All the menus in the world which either went round in circles, asked for SSN, or disconnected you, saying call back later. I started thinking I would have more luck if I just went and dug up the body of Sam Walton and tried talking to him.

Finally, after 20 minutes of this nonsense and 7 attempts, I reach a human. She asks how she can help. I say, connect me to the Security Team or someone in Fraud. She asks my account number. I say I don't have one. She asks how she can help. I start thinking about digging up Ol' Sam again and figure it would be too expensive and maybe illegal. Maybe I could try a séance, you know--round up a Mystic, Crystal Ball, Round Table, Summon the Spirit of Sam Walton to tell him about this mess. I figure that is too much work as well. I mean, where the hell am I going to find a Mystic?

So I explain to the customer service rep what is going on. Her response? Hold while I transfer you. You know, we could have saved time and energy had you done that in the beginning.

5 minutes wait time, then a gentleman answers identifying himself as a member of Synchrony Bank. I hear that and I'm already nonplussed. I mean Synchrony has been giving countless Synthetic Fraud Criminals free furniture for months. Synchrony recently tightened security, but my experience is they are pretty lax over there, almost like Capital One.

Anyway, I tell this dude I suspect an Indian Call Center is spoofing the Walmart Credit number and trying to phish people out of card numbers and other data. Dude responds by saying hold a moment. Comes back saying that it appears I submitted an application and they were calling in regards to that. 

Bretty don't submit applications. I tell him such. He says maybe it was someone fraudulently submitting it in my name. Bretty pauses. Be pretty funny and damn poetic for Bretty to be a victim of ID Theft. Not much I can say to the guy about that, so I tell him about the phone call, how it claimed I qualified for lower interest rates, then when I spoke to a person they knew nothing about my card and wanted me to give them information like card number, name, etc.

Synchrony Dude responded they would never do anything like that and he would look into it. But, I gotta tell you, him saying that sounded more like he was just telling me anything to get me off the phone. You know, "Go away, Bretty, and leave us alone." Synchrony Dude ends the call by saying he will stop the application submitted in my name. Bretty hangs up thinking there is no application, Synchrony Dude is just saying such.

So what the hell happened here? I researched the number. The number certainly belongs to Walmart. The number also comes back as SPAM and FRAUD. Lots of people online have been bitching about receiving the same type of call I received. Which means this is a tactic used by Synchrony and Walmart in order to try to get people to sign up for Credit through them. I'm guessing its legal, but it damn sure isn't right. Call some unsuspecting person, probably older, and tell them they qualify for a reduced interest rate on their credit card. Then sign them up for a new credit card. Good Job Synchrony. Good Job Walmart. Way to take advantage of people. I wonder if Sam Walton is rolling in his grave with the news. I'm tempted to go dig him up in order to find out.