After hours and hours of research, I've finally located the bag of crap that continues to leave the pre-recorded "Direct Reservation Center" and "Wholesale Travel" phone messages on my voice mail.
I have sent a "cease and desist" letter to all last known addresses and also filed a consumer complaint for each company with the Florida Division of Consumer Services. (http://www.800helpfla.com/~cs/forms.html). If the telephone messaging abuse continues and I decide to sue under Title 47, I will most certainly win, because the company was notified to stop.
The main offender is a "marketing" company called Ecommerce Systems Corporation, 715 Reid Street, Palatka, FL 32177 (http://www.ecommercesystemscorp.com/web/ecom/portal/), which shares it's street address with a "discount travel" company called Vacation Showroom, Inc (http://www.wholesaleorlando.com/hotels.html).
They are one and the same, both owned, in part, by a scumbag named Tom Arrigoni. I believe it's his voice on the pre-recorded message that plagues me every 7-10 days on both of my phone lines. His partner, Deborah Walters, (wife, perhaps) is actually on the Florida Division of Corporations registry for Vacation Showroom, Inc (http://www.sunbiz.org/corpweb/inquiry/cormenu.html).
Note that the street address should be "Reid", not "Reib", probably an intential "error" to make it more difficult to find them. Vacation Showroom, Inc has
many aliases and I've provided some of links below.
Arrigoni and Walters also appear to own Shell Harbour Resort, 140 Shell Harbour Road, Satsuma, FL 32189 (http://www.ShellHarbourResort.com/).
Another violator that uses Ecommerce Systems Corporation to do it's dirty work is a travel company called Promus USA Corporation, 7632 Southland Blvd #103, Orlando, FL, 32809, owned by Travel & Tours Corporation
(http://www.promusvacations.com/promuspages/company_information.htm). I sent them a threatening "sue you" letter, as well.
Again, to be sure that they all received my cease and desist letter citing their violation of FCC law, I sent the letters via Fed-Ex, signature release to each possible last known address I could find. It cost me $60, but I believe they would have refused any "official-looking" mailing from the USPS. Fed-Ex is less expected and serves the same proof of receipt when it comes time to sue for Title 47 violation. I tracked each package today, and ALL WERE SUCCESSFULLY DELIVERED.
Here are the rest of the links I've found useful in my investigation of the "Direct Reservation Center" (you may have to copy/paste some into your url window):
Promus USA Corp (Florida Seller of Travel license #35217):
http://www.orlandodiscounts.com/
http://www.sunbiz.org/corpweb/inquiry/cormenu.html (search for Promus and Travel & Tour)
Ecommerce Systems Corp/Vacation Showroom, Inc (Florida Seller of Travel
license #35202):
http://my198orlando.com/sample.htm
http://my198orlando.com/
http://www.sunbiz.org/corpweb/inquiry/cormenu.html (search for Vacation Showroom)
http://www.rprsucks.com/forum/display_message.Asp? Mid=293
http://www.google.com/search? Hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q="vacation showroom"&b
tnG=Google Search
http://www.betterwhois.com/bwhois. Cgi? Domain=wholesaleorlando.com&x=55&y=14
http://www.sunbiz.org/corpweb/inquiry/cormenu.html (search for NORTH AMERICAN RESORTS VACATION CLUB)
http://www.intranet23.com/web/vsr/vsri/100.005.html
http://vacationshowroom.com/web/vsr/
http://maps. Yahoo.com/py/maps. Py? Pyt=Tmap&ed=TFDDRup_0Toahp_REYbVqXyUBDGHj76
RWBxr0SZ5Fa2ZZSNOsxSlRcSD30eO&csz=32177&country=us
http://www.putnamcountychamber.org/Bdirectory/alp00019.htm
http://www.sunbiz.org/corpweb/inquiry/cormenu.html (search for Shell Harbour Resort)
http://www.sunbiz.org/corpweb/inquiry/cormenu.html (search for WALTERS, DEBORAH)
http://www.putnamcountychamber.org/Bdirectory/alp00005.htm
http://ecommercesystemscorp.com/web/ecom/portal/
http://intranet23.com/web/ecom/portal/ecom00017.html
http://intranet23.com/web/ecom/portal/ecom00001.html
http://www.sunbiz.org/corpweb/inquiry/cormenu.html (search for Ecommerce System)
Here's a copy of my "cease and desist" letter sent to Ecommerce Systems Corp (this same letter was addressed and sent to Vacation Showroom/Shell Harbour Resort/Promus USA/Travel & Tours Marketing):
Ecommerce systems corp
715 reid street
palatka, fl 32177
Re: (my telephone number)
I will sue you and any company you represent if you call me again.
I have gathered information and recorded conversations with your telemarketing representatives documenting your illegal activity. I will forward all information to the florida state district attorney's office if you violate the fcc law again.
If you change your company name or create a new company and contact me again, i will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.
US Code Title 47, Section 227 (b) (1) (B):
"It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States to initiate any telephone call to any residential telephone line using an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message without the prior express consent of
the called party, unless the call is initiated for emergency purposes or is exempted by rule or order by the Commission."
The rights of action are as follows. Under Sec. 227 (b) (3) (B):
"A person or entity may, if otherwise permitted by the laws or rules of court of a State, bring in an appropriate court of that State —
(A) an action based on a violation of this subsection or the regulations prescribed under this subsection to enjoin
such violation, (B) an action to recover for actual monetary loss from such a violation, or to receive $500 in damages for each such violation, whichever is greater, or (C) both such actions. If the court finds that the defendant willfully or knowingly violated this subsection or the regulations prescribed under this subsection, the court may, in its discretion, increase the amount of the award to an amount equal to not more than 3 times the amount available under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph."
Remove these numbers from your records immediately.
Do not distribute these numbers to anyone now or in the future. This is your only warning.
In tracking down these violators, I learned a few good detective tricks:
1) Invest in a cheap, suction cup telephone recording microphone available at Radio Shack. Affix it to the phone receiver and plug it into a handheld cassette recorder. Press "record" (test it first), call the number
advertised and pretend to be interested in whatever the violating company is selling. Begin to ask questions about the company as you go the "representative" will be more forthcoming if they think you are seriously considering their offer. Get as much info about the company as you can after the pitch has been made. I even asked and received the company's business license number! I found you can even call back numerous times because the phone centers used are huge and you will probably not speak to the same agent twice. Everything you discuss will be recorded for further examination on your recorder and could possibly be used as evidence in court if you ever decide to prosecute. (important: don't use your own phone... The phone number could be captured by the company for future telemarketing abuse! I used a payphone instead).
2. Once you locate the state in which the company operates, call that state's Secretary of State Consumer Division to find out who regulates that company's industry. Offer the company name and business license number if you were able to get it. Then ask for advice on where find more information about them. A Secretary of State's corporate filings online database and
chamber of commerce listings are useful. This is how I learned that Vacation Showroom has 23 CONSUMER COMPLAINTS FILED AGAINST THEM!
3. Use the google search engine and a "who is" internet domain name search (http://www.allwhois.com or http://www.betterwhois.com). If the violator has
a website, it has to be registered to be online and you might get valuable information to locate them.
I've also used this strategy to identify and locate companies that send junk faxes, which I've recently discovered, includes the criminals at Ecommerce
Systems Corp.
J
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.
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