Lost Dog Rant/Rave

I recently received a robocall for a lost dog (Mango) in my neighborhood. A company called FindToto will send out robocalls with a description of your pet and your contact info. The website given on the phone is findtoto.org, even though it redirects to findtoto.com. I am guessing they use the .org address because it makes them sound more like a non-profit and less like a commercial business.

You can decide how much you love your pet by choosing one of the following calling options:

• Alert Package A - 500 calls - $95
• Alert Package B - 1,000 calls - $175
• Alert Package D - 1,500 calls - $225
• up to...
• Alert Package F - 10,000 calls - $875

The website claims the owner was inspired to create the service after their cat, Cutie McPretty, ran away. I'm betting that Cutie intentionally ran under a car to end the misery of having that name.

The worst part is, this service is exempt from the do-not-call registry. Ironically, they are not providing YOU a service when they call you. You are actually the product they are selling. In some sense, this is worse than a telemarketer robocall.

I feel bad for my neighbor who lost the dog, really I do. But robocalls are evil, no matter the cause. Pretty soon, we will all be receiving a few robocalls a day for lost pets, lost trash cans, "hey, can you bring in my mail while I'm on vacation", "do you have a power drill I can borrow", or "please close the shades when walking around naked".

Please, don't use this service. Put up some signs instead. I am offering a new counter-service. For only $5, I will call your neighbor back and tell them off for using robocalls.

Good news, at least, Mango was found.

Pizza Hut Phone Survey

We almost never get calls from Telemarketers - maybe 1 call per month. So we were disappointed to get a call last week from Pizza Hut. It was a survey. We realized after the call that they must have obtained our phone number from the files of the local restaurant, captured when we placed an order. It is unfortunate that they require a phone number to place an order, and then use it against us by giving it to their Telemarketers. This was annoying, but tolerable.


What really takes the cake is a SECOND call we got a few days later. It was Pizza Hut calling to evaluate the Pizza Hut survey! "On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the professionalism of the survey call you received?" I'm not making this up.

I guess it's only a matter of time until we get another call to evaluate the survey evaluation service.