Hasta La Gadget!

Feb 23

Linksys Directs Customers to Phone Sex Chat Line

This article was written on November 30, 2007 by CyberNet.

Whoops! Looks like Linksys made a small little mistake on a Wireless-G Home Router box that they recently sold a lot of. Apparently on the day after Thanksgiving, Circuit City and other stores sold the router for pretty cheap ($20 after rebate). This particular router is also sold in India where there’s a different tech support phone number printed on the box than what’s supposed to appear on the box in the United States. Linksys “forgot” to change the number on box, and now when the mounds of customers who purchased the routers call the number in the U.S. (800 numbers aren’t global), they’re redirected to call another 800 number. When they call that number, they quickly learn it’s not a Linksys tech person they’re talking to.

Instead of getting tech support, they end up calling a phone sex hotline where they hear in a sultry voice, “Hey baby, welcome to an exciting new way to go live one on one with hot horny girls waiting right now to talk to you. Relax baby, relax.” Then it goes on to explain who you’d be talking to and the rate per minute. On Cisco’s official blog, they acknowledge that they’re aware of the problem with the number. Instead of pointing out that calling the number will direct customers to an adult phone line, they simply say the number does not call Linksys technical support. Then they go on to say that “we are currently finding a solution to this issue and apologize for any inconvenience or embarrassment this has caused to our customers.”

Linksys is probably scrambling at this point to get new boxes printed with the correct number on them! Some of you are just dying to hear what happens when you call the number, I’m sure. Thankfully Gizmodo recorded the call and they have a video of it here. If by chance you bought one of these routers and you need to call customer support, the correct number is 800-326-7114.