YES!! ESTHER ROLLE IN PSYCHIC COMMERCIALS...

[Ireneparalegal]

Here is the link for those of you who thought she didn't do such a thing:

http://home.sprynet.com/~inniss/aahpsych.htm

[GeorgeWBushGOP]

Disgusting isn't it?. Black actors exploiting the same people they claim they want to help!!

This article crystalizes my thoughts exactly.

And I will add it is designed to get the poorest and most desperate of people which the biggest shame of all.

It is surprising that she would do something like this. I guess her psychic friends couldn't warn her that she was about to become a member of the "Six Feet Under" club.

[Jrnygrl]

I'm not judging, just shocked that Esther would lend her name to such a thing. Who knows why? Maybe it was something she believed in, the psychic thing.

[CCRYDER1968]

It could be that she truly beleived in that stuff,which actually,a lot of people do...you'd be suprised!So,if she believed it,she did no wrong.


p.s...I tried to be a phone psychic once...I quit after 2 calls.I just can't lie to people,it seemed so very wrong!

[mstewart]

Originally Posted by CCRYDER1968

It could be that she truly beleived in that stuff,which actually,a lot of people do...you'd be suprised!So,if she believed it,she did no wrong.

If she got involve so what!!! I care more for what she did as an actress and how she strived for Good Times to show a more positive image. Whatever she did in her personal life was her business.

[Living In a '70's Dream]

I HOPE that she was paid well for doing these commericals!!!!

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by mstewart

If she got involve so what!!! I care more for what she did as an actress and how she strived for Good Times to show a more positive image. Whatever she did in her personal life was her business.

That's the point. It wasn't something she did PRIVATELY. She allowed her face and name to be used to get people (preferably black people) to call in and get them hooked.
You know, back in 98 I worked for GTE (it's now verizon). I was a billing rep.
You have no idea how many people I had to explain abt certain charges that appeared on their phone bill that resulted in these humonguous fees and taxes. I would say abt 90% of those calls were from black customers and ALL the calls were to the "black" owned, operated psychic companies. Some of the people didn't know abt the charges cuz of the little print on the bottom of the tv screen. when I had to explain the who crap to them (we had a thick notebook with all the info needed to explain charges, psychic companies, etc) they were blown away. They said they were led to believe one thing or another. They went on and on how they thought this and they thought that. I felt so bad for them. It literally broke my heart. So, being the good-hearted person I was, I decided to delete the charges from their phone bill and diverted those charges BACK TO THE PSYCHIC companies, which are no more than an independent telephone company which runs these scams. I basically made the charges go to them and let them figure out how to go after these people. By law, the telephone company has to put those charges on the phone bill, but the customer, if they have a dispute abt those charges which were not charged by GTE, they have a right to call the phone company and dispute those charges and not have their phone service disconnected due to non-payment. As long as the customer pays THEIR PHONE COMPANY CHARGES (i.e. Verizon, etc.) then they don't have to worry abt disconnection.
There were also times when I couldn't do that, it depended on each independent telephone company. If they had a contract with the main phone company, then we couldn't do anything abt the charges. If they were a company that was not in contract with the phone company (the billing reps would know which are and which aren't) then those charges can be taken care of by the phone company billing rep.
Bottom line, those psychic phone lines are a joke.
Esther Rolle, being the smart and loud-voiced person that she was, was either conned herself, or she didn't bother to know what these people were going to get themselves into.
I had seen one customer whose bill was $800. That was the psychic charge only. Her daughter had made the call and she didn't know until the phone bill came in and confronted her daughter. The daughter was 12.
It's a big shame.

[craftman]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

That's the point. It wasn't something she did PRIVATELY. She allowed her face and name to be used to get people (preferably black people) to call in and get them hooked.
You know, back in 98 I worked for GTE (it's now verizon). I was a billing rep.
You have no idea how many people I had to explain abt certain charges that appeared on their phone bill that resulted in these humonguous fees and taxes. I would say abt 90% of those calls were from black customers and ALL the calls were to the "black" owned, operated psychic companies. Some of the people didn't know abt the charges cuz of the little print on the bottom of the tv screen. when I had to explain the who crap to them (we had a thick notebook with all the info needed to explain charges, psychic companies, etc) they were blown away. They said they were led to believe one thing or another. They went on and on how they thought this and they thought that. I felt so bad for them. It literally broke my heart. So, being the good-hearted person I was, I decided to delete the charges from their phone bill and diverted those charges BACK TO THE PSYCHIC companies, which are no more than an independent telephone company which runs these scams. I basically made the charges go to them and let them figure out how to go after these people. By law, the telephone company has to put those charges on the phone bill, but the customer, if they have a dispute abt those charges which were not charged by GTE, they have a right to call the phone company and dispute those charges and not have their phone service disconnected due to non-payment. As long as the customer pays THEIR PHONE COMPANY CHARGES (i.e. Verizon, etc.) then they don't have to worry abt disconnection.
There were also times when I couldn't do that, it depended on each independent telephone company. If they had a contract with the main phone company, then we couldn't do anything abt the charges. If they were a company that was not in contract with the phone company (the billing reps would know which are and which aren't) then those charges can be taken care of by the phone company billing rep.
Bottom line, those psychic phone lines are a joke.
Esther Rolle, being the smart and loud-voiced person that she was, was either conned herself, or she didn't bother to know what these people were going to get themselves into.
I had seen one customer whose bill was $800. That was the psychic charge only. Her daughter had made the call and she didn't know until the phone bill came in and confronted her daughter. The daughter was 12.
It's a big shame.

Good info, Irene. Even tho I wouldn't blame Esther Rolle for taking the gig. I didn't like that she did but, it wasn't her fault people were dumb enough to call a psychic hotline. I also see your point in Esther maybe knew it was a scam, and wanted a piece of the action, even if it was ripping off poor folks. You wouldn't think Esther would do something like that. And what do you think those people got out of the psychic hotline?, They should have known better anyways.

I hope I made some sense, I'm starting to confuse myself.

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by craftman

Good info, Irene. Even tho I wouldn't blame Esther Rolle for taking the gig. I didn't like that she did but, it wasn't her fault people were dumb enough to call a psychic hotline. I also see your point in Esther maybe knew it was a scam, and wanted a piece of the action, even if it was ripping off poor folks. You wouldn't think Esther would do something like that. And what do you think those people got out of the psychic hotline?, They should have known better anyways.

I hope I made some sense, I'm starting to confuse myself.

Nope. I probably made u confused with all that info. Just passing on info. Well, she took her reasons to the grave. and by the way a little hint on psychics: if they ask YOU FOR YOUR NAME, forget it, it's a scam.

[craftman]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Nope. I probably made u confused with all that info. Just passing on info. Well, she took her reasons to the grave. and by the way a little hint on psychics: if they ask YOU FOR YOUR NAME, forget it, it's a scam.

Yeah, they should already know your name, right, they are psychics.

[GeorgeWBushGOP]

Originally Posted by craftman

Good info, Irene. Even tho I wouldn't blame Esther Rolle for taking the gig. I didn't like that she did but, it wasn't her fault people were dumb enough to call a psychic hotline. I also see your point in Esther maybe knew it was a scam, and wanted a piece of the action, even if it was ripping off poor folks. You wouldn't think Esther would do something like that. And what do you think those people got out of the psychic hotline?, They should have known better anyways.

I hope I made some sense, I'm starting to confuse myself.

She lent her name to the product making it her fault.

And the problem is these people DIDN"T know better because they were tricked into calling these numbers as Irene clearly states.

Plus the african garb she wore was for the target audience of black people.

If you want to make the argument that she didn't know what she was getting into then you would have to believe that there was NOBODY around her saying Hey Esther. Think about this. THis is a scam.

That is a bit farfetched.

Maybe she was desperate for money at the end of her life who knows? But that doesn't excuse it. Especially with the 90's boom of celebrity public appearances which made former celebrities that received no money from reruns instant millionaires.

Guys like Adam West and Bob Denver who were living very modestly suddenly were millionaires with this boom of memorabelia business. ]]

While I don't really respect celebrities that do that much. It is not a scam at all. and it does give people a chance to meet their idols. If Esther needed money she could have taken that road.

[craftman]

Originally Posted by GeorgeWBushGOP

She lent her name to the product making it her fault.

And the problem is these people DIDN"T know better because they were tricked into calling these numbers as Irene clearly states.

Plus the african garb she wore was for the target audience of black people.

If you want to make the argument that she didn't know what she was getting into then you would have to believe that there was NOBODY around her saying Hey Esther. Think about this. THis is a scam.

That is a bit farfetched.

Maybe she was desperate for money at the end of her life who knows? But that doesn't excuse it. Especially with the 90's boom of celebrity public appearances which made former celebrities that received no money from reruns instant millionaires.

Guys like Adam West and Bob Denver who were living very modestly suddenly were millionaires with this boom of memorabelia business. ]]

While I don't really respect celebrities that do that much. It is not a scam at all. and it does give people a chance to meet their idols. If Esther needed money she could have taken that road.

You know what I think, if you believe in psychics, you deserve to be scammed.

Ms. Cleo wasn't a famous person before she was a pschic and people called her. So you can't blame Esther for people calling her line.

Check this point out. Remember in the episode "God's Business Is Good Business", with the fake reverend. As much as Flo believes in church, she knew Reverend Sam was a crook and didn't fall for that scam, cause she knew better. Some people believe in psychics and do fall for that scam, but there only spending money on what they believe in. Nobody convinced them to go for it. So Esther was just providing a service for people that already believed in that stuff.

You might say, then she is as bad as Reverend Sam, or worse since it was real life, but I say, she didn't take nobody's money that they wasn't willing to give.

[GeorgeWBushGOP]

Don't use the fictional "Florida Evans" in this. She is a fictional character.

So those people deserved to be scammed?

Gullible people DESERVE to be scammed out of their much needed money?

I think you are way off base here. So If I sell Good Times DVDs on Ebay. and give the people pirated copies of the show instead of what they are expected is that their fault also? They deserved to be scammed?

You are defending her too much on this. And you are making her sound actually Evil. as I was just calling it a flaw and disgrace to a legendary woman.

Now you are actually trying to convince me that what she was doing was right??

Shame.

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by craftman

You know what I think, if you believe in psychics, you deserve to be scammed.

Ms. Cleo wasn't a famous person before she was a pschic and people called her. So you can't blame Esther for people calling her line.

Check this point out. Remember in the episode "God's Business Is Good Business", with the fake reverend. As much as Flo believes in church, she knew Reverend Sam was a crook and didn't fall for that scam, cause she knew better. Some people believe in psychics and do fall for that scam, but there only spending money on what they believe in. Nobody convinced them to go for it. So Esther was just providing a service for people that already believed in that stuff.

You might say, then she is as bad as Reverend Sam, or worse since it was real life, but I say, she didn't take nobody's money that they wasn't willing to give.

Craftman, my belief, my opinion is that if people believe in psychics (and I do believe that there are a rare breed of those, those who don't do it for $$$ but to help law enforcement) but if people believe in that kind of stuff, then more power to them. My point and my only point is that if they see a person they respect such as Esther Rolle "inviting" them to call her line, then Ms. Rolle should have CLEARLY SAID ON THE AIR THE CHARGES THAT WOULD BE INCURRED. And if she didn't want to do that or didn't have the say so to do that, she either should have dropped the gig, or have the producers of the commercial CLEARLY PUT IN BOLD LETTERS THE AMT OF $$$ THEY WOULD BE CHARGED. Then, and only then would the responsibility fall on the shoulders of those who called. If they had stated on the air that their first call would be 99 cents (which they did in fact) then they should have also clearly stated that they would automatically be signed up for a monthly charge of $3.95 per month and that charge would show up automatically on their phone bill. They should also clearly state their first minute is only 99 cents and each minute after that is whatever amt they charge. Some charged $3-5 each minute. And those pyschics don't give you a "vision" in two minutes. That first 99 cent minute is spent ON HOLD. You are told a bunch of mumbo jumbo stuff. From the customers that I had talked to, they told me by the time someone actually talked to them, ten minutes had passed and they took their sweet ass time "reading" their future. The customers believed their first call would only be 99 cents.

[craftman]

Originally Posted by GeorgeWBushGOP

Don't use the fictional "Florida Evans" in this. She is a fictional character.

So those people deserved to be scammed?

Gullible people DESERVE to be scammed out of their much needed money?

I think you are way off base here. So If I sell Good Times DVDs on Ebay. and give the people pirated copies of the show instead of what they are expected is that their fault also? They deserved to be scammed?

You are defending her too much on this. And you are making her sound actually Evil. as I was just calling it a flaw and disgrace to a legendary woman.

Now you are actually trying to convince me that what she was doing was right??

Shame.

I'm not trying to say she was right, I'm just saying there are people that fall for scams, it's not her fault. I bet you people would buy those pirated copies on ebay, taking a chance it's a scam, when all they have to do is buy the real deal in a store. That's the choice they make. I wouldn't fault you for selling bootlegs cause people don't have to buy 'em.