Sucky Customer and I wasn't even at work

[protege]

Right after I got my phone service set up after moving...I started getting some strange phone calls. The most interesting...was from some police department in Maryland. Apparently, the prior owner (not sure if it was the homeowner, or whoever had the number last) was being investigated for some illegal doings. I'm not sure what, and I didn't want to know. For about a week, I got quite a few messages from a detective doing the investigation...and she couldn't understand why nobody was calling her back. I wasn't about to run up my long-distance charges because she was too stupid as to what was going on but, the messages continued.

After about a week, they started getting rather nasty. Apparently, since the guy couldn't be found, a warrant was issued for his arrest and they were coming.

At that point, I just had to laugh. Not only did they not have jurisdiction in PA, but they probably had no idea where they were calling. Besides, even if they did, would it be worth the 5-hour car ride for me to tell them to "shove it?"

And no, they never showed up. Oddly enough, I don't get *any* wrong-number calls now

[Noelegy]

The most "WTF?" wrong number I ever got came not long after I got my cell phone. I answered the phone once, told the caller he had the wrong number, and ended the call. The phone rang again, showing the same incoming number on the ID. I said, "You've still got the wrong number," and the caller said, "Well then, why are you answering the phone?" I couldn't help it, I laughed. I replied, "Because it's MY phone." He hung up.

[Rapscallion]

The amount of times I've answered wrong number calls and they phoned back within twenty seconds...

I got used to picking up the phone the second time and saying, "You hit redial and this is still me and not the person you want."

I've yet to be wrong on that.

Rapscallion

[Boozy]

Years ago when I still lived at home, we'd get these wrong number calls every few nights, always between 11 pm and 3 pm. Always a guy, different guy each time, always asked for "Nadine".
I swore up and down that if I ever met Nadine, I'd call her at 3 am and yell at her. She'd clearly decided to use OUR number as her standard fake number to give out to insistent guys she met at bars. I wish women wouldn't do that. Its neither fair to the guy nor to the poor person at the other end who has to be the one to let this guy know he's been blown off.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I've been through this "wrong number/wrong person" scenario for quite a few years. Just not within probably the last year or more, thankfully.

For several years, we were getting phone calls for a woman called "Rosa Delk." Keep in mind, this was on our main phone line (we have 2 phone lines w/separate numbers) and this was an ongoing thing.

Credit card companies/telemarketers/utility companies . . . everyone was looking for Rosa. After a few months of this (and we'd had our phone number ever since we moved into our home 17 years ago) I started questioning one person.

Turned out the number they had in their computer was completely different. Yet they were getting OUR phone. I suggested contacting the phone company and having their lines checked, because we'd had xxx=yyyy since 1990 and that's the line that we were currently talking on. I also told them this had gone on for quite a while now and was getting rather old.

A few months passed without incident, then the calls started again. I had to tell people to quit calling whatever number they were getting because they were gettin X number instead of the Y they were calling. I had already complained once about it, had this number for years and I shouldn't have to change this number because of some idiot that wasn't paying her bills.

Then on the second line a few years ago, there was a lady who kept calling looking for "Betty." I dont' know anyone by that name either. I was nice, as this lady sounded older and may have been confused and accidentally dialed a wrong digit and got our 2nd line by mistake.

This continued for a few weeks, sometimes several calls in the same evening. I was getting rather tired of thie situation and even repeatedly told her what the phone number was, hoping to get her to see that she had a wrong number. Didn't work.

One evening, after having to answer the phone several times during the course of maybe a couple of hours, I got fed up and let it rip.

"BETTY IS AT FRED'S HOUSE MAKING THE BED ROCK!" I screamed into the phone and hung up.

Never heard back from her.

[HYHYBT]

The amount of times I've answered wrong number calls and they phoned back within twenty seconds...

I got used to picking up the phone the second time and saying, "You hit redial and this is still me and not the person you want."

I've yet to be wrong on that.

They're actually hitting redial? I expect a wrong number to call back once, in case they dialed wrong as opposed to having wrong information...

(off topic) Of course, I've also had redial get me through when the first try didn't. Not for a real wrong number. But the phone company has a recording telling people they have to dial the area code before local numbers. It's only supposed to play if you leave the area code off, of course, but I've gotten it several times and hanging up and hitting redial gets through.

[Rapscallion]

Most of the time, the phone went again within five seconds. I'm sure they were hitting redial.

Rapscallion

[Arcade Man D]

Well, some poor woman didn't get her mortgage, because I was being called by her mortgage company, including leaving voicemails ((despite them asking for a clearly female name, and my voice on the voicemail being low enough to not be mistaken for a female's. My name is, unfortunately, androgynous.)). I got sick of one company that was calling me from Georgia, and I called back and requested that they fix their records. When I kept getting the calls, I called back again, and requested a bit more firmly that they remove the number from their records, as I have always been, and will always be, male.

My main beef? They called me while I was at work. My cell is my only phone, as, well, I'm a bachelor. Why do I need a land-line?

Luckily the calls have finally died down after I was a bit less than polite with them. Something about 5 calls over the space of an hour being wrong numbers, all from different people, while you're waiting for a call back on an application, you know.

[Dreamstalker]

Apparently, my Boston cell exchange is also a cell (or something) exchange in Santa Fe. For a few weeks my sophomore year I was getting voicemails consisting of pizza orders....also another wrong number who appeared to be a frantic businessman in AZ trying to contact his cohort who was in NM. I was going to call the poor guy back and explain that he had a wrong number, but he never left a callback.

For awhile I was also getting some really sketchy texts...

Even if an exchange is duplicated in another state, wouldn't you still need to dial the area code in order to get that precise wrong number?

[Pagan]

Even if an exchange is duplicated in another state, wouldn't you still need to dial the area code in order to get that precise wrong number?

I should think so! From what I can see, Boston's area codes aren't even close to the 505! (Our area code split should prove interesting!)

Once in a blue moon, we'd get calls for someone in Las Cruces, Mexico. The people hadn't realized that they somehow managed to dial Las Cruces, NEW Mexico.

[Reyneth]

Maybe some of you can confirm or discredit a pattern I think I've noticed in wrong-number calls. In general (there ARE exceptions both directions), women callers are much more polite about it than men callers. Women usually apologize and hang up, men get annoyed with you for not being the person they were looking for. )

It seems that way.
However, if a woman is calling looking for a man and you, a female, answer the phone - sometimes they can get suspicious and accuse you of being a prostitute (or more crass version) and where is her man and all of that. Been there, done that - and sick of it.

My most extreme/chronic wrong number story is from about 3 years ago. I started getting voice mails, vague ones, on my cell phone late at night. Like between 11 and 4. Back then, I usually kept my phone off except when I was using it or expecting a call or whatever and sometimes I slept through the calls.
They would keep calling and asking for some slang nickname and would make general refrences to "merch" - YKWIM
After a month and about 12-15 calls, I finally answered one night at 2, YELLING at the phone that they *better* not call me any more as I obviously not who they were trying to get ahold of, or I'd be reporting all of the numbers they have called me from and left as contacts to the police. That stopped the calls.

[CrazedClerk]

A friend of my father's had a phone number that was very close to that of a local pizza place.

After getting fed up with all the calls from people looking for pizzas, he started taking orders...

...turns out this Pizza place had one of those "30 minutes or it's free" deals.

Not long after he started taking "orders", the Pizza place changed their phone number.

And also the number for my dad's company was one digit off the number for Revenue Canada (Canadian version of IRS). He REALLY hated March and April.

Despite the fact his message said "Thank you for calling XYZ Corporation Canada" he would get tons of calls and messages from people about taxes, sometimes they'd leave their SIN number (Canadian equivalent of social security). Man if my dad ever wanted to become a bad guy, he could have a field day.

[Dreamstalker]

I should think so! From what I can see, Boston's area codes aren't even close to the 505! (Our area code split should prove interesting!)

Once in a blue moon, we'd get calls for someone in Las Cruces, Mexico. The people hadn't realized that they somehow managed to dial Las Cruces, NEW Mexico.

Oy. Even I've never heard of crossed lines/line noise that bad.

What I didn't get about the pizza calls is...who leaves a voicemail to order pizza with no callback info? (unless these dummies were regulars at whatever pizza place they were trying to call, although it should have been clear from my outgoing message that the number is not that of a pizza joint)

I'm now getting what appears to be emailed attachments from a number I don't recognize and can't get any info on other than it's a Boston cell phone. I'm not opening that attachment...

[Rapscallion]

What I didn't get about the pizza calls is...who leaves a voicemail to order pizza with no callback info? (unless these dummies were regulars at whatever pizza place they were trying to call, although it should have been clear from my outgoing message that the number is not that of a pizza joint)

We get that all the time in our customer services department.

Just after christmas, we had about sixty unanswered emails in our inbox, and I was assigned the fast-fingered task of replying to these in short order. Fully two-thirds were from people asking for catalogues, and the vast majority didn't have enough information in order for us to send a catalogue. Most of these were cases of us not knowing if they were trade or food group requests, but I had nine that didn't have anything other than a request for a catalogue with no other information.

There were nearly thirty voice mails backed up, and four of those wanted us to phone them back - again, no information.

Rapscallion

[Bliss]

I witnessed a good one once. As you might've noticed, I'm gay (bears relevance), and I was hanging out at a friend's house one day with a bunch of gay friends. When one starts receiving wrong number calls on his cell phone. It was a girl (17 or 18) calling her boyfriend. And no matter how many times my friend insisted the number was wrong, she insisted that was the number he gave her.

After the fifth time she called (insistent little....) we became so fed up that we decided to start toying with her. Basically we passed the telephone around. And in no time had her convinced that her boyfriend was a closeted gay and was having an affair with ALL of us. at the end, the poor girl was near tears... that's when she realized she DID have a wrong number.

And before you all kill me for how we treated her (after she insisted so much) the night ended with most of us talking long with her helping her with her life and relationship problems that was an odd experience for sure.