I'm not stupid, but thanks for playing

[Misanthropical]

I do phone number searches all night where I work. I'm looking for phone numbers of companies that owe us money. They think that if they give us a bad number they can get away with not paying. Not on my watch!

So, I find a number and call it to verify it's the company I'm looking for. The conversation goes like this:

Him: Thank you for calling (company I'm looking for)
Me: Good evening, is accounts payable or the owner in?
Him: Who is calling?
Me: I'm calling from (company that your company owes money to)
Him: Oh, you have the wrong number, they are no longer in business.
Me: Right, okay have a nice night.

So, I note the phone number I called is good and add it to the dialer for calls. Did he really think I'm stupid enough to fall for that after he told me I was calling the right company in his opening spiel?

People just never learn to not insult my intelligence. I take offense that they think I'm as stupid as they are and do my best to make sure they have a bad week. So, just don't it, okay?

[JLRodgers]

It can be possible (although extremely highly unlikely) that a place could answer with "hello, company_name_here" and be closed. Really doubtful in your case though.

I had the misfortune of having my last two companies I worked with close down. Both had someone answering the phones after shutdown. One for a few days after (then it went to answering machine), the other had staff onhand for a bit over a year that answered the phone despite no longer being in business (they were cleanup/closing store personnel). Although both were answered as "thank you for calling ____, this office is no longer open for business" (or similar).

[powerboy]

Oh I get that sometimes with my job. We give them five days to get the payment in. The six day, we will call all the late payments. I will run into someone that will say that they moved. Do not lie to me, if you moved we would know. If you cannot pay us that month, give us a good excuse and we will waive the late fees.

Perfect example.

An older gentleman was renting with us, but he always had health problems. For about longer than 3 months, he was in the hospital. Okay, yeah we will believe him on that. Since he did have health problems. But he said that he was sending one of his business partners in to pay. They never came in. So we waived the late fees. For what we had thought, he had died. So when he had came in again. We found out everything. And he ended up paying the non payments and paid for a year.

[Finance Gopher]

Just to make sure the other side is represented, the office I work for just moved and changed phone numbers. It seems that several of the former occupants of our phone numbers have gone out of business. We still get calls from their creditors. The script goes something like this:

Me - Good morning, (Large Financial Company You've Heard of)
Collector - Accounts payable please.
M - We don't have such a department. Which company are you trying to reach?
C - I need to speak with X at accounts payable.
M - There's nobody here by that name nor do we have such a department. Who do you think you are calling?
C - Company X
M - This is L.F.C.Y.H.O. We got the phone number about six months ago. Maybe your records are out of date.
C - What's their number now?
M - No. Why on earth would I know that?
C - I just axed you a question! Why you givin' me lip! (Just like that. I don't know IPA or I'd have done it more accurately).
M - Pardon me. This isn't Company X and I do not know where they have gone. This number is not correct. Have a nice day.
C - Wait just a moment!(*click*)

Okay, that wasn't the script for the 1st call, but it was the script from the 4th call from the same collections agency. After we had politely informed them that we weren't who they were looking for. Three times. The really funny part is this: the phone number was held inactive by the phone company for at least 6 months after the last business had it before they'd let us use it. They've been getting "this number is out of service" for months, and I'm supposed to help them skip trace. Right.

A few collectors have been very polite. I like them. They're a break. I make sure they have our info of the list and we both hang up happier after a decent interaction with another human being. But I'm about to call whatever bureau handles these things to file a complaint about these other clowns.

[Misanthropical]

I actually listen to the opening greeting, so I know if I have the wrong company. I apologize and tell them I have the wrong number. I never assume they know the new number for the company I'm trying to reach. That is just silly.

[Andara Bledin]

I actually listen to the opening greeting, so I know if I have the wrong company. I apologize and tell them I have the wrong number. I never assume they know the new number for the company I'm trying to reach. That is just silly.

Do you ever ask for the company you're looking for, just in case?

The building I'm in houses 4 different companies, and it's not uncommon for someone to call one company's number while looking for one of the other companies. And while two of the companies have similar names, the other two have names that are completely different.

^-.-^

[paige]

We got calls for over a year after we got our current phone number, collection agencies looking for the former owners. Dealt with a few nasty people, but most just sounded bored.

The worst one was much later, and they had the wrong name. It was close, but not exactly the same. For example, they were asking for Paige "Smith" and I'm Paige "Smithy" ... not the real name, of course, but you get the idea, one letter off.

The woman got angry, insisted I was the "Smith" person, argued and called me a liar. I just told her to stop calling, it was the "Smithy" residence and she had the wrong number.

"No we don't, b***h!" <<click>>

me:

I just hung up, making that face.

Two minutes later, phone rings again. Different woman asks for Paige "Smith". I admit, I audibly growled a little, but spoke quietly and deliberately. Not the Smith household, no Smith's here, wrong name, wrong number, wrong person.

She apologized profusely, promised to remove our number from their records. Promised to never call again. And they never did, not another call for anybody Smith.

I've done a lot of call center work, incoming and outgoing. I truly believe someone somewhere was monitoring that call. The second woman was very supervisor-y or manager-ish. Add in the timing, and it sounds like please-don't-report-us ass-covering.

Who knows, maybe the first woman was just following her own "things I'm gonna say to these deadbeats on my last day" script. Too bad she got the wrong paige.