Wrong Number!

[AnqeiicDemise]

As a previous outbound agent, I have to let you guys know that sometimes it isn't the person on the phone's fault or even the previous person you spoke with. Depending on the program they're working with and how properly oiled the company they work for is, it can take a little while to get your number removed from the *auto dialer*

There would be times I'd have to pull the plug on my cisco, get up and flag down my supervisor because of problems with the auto dialer's files. Like, we'd already marked a few calls as 'wrong number' X amount of times, or worse, we were calling people multiple times a day because the file was looping in on itself. In those cases it usually took quite a bit of harassing from *my* boss to her boss and her boss's boss to get things squared away with the IT department that handled the files.

If you think you're frustrated with repeating yourself, imagine how the poor worker must feel when they've repeatedly done what they need to do to remove your number from the calling list only to end up calling you again. We're not physically punching in the number, the call system does that and at that point, its usually too damned late to hang up the phone because, guess what, they're already connected with you. (The program we used would only beep in after it'd connected with someone at the other line. Often most it'd be someone's VM so we'd have to leave a message. What a pain in the keester)

[BrenDAnn]

The required greeting when answering the phone at C-Store includes both C-Store name and my name. I can't tell you how many times I've answered the phone, only to get "Who?" in return. C-Store that I worked at before the one I'm at now apparently had gotten its number from some insurance agency. We got a lot of calls for that insurance agency. So very annoying! I do recall, back when I first got the cell number I have now, I checked voicemail one night...and found a message for someone else from some clinic somewhere. They must've figured out their mistake, because thankfully they never called back.

[star82869]

I have a friend who's 20 month baby girl LOVES to talk on the phone. So if they get calls like this, the caller gets to speak to a baby. It is too funny to watch and keeps my friend from going off on these callers.

[pltkcelestial18]

Update: I haven't gotten any calls from what I think is a lending company in just over 2 weeks so either they got the hint or the guy finally got in touch with them and they got the right number.

[raudf]

I have a friend who's 20 month baby girl LOVES to talk on the phone. So if they get calls like this, the caller gets to speak to a baby. It is too funny to watch and keeps my friend from going off on these callers.

I have a screaming 5mnth old.. which is usually going off because Mommy has to stop playing with or cooing at him to answer the phone. No. I don't put him on the phone, because the siren like wails can well be heard in the next town over, let alone over the phone.

And this is why I have an answering machine. I just hit ignore on the phone to stop the ringing and let them talk to a non-screaming entity.. err.. well with as little sleep as I get, the answering machine may well be more coherent and intelligent than me!

[fma_fanatic]

Holey moley, I have some dumb bunny who cannot get a clue she has the wrong number. Called me 3 times Saturday night, 4 times about 10 minutes ago and then resorted to texting. She's damned lucky I have unlimited everything because apparently I have a 16 year old son who got her kid knocked up.

Yeah, like I said, dumb bunny.

[Dreamstalker]

If it's a cell phone you could put that number on an auto reject list

That may not work well, I have a slew of numbers on my reject list (I don't know if my phone just plays the outgoing message or if there's an actual 'calls from your number are not accepted' message) that would keep calling for months until they got the point. If I removed that number from the list they'd start again (or find a new number).

Most carriers have the option to block incoming calls on the carrier level (I think then the caller does get a 'call not accepted' message) but it costs money.

IIRC you can demand that a collection company validate the debt in writing. If they can't provide that (I believe they need your legal name on it and not just a phone number), they're SOL.

[NoRedCards]

Discover card used to call me all the time about a past due account with my name.....aside from the fact I had never had one at that point, I was curious. So I actually answered the phone one day, and the person in collections actually admitted they had googled the name and were calling every one of them in my state to see if they could find him....

But on the other side, I've had my current cell phone for 10 years, but anytime someone asks for my number at a store, I generally will give them the last phone number I had.....I'm sure they love me for it.....

[Sapphire Silk]

Seriously, I think there may be some legal recourse if they don't stop, now that you've told them -- repeatedly -- that So-and-so doesn't live there. Maybe at some point in the near future you can drop the word "harassment" into the conversation ...

I start quoting the FTC Fair Credit and Reporting Act to them. Makes them back off every time.

You could try telling them that you no longer wish to be contacted by phone and all correspondence must be done by mail. If they think you're the person they're looking for, I *think* they're obligated to stop calling you and switch to snail mail, and hopefully they have the debtor's correct address.

They ARE obligated to switch to mail, and that's federal not state (although North Carolina is debtor friendly). This tactic also works wonders.

[EricKei]

The only issue is, if the company calling is not legit/a scammer place -- such as the omnipresent "We are calling from account services" place that seems to love me x.x -- or the place that called on a SUNDAY, they won't give a damn about what the law says. In the former case, they hang up the instant they hear "DNC" or "Remove my number..."; in the latter case, no legitimate company will NEVER contact you on a Sunday/outside of certain hours (tho this may differ in some states) unless you initiated contact AND said that it was OK to call you at those times, IIRC.

The "accoung services" one changes numbers every few days anyway, I've reported tons to the FCC, to no avail.

[Dreamstalker]

Crapcast does offer caller ID blocking on their landline service...although we recently discovered that some legit callers will show on our caller ID as 800 Service and Card Services O_o Blocking by number is a cosmic game of whackamole which even I wouldn't have the time to keep up with.