Do a Girl A Favor?

[morgana]

If any of you guys ever encounter a guy named Paul Fregosi, break his nose for me?

Thanks.

[taxguykarl]

This Paul Fregosi? Or another? If the later, what did he do?

[Argabarga]

I hope it's not open season on Pauls.... or I'll have to lay low... and the weather was JUST getting warm!

[morgana]

This guy apparently lives somewhere in Kansas, and has apparently been giving his creditors my phone number for several years now. Got into a screaming match with one of them this morning. I might have used the word 'cuntwaffle' . . .

What? I'd had one hour sleep in the previous 38. I was a tad cranky.

[Andrew B.]

Which give me better odds than most of meeting him.

*lives in KCMO*

[Jester]

Hey, if they won accept "I'm not him, nor do I know him, please stop calling me," and insist on arguing the point, fuck 'em. They pretty much ARE cuntwaffles at that point.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Start filing harassment complaints with the phone company, the police, and anyone else you can think of.

[firecat88]

This kinda crap is why, when we moved into our new house and got a new cable package, we opted to not include a landline phone. In our rental house, we were getting calls at least five days a week for/about a very specific couple we've never even heard of outside of those calls (and their kids, one of whom apparently liked to skip classes to the point that he was failing literally all of them, according to the recorded phone message from his middle school).

[taxguykarl]

If you want to get some financial mileage out of this nonsense this forum can give you some techniques.
One of their classics, get the addy of a collector, send a certified letter that PF does not live at your place. Sue when they call again.

[Argabarga]

It's stuff like this that makes me seriously wonder how much longer the landline phone can hang around before joining the telex, telegraph and pony express in the pantheon of "obsolete communication methods", when it seems 9 times out of 10, stuff that comes in on the landline is unsolicited sales, unsolicited scams, harassment, or a legitimate authority given bad information by a deadbeat......

[Racket_Man]

It's stuff like this that makes me seriously wonder how much longer the landline phone can hang around before joining the telex, telegraph and pony express in the pantheon of "obsolete communication methods", when it seems 9 times out of 10, stuff that comes in on the landline is unsolicited sales, unsolicited scams, harassment, or a legitimate authority given bad information by a deadbeat......

I moved in with my GF 8 years ago. She has a landline. I got her to upgrade to a line with CallerID (yes I did pick up the slight extra expense but at the time I only had a phone modem for internet access upgraded to cable a few years later)

Since then 99.99999999999999999% of the incoming calls to our land line are all of the above bolded categories PLUS some slimy member of her immediate family seemed to give out GF's phone number as her own. 800notes and whocallsme websites have been my friend. I have filled many many pages of small notebook paper of numbers to look up.

The only reason GF keeps the landline is that some of the important entities use that number and cell service is sometimes spotty at the house (sometimes it takes up to 24 hours for me to get a voice mail with NO missed calls indicated or if I stand in one spot and get NO signal but I can move 3 feet in either direction and get FULL signal)

[morgana]

Guys, it isn't a landline; I don't have one. It's my cell.

[taxguykarl]

Morgana:
These articles deal with the laws that these collectors may have broken:

Telephone Consumer Protection Act

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

For the later, it's PF who has a case if the collectors discuss his debt with you. You have a case if they call after being told not to (the reason for a certified letter to that effect), threaten you or use any obscenities. This law also restricts the time (8:00 AM to 9:00 PM, your time) and number of call (1 a day--OK so the law isn't perfect).

If that should happen here's a referral service for consumer lawyers.

Definitely record the calls, if it's legal in your state.

[mathnerd]

I feel your pain. My situation was slightly different, but I still wound up having to change my phone number to stop the madness.

[MoonCat]

Get the collector's address. Send them a registered letter saying this letter is their notification to cease and desist. Tell them you WILL file with your, and their, state attorney general if they don't stop (if they're in a different state than yours).

If that doesn't work, then I definitely second Mathnerd's comment. Sometimes changing your phone number, as much of a pain as it is, is your only solution.