Texting the Wrong Number

[Ironclad Alibi]

Not anymore. Not sure when it started, but telemarketing cell phones is fair game now, as far as I know.... I only know this because my Dad told me he put the whole family on the "Do Not Call" list.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, it is still illegal for most telemarketers to call cell phones in the US.

[Andara Bledin]

Not anymore. Not sure when it started, but telemarketing cell phones is fair game now, as far as I know.... I only know this because my Dad told me he put the whole family on the "Do Not Call" list.

Because of the way cellphone service is billed, it's unlikely to ever be legal for people to do unsolicited telemarketing to them until it changes.

And on the whole "your auto warranty has already or is about to expire" calls are pure garbage. They have nothing to do with your car. How do I know this? I've been getting this phone spam for years, despite the fact that for nearly the last 2 years I haven't had a car, and even when I did, I have never had a warranty.

You don't have to have a number to get a caller blocked for harassment. You have to complain a lot to your phone provider with the times of the calls. It will take some time, and several calls, but it can eventually happen. They could do it back in the days before caller ID, so they should have little trouble doing it now.

^-.-^

[Kogarashi]

Not anymore. Not sure when it started, but telemarketing cell phones is fair game now, as far as I know.... I only know this because my Dad told me he put the whole family on the "Do Not Call" list.

What Andara and Ironclad said. It's really only legal if they've established a business relationship, but I can't think of any that I've started recently.

Andara, the problem with the Spanish one is that the number changes each time they call, and thus Sprint says they can't do anything about it except change our numbers. Maybe I'll try your tactic of recording the time and date of each call. But it's especially annoying because my husband didn't catch any sort of business name associated with it (for us to call back and tell not to call us), and we're rather leery of hitting the 1 to see what the rest of the message has to say.

[Andara Bledin]

Doing a Google search on that Spanish message, I found a site called WhoCallsMe.com that has a user submitted database of numbers of annoying callers with brief comments from the users themselves about the calls.

For S&G I put in 867-5309. It gets a response.

Amusing, but not particularly useful, especially with how easy it is for people to spoof their real number, now.

^-.-^

[draftermatt]

nothing[/I] to do with your car. How do I know this? I've been getting this phone spam for years, despite the fact that for nearly the last 2 years I haven't had a car, and even when I did, I have never had a warranty.

I've gotten a few calls and a few post cards about that.

The last time I pressed to speak to a rep and the guy comes on "What make & model is your car"

I responded - I've got a question, I got a call like this about 6 months ago, so wouldn't it have expired by now? And besides none of my vehicles are new enough for a warranty.

He hung up on me.

What kind of morals does someone have to work for a company like that?

[spookysonata]

There was a guy who used to call my cell several times a week, asking for "Greg O'Brien". The first couple times I was polite, telling him "sorry, you have the wrong number." He'd say, "Oh" and hang up. But he kept calling!

Finally I said, "Look, you keep calling for Greg O'Brien and I keep telling you that you have the wrong number. He isn't here. He isn't going to be here. I don't know him. This is my phone and I am the only one who will EVER be here so stop calling, fer chrissake!"

He said, "Well, you don't have to be rude!" and hung up. Haven't heard from him since.

[Aethian]

Got a couple in the past hour. First one was Sallie Mae calling yet again for someone who doesn't live here and according to the land lady NEVER lived her. I tell the rep this and she says she'll take my number out of the system. I counter with "You mean like the last seven calls have done?" There was no response and I was a little bitchy but yea....after the third one I have no love for their computer system.

Then after that I get sallie mae AGAIN and this time its a higher up who demands to know why I haven't paid on my 50 thousand in student loans how my paycheck will be garnished and how I've ruined my credit forever. I sat quietly through this and then as calmly as I could asked for who they were trying to reach. It was one of the names from before. I told her that I was not this person and I was the only one living in this house besides my eight kids. So she starts in again how one of the kids were a co siger and that because they weren't paying I need to pay up and I just raised an eyebrow. So after being able to take down SS numbers, her name, of course I had the caller id. I restatted that my kids were my pack team and I didn't know that canines of the Huskey variety could be co signers. And that I was going to be going to the sec attorney and turn in the fact that this supervisor had given me prividgle information of people who don't like at my number, have never lived at my number and that she was verbabbly attacking me. I have never gotten hung up fasted then how she hung up.

[Jack7957]

The last time I pressed to speak to a rep and the guy comes on "What make & model is your car"

I would have told them they should already know that since they're calling me.

[Andara Bledin]

Then after that I get sallie mae AGAIN and this time its a higher up who demands to know why I haven't paid on my 50 thousand in student loans how my paycheck will be garnished and how I've ruined my credit forever.

Wait up, hold the presses! They actually told you that they were trying to collect a debt for this person and even told you how much?!?

Definitely go to the authorities (whichever is applicable) with this. Oooh, that is so against the law!

(b) COMMUNICATION WITH THIRD PARTIES. --Except as provided in section 804, without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector, or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, or as reasonably necessary to effectuate a
{{4-30-97 p.6619}}postjudgment judicial remedy, a debt collector may not communicate, in connection with the collection of any debt, with any person other than the consumer, his attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law, the creditor, the attorney of the creditor, or the attorney of the debt collector.

This goes so far that they aren't even allowed to infer on an evelope, beyond their own company name, that a piece of mail is an attempt to collect a debt. From what I've been told and what I've read, the collector actually has to absolve the debtor of any debt for which the third party rule has been broken, but I don't know the specifics.

You can see all of the info HERE.

^-.-^

[Aethian]

Wait up, hold the presses! They actually told you that they were trying to collect a debt for this person and even told you how much?!?

Definitely go to the authorities (whichever is applicable) with this. Oooh, that is so against the law!



This goes so far that they aren't even allowed to infer on an evelope, beyond their own company name, that a piece of mail is an attempt to collect a debt. From what I've been told and what I've read, the collector actually has to absolve the debtor of any debt for which the third party rule has been broken, but I don't know the specifics.

You can see all of the info HERE.

^-.-^

They even gave me the ss # of the two people on the loan. *murrs* I'm waiting to see if they are going to call back again, if they do call again then I'm going to report it.

[Andara Bledin]

They even gave me the ss # of the two people on the loan. *murrs* I'm waiting to see if they are going to call back again, if they do call again then I'm going to report it.

Oh, no, no, no. I haven't been the victim of it, but these people are enabling identity theft and breaking the law!

Report their asses, post haste, please!

^-.-^

[redmountaingoldfish]

And on the whole "your auto warranty has already or is about to expire" calls are pure garbage.

Yeah, I got one of those while staying at my parents house. Although I was suspicious I stayed on the line until I got a person. The conversation:

Phone Guy: **Spiel about warranties**
Me: Which of our three cars are you calling about?
Phone Guy: Uhhh..... Um...... The... Uh....
Me: Thought so. **click**

[KellyHabersham]

I used to get voicemail messages on my cell phone for someone named Regina, apparently an aunt was really desperate to get ahold of her. But that stopped once I got a new phone and changed my number.

[RobotPlanet]

I have a story along these lines; I REALLY hope it was a wrong number...

So I live about an hour away from my parents. I went home for Christmas and returned home a few days later. The evening I returned home, I got a call from my dad around 11:30. He was asking if I was okay, I told him I was fine. He sounded really freaked out but wouldn't tell me what was up. I called my mom to find out what was going on and she told me this story (I'm probably leaving out some details, as it was a while ago):

My parents got a phone call on their land line at around 11:15. My dad answered it. He heard voices and garbled background noise, and was like, "hello? hello?" All of a sudden a girl's voice says "I'm being raped." He is understandably freaked out, and thought it was me calling. So he's still on the phone and all he can hear is what sounds like a girl crying and she says again, "I'm being raped." All of a sudden the call drops. So my dad is super freaked out (he and my mom have two daughters including me) and goes and gets my mom and gets her to call my sister on her cell while he calls me on his, so that they can make sure we're okay.

All of a sudden the land line rings again. My dad answers it, again there is only garbled background noise. He says into the phone again, "hello? hello? who is this? etc." and the call dropped.

After my mom told me this I made her call the police. Unfortunately there was nothing they could do, as my mom had *69 but the number was blocked. They said if the person called back to let them know, but I really hope it was a prank call and not some poor girl trying to get help. The thing that really freaked us out was the second call, my fiance said he had the image in his head of a hand reaching out and just pressing the call button...