Customer call at...home??

[BethB]

My mother-in-law has(or had) an 800 number for family to call in case of emergency or such stuff. We, probably like so many on the planet, don't pick up the phone if we don't recognize the number. We just let it go to the machine. Well we got a call, didn't know the number, and the machine picked up and did its whole "leave a name, number and brief message" thing and we ended up hearing this after the beep...
"I would like to place an order to you but if your message doesn't tell me what you sell how am I going to order. I guess you won't get my order and I will go somewhere else...click"
My husband and I heard this whole thing, gave each other the "WTF" look and busted up laughing. I think that was honestly a first and last for her.

[Soulstealer]

If I'm interpreting this correct someone just calls random 800 numbers looking to place orders without knowing what is being sold? Does he go by if he the string of digits look pretty or something?

[Bandit]

My home phone used to be a mechanic.

I have had many calls and messages looking for car repair information. And have left messages.

My outgoing message is "Hello. You have reached NPA-NXX-XXXX. If you are calling for car repair, you have dialed the wrong number.".

And yes, sometimes, I have abused the callers who don't want to accept they have got the wrong number.

B

[Evil Queen]

My parents had a 1-800 number for a while. Unfortuantely, no one could remember the darned thing so they got rid of it.

[Fenrus]

I used to get the same thing at my parents house.... Their phone number is the same as a local bank's customer care line, except for the bank, you have to dial 1-800.... guess how many people don't do that?

Needless to say, the first line of their answering machine is "If you're calling for <insert bank name here>, dial 1-800 first." Only cuz they wouldn't take my suggestion of "Die in a fire, or learn to use a telephone."

Even the bank calls my parents house... *sigh*

[IT Grunt]

The ol' wrong number. My home phone I discovered (very quickly, in fact) once belonged to a fellow who had since moved away. When I got the number, our house had just been built. All that had been at our address before was dirt, and lots of it. Even that argument was not enough to sway the people calling for this guy, and by golly, they had the right number! Not even a trivial fact of the house it was assigned to being new was going to deter them from finding their drinking buddy/brother in law/uncle/guy who owes them money. Thankfully as the years passed they finally got the hint, and those calls are now few and far between.

The one incident like this I'll never forget was the time my wife had a guy call her in her apartment before we were married. Her number apparently had once belonged to someone selling a car. So, he calls and wants to see the car. Despite numerous explanations to this asshat that she is a) not selling a car and b) has no idea who he's talking about, he refused to give up and began to yell that he was coming to see that damn car! He stopped calling after that, and I can only imagine that he went to the address that was likely in the ad to harass some other poor soul who also probably knew nothing about it. I think it's likely the idiot got an old copy of the ad pad.

[Muses_nightmare]

For awhile I had some creditors phoning my place, looking for I'm assuming the person who had the number before me. They called for weeks after me and my boyfriend moved into our place and got the number.

The most entertaining wrong number I've had was the text messages I got asking about weed and whether they'd meet them at "willy's" house. Even after I sent a message back telling them that they had the wrong number.

Oh and some random girl Texted me because she found my number on her phone and didn't know who's it was.

[Mamadrae]

My husband had someone call his cell phone once and started going on about their horrible day.
He got really confused and told them they had the wrong number. The woman did not believe him because she was looking for a Mike, which is my husband's name and he always answers his phone "This is Mike."

The really funny thing is I was standing next to him when this happened and went "Who is it?" The girl heard and went "Tell whoever it is your talking to your wife."
My husband without missing a beat went "That would be my wife ma'am. I'm sure she's going to be just a mite curious as to why I have a strange woman calling me here."

The woman finally hung up but called back 3 MORE TIMES! It took me finally snatching the phone and going "Sex Shop how can we fuck you today?" to get her to stop.

[Misanthropical]

It took 3 years and finally a threat to sue before a collection agency stopped calling and yelling at me that I was Jessica pretending to be someone else.

The final straw was one of their collectors called and screamed obscenities into my answering machine. I called back and talked to supervisor and told him that for the last 3 years I have been telling them I'm not Jessica and have never been Jessica and if I get one more call I'm going after them. The calls finally stopped.

I changed my cell phone number and got calls for Rene and people yelling at me that they had the correct phone number and asking why she would give them my number if I wasn't her. They finally stopped after I started going ape shit on them every time they called.

[wraiths_crono]

we still get calls for a landscaper.. guy wont take the hint tho.. had to be meanish and say "OK that number is no longer theirs, and besides ive only two swords, and don't know enough Mexicans to get the job done sorry!" been a week now, still has not called back

[Gurndigarn]

For me, it's not the phone. I've lived in my present house eight years now, and earlier this year I started getting junk mail for some company that hasn't been here since, I believe, the owner before the one I bought the house from.

[PepperElf]

Their phone number is the same as a local bank's customer care line, except for the bank, you have to dial 1-800.... guess how many people don't do that?

one of my friends in hawaii had that issue. some local company had a 1-800-number and the locals would try to just dial him directly without the 800 part and my friend's house phone would ring.

[KellyHabersham]

a few years back, I had some woman leave a message on my answering machine saying something about how she'd been told to call and ask for a manager, her name was "Mrs. Smith", XXXXXX was her account number,......etc. Those were the only details she gave though, so I had no idea what sort of business she thought she was calling, or whom she was trying to get ahold of.

[STEELMAN]

I used to work with a guy who had the exact same name as another person in town. This other guy obviously didn't pay his bills and there were constant bill collectors calling my coworker. He just had fun with it, ie: Screw you, I'm not paying. Call your lawyer, I don't care. You can't repo it because I set it on fire!

[ADoyle90815]

My number is one digit off from the harbor department's security line, and occasionally I'll get calls asking for the harbor department. What was a bit odd was the voicemail saying that there was an unlocked gate at the harbor, even though my message clearly says that you've reached a residence. If I really wanted to mess with telemarketers, I could answer the phone with "Harbor Department"

I found that my cell phone number belonged to some Hispanic guy named Louis because sometimes I get calls from people speaking Spanish, or one doctor's office nurse who didn't understand that I never met that person, so there's no way he'll find out that his appointment was canceled. I eventually had to get my provider to block that number.