Wrong Number!

[raudf]

When I got my first cell phone, I kept getting calls from my own cell phone company's collections department for someone named, "Earl." I had to finally call the number, give them the cell phone number and ask them to see if they have any accounts other than his listed for that number. Yeah, there was, his and mine. I politely pointed out that this was my number now and that I'd rather not have to deal with a deadbeat's phone calls.. She promptly removed the number from the account.

I felt bad for my mom when I passed the number off to her and she had to deal with psychotic rants of my late psycho-mother-in-law. *sigh* At least Mom loved taunting the rabid EW.

[MadMike]

I learned back in my college days ('88-'92) that people do not listen to answering machine messages.

I discovered the same thing when I still lived in my first apartment. I kept getting messages on my machine for people I never heard of. After getting several of these, I changed my greeting to say something like, "Hi, this is Mike. I can't take your call now. If you're calling for Mike, leave a message and I'll get back to you. If you're calling for someone other than Mike, you have the wrong number."

I thought that would take care of it, but I STILL kept getting messages that started with, "Hi, this message is for (some name that clearly wasn't Mike.)

I kept getting calls for some guy I never even heard of. These places just kept calling and harassing me even though I told them I don't know this guy. One woman wanted to argue with about it and asked me for my name. I said 'none of your business' and she got mad!

One of my coworkers who used to sit a couple seats over from me had one of those. He has a fairly common first and last name, and they were calling for some other guy who had the same name. Apparently they were pressing him for information, because I heard him shout of that, "No, I am NOT giving you my SS number!"

[Argus]

Apparently they were pressing him for information, because I heard him shout of that, "No, I am NOT giving you my SS number!"

One of them settled for reading off the other guy's SS number and being informed that it wasn't mine.

[PepperElf]

you can also file reports at the FTC and the FCC against them.

One of them settled for reading off the other guy's SS number and being informed that it wasn't mine.

IIRC you can actually use that against them since it's a violation of federal law ...


although you know this is why I kept Billy's number even after i got a new phone.
I don't get calls for him often but... 95% of the time it's just friends of Billy or businesses checking up to see if he needs service again. cos... i've learned to deal with billy's calls... not sure i'd want to face the hell of some deadbeat's bullshit.

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

I moved into a new flat years ago, and the phone was still connected. The previous resident, it appears, was a girl called Stephanie who was a ummm... personal entertainer.

The reason I know this? The first two days the phone rang off the hook, with all these men looking for Stephanie.

The clincher was the last call I answered. He asked 'did I know what Stephanie did?' No, but I sort of have an idea by now. 'Do you do the same thing?' Oh hell no, I don't! Then he mentioned he might just turn up and see.....

Cue me setting a meat cleaver under the lounge and changing the damn phone number ASAP! He never did show, thankfully.

[pltkcelestial18]

This company or w/e called me 3 times within 2 minutes Monday night while I was at work and two times within 2 minutes Tuesday morning when my phone was almost dead, but haven't called since then.

I'm not going to go out of my way to call them back and tell them to quit calling me, but if they do call me again, I'm going to politely tell them that I don't know the person they're looking for and will report them if they keep calling me.

I did receive a call yesterday from a car dealership (looked the number up) around noon basically asking if I wanted to refinance my car. I told them it was paid off and they promptly hung up.

[Cooper]

Ever since my family moved to our current house, we got a great number. It has 4 of 1 number, and 2 of 2 other numbers. (It made the whole 'read your number in french' assignment really easy. XD) The problem is that some guy, who presumably had the number TWELVE years ago (that's how long we've had this number) is a deadbeat. So every few months, on the dot, we get people calling us.

My fav was one lady who was actually very nice. I explained the situation, and she crossed our number off the list. The phone rang again almost immediately, for the same thing. It was the same woman. She said: "Oh my gosh, I just called you. I've found your number a few more times on this list, so I think I've got it all now. Sorry!"

So now you know. They might actually be taking your number off their list, but it doesn't mean that it isn't still there.

[PepperElf]

I moved into a new flat years ago, and the phone was still connected. The previous resident, it appears, was a girl called Stephanie who was a ummm... personal entertainer.

The reason I know this? The first two days the phone rang off the hook, with all these men looking for Stephanie.

The clincher was the last call I answered. He asked 'did I know what Stephanie did?' No, but I sort of have an idea by now. 'Do you do the same thing?' Oh hell no, I don't! Then he mentioned he might just turn up and see.....

Cue me setting a meat cleaver under the lounge and changing the damn phone number ASAP! He never did show, thankfully.

i'd say that's worth a call to the police for threats.
and changing the number is good, it doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't know the address.

[mhkohne]

So now you know. They might actually be taking your number off their list, but it doesn't mean that it isn't still there.

Even if they take you off, these folk are always looking for more info about deadbeats-the next bunch they call might give them that same dead number because that's the last thing they had for the deadbeat.

If they become bothersome, look up the fair debt collection practices act. Section 805 has a bit about ceasing communications, and there is also a bit about harrassment.

[corwin02]

I just love this way of solving it

http://notalwaysworking.com/af-fair-...d-a-call/28298

[Catwoman2965]

I get calls in bunches, from collection agencies, attorneys, etc. looking for someone who a. doens't live there, b. I have no clue who they are, and c. couldn't have had this number anytime in the last 9 years as I have.

Most of the calls are robocalls, but what I've ended up doing is simply calling back the numbers, telling them I got a call for this person, and to please correct their information, as this is NOT her number, I don't know her, and she's never lived here. I've honeslty never had any issues; any call I make they've apologized, and said we will fix our records to reflect that this is NOT her phone number. I've never had anyone yell, scream, threaten, or question me about this person.

[Dytchdoctir]

This.

http://notalwaysworking.com/af-fair-...d-a-call/28298

I may stop visiting the Not Always web site, too many of these stories don't pass the "BS" smell test.

[Ghel]

I think I mentioned that I used to get calls on my cell phone for a "Patty," from several different people over the course of more than a year. I used to just ignore them, but once, a woman left a message saying she hadn't heard from "Patty" in a while, and she was worried about her, so I rang her back and said she had the wrong number. And if she was worried about "Patty," she should try to get hold of her some other way. The caller sounded like such a sweet little old lady, and I didn't want her to worry about her friend.

But worse was the messages we got on our answering machine from a collection agency for a month or so. I didn't recognize the name they were asking for until I mentioned it to my husband. He said it was his ex's new name. She never lived in this house or had that phone number, and she (obviously) didn't have that last name until she remarried. It sounds like she had given her lender or the collection agency our number on purpose. I called the collection agency back and told them that no one by that name had ever lived here. They asked if I knew her, or knew her number, and I honestly said that I didn't. After that, we didn't get any more calls for her.

[mhkohne]

It sounds like she had given her lender or the collection agency our number on purpose.

She might not have. The collection agency probably had info from before the 'ex', and followed all the threads - including the ones that lead to you guys. Annoying for you, but probably nothing nefarious on anyone's part.

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

i'd say that's worth a call to the police for threats.
and changing the number is good, it doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't know the address.

Yeah, I thought about it.

He did know the address too. I was pretty darned emphatic that he wouldn't be welcome if he turned up (and hubby wouldn't be happy either), and thankfully that seemed to be enough to deter him.