Harrassment?! I'll give you harrassment!

[Seshat]

For a couple of months, we were constantly getting calls for Mr A. Eventually, someone called who said 'but he gave us this number yesterday'.

They were kind enough to promise to ask him to stop giving out our number as his. We never did find out if he was deliberately giving out the wrong number.

[myswtghst]

The funny thing is, with my cell phone nonsense listed above, is that I've had the same phone number for at least 5 or 6 years, and some of the wrong numbers have started up VERY recently, as in, the last few months. The weirdest was a guy calling for some cement company, who simply could not believe it was my personal cell phone number.

At my work, we do a lot of out calling, especially if we're trying to follow up with a customer to make sure the tech isn't lying when he says that he fixed their trouble, and we get to make all kinds of wrong numbers. People get angry with us, but hey, we can only work with what we're given. I've also had customers call in angry that their case was closed without their permission, only to have me explain to them that we couldn't reach them as the phone number they gave us was no good.

[Dips]

Two stories:

1. Before we were married, my husband used to sleep in a bedroom off the front room at his stepdad's trucking company and warehouse. He'd pick up the phone after hours because that was the only way his friends could reach him (my now FIL was OK with this as long as he was polite when a customer called). He got a lot of calls for a nice restauarant in the same town.

One guy wouldn't believe that Mystic Warehouse/Currier's Express and Backstreet were not the same thing. He kept trying to make reservations and kept calling back when Mr. Dips hung up.

Finally Mr. Dips took the reservations, but made sure to make up an incredibly unlikely name so that no real employees at the restaurant would get in trouble. I think it was something like "Make sure you tell them that Juan Pierre Carlos, the maitre d', took these reservations."

It was kind of a snooty place, so I'm sure they sent the jerk packing after he made a fool of himself.

2. We have a fairly uncommon last name and it just so happens there is another family in town with the same name. The father also happens to have the same FIRST name as my husband. The other guys had an unlisted number. If we got a wrong number we couldn't give them the right one because we didn't know it. He also got a lot of calls from bill collectors and other persistant people who didn't believe us when we said they had the wrong Mr. Dips.

Anyway, the other Mr. Dips must have missed some important calls because he called us and asked us to give out his number when he got an important call.

So we did. Everybody who called got his number, including bill collectors and telmarketers.

Then he called us back. He only wanted us to give out his number to people he wanted to talk to. I politely told him that if he wanted his calls screened, he would have to pay for a secretary to do it and we weren't interested in the job. His choices were we give it to everyone or we give it to no-one. He decided on no-one, but we've noticed that he no longer has an unlisted number. He either learned his lesson or didn't pay his phone bill.

From what I understand he now gets some wrong numbers meant for us, but at least we have a listed number so people CAN reach us.

[skeptic53]

My brother has the same name as a TV star, he disappoints a lot of desk clerks when he travels.

[Jester]

My name is not particularly common, ditto the last name, although both names have been used as TV character's names so they aren't super-unusual. But until college I'd never met anyone with the same name as myself.

This actually happened to my friend when he moved down here to Key West. His name is Jack Terry, neither name being hugely uncommon in itself.

So, he goes into a restaurant to apply for a job. He fills out the application, and goes to talk to the manager.

JACK: "Hi, I'm Jack Terry, I'm here to apply for the opening you advertised."
MANAGER: "You CAN'T be Jack Terry!"
JACK: "Um, yes. I am. Why?"
MANAGER: [pointing to a server working there] "Because THAT'S Jack Terry!"

Jack got the job.

Later, they both ended up working together at ANOTHER bar.

Freaky stuff.

[skeptic53]

My name is not particularly common, ditto the last name, although both names have been used as TV character's names so they aren't super-unusual. But until college I'd never met anyone with the same name as myself.

At school there were 2 other guys with the same name. One spelled the last name a bit different, he was in several of my classes but I never had problems with him. The other had the same spelling. I never met him, but he must have been quite the playa. My first year in Eugene I was in the phone book and he wasn't. I'd get perfumed letters, little cutesy gifts like stuffed animals, and breathless calls from ditzy women.

"Hi Skeptic53, this is Cyndy!"
"Cyndy??"
"We met at the Tri-Delt party, don't you remember??"

etc. etc etc.

I found out his number and address, forwarded his mail and gave the right number to mistaken callers.

The next year the situation was reversed, he was in the book & I was not. Old friends of mine would be passing through and would try to reach me, he'd bark "You got the wrong guy" and hang up. I was an older student doing a second bachelor's degree, I had moved a lot, so I had friends from two different high schools, my first college, friends from Peace Corps, etc. Many of them were relatively mobile so keeping everyone informed of my current address and phone was not 100% possible. I missed several important letters & documents that he didn't forward, and missed seeing several old buddies. I tried calling him and asking him to extend me the courtesy I extended to him and he told me to "fuck off". Sorry to stereotype, but he was a typical SAE fraternity jerk.

[Hobgoblin]

FCCR: Hello
CRP: I am coming to reposses your car

I don't know where you are, but around here, repo men just take the car. There's no forewarning. That get's the repo guys shot.

They come in the middle of the night and when you get up, it's gone. THEN you get the call telling you what happened.

[reformedwaitress]

I feel sorry for whatever person gets my old cell number. I got my first cell phone (with my family, of course) when I started high school -- 1996. And the number never changed. So I had the same cell phone number for 10 years. People got used to it. People I hadn't talked to in years would call it and be so happy to get me.

Then I moved to Savannah. And had some problems with this guy I used to know in Atlanta. So I got a new local cell phone number.

So yeah, I feel bad for anyone that gets my old cell number, because they'll probably have people calling looking for me. I feel like I should call it and apologize to whoever answers!

[FormerCallingCardRep]

I've changed the voice mail on my cell. It states the you have reached FCCR at 482-XXXX, if you are trying to reach CT then his number is 428-XXXX. If it's a number that I do not kinow I let it go to voice mail. I have gotted rid of the majority of his calls that way. The only problem is the automated calls.

[Becks]

People will call multiple times, leave hangup voicemails (so I know they had to wait through the VM message) and still be shocked when I'm not who they're looking for. Or, they'll leave voicemails for someone who is obviously not me. And yes, my VM message is "Hi, you've reached myswtghst, I can't come to the phone right now, so yada yada yada....." so I don't think they're listening.

That used to happen to me, but it's pretty much tapered off. These people better be glad that I didn't have a pre-pay phone!!!!

[Lyse]

For all of you that have a one-off number, here is Jerky McJerkson's opposite.
Called of a guy, and his answering machine at 555-123-4567 and his answering machine had this on it (obviously edited for privacy ) "Hi, you've reached John Smith at 555-123-4567, please leave a message at the tone. If you've called for Acme Products, their number is 555-123-4576. Thanks!"

When he called back, I recognized him right off. He said that he was getting so many calls for the company, that he looked up the # and put it on his machine for when he wasn't there to give it to them in person. There had been some type of misprint a year or two earlier in phonebooks.

It just struck me as such a cool way to deal with something that he could have let himself get annoyed and pissy about.

[Crazyredhead]

People used to get so angry when I couldn't take their sub orders over the phone.

So I started. <_<

I did the same thing when I lived on Ft Campbell, but it wasn't Subway. My phone number was similar to the hospitals Blue Clinic. I used to get calls all day long from people wanting to make appointment to be seen. If I was home I took the calls, after awhile I got tired of them and let them go to vm. One day I got this bright idea. I started scheduling everyone for 9am the next day, but it was usually on the day that I had my appointment. I would like schedule 5-10 people for the same time on the same day.

Arachne, I understand that it was wrong to do that, but it was funny as hell when I went in for my appointment and there were about 6 other people there for the same time. I didn't understand how wrong this was until the day I got a job there and had to explain to these patients that they don't have an appointment and had to reschedule. Some of them actually said that I sounded like the person that they talked to. I stopped doing that cause I didn't want to get in trouble. But it was funny at the time I first thought about it.

[opscaddy]

My mom's number is one digit off of some local medical school. Anyway, when I was in high school, they printed their number wrong in an international mailing of some sort, and for MONTHS we were getting really odd calls. Despite the fact that we had a fairly normal machine message ("Hi, you've reached the _____s. Please leave a message and we'll get back to you!") we would get all sorts of messages left in foreign languages - like, Chinese in the middle of the night, or Italian first thing in the morning. It would have been annoying if it wasn't so darn funny. I would come home from school and listen to the 10 or so messages on the machine, many in foreign languages. Really impressed my friends.

My current phone # isn't nearly as fun.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

There is a loser guy in our area that is giving everyone, (creditors and girls he picks up in bars) my cell phone number as his number. My cell exchange is 482 and his phone number is 428. I have had girls call me at 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning and cuss me out for being at their boyfriends house at that time. The strangest call I got was from a car repo person. Here is how the call went:

FCCR - Me
CRP - Car Repo Person

FCCR: Hello
CRP: I am coming to reposses your car
FCCR: No you are not going to reposses my car
CRP: You have not been making your car payments and if you do not pay in 24 hours I will reposses your car
FCCR: No you will not. I paid cash for my car and have the title for it.
CRP: You do not have the title for it, the bank does
FCCR: If you show up and even touch my car I will call the police and have you arrested for grand theft auto.
CRP: Ms T. I have full right to reposses your car, you have not been making your payments.
FCCR: Wait one minute, who are you calling
CRP: C T
FCCR: You have called the wrong number this is FCCR
CRP: Sorry (hangs up)

[myswtghst]

I'll get that all the time on my cell. People will call multiple times, leave hangup voicemails (so I know they had to wait through the VM message) and still be shocked when I'm not who they're looking for. Or, they'll leave voicemails for someone who is obviously not me. And yes, my VM message is "Hi, you've reached myswtghst, I can't come to the phone right now, so yada yada yada....." so I don't think they're listening.