wrong number - collections calls
 

Okay, how in the HELL do you get collections agencies to quit calling your number, when they are calling to talk to someone you dont know?

I have 2 scenarios I'm dealing with. I've lived in my apartment for almost a year now, and have had this problem the whole time, and recently, the calls seem to be getting worse.

I come home every day with at least 15 missed calls by the same 2 or 3 different 800 numbers. When I AM home to answer, there's no live person on the line, so I cant tell them "I dont know who 'enrique' is, please quit calling" so they keep on and keep on and KEEP on calling me. I cant even tell you how many different people they've called for, the name is ALWAYS different!

Then, last saturday morning, it wasn't even 9am, a call came through. Luckily, it WAS a live person, and I chewed her out. "It's not even 9am, and you're calling the wrong number!" to which, her response was "Well, do you you know this person?" "No I dont know him! QUIT CALLING ME!" (Normally, I would have been polite, but like I said, it wasn't even 9am yet....)

Lot of good the Do Not Call registry does when it doesn't prevent automatic collections call numbers from calling over and over and OVER again. Why are they allowed to have auotmated calls anyway? At least if it were a person, I could try to be polite and tell them 'I'm sorry, I dont know that person, I've had this number for a year now, you've got the wrong number...."


Is there a way you can prevent certain numbers from successfully dialing you? Or is there any other solutions to this? Has anybody else been in this situation?

GAH!!!

Oh, I can beat that one.

I used to get collect calls from people who were in Western Penitentiary. I felt horrible saying no, but I sure as heck wasn't going to take the call. (Turns out the past president of the local NAACP used to be at my number and they were calling for help/representation).

I would look up the numbers online to see what company they're from, and contact the company directly.

That sucks! I hate automated calls, and to make it worse, you're being hounded about debt that isn't even yours. Yuck!

You can call your phone company and ask them to put a block on your phone so the numbers that you have kept a record of cannot call you anymore. That will only prevent the calls from the numbers you have collected so far... if new ones crop up, then you will have to call to add them.

You can also go to Radio Shack or Best Buy and get a product called The Zapper. It's about $20 and when you attach it to your phone line, it prevents automated calls from coming in. It tricks the automated #s into thinking that your phone line has been disconnected, which in time, makes the companies drop your number from their books. I like this option because it does seem that more and more companies are opting for automated systems.

You can also contact the numbers that the automated messages direct you to. Talk to a live person and explain to them the situation to a SUPERVISOR. They have the authority to remove your number from the books. Depending on who all is calling you, that may be a time consuming option. If all else fails, you can always try to get a new, UNLISTED number.:rolleyes:

Oh my goodness, this sounds great. I'm definitely going to check it out....

It's definitely the automated calls more than live people, so if this thing works, it would eliminate about 90% of the problem. Thanks for the tip!

Hah, wow....


See, I've tried looking up numbers to call the company, and wouldnt ya know, the numbers either dont work, or it's an automated system that's too time consuming to get through to someone.

Jerks.

If you can get a person on the line you can threaten them with going to the police for harassment, particularly since this isn't your debt.

I get those all the time too, for someone with the same last name, different first name. What collections do is call everybody in an area with the same last name, hoping to snare a relative. It's disgusting. When they leave me a message though, I always call them back to tell them I don't know who Shawna is! I have had collections call my house and ask me to give messages to my neighbors also, which I think is really crappy. Do they really think that humiliating someone by telling their neighbors is going to make them pay a bill? 99% of the people would pay it if they could! Sheesh.

We had to change our phone number once due to this. We just recently started getting calls for another person.

We got calls like that all the time a few months ago. It was from an automated service that left us a message every single time they called our house which was about 6 to 7 times per day. We went away on our honeymoon for over 2 weeks and came back to almost 100 voicemails. Omg...I was so angry. The calls would start very early on the weekends - usually around 8am. The automated message would say each time, "We are calling in regards to a very important matter. Please call back immediately." Since it was an automated call and the "important matter" was never said, my husband and I knew that it was probably a debt collector calling for someone else. We figured that if we didn't answer the calls or didn't call them back that eventually they'd give up. No such luck. We tried to get Vonage involved (they're our phone provider) but they were no help. My husband finally answered the call one day and the automated message said, "Please hold while we connect you to an agent." Yay! A live person! My husband chewed them out. They were supposedly looking for a Dave. He told them they were calling a government work line (which is technically correct since my husband is a PhD student at GATech and does a lot of his research from home). That seemed to do the trick and they never called again.

It started again last month with a different debt collector. It was a live person calling each time while we were at work and they'd leave a message saying that they needed to speak with Buford about a very important matter. No Buford's here! They called last Friday while I was taking the day off. I answered and I'll admit that I was not so friendly to them. The calls have stopped though.

How on earth can anyone named "Buford" get credit in the first place? LOLLERS.

Get their phone number first off before you tell them off.

Then tell them you will notify the proper authorities about the harassaing calls.

Notify your local phone company about what is going on. They can with your permission put a tap on your line.

This is the South. It's amazing what people name their kids here. Nothing surprises me anymore.

I was getting these from a law firm in Arizona (and I am in Indiana). I finally called them back and they removed my phone number but not before they harrassed me about "Cedric" and if I knew him (they apparently thought I was lying about not knowing him). My husband's company has an attorney that works for them (in-house) so he ended up calling them on our behalf as well and cited some laws regarding telephone harrassment.

Only law enforcement agencies can "tap" your phone, and it has to be for a very good reason.

Most phone companies do not allow blocking for these type of calls. Even if you WERE able to get their number, the calls are generated using auto-dialers that use hundreds, maybe thousands of different numbers.

The do not call list would not help you in this case because the number is presumably in databases thanks to the person(s) they are seeking. Chances are, someone else had your number at one point.

I have had this problem since we moved two years ago. "Sergio" - his real name - lived in the same town but his phone was disconnected. The standard time the phone company waits between reassigning phone numbers is 6-24 months, usually on the later side. Well, they gave us Sergio's number after 2 months. So we have had collectors, relatives, babymamas, kids, stores, and everyone else that Sergio knew, calling us.

We went to get my car tuned up one day, and the auto center had our number associated with Sergio, and you guessed it, he had bounced a check. We had to bring in our phone bill to show them that we had that number.

The best calls are the ones in Spanish. I speak about 3% Spanish, and I try to tell them that Sergio doesn't have this number anymore. I have been called "puta" more than once.

Good luck. The phone company told me our only option was to change our number, but seeing as we had just moved and given everyone our new number, we decided to deal with it.

I would do a couple things...

First, I'd call the collection company back and talk to a supervisor. Pressing 0 almost always gets you to an operator. Confirm with them that it appears the debtor they're trying to reach has provided them (or their client) with a bogus telephone number, since you do not know the person and have had that telephone number in your name for X number of years.

Second, I'd call the company the collection agency is collecting the debt on behalf of, to make sure they have all of the above information, too.

Third, I'd order a copy of my credit report to make sure that no one has opened any accounts in my name. ESPECIALLY if I was getting a lot of calls like this, and from people looking for more than one person. This is how identity theft works.

One of my best friend's names is Buford (and he's a junior). And since he's lives in LA (near New Orleans), I doubt you would be getting calls for him. I can't speak for the other Bufords in the world.

EVERYDAY, I get calls at around 8:30 am and its always those automated "please stay on the line for a representative to speak to you" calls.

Seriously, if these companies don't even put in the effort to be a live person on the phone, I don't put in the effort to answer.

But I should, because I need to get these people to STOP calling everyday.

I used to get something similar... the recording would say if you are not -insert name- do not listen any further.

One time I actually did, and it was just an automated message saying to call a certain 1-800 number and I called them back, told them that person they were looking for was not at my number and I haven't heard from them again.

I've never worked for an actual collection agency, but I have worked in an insurance collections department in the past. I know the calls are annoying, I do. But the collector is simply doing their job, trying to recoup from someone who owes a debt. Most people who are avoiding collectors will lie and say that the collector has the wrong number. So if the collector doesn't accept it at first, just give them some more information.

And as in any situation, the nicer you are to them the more likely it is that they will leave you be. I will fully admit that when someone was rude or abrasive with me it made me much less likely to cooperate with their request, especially since I had a style that I tried to be as pleasant as possible because I felt I was able to collect more of the debts when I was decent to people.

Not everyone who works collections is evil. :)

Its taken a year, but I've gotten rid of almost all of the calls for the former owner of my cell phone number. I started call back and staying on the line even though they say hang up if this message is not for you. Most of the operators I had where very nice and removed me from the list, asking only how long I had the number so they could update their records. There was only one company that I had a problem with, and I ended up reporting them because the operators keep insisting I needed to provide them with my full name and SSN.

For the past four years these insane credit collectors have been trying to reach certain particular person(s) and every time i either speak to or call these companies back to explain, "hey they dont have this number, this has been my number for yrs please take this number off your list" they say they will and apolgize and never do!

I am listed in the phone book as L Thompson. so i get calls for; larry, lenore, lawrence, oh my number #1 debtor lakesha Thompson....they go to the local directory and see L Thompson and assume they are reaching the person listed above.....i cant get them to stop. it is dam annoying at 8:15 am on a sat.

My first cell phone number was exactly the same as the Harris County Tax Office - only with a different area code (Houston has 3 different area codes). I'd have tons of messages from little old ladies wanting to get tax relief - I felt obliged to call them and tell them to call the number with 713 instead of 281. Verizon was happy to change my number after about a week.

My daughter has gotten so many calls for "Tom" that her message states "This is Gypsyboots - not Tom. If you are calling for Tom, he will not call you back, because this is Gypsyboots, not Tom."

I used to do that too!! lol

When I first got my "new" cell phone number (almost 6 yrs ago), a WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE kept calling for someone named 'Christine'. I'm guessing my # used to be Christine's and after awhile the calls eventually stopped after putting a message on there like that for a couple of weeks. I still got a few sporadically, but not as often as I did the first year of me having that number.

I got a call for Christine about 3 months ago.. lol Yea... I got that number in 2002!

Someone with my same 1st and last name has been taking out title loans/payday advancements. They got ahold of our number and started being rude to me! They told me if it was my name, then I should know why they are calling. And that was all I needed to know.

After threatening harassment and letting them know I had their number on cid...
1)I asked who they were collecting for.
2) I told them to verify the last 4 of the social, birth year, address... Of course, it was not me they were looking for!
3) I demanded to know if this was simply a skip trace (meaning they call anyone whose name resembles anything close to what they are looking for...) or if they had my info through their client's account information (making sure this wasn't identity fraud)
The company tried to snowblow me several times. But, then I told them I was getting the police involved since this was possible identity fraud and since they refused to cooperate.
That was all it took. They told me they would pull the number from the system.

We took no chances. We pulled our home line. We weren't actually using it. So, it's a lot cheaper just having a cell bill. AND, it solves so many probs.