good ole cell phones

[jp88]

I have been getting all kinds of calls wanting collection from the person that used to have my new cell number.Verizon says I will have to change my number to stop this but the next one might be worse.I am wondering if this person is still giving this number out to keep from being bothered??I was hoping eventually this would stop but it seems to be getting worse in the last two weeks.I have had this phone for going on three months.At first it was an occasional 1-800 number wanting to get a hold of this person.Have any had this problem?

 

[I wanna Farmall]

Tell them to quit calling or you"ll report them for harassment.

 

[JT]

As Lanse said, if you tell them not to call and they continue, tell them the next time you will report tham to your local states attorneys office for harrassment, because if you tell them to stop, legally they must stop calling you.

 

[Two Dogs]

Who can you complain to that will do any good? I have the same problem because someone whose name is the same as mine owes money on a car or something. I told him it ain"t me and he wanted my SSN. I told him to F.O. Their number shows up several times a week on caller ID. It gets ignored. TDF

 

[I wanna Farmall]

Hopefully they'll see that youre not him, and quit calling.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Amongst other things......

https://www.donotcall.gov/

might help.



Steve

 

[Anonymous-0]

I had a similar thing happen to me awhile back. I finally told them that "an attorney has advised me that any and all further comunication will be in writing", and hang up. Haven't heard a peep since....

 

[Two Dogs]

Sadly, like most things run by the government, that site is down more than up. I have managed to file several complaints when I can catch it working. No response of course. Thanks, TDF

 

[Lanse]

Wow, i'll remember that one!!!

 

[Two Dogs]

Apparently not. Their auto-dialer doesn"t seem to get tired. Some days the calls are within a couple of minutes of being an hour apart. TDF

 

[Anonymous-0]

Perhaps you could, using an insulting tone of voice, tell them that if they think you owe them money on a car, then they can just come and get it.

If they respond by actually doing that, and they show up and try to take YOUR car, call the police and have them charged with grand theft auto and be sure to press charges. If they show up at YOUR DOOR, use that cell phone to call 911 on the spot, right in front of them, and demand that police come immediately to arrest them!

If they can't get their facts correct, then arrest is what they deserve and you should do all you can to help them get what they deserve.

The one thing that bill collecters need to do first is make sure that they are after the right person---no mistakes, because repossessing something, like a car, and having it turn out that you repossesed the WRONG car ought to get you felony charges.

 

[onefarmer]

Generally an auto dialer will keep trying several times a day, unless a successful call is completed. Then just once a day.

I think, by law, they can only call and talk to someone once per day. I maybe wrong on this but that is what I was told at my biz.

 

[MarkB_MI]

When the collection agency calls, find out exactly who they are: Name of the company, actual address and the name of the person you talk to. Then (and only then), explain that you are not the person they are looking for, and that they will be billed for any further calls to your number at a rate of, say, $100 per call. You can follow this up with a letter to the same effect. If the same company calls again send them a bill. If they persist, you can sue them in small claims court. (Although you'll have a very tough time collecting, to be sure. But chances are they'll stop calling after they get a bill or two.)

 

[Davis In SC]

In our state, a repo man can get any car, and if you so much as yell at them, you are subject to arrest. A neighbor was the victim of a tow-truck that was trying to get his truck, he almost went to jail for interfering with a repo man. The police said that even though the driver was getting the wrong truck, he had no right to stop him.. It makes me wonder how many cars are just stolen by the repo men, and taken to chop shops.

 

[Davis In SC]

I have gotten a few collection calls meant for other people.. I just laugh, and tell them that I am not paying them anything, and hang up.

 

[ScottyHOMeY]

I see down below that they're coming at you with the auto-dialer.

I had a simiar rash of calls coming that started out with "This call is for Jane Doe. If you are not Jane Doe there will be a three second pause during which you chould hang up . . .) So I hung Up. After a while I tried calling back on the number they cthat showed on the caller ID and got nowhere. Finally I listened to the whole message and got a callback number. Called them and explained that I had hada the phone anf the number for eight months before they started calling, that they had been calling for three months and that I had no idea who their Jane Doe was.

I didn't get ugly, but did put on my best indignant tone, used a Joe Fiday approach to laying out just the facts, ma'am, and the calls stopped.

 

[d21man]

i have been haveing the same problem, i just tell them to send me all the information that they have to me as proof that i owe them, when they ask for my mailing address, i tell them you have it since you have my phone number,when they read off the address they have to me i say that is correct. it is never my address.

 

[TyTX]

Try this...

"Hey mon! Dis phone is fo crack deliveries ONLY!" then hang up.

It may not work but at least you can have some fun with the calls.

 

[Leland]

register it at www.donotcall.gov

 

[Anonymous-0]

I had the same prob when i switched to verizon. Verizon also sells your numbers i you didnt know that.
When I switched I got the number of an out of business tow truck company, after getting 100's of calls I finally made a new voicemail greeting saying i wasnt tony and please stop calling, after about a month or so it got down to maybe 1-2 a month.
You can have verizon block that number from your phone also, or you used to be able to anyway. Might lookat that

 

[Bob Kerr]

When I first got my sprint phone, I was getting a lot of wrong numbers, all of them mexicans. I started answering the phone when a strange number showed up by saying "INS Agent Smith speaking". If they would stutter or anything I would say "Immigration how may I help you?" The calls all quickly ceased! Imagine that!

 

[Don-Wi]

I never had it that bad, but when I first got my cell phone number a little over 4 1/2 years ago, I kept getting calls for some chick. One was to come and pick up her car from the shop. For all I know, that car is still sitting there over 4 years later...

I was surpirsed about 8 months ago I got another call for the same gal again. I hadn't gotten any of hers in years until then. Musta been a long lost friend who still had her old number...

In Wisconsin I'm pretty sure it's illegal for soliciters to call your cell phone, and they have a do not call list for land lines. I never recieve any calls of that nature on my phone.

Donovan from Wisconsin

 

[Anonymous-0]

Not quite the same thing, but I have had my land line number for over twenty years, and at least once a year I still get a call for the former subscriber. This being a small town, I knew them, but don't have a clue where they are now. The calls seem to be from the use of long obsolete phone lists at government agencies or professional associations that they might have been in contact with. The caller is usually polite and quite surprised that the number is not current.

 

[havvey]

Your best bet might be if its only one or two numbers is to have it blocked, deleted or locked out , etc if that is possible. There is also an out of area feature (phone doesn't accept calls from callers area.)

 

[Jeff-oh]

Tell them you think he's deceased then break out in tears and let them know how much mental anguish they have put you in.

 

[Mike (WA)]

Not true, at least in Washington (and I suspect most states have adopted a similar version of the Fair Debt Collection Act). If you notify them IN WRITING that they are not to call, you can stop them. But if you verbally tell them to stop calling, it has no effect.

 

[John (C-IL)]

Excellent advice Mark. I had a similar problem and rather than hang up got the caller's information. I then explained the situation to them. When I told them I would forward their information to the local States Attorney with a complain the calls ended.

 

[JML755]

The "do-not-call-list" is designed to stop tele-marketers from calling. There are exceptions that include Political parties, charities, BILL COLLECTORS and companies that have "existing business relationship" with you. I.e. I get calls from a University as an alumnus. Sears can call me because I have a credit card with them, etc.

The point is that the DNC list won't help in this situation. Others have suggested lots of ways to deal with it. I've had this same thing happen every time I got a new number and it has ALWAYS gone away over time.
Jerry