What to do about this phone call?
 

Okay - a bill collection agency keeps calling MY house for my ex-dil's mother. I do not know how they got my number, and I do not know what number to give them. What can I do, aside from what I'm already doing, which is telling them it's not her house, give them my name and tell them, go ahead and look it up! she does not live here!

:confused:

you can state plainly and clearly

"MRs so and so DOESNT live here. you have the wrong number. I am asking you to NOT call here anymore. I cannot help you, and if you continue to call this number, I am going to call the police and report the harrassment." ask them to repeat to you that they have the wrong phone number.

if they call back, tell them you found a phone number for them. Give them the local number of the local police department. not 911, but the standard regular number for your local PD. That should make it plain that you are not playing.

I hate these people. :mad:

I had that happen once, calls early in the morning, late in the evening, about a debt belonging to a relative that no longer lived with me. I called somebody...attorney general? consumer advocate?...can't remember, but they stopped harrassing me when I went to authorities.

*69 should give you the number they are calling from. dial it after call disconnect.

I wouldn't give them any information

more tips-
http://www.ehow.com/how_2002286_debt...ors-calls.html
http://www22.verizon.com/Residential...Star+Codes.htm
http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/tele...odes-guide.htm

I am occasionally getting phone calls and mail for my evil twin (person with a similar name to mine that I've never met)

I googled her, and found out where she works here in town. I started telling the people calling me where she works.

The reason they're calling me for her crap? She somehow got on my insurance about 6 months before my MS decided to make itself known to me. Ironic thing about it...I found out when trying to get her off my information that she also has MS. (amazing how easily people violate HIPAA) How weird, a person with the same name as me, lives in the same city has the same diagnosis. Creepy!

Oooh, I'll lend you my partner... he LOVES calls like this.
He holds the record in our house for keeping a crap caller on the line for 45 minutes.
Examples of his antict; He puts them on hold, asks for a full explanation then asks for it all in writing, asks all the details, puts the phone on the side for a while, picks it up (and they're still there!) and keeps talking, and on and on.

He would say 'um, hang on, let me just get him/her for you, please hold'.
and dissappear for a while.
Other thing is to just put the receiver on the side,keeping their line busy, they can't hang up till you do to free the line.

my DH also loves these callers. He will tell them all about his momma, and his daddy, and about the MArine corp, and back in his day! and son, I dont understand you, are you mumbling? if your gonna be a success at this job son, you need to speak up, clear and strong! Oh, your from India, well, let me tell you son, it sounds like you ate rocks for breakfast, I dont understand a dang word your talking about, lets try some simple words. hmm, let me think, can you say the word...automobile? how about train? good good, now lets move on to foods, can you say cucumber? how bout cumquat? normally they hang up on him, and he giggles.

My sister who is a champ at dodging bill collectors, simply lets it ring. her b/f will pick it up, and hang it up. no conversation. he can play that game all day.

they really can be fun to mess with, but if they are stressful to you, then its time to find a way to throw them off your trail.

I kept getting calls from fashion bug. We dont even have one in our area! they kept asking for Patrica. no one here named patrica, but they kept calling. I stayed on the phone, and asked for a supervisor. I explained that I have had this number for 6 years now, and NO patricia lives here. I want the calls to stop. She took down some information, and assured me they would. I havent heard from them since.

I say have fun with um. do fund raising for MS.

Before NO NOT CALL, with telemarketers loved saying, "Geez, everything happens at once. Now doorbell is ringing. Can you wait a second while I answer it?" Then I wait a few seconds and scream like I'm being killed. Or if kids answer, yell loudly, "I told you not to wake me" and whomp, whomp countertop like I'm beating them. Kids loved helping on this one. Family fun!!!Entertained me and telemarketer. (I think, no one ever called cops)

That's my MO too. But I can't help but feel that in this case, it's just some poor shlub doing his job.

I'm way more angry that ds's dumma$$ ex MIL gave them my number. She's po white trash, and you all know I've never said that, but what else can ya call her. All she's ever had is a trac phone, and I can't keep up with her number changes.

I know where she works, but i'b be as big a pig as she is if I gave them that and she got fired. Altho, after dealing with this carp all year, I'm about ready to go that low.

I'd do a search on the attorney general's office for your state and see what your next steps should be.

Treat these bill collectors like the harrassers they are: don't engage them in any way or give them any information. Draw a very clear line so as not to compromise your position with them in case you end up having to litigate this (god forbid)

Personally, I'm fond of caller IDing them, creating a net-based email for them and signing their phone number up for lots of free information and special offers.

Cindy, you are evil, Thank you.

Here's what I think I'd do. I'd just lay the phone down and walk away. Don't hang up.....just lay the receiver down and let them talk to nobody. If they refuse to hang up then punching one of the numbers on the phone and holding it down usually makes an obnoxiously loud noise on the other end of the phone! :p

Personally...I like answering the phone...Dr. Terror's State Institution, please hold while I transfer your call...punch a couple of number's then lay down the phone. Yeah, I know, its easier to block the call, just ain't as much fun.:D

Telemarketer's... I let them tell me all they can do for me...then I say:
Thank you soooo much...I have been looking for a really good finance company...I want to finance a house, two trucks, and boat. Well I am so glad you can help me cause the banks have turned me down along with five other companies. Oh...because, I filed bankruptcy three times and I have four felonies...hello, hello...heeelllloooo. Yeah, they don't call back.:D
I deal with my local bank, don't need a long distance company banker. :p

However, it might not be quite so humorous the way our economy is right now...more people might just be in that bankruptcy court.:(

That's such hilarious post. So simple, so Nightmare Before Christmas-esque.


I love it.

:icon_twisted:

I feel bad for the callers most times. Its the person not paying their bills that are in the wrong! I still get calls from whoever had my phone number 8 years ago. I only wish I knew where they lived I'd give the bill collectors directions to their house. :mad:

My very first house that I ever bought. I moved in. Had the phone turned on, and the cable turned on, and was enjoying the wonderful day of home ownership. We were chatting away and painting, when...ring ring! WAHOO! our very first phone call, in our very first home. Bill collector! "is Patricia there?" I was crushed. The phone had been on for less than one hour, and I got a bill collector call for someone. As the day wore on, I got several more. "is Patricia there?" Grr! I was ticked! I lived in that house for 5 years, and the last phone call I got before it was cut off for the move to the new home was "is patricia there?" 5 freaking years, and they were still chasing this girl, and trying MY phone number. It slowed from once a day to once a week to once a month, and I spoke to so many supervisors. This girl kept giving out MY number as her own whenever she signed up for anything! it was an easy number to remember, and perhaps it was close to but not quite her own, but to this day I want to hunt her down and slap her. :o

I am not so tolerant anymore. I have a speaking caller ID so I dont have to even hunt for the phone to see the number. I know who is calling. The DH on the other hand seems to think its all in good fun to mess with these folks. I feel sorry for a few of them.

We have the speaking caller id now too, and the caller id shows up on our tv now too. No more chasing the phone down.

brain,

i agree with becca. i believe that's against the law.
you might even try to record their calls for evidence.