I keep getting a phone call and message (1 Viewer)

[MikeAlletto]

Someone/thing keeps calling my home phone, everyday, once a day. They leave a message something like: "Hi, we have been trying to reach you. It is important This is not a telemarketer and we are not selling anything. Please call us back at..." Its a computer voice. Caller ID says out of area. I have been home sometimes when it calls. I've picked it up a few times only to just have the recording play, never a human. The way I look at it, if it were so important they should tell me who they are and what this pertains to. Otherwise I refuse to return their call. Plus hiding behind a out of area caller ID doesn't give me any motivation.

I also occassionally get calls from some guy. This time a human saying they are looking for some other person. If they do or do not live there to call them back and let them know. Forget that! Its not my problem your information is wrong.

Anyone else get recurring calls that have nothing to do with you?

 

[Leila Dougan]

Mike, at my old number I used to get these things all the time. I never responded. Now, at my new number I get repeated fax machine calls every few days. I've called them back to tell them they have the wrong number but they never seem to update their fax machines. I think perhaps my number used to be a fax line because it isn't the same company doing it, it's 2-3 of them.

 

[Ralph Summa]

Yep.

We have a nice lady who calls at least once a week. If we pick up we tell her she has the wrong number. She apologizes and we hang up.

If we see her name and number come up on Caller ID, we don't pick up and she leaves a message. Even after hearing my wife's voice on our machine! I don't know if she's senile or old or both, but how can you misdial a number once a week?

 

[Dave Poehlman]

I used to get those calls a while back. Turns out it was a collection agency with some sort of auto-dialer and they had a wrong number (my number!). One phone call and I had it fixed.

 

[MikeAlletto]

Another kind of call I used to get at my old apartment was it would ring at almost the same time everyday. My answering machine would pick up and it would recording ringing. Then someone would pick up and start going "hello? hello?" over and over. Eventually the time limit of recording a message on my machine would timeout and disconnect them. I think someone was playing around connecting phone numbers. So for a few days I would turn off my answering machine when I went to work in the morning. Caller ID would still show they tried calling for a few days and then it stopped.

 

[Pamela]

I changed my phone number last spring, Unfortunately, the new number I got happens to be the old number for the former US Representative from my area. I am constantly getting phone calls and messages about fixing pot holes or the war in Iraq. One of his staff members defaulted on a loan from the Congressional Federal Credit Union and I was receiving unpleasant calls. I usually ignore the calls, but I did call back the credit union to let them know that they were never going to collect their money by calling me, because I was not the right person. They finally stopped.

Talk about annoying!

 

[Patrick Sun]

My phone number is virtually the same as a Spanish-centric Taxi service (only the last digit is different), and I'm always getting phones calls at all times of the day from folks wanting a taxi cab. There's nothing like getting woken up around 4:30 a.m. on a weekend morning by someone needing a ride to the airport...

I just screen all my calls now with my answer machine.

 

[Malcolm R]

[rant]No, this is NOT the Chinese takeaway![/rant]


I get some calls/messages for an elderly woman named "Betty," mostly from her elderly friends. My town has two exchanges, my number uses one, hers the other. Some of the messages are quite comical.

I actually felt sort of bad once I found this out because in the past if I need a fake phone number, I used to just give my number with the other exchange. So she may get calls for me, too.

I also get calls from some dentist office reminding "Jodi" of her upcoming appointment. I get these about every six months.

 

[Ryan Wright]

My phone number is virtually the same as a Spanish-centric Taxi service

Back in high school, a friend of mine had a computer line that was one off from a local hotel. They only used the line for outgoing calls so they didn't give out the number. Every time it rang - several times per week - it was someone looking for the hotel.

So one time I just picked the phone up and took down a reservation. Confirmed the date, took down credit card info (I didn't actually write anything down; I'm an obnoxious ass, not a thief), and gave them a random confirmation number. Ahhh, the days of juvenile fun...

 

[Brian Mansure]

I absolutely despise the type of calls you are describing Mike.

An "Out of Area" or "Unavailable" caller shows up on my caller Id display and the times I do answer the call I get a recorded message telling me to hold on the line until a customer representative can speak with me.

What a load of shit.
I'm not a very patient person in the first place when it comes to waiting on a phone line but when I receive a call I'll be damned if I'm doing to put myself on hold.

Yeah, I know... time to count backwards from ten.
I'll be alright till I get home tonight and I see "out of area" or "unavailable" on the caller id.

Brian

 

[Brian Mansure]

So that was you Ryan. I should have known I would run in to the culprit on the HTF.

Ya know, my parents expect their money back.
They were so disappointed when we had to cancel our family trip.

 

[Malcolm R]

At my office, one of our lines is one digit away from one of the local optometrist offices. We get about one call a day on this line.

I've been tempted to impersonate the office and start scheduling appointments, taking orders for glasses, and answering questions.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

I'm not a very patient person in the first place when it comes to waiting on a phone line but when I receive a call I'll be damned if I'm doing to put myself on hold.

i never stay on the line for that type of call, one time this lady with a bad attitude called me back, and asked me why i hung up, i told her to call me when you actually wanted to speak with me, then hung up. i was plenty pissed, she picked the wrong day to get strong with me. probably was a call i didnt want anyway.

CJ

 

[Ryan Wright]

Ya know, my parents expect their money back.
They were so disappointed when we had to cancel our family trip.

No money taken, no trip canceled. Worst case scenario, someone arrived at the hotel with a confirmation number that didn't work and had to reserve a room "on the spot" - or find another hotel if that one was full. Hopefully there wasn't some big convention in town and they were able to get a room.

Now that I think about it, that was pretty mean.

Oh well. At least I can blame it on typical teenage judgment.

I read a Dear Abby column where this woman was trying to forgive herself for what she had done. As a teenager, she would call random phone numbers and "confess" to "sleeping with your husband" when a woman would answer. She said a woman once began crying, explained they had only been married a short time and now she knew why her husband always came home late from work, etc. The girl said nothing, but 20 years later it was haunting her. Boy am I glad I never did anything like that. I don't know how you could forgive yourself for that one...

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Mike, someone is probably looking for money that they think that you (or the last owner of your phone number) owes them. I figure if they don't have decency to put a human being on it then you shouldn't either.

It only stays busy because the sole person on the other end is actually talking to some poor sucker that waited until a voice did say hello.

If you have a modem you should plug the line into it and try and get online. When a live being does come on they will think that they have connected up with another computer, and scratch your number out!

Glenn

 

[BrianW]

My answering machine would pick up and it would recording ringing. Then someone would pick up and start going "hello? hello?" over and over. Eventually the time limit of recording a message on my machine would timeout and disconnect them. I think someone was playing around connecting phone numbers.

No, it's just a crappy autodialer that has a badly tuned hardware (answering machine) detector. Even worse, the call center manager has tweaked the system to keep all his agents busy at the expense of not always having an agent ready when your answering machine picks up.

Some of this is about to change. Check out what the FTC is doing for us:

FTC “Do Not Call” Registry

In addition to a nationwide (U.S.) Do Not Call list, regulations will be passed that will prevent telemarketers from blocking their Caller ID information. There are some exemptions, like charities and companies you've done business with, but come July 1, things will definitely improve.

 

[MikeAlletto]

I'm on the texas no call list (stupid state, makes you pay for it. Only a few bucks but still! Why should I pay people I don't want to talk to to not call me?). I can't wait to sign up for the national no call list.

I bought a fridge from sears and used my cell phone number for them to call me with an install time since I was gonna be in the middle of moving and didn't know which phone would be on and which one would be off. I specifically told them it was a cell phone. A month or so after the installation I start getting sears sales calls to my cell phone. After a few of these I told them it was a cell phone and not to call me again. I gave them a number that I used 2 apartments ago and haven't heard from them since.

I get a bunch of magazines for free and when I signed up for them I used fake phone numbers but they still found me. One night I got a phone call with them wanting me to renew a subscription even though the free one was good for 3 years. I started to say "No thanks" and they hung up on me before i could hang up on them! They called again a few days later and I immediately told them they already tried earlier and to take me off their call list, but I only got as far as the "already tried..." and they hung up on me again! I haven't heard from them since either.

One of the big ones that annoys me is phone companies calling to get me to switch long distance carriers. I maybe make 1 or 2 long distance calls a month, if that so I don't spend alot as it is. These people ask me what I'm paying and then offer me 3-5 cents less a minute and I just laugh at them. Then they have the nerve to ask why when I say no!

A friend of mine says that if I get a call asking for someone else like before I should fake crying and tell them she is my sister and she is dead. Tell them how rude they are and they should be ashamed of themselves and let them squirm on the other end. When someone called my dad he picked up the phone and yelled into it "I WON THE TV!!! WAHOOO!!!!" The person was speechless.

 

[Devin U]

My wife used to get collection calls all the time on her cell phone. She would tell the company she did not know they guy they were looking for, and they would call her a liar and harass her. I took care of that real fast.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

one time this lady with a bad attitude called me back, and asked me why i hung up,

I constantly get solicitation calls at work. I hang up on them. Frequently they call back and ask why, and I tell them that I am at work and my work does not require "free" magazines. I suggest that they call back when they are interested in our services. If they persist, I tell them all about our specials, talking over what they are trying to say.

For the first six months of my new phone number at home, I got calls from collection agencies and pharmacies, the latter trying to confirm prescriptions or "calling to inform you that your prescription cannot be filled because of irregularities". I called a couple of the pharmacies back, and apparently the person had given my number to them recently. Then one day I came home and my answering machine said "You have seventeen new messages".

Let me describe the message on my machine at the time. I had Bell Canada's call answer service, and it had become popular among my circle of friends to use the default message -- a female voice saying "Your call has been connected to an automatic voice messaging system", followed by a playback of you recording your name, followed by "Is not available. At the tone, please leave a message." -- except when we were supposed to record our names, we would instead include snippets of movie dialogue. The most memorable ones included Schwarzenegger shouting "It's not a tumor!" and one that was just an extended series of screams from a bad horror film. Mine at the time was a recording of Sean Connery in Goldfinger, saying, "Bond, James Bond."

So, the seventeen messages. Apparently, someone close to the pharmacy-tricking collection agency-dodging person had died, and I had sixteen very confused condolence calls on my machine, along with one that was indignant that I hadn't been respectful enough to change my message to something more serious.

That was a strange day.

 

[MikeAlletto]

pharmacies

I had one of those last week. We are calling to let you know your prescription is ready to be picked up. I wish they would have said what it was a prescription for, that would have been funnier.