I have a new phone number - what a nightmare

[Neecy]

I moved in April and got a new phone number. That's when the nightmare began.

Someone must have had this number fairly recently because the couple gets calls day and night - mainly from creditors. And I'm going to say at the outset god help the Americans who are going under right now because your lives are being made a living hell by these people.

The first inkling I had that this phone number was going to be problematic was when HSBC Bank starting calling - not once a day, not twice a day, but EVERY HOUR ON THE HOUR. They'd call at 7:00 am on a Sunday morning. They'd call at 10:00 pm on Saturday. They called CONSTANTLY. Since I don't have any accounts with these people and, in fact, owe nothing to anyone I knew it was a mistake for them to be calling. When I'd try to answer the phone I'd get a "Please wait for the next available operator" message and then long, LONG waits. The only time I got an 'operator' it was someone with a Chinese accent who demanded to know my name and social security number. When I refused and told him that he was calling the wrong party he went apeshit and began to berate me. I screamed back and hung up on him. Big mistake, because they continued to call me every hour, on the hour.

Finally I picked up and someone was actually on the line. She told me who she was looking for - by now I knew the names, since I'd gotten quite a few other calls for them - I politely told them the party no longer had this number and for them to stop calling me. They did.

Then GE Money started phoning with the exact same MO (I looked it up, and these are the people who issue PayPal credit cards). They'd call every hour, on the hour, and when you picked up it was either dead air or a message to wait for an operator. Early Sunday mornings? They'd call. Late on a Tuesday? They'd call. Finally, after two weeks I finally got someone on the phone tonight and yes, they were looking for the same people. I berated them for constantly disturbing me and told them to stop calling.

It seems as though credit collections employs nothing more than constant almost 24 hour harassment, because they make it impossible to actually get someone on the line. If it was so shitty for me with just dealing with a newly assigned number, what are Americans who have lost jobs or had hours cut back going through? And are US companies now employing overseas collectors to get around our laws? How can they get away with these tactics? I feel sorry for anyone having to deal with these barracudas - I'm still stunned at how intrusive and ugly this has been. And yes, I'm going to ask the phone company for another number because I can't keep dealing with this. These calls literally wake me out of a sound sleep.

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. same happened to me. Prior number owner owed money to creditors

The phone company will give you one free change of number but that number will owe creditors also.

[sakabatou]

2. There are probably hundreds, maybe thousands who go through this

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. Most of the landline numbers are corrupted. Turned off because of creditors.

[MineralMan]

3. That's horrible. We had a much less difficult time when

we moved to Minnesota, but still annoying. It seems the number assigned to us was the number of a defunct convenience store run by a Hmong family. The place had been out of business for two years, but we got a couple of calls a day from people speaking Hmong, or from suppliers, or creditors of the closed minimart. We finally started answer the "Are you open?" questions with "Sure, we're open 24 hours a day."

Now, five years later, the calls have slowed down to almost none, but it was annoying for a couple of years.

[Doremus]

4. I think it's against the law to call before 9am and after 9pm

Not that it really matters to those cretins. :mad:

[Old Codger]

9. It is

Illegal to call outside of normal business hours, this is called harassment pure and simple and the are guilty as hell and can be seriously fined for doing so.

Telephone harassment often includes the following actions: calling repeatedly, anonymously or at inconvenient hours; causing the phone to ring continuously; using obscene language; or failing to hang up the phone. It can also include falsely stating that a family member of the recipient is injured or dead, or threatening to injure the recipient or a family member.

People violating these laws may receive a prison sentence, a fine or both. Maximum fines for first offenses range from $250 to $2,500. Maximum prison sentences range from 30 days to one year. These sentences are sometimes increased when the offense is repeated or motivated by the victim’s race, gender, ethnicity, religion, age, disability or sexual orientation. These provisions are included only where they are listed in the telephone-harassment section itself. Further, where the statute only lists the class of crime, such as a class B misdemeanor, the statutory maximum sentence for that class is listed in brackets when available.


http://www.fac.org/analysis.aspx?id=20409

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. One more thing... when you reach someone and explain that you aren't that person they get excited.

They reached someone! They'll want your name and SSN. Don't give it to them.

First example: I was getting robo called by creditors owed money by the prior phone number owner. I called back and got a person. The person said they'd remove me from the list. uh uh. They kicked it up a notch and a human began calling me. Finally I was rudely told that they wouldn't remove me until I 'told them who I was". I hung up and dropped the number.

2nd example: I got a phone number for a guy that was paying his bills off and on. The calls would stop. Then he'd get behind and I'd get a 'friendly reminder' that his payment hadn't been recieved. It was awful.

[SouthernLiberal]

7. I've been there myself

Not quite every hour, but there was a time when I was getting phone calls from collection agencies all the time, looking for the same people. If I did get a person, even when I told them they had the wrong number, they demanded to know where the folks they were looking for were, and what their new number was. As if I'd know! And this wasn't a new number, it had been my number for 7 years. I took to using computer software to answer my phone, and in a man's voice tell whoever called that Marvin and.. (forget her name) were not here, that this was not their number.

Oddly enough, when I got my number on the do not call list, the calls stopped.

I became convinced that they all KNEW they had the wrong number, and were just calling similar numbers at random, hoping for a hit!

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. I get calls based on my unusual last name. Once they get me,they'll put my first name in the file.

Then continue to call me very sternly demanding that I 'don't ignore this message'. LOL. I never call back.

[SeattleGirl]

10. Happened to me when I moved and got a new phone number.

We also got piles of bills and late notices and stuff from creditors for the previous occupants. After countless letters to these places, they finally stopped bugging me.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

16. My current phone number was once a very popular

pediatrician's in my town. I got calls from frantic new mothers, hospitals, pharmacies, etc. at all hours. Especially in the middle of the night. (I think the doctor changed his number because of the night calls, etc.) I have had this number for over 15 years and I still occasionally get a call for this doc. The worst offender? The local hospital. I have explained to them over and over again throughout the years that my number was "his years ago but no longer and no, I don't know his unlisted home number." They always thought I was lying to protect the good doctor. For the first two-three years I got a dozen or more calls a day. I didn't want to change my number because spelling it out was my business name that I had printed on every piece of marketing and stationary I owned. Small business and I couldn't afford the expense or reprints. Besides I liked the number. It now has finally tapered off (not completely stopped), but only because the good doctor died last year. You have my sympathies.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

32. We get that too

Living in a small town, we got a new prefix, 15 years ago, and people still refuse to look at the FIRST THREE NUMBERS before they dial. Funny thing, we tell them the error and not five minutes later they call again.

[babylonsister]

11. So they're robo-calls? This might help unless they

can classify their calls as 'informational'. That could apply to just about anything depending on how it's framed.


Steep fines for some robocalls start Tuesday
Telemarketers must get written permission, but informational, political, charitable messages still OK

By Don Sadler


They have become the bane of practically everyone who owns a telephone, whether cell or land-line: so-called “robocalls.” These prerecorded commercial telemarketing calls come in at all hours of the day and night, and until now, there wasn’t much anyone could do about them.

But that’s all going to change Tuesday, when such calls will be prohibited unless the telemarketer has obtained permission from consumers who say they want to receive them, or if message senders meet other conditions.

Mike Boynton, vice president of marketing with the Better Business Bureau of Greater Atlanta, explains the details of the new rule and how it will affect consumers and businesses:

Q: Explain exactly what the new rule states with regard to these prerecorded telemarketing calls.

A: The new requirement is part of amendments to the Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rules (TSR) that were announced a year ago. It states that sellers and telemarketers who transmit prerecorded messages to consumers who have not agreed in writing to accept such messages will face penalties. These calls are prohibited whether or not consumers have previously done business with the seller.

Q: How large are the penalties?

A: Penalties can be as high as $16,000 per call. The FTC will rule on penalties for each instance based on things like how egregious the violations are, whether there is harassment and other factors like that. I believe they will lend their full weight to this to send a strong message to the marketplace.

more...

http://www.ajc.com/news/steep-fines-for-some-127492.html

[Neecy]

13. I think it's more of an auto-dialer

It just dials constantly and when someone answers it puts you in a queue for an operator.

[Jennicut]

30. Good, I get those robocalls for debt consolidation constantly

We paid down all our debt a year ago but we get 10 different types of those calls a week. Prerecorded voice. Totally annoying.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

12. I went through that for three months when I got my new cell phone.

Mostly I would just politely ask them to stop calling as the party they were looking for was no longer at this number. But then there were these bastards, bastards from some credit agency in Florida who would fucking robocall me EVERY SINGLE MORNING at 6AM PST (9AM east coast time) and it took me ages and ages to get rid of them. I did finally threaten harassment charges against them (I am not a happy camper at 6AM) and they eventually stopped. Until a month ago. Now they've started back up again.

[Canuckistanian]

14. Why not just ask the phone company for a new number?

Technically, it's an easy fix. Just tell them that you're getting harassed.

[Hepburn]

15. In January 2006, I inherited the number that someone else had had for about 25 years.

And...she and her family owned EVERYONE. I even got calls from the Cal DOJ looking for her. When I got the number, I was clueless on the problem, so I gave it out to everyone, had it printed on my checks and got the dog a new tag. Too much hassle to change all that again when I had just done so.

So my solution: As soon as I got the full name of the prior owner of the number, I got her new number ~~ and I did a recording for my answer phone that said her name and gave her new number and if that is who the caller wanted, do not leave a message, but hang up and call her new phone number. I also got a caller ID so that when the phone rang and it was not someone that I knew or did business with, I ignored the call and let the answer phone pick up. A few collection agencies called twice in a row ~~ probably getting her new number ~~ and they have never called again.

Got rid of most of the problem in about a week or less.

:hi:

Edit for typo

[Statistical]

17. I think when phone company "recycles" a phone number they should..

1) pull credit report of the previous "owner/renter" of the phone number
2) notify every creditor the phone number is no longer in use and will be given to a new person
3) wait 90 days before reselling it.

[gleaner]

18. Same thing here....

We dealt with it by first listing the number on the do not call registry. You can do it online. If you do change your number do it the first day you are assigned to it.

Second, even if you had been the original debtor their collection methods are illegal. There is a federal law which forbids harassment and sets the number of calls that can be made. The fines for violators are hefty. If it happens again wait for a person and ask for their address. Then write them a letter telling them that these are not your debts and that the calls must cease at once. Send a copy to the Federal Trade Commission and tell the collectors you are doing so. Give the FTC all the information you have about the callers. Contact the do not call registry with the same information.

We had one collector from AMEX who said the do not call registry wouldn't care because he was not a telephone solicitor, he was collecting a debt. I told him it was not our debt and it amounted to constant solicitation to try to get information on the prior owner of the phone number and to harassment. I assured him they would be interested. He did not call back. On another occasion, my husband told the collector that he would give the information to the FTC. We never got another call from them. We have the privacy manager too. You get it at a minimal cost from your phone company. It makes the callers identify themselves so that they show on caller ID before it will ring through. That and call block which we have always had takes care of the small businesses.

This recording calling constantly stuff is something that started under Bush. I suggest you also write your Congressperson and tell them what has been happening and ask that they make collectors adhere to the existing laws instead of expecting the consumers to do it. That might eventually help put the teeth back into enforcement.

[Neecy]

20. Thank you, those are good suggestions

And I'm definitely going to put them to use.

But since both of these companies were calling from China - at least, the accents were heavily Chinese - how would FTC go after them? That's why I'm wondering if these collectors are offshoring to get around our laws.

[gleaner]

26. They would go after ..

the companies which own the outsourced services, and fine them. If the companies are contracting out to China or somewhere else, they are still based here and their profits are at risk. I imagine they would put a stop to it if they thought they were going to lose money.;)

Go for it!

[NJCher]

23. this is correct

Just read the Fair Credit Reporting Act and you can see what to do, which is basically described in gleaner's post.

I had something similar happen to me and I sued the phone company for half the bill, saying I could only use the phone for outbound calls. I explained that I couldn't use it for inbound calls because of the faxes that constantly came in for the person who previously had the line. It was a deli.

The phone company took the outrageous position that it wasn't their fault a deli had the number before I did. I said, "Oh, you mean you're not standing behind a product that should work?"

Cher

[gleaner]

27. The phone company .....

here used to be Southern Pacific Bell, now using the name AT&T. If you tell them you are getting harassing phone calls from any source they will change your number at no charge, no problem. Your phone company sounds really ugly. Do you have a Public Utilities Commission you can report them to? The PUC here has lost most of its teeth, but it would still do something about a situation like yours.

Go for it a deux.;)

[NJCher]

36. in my case

They offered to change it for free but I brought up the issue of having stationery printed with the number. Were they going to pay for it? Were they also going to reimburse me for the time I spent notifying everyone of the new number. Hell no, they said.

Anyway, I won, and then after that I got Magic Jack, with which I am saving a ton on a line that is just as good as a land line.

Cher

[gleaner]

40. Got it now .....

I'm glad you were able to prevail.;) In a situation like that AT&T would have told me to pound sand too. As time goes by I can't think of one company that makes a real effort to extend themselves to their customers. It is frustrating and unnecessary to have to live with their crap.

I read an article about three years ago where businesses were passing around the theory that if they gave shoddy service to customers as a matter of course the customers would merely accept it and they could still raise their prices. Somehow they thought we would not notice.:shrug: I haven't met anyone yet who has failed to notice.

I always like to hear about people who won't let the bad guys run all over them. Congratulations. We should all be as proactive as you are.:toast:

[NJCher]

41. hey, thanks, and just so you know

I'm starting a few classes to educate citizens on how to fight back using small claims, the internet, and a few other techniques I have up my sleeve.

Thanks for your comment about being a person who doesn't let anyone (and in this case, particularly big corporations) run over them. Early in my years of learning how to use the court system, I was trained by a guy who told me that there have to be a certain number of people out there who take them to task. He said people like us are the ones that make them think twice about enacting coercive and unfair policies. They think twice because they know there is that one person out there who will make them accountable.

My intended classes are:

a) how to clean up your credit records
b) how to manage the credit card companies

Regarding a) there are tons of services out there that tell people they can do this, but almost all of them are frauds. In working with my own records, I've figured out how to do it and do it at a low cost, too.

I'm a college teacher and when I file these cases against the utilities (I also filed one recently against the local gas and electric), I tell my students about it. They are amused and shocked. For a few minutes in each class, I take them through each step of the case as it develops . I tell them that this is what good public speaking, writing, and research skills will allow them to do.

At the end of my class, I conduct one session on how to conduct oneself in municipal court. They really like that that one 'cuz they all have traffic tickets, marijuana busts, and the like.

I hear from my students on a regular basis because of this. They never forget the prof who taught them how to fend for themselves. Most of the time they are calling for additional advice, but I don't care. I'm just happy to learn they are standing up for themselves.

Cher

[Mariana]

19. Call the phone company and ask them to change it for free.

It's worth a shot, you might get lucky.

We had a number that had previously belonged to a business and the calls came day and night, both from previous customers of the business and also sales calls trying the sell health insurance, payroll services and so on to the business. I called Verizon and told them what was going on and they changed the number at no charge.

[dflprincess]

21. Next time they call tell them if they don't stop you will be calling a lawyer

as well as the state attorney general.

I have a similar deal going on only I've had my phone # for the last 35 years. I keep getting calls for someone with the first name and middle initial as mine. Apparently some outfits just check the phone book and find names in the are that are similar. Most the time the creditors calling don't give me any trouble and I don't hear from them again (also they don't ask for the SSN, they say does your number end in xxxx?).

I had one outfit that left a very hostile message and when I called to tell them they had the wrong person they were even worse and hung up on me. I eventually got through to a wheel at the company and left a voice mail letting him know I would be contacting the attorney general and accusing them of apparently running some kind of scam. - Boy did I get a sweet call back from them. The outfit is one that has been around forever and is legitimate and they did not want any complaints being filed. The guy just couldn't grovel enough and he would be speaking to the employees I had received calls from. I haven't hear from them since.

[waiting for hope]

22. Get another number - and if it's through AT&T -

you shouldn't be charged. They are supposed to allow 90 days before recycling a number - but get this, they wait TWO YEARS before recycling a business number .. :crazy:

[Warpy]

24. If they don't stop when you tell them the number has been changed

call the phone company and complain. They will put a trace on your line and you'll keep a diary of the calls for a couple of days.

They'll threaten the phone service of the boiler room making the calls. It's also a paper trail if you decide to pursue legal action.

Debt harassment like that is illegal, even if it's your debt. It's especially infuriating when it's not your debt.

I've been lucky, worst I've had is some woman screaming in Spanish to leave her husband alone.

[EFerrari]

25. That's awful, Neecy. I don't use my land line for talking but just for the net.

I don't miss all the sales calls, not at all. Getting me on the phone is a little harder than having sex with me, lol, and it's so nice to have that kind of control over the white noise.

Hope you get this fixed soon!

[seabeyond]

28. change it now. for 15 YEARS i have been getting dr f**ders calls

i thought the calls would eventually stop. then i figured fuck... this has been our number so long, people i know have it. still to this day i get calls for the man. it is on a website of doctors and i get my calls always confirming they got # off web site for a fuckin business.


i have tried to get them to change it.

anyway...

if i had only changed number all those years ago

now, more a joke

[mikelgb]

29. I have received calls for previous residents in my unit and creditors looking for my neighbors!

They look up the address and just call the current number listed...

My neighbors were behind on their car payment or something and I think they were trying to repo it so they called me and tried to ask me all kinds of questions like if I knew them if they were home, what kind of car do they drive, when I said I don't know, they said have you ever seen a tan lincoln? oy... unbelievable

plus I have been called by my sisters creditors asking me to tell her to call them....


Also my number is similar to the California Rifle Association, those calls are fun

And my work line I get a call every so often from women wanting to complain about Big Sexy Hair products. I don't work for Big Sexy Hair. :shrug:

[Dorian Gray]

31. Man...

that sucks. The only thing you can do is get a new number, right? Terrible.

[pipi_k]

33. sometimes it doesn't even have to be a new number...

About three years ago we switched from one cell carrier to another. So we've both had our numbers for that long. During the summer, Mr Pip started getting the collection calls on his cell phone. Since we don't get cell service at the house, he only got the messages they left when we were on the road, away from home. But still, it meant having to call the message inbox to see who had left a message, and it was always these two or three companies looking for a guy with a name not even CLOSE to ours.

Finally Mr Pip took down the numbers and called these people. It was apparent that they had the wrong person (and they knew it after speaking with Mr P) and they were very nice about the whole thing, agreeing not to call anymore.

What I suspect is that this person probably had Mr Pip's cell number previously and probably gave it quite recently, like maybe a year ago or less.

[Towlie]

34. My invention: A phone call filtering machine.

This is just an idea. I don't know if an automatic answering machine like this actually exists, but if it does then it could solve many of the problems described here:

"Hello. Do you know my first name? It has * letters. If you spell my first name with the buttons on your phone, my phone will ring. Please do so now."

(Time runs out or wrong buttons are pushed.)

Low pitched buzz, followed by "Oh, I'm sorry. You don't know my first name, do you? Please erase this phone number from your records and don't call here again. Thank you. (click)"

Alternate, more friendly, message:

"Hello and thank you for calling. Please spell my first name with the buttons on your phone to make my phone ring, or if you prefer, wait 15 seconds or press other buttons to begin recording a message. Thank you."

[WhollyHeretic]

35. That would drive me insane. When I was in college I had a collection agency call my neighbor after

I hung up on them. I owed $900. I was actually trying to pay them but they wouldn't give me the information I needed. This woman on the phone insisted that I give her my bank account information over the phone to pay them. When I said I didn't have a bank account she asked "doesn't anyone else in the house have a bank account?" Absolutely insane. I was trying to get the collection agency's address so I could send them a money order. The woman kept refusing to give me and address she kept asking for bank account information. I finally hung up on her. She called back and started screaming at me about hanging up on her so I took my phone off the hook. A little while later my 80 year old neighbor comes to my door with a message to call the collection agency.

[Johonny]

37. sounds like you can sue the crap out of them for

harassment. A few thousand out of their pockets might get them to stop calling.

[rox63]

38. In most states, it is illegal for them to call before 8:00 AM or after 9:00 PM

The laws vary somewhat from state to state, but those are the most common times. They can be sued for thousands of dollars for each offense.

I used to work for a company that makes automated dialers, and we used to complaints about this all the time.

[madmom]

39. I get these too. I live in a very small town. My number is very similar too a local

auctioneer. Our last number is 7 his is 1. I don't know how many times I received calls all hours looking for him and I've had the same number going on 20 years. All they have to do is pay attention to what they are doing in this case.