Harrasing phone calls from bill collectors who have the wrong number

[summerrluvv]

Not sure who I report this to, can anyone help? I've had 5 phone calls today and I've told them over and over they have the wrong number. The last call which was five minutes ago, the jerkoff said he could not take the number out of the system, it was HIS first time calling and it doesn't scare him that I will report him. WHO do I report this to? I tried calling the number back but it just says v/m is full.

I get calls for this particular family ALL the time from and most of the bill collectors just take the number out of the system. The best is when the gyno calls or their kid's school or even their church. I guess they don't give their new number out to anyone! I'd rather not have to change my phone number over this, but I'm starting to think I'm going to have to!

 

[merrily]

Do you know the name of the company that is calling you? I recently had a company calling for someone else. I was able to track down the company's name via caller id and the internet. I reported them to the Better Business Bureau. They looked into it. The company responded that they removed my name from the file and I have not heard from them since.

 

[cats mom]

I feel your pain. Every time I think I've got my case of mistaken identity cleared up, yet another company pops up trying to collect $$$.

I've finally got my number off call lists at both American Express and JC Penney, but I'm still doing battle with some lady at a collection agency (ruthless witch is more correct) as she refuses to believe I'm not the person she's looking for.


In my case I don't think changing my number would work though, since the deadbeat they're all looking for has the same name as me. Oh Joy!

Good Luck!

 

[janey99]

Ugh - I feel your pain!

DH's new car came with an On-Star trial, and 30 free minutes of phone time. Within the first 2 days, all the minutes were used up by bill collectors calling for someone who had had that number previously!

They were soooo rude.

We finally called On-Star and they gave us a new number and reset our free minutes to make up for the aggravation.

It sounds like you've had your number a while, so you probably don't want to change it.

Jane

 

[damo]

We had that problem too. Took about a year of us telling creditors they had the wrong number before the calls stopped.

 

[Sparx]

my favorite is when they think that you're lying to them when you say you don't know who they're looking for. i've had my cell phone number for YEARS and YEARS, so it isn't like its been a recent mix up, these people must be calling wrong or very old numbers in very old files.

 

[summerrluvv]

I googled the number and the name of the company doesn't come up, and it seems others have had the issue w/ calling them back and getting a voicemail that is full (doesn't say a company name). It's out of Binghampton NY. They haven't called back since, we'll see about tomorrow! It's so annoying! I did mention to the jerk that I work for a law firm..maybe they prompted him to take the number off, who knows!

Oh and my Onstar...shortly after I got my car I had a bunch of wrong numbers calling that too! They are relentless!

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

Oh I so know what you are talking about! Somedays I want to post on every board I'm on, PAGING MARY Mc&!*G^(+&....will you PLEASE PAY YOUR American Express bill!!!!!

I finally grabbed the bull by the horns this week, called American Express and had them call the company that was calling me to tell them that I'm not the lady they're looking for. I also reported them to the AG's office and the FTC for harassment and sent them a letter letting them know that if they continue to call me I will sue them for harassment and mental anguish and anything else I can possibly think of both corporately and individually!

Can you tell that I've completely had it!

K

 

[momof1princess]

oh boy, do i know your pain! when we moved, we had to change our phone number THREE times in order to get one that allowed us to live without being harassed by bill collectors or weirdos. the first number we got, the former owner owed everyone in town, including relatives; 2nd number, owed everyone in the free world and was continuing to give out OUR number; 3rd one was just one number off from a local bail bondsman and i got calls at all hours of the day and night from people who needed to be bailed out of jail-one day, i had to call the county jail and ask them to PLEASE go get jill doe away from the inmate pay phone because she kept calling me collect and i wasn't her bail bondsman! when i called bellsouth for the 4th time to change my #, they assured me that the number had never been assigned before, and we're still using it almost 9 years later. but boy, do i remember those first few months-they were pure torture! good luck, op!

 

[kilee]

We're getting between 4-5 a day. Only they are all for my MIL. She's NEVER lived w/ us. However, she put our number down from what I'm being told as an alternative form of contact. There is nothing more I can do than they can do. I've had some really nice sympathetic ones that remove the number. Others I offer up her correct info, they tell me they have it, and continue to call here because she doesn't answer her phone. Very frustrating.

 

[Macca1111]

I took the already established business number from my teacher when I inherited her dance company...for about 3 years I was getting collection calls for an old boyfriend of hers. I had to patiently explain each time that while potentially being a way to get a hold of him years ago, that he was an ex boyfriend of the woman who used to have the number. I don't know if anyone actually called back, because they all seemed to believe that I was too far removed to do anything, but it was still strange. I mean, really, after that long they think they're going to get him to pay with a phone call?

 

[Golf4food]

Ironically there is no Federal law to prevent this, but if you do actually owe money you can tell the company to stop calling you and they have to stop! Talk about screwed up priorities and stupid decisions from Washington...

We just built a brand new house in April - never existed until then - and got a new number (after receiving lots of collections calls for some random person at our old number) and we still get calls for a different person at the new house, which just amuses me in some way since there is no possible way they ever lived here! Too bad the phone numbers get passed around.

 

[mfd25wife]

I had to threaten to turn them over to the AG of the state. It's been a long time since we had that problem. Now, we are getting spam text messages on my cell phone. They say the same thing, but initiate with different numbers.

 

[Inigo]

I sympathize. We had our phone number listed as "Ourlastname, A." (using our actual last name) since DH is a teacher and I'm a probation officer. We didn't want to pay extra for unlisted, and there are a lot of people with our lastname.

Unfortunately, it seems there are a couple people with the first initial A who are deadbeats who don't pay their bills, so we get a lot of dunning calls. It's just to the point we don't answer calls from "toll free number," "unavailable," or numbers we recognize as coming from the bill collectors. Thank goodness for caller ID.

 

[Inigo]

Ironically there is no Federal law to prevent this, but if you do actually owe money you can tell the company to stop calling you and they have to stop! Talk about screwed up priorities and stupid decisions from Washington...
.

But if someone actually owes the debt and tells the debt collector to no longer call, the debtor is more likely to get sued sooner rather than later.

BTW, the original creditor doesn't have to abide by the request to not contact. If a third party collection agency is calling, they have to abide by the request. But like I said, it ups the chances of getting sued quicker. If someone isn't willing to talk to the creditor (to try to work out payment), they've probably shut themselves off from any chance of negotiating the debt.

 

[NMAmy]

I was getting collection calls for my ex and his current wife. He's never been on that phone--I moved across country after our divorce. So I explained that we'd been divorced since long before this bill was incurred, gave them his cell phone number, asked them to remove my phone number and still the calls continued.

Finally, I started documenting the caller names and times. When I asked for their names, I told them that I was preparing a list for my attorney and would be filing suit for harassment. The calls stopped after that.

One yahoo told me that they would continue calling me because my ex lived out of the country. I'd been polite up until then but that's when I said, "Listen, moron, NEW Mexico is a state. Look it up."

 

[HM]

Not quite as bad as these...
When we first moved to our new house nearly four years ago, the number we were given appeared to have been listed as a business number, for we started getting calls from companies trying to sell us (in our correct names) credit card machines and business insurance. It was so bad we attempted to have the number changes (didn't go to well for some reason...so we changed back quickly). The phone company tells us that the phone number was NEVER listed as a business number. We just don't see how that can be, as we still are receiving occasional calls trying to sell our "business" something. Just aggravating. We just respond that they have a home phone and we don't own a business and they usually apologize and hang up.

 

[dawson5]

I feel your pain. Every time I think I've got my case of mistaken identity cleared up, yet another company pops up trying to collect $$$.

I've finally got my number off call lists at both American Express and JC Penney, but I'm still doing battle with some lady at a collection agency (ruthless witch is more correct) as she refuses to believe I'm not the person she's looking for.


In my case I don't think changing my number would work though, since the deadbeat they're all looking for has the same name as me. Oh Joy!

Good Luck!

In our case the deadbeat actually is dead and it's my father in law. He passed away over 10 yrs ago and we still get phone calls, repeats even after telling them that he has been gone for 10+ yrs. It's all because my husband is a Jr. I also get one from a woman in town who still uses our phone number. I've found her phone number in the book and now just give the new number to whoever calls. It stops for a while then it will start back up again, I assume after the debt has been sold to a new collection agency.

 

[RadioNate]

Our current deadbeat is an ex-employee of DH's. I think I finally gave them his mother's address and phone number because I was so annoyed by the constant calls. I have no clue how they got our home and cel info. DH and this guy were friends before DH became the boss so I think he could have listed DH as a reference on something (an old lease is our best guess.)

At our old house we got calls constantly for David and/or Renee Turner or any of their 3 teenaged children, who's names I also know - 2 girls and a boy. I know where the kids go to school, when they have Drs appointments, where they rent movies from. Seriously people update your records. At one point I was returning calls to all these places, her hairdresser, the dentist, etc asking them to have their client update the records because the number on file was wrong. It finally stopped after the 2nd unexcused absence call from the HS. I called their attendance office and let them know since they had the wrong number for the student, the parents weren't aware the kids were ditching school.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I have had my current number since February 2005 and still get collections calls. I have a good way to handle these. After first identifying myself, my comment is:

"It is my understanding that one of these people died in a drug deal gone bad and the other is in jail. I would suggest you contact the Polk County Sheriff's Office for more information."