Random Voice Mail Messages

[soccerdad72]

Like most folks, I get no lack of spam and wrong numbers to my cell phone.

And being in procurement, I also have no lack of cold call messages to my work phone as well, with the occasional wrong number.

This morning was a new one for me - a wrong number (not new), but a voice mail that came along with it. Fortunately for "Mr. Dodd", his urine tests came back completely normal.

 

[_19disnA]

Yes, that happened to me a few times. Apparently they messed up some of the digits of the phone number. They called to indicate they were at my house ready to deliver a tractor but no one was home..........LOL. Have NEVER owned/ordered a tractor. Another person called to let us know "Julie's" dance lessons for tomorrow had been cancelled.........no one named Julie in our family and none ever took dance lessons.

 

[livih99]

This happened to me once. It was a doctor calling whoever was supposed to pick their patient up from surgery to let them know they were done. I immediately called back letting them know they had the wrong number

 

[lovesmurfs]

My worst is that "LaTonya" apparently gave my phone number out as hers about 15 years ago. She apparently doesn't pay her bills and holds a completely different political viewpoint than I do.

 

[LuvOrlando]

The political ones which should start slamming any day now, I can say with complete conviction that annoyance is not the key to my heart.

 

[tvguy]

I don't give out my cell phone number, and so far those spam calls are rare. I am surprised since my wife and I have had the same cell phone numbers for 34 years.
The cost of keeping my landline is well worth it to channel almost all those calls to that number. THAT number is the only number I give out. Only issue I have is with people who try and text my landline. If you can't call me, I don't want to communicate with you.

 

[tvguy]

The political ones which should start slamming any day now, I can say with complete conviction that annoyance is not not the key to my heart.

Yeah, the Do Not Call list isn't much help as the most annoying calls are exempt from the list. Political calls, charities, non-profits and the most annoying, any company you have ever done business with.....INCLUDING ANY OF THEIR AFFILIATES. So, for example, you buy a car from a Car Nation dealership........you are giving all 300 dealerships they own the legal right to call you to try and do business with them.

 

[CGB]

A few years ago, our home number was somehow connected to an individual who had just been released from prison and was not abiding by his probation. We were getting almost daily phone calls/messages. I was able to speak to a couple of people to tell them they had the wrong number, but apparently that's a common excuse for people trying to elude the authorities. Then, there was a message..."WE'RE OUTSIDE YOUR HOUSE RIGHT NOW!" When the phone rang at 5 a.m. one time, I was scrambling out of bed to answer so I could speak to someone. They still didn't believe me. Finally, a detective called and I was almost shouting in the phone "Look! This is my address! This is my name and occupation and my husband works for the federal government! We've had this phone number for 15 years! GOOGLE US!" Afterwards, the calls finally stopped.

 

[tvguy]

A few years ago, our home number was somehow connected to an individual who had just been released from prison and was not abiding by his probation. We were getting almost daily phone calls/messages. I was able to speak to a couple of people to tell them they had the wrong number, but apparently that's a common excuse for people trying to elude the authorities. Then, there was a message..."WE'RE OUTSIDE YOUR HOUSE RIGHT NOW!" When the phone rang at 5 a.m. one time, I was scrambling out of bed to answer so I could speak to someone. They still didn't believe me. Finally, a detective called and I was almost shouting in the phone "Look! This is my address! This is my name and occupation and my husband works for the federal government! We've had this phone number for 15 years! GOOGLE US!" Afterwards, the calls finally stopped.

Google is your friend. A civic group I am on the Board of Directors of kept getting truancy notices at our PO Box (that we have had 24 years) addressed to the parent of a Junior High School students. Neither the child nor the parent has ever been affiliated with that Post Office Box. I kept putting Return To Sender, no such person at this PO Box but they kept coming. Mom had a VERY unusual name, so I Googled her name. Poof, first thing that comes up, is her home address. Second thing that comes up, she is a bus driver for our Regional bus system. Provided that information to the school......the mail stopped. Kind of shocking that the school hadn't tracked down why they didn't have the correct address for a student in the two years this was an issue. And shocking that 10 seconds of Googling would have gotten them the correct contact information.

 

[_19disnA]

Even if you don't routinely give out your cellphone #, those automated dialing programs go down the list of numbers, calling every possible combination within a series (i.e. 0000-9999). I believe most 'robocalls' are done that way even if you have never given out your number. They are simply running a computer program calling every number in whatever 3-digit exchange they start with.

Have had the same cell # for over 5 yrs now and still occasionally get texts from someone trying to reach the prior owner of this number, no idea who any of these people are. Initially replied to a few of those texts saying someone else now has this number. Worked for some but not others. I now put EVERY one of their #'s on my 'block call list' which put an end to that. Hard to believe in over 5 yrs that person hasn't let all of his friends/relatives know he has a new number................LOL.

Still occasionally get cryptic messages on my voice mail where they mumble the name of the person they are trying to reach and leave some sort of vague message which sounds more like a scam to get you to call them back. I just delete those messages and NEVER call them back. Any of those claiming to be from IRS and you owe back taxes, have some sort of pending legal issues or owe money to some hospital we have never used are all clearly scams.

 

[tvguy]

Even if you don't routinely give out your cellphone #, those automated dialing programs go down the list of numbers, calling every possible combination within a series (i.e. 0000-9999). I believe most 'robocalls' are done that way even if you have never given out your number. They are simply running a computer program calling every number in whatever 3-digit exchange they start with.

Have had the same cell # for over 5 yrs now and still occasionally get texts from someone trying to reach the prior owner of this number, no idea who any of these people are. Initially replied to a few of those texts saying someone else now has this number. Worked for some but not others. I now put EVERY one of their #'s on my 'block call list' which put an end to that. Hard to believe in over 5 yrs that person hasn't let all of his friends/relatives know he has a new number................LOL.

Still occasionally get cryptic messages on my voice mail where they mumble the name of the person they are trying to reach and leave some sort of vague message which sounds more like a scam to get you to call them back. I just delete those messages and NEVER call them back. Any of those claiming to be from IRS and you owe back taxes, have some sort of pending legal issues or owe money to some hospital we have never used are all clearly scams.

Correct on how they go down a prefix, 0000-9999, but my cell phone prefix is the second one activated in my area code and when I got a new phone the Verizon Rep said it was the first he had seen in that prefix. Most of us have gotten new numbers. So may not be worth the effort. FYI using an automated dialing program is illegal to call a cell phone under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Not sure how much of a deterrent that is, but it would be easy for a cellular carrier to detect and block.
Not 100% sure why, but I just don't get many of those calls on my cell phone (or my wife's), maybe 5 or 6 a year.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I used to live in a small town and my landline number was 1 digit off from the Social Security office. My answering machine message was “Hey, it’s Joy, I’m not home right now. Leave a message and I’ll call you back”. You wouldn’t believe the number of people who left me messages thinking I was the SS office. They would leave their SSN on my answering machine!!!

 

[Living42Day]

I got a message recently. The male voice paused on the message then said "fudge you" but actual words before hanging up. I couldn't figure out why someone would say that and assumed a wrong number. Nope, I looked the number up on a reverse phone lookup site and turns it is an estranged cousin that I haven't spoken with in 8 years. How he got my number, why now? Not a clue lol.

 

[tvguy]

I used to live in a small town and my landline number was 1 digit off from the Social Security office. My answering machine message was “Hey, it’s Joy, I’m not home right now. Leave a message and I’ll call you back”. You wouldn’t believe the number of people who left me messages thinking I was the SS office. They would leave their SSN on my answering machine!!!

For some reason Kaiser Permanente started a new prescription refill line that was not part of their phone system and was one digit from my home phone. It was a mess, people leaving lots of personal information on my answering machine. I did call a few back who clearly were elderly and had no idea, despite my message saying it was TVGUY's Residence, that they had not reached Kaiser. They finally moved to a new number within their block of numbers within the PBX system.

 

[kymom99]

My old number was one digit off from the nearby McDonald’s

 

[princesscinderella]

My husband when we were dating in HS his party line number (remember those where they had a different ring so you knew the call was for you) was one off from the local movie theater. People would call expecting to get the movie times, back when you had to call or look it up in the newspaper . We laughed like crazy when they had the Seinfeld episode where Kramer was giving out movie times because his number was similar to Mr movie phone.