Self Employed? Home Office? Need help with answering machine.

[SelfEmployedDebtFree]

Hi. This has NOTHING to do with Disney. I'm hoping some business person out there can help.
I'm trying to find a telephone answering machine that will automatically mute all the home telephones at midnight and turn the ringer back on at a programmable time... say... 7:00 AM.
I run a home based plumbing repair company. My ads do NOT say 24 hour service. I keep getting calls at 2-3AM from stupid rednecks who proceed to tell me with lots of vulger words how they stopped up their toilets and want someone to come out NOW!!! Are they crank calls??? I dont know. When they start off with every 4 letter word imaginable, plumbing or not, they get a dialtone response!
This has been a problem for several years. I dont think its the same person every time. I work for some really bizarre people. Some of them have no perception of time, and I didnt realize till I started working with the public just how inconsiderate some people can be.
There is occasionally a real emergency where some little old lady's pipes break at 2:00 AM, and she dont know how to turn off the water, but the equasion is more like 19 prank/stupid calls to every 1 real call. With those figures the real call can call someone else.
Any ideas?
Remember, I want something thats PROGRAMMABLE. I dont want to simply turn off the ringer on every phone in the house everty night and cut them on every morning. Im not THAT organized.
I know COSTCO offers a service for $29.99 a month, but I'm looking for a one time price option. Id rather buy a machine that does it on its own.

Any suggestions?

 

[momrek06]

Well, OP, I am not sure about programmable telephones....but I will just tell you what we have done.

We built a new home/office, moved in June 1, '05. For the office..(which is a good part of the first floor) we have the phone number that we have had for many many years. It was our # we had before DH left the field of private engineering to work for himself and we kept that as our main WORK #.

For the rest of the house and the upstairs I selected a totally new phone number. And I am so glad that we did. We have french doors that closes off the office and in the evening and esp at bedtime we never hear the main number ringing. And believe you me, we have many late night calls BUT mostly people THINK they are calling OUR OFFICE (like its in another location) and leaving us a message for the next day.

We have the CENTREX system with Verizon. Maybe you could get yourself (your private home) a NEW # and leave the existing number for the business. Then as far as your bedroom is concerned switch that over to the NEW # and it will not bother you through the night.

 

[lesroi]

I know I have seen this type of thing somewhere, like a ringer control. I keep finding that the idea HAS ben patented but can't remember where I saw an actual product.

I will keep looking because now it's bugging me!

Tracy

 

[lesroi]

I think what you *may* be looking for is a phone system with a day/night ringing option. I think these are rather expensive, but if you are like me and you would turn the ringer off and forget to turn it back on, it might be worth it!

Tracy

 

[SelfEmployedDebtFree]

EXACTLY! A day or night ringing option would be perfect.

The other idea of a second line is a good idea too, but with my circumstances, and my home's unusual construction, it would be very expensive. It took them (my local phone company) 2 days to put in my DSL. They said it usually takes them about an hour. But thanks for the ideas!

 

[SelfEmployedDebtFree]

Aaaha! I found it! Motorola Motorola 5.8GHz ESD7581. Day/night timer feature. That will work! And more importantly... at $60 I can afford it. Thanks everyone!

 

[momrek06]

Aaaha! I found it! Motorola Motorola 5.8GHz ESD7581. Day/night timer feature. That will work! And more importantly... at $60 I can afford it. Thanks everyone!

Wellllll, that is much cheaper then a new line any day!!!

Good luck, I hope that help with eliminating those late night calls!

 

[ducklite]

I can't imagine what you deal with, and I'm not talking about the plumbing itself!

The only calls I ever get at 3:00 am are my business partner (who is a night owl) who once in a while leans up against something and accidentally hits redial on his cell without realizing it.

I hope the new system you found works out for you!

Anne