Collection agency calling constantly

[Jean in Newcastle]

They will not believe me that the person they are calling for does not live here, has not ever lived here and that I'm not somehow harboring her. I've asked them to take our number off their list. I asked to talk to a supervisor. I've hung up. I've been sarcastic. They are getting more and more devious and even abusive.

 

No, we don't have caller I.D. I'm trying to keep our phone bill pared down to the bare minimum.

Edited February 18, 2009 by Jean in Newcastle

[Parrothead]

Call the phone company. They will help you.

[Tap]

If it is the same numbers calling can you block them? Call your phone company.

[Dee22]

Same problem here... we've had the same phone number for four years and they still call. Last time I think the guy finally believed me and said he'd take the number off of their records. Time will tell if they continue to call...

[Veronica in VA]

When we first moved here we had a number that previously belonged to someone who didn't pay bills, and had a child who always seemed to be in trouble in school. The collection agencies should stop calling after you have informed them - I wish I had better advice for that problem. One of the local high schools called a few times because this one boy kept getting into trouble - my kids were young at the time, and homeschooled! It finally got straightened out but it took some time.

 

Hope everything gets resolved quickly!

 

Veronica

[Janna]

If calling the phone company doesn't help (though I don't know why it wouldn't), can you ask, the next time they call, how you can prove you are not the same people? What would it take to prove that you are not harboring them, don't know them, are not them etc...?

[Tracey in TX]

They will not believe me that the person they are calling for does not live here, has not ever lived her and that I'm not somehow harboring her. I've asked them to take our number off their list. I asked to talk to a supervisor. I've hung up. I've been sarcastic. They are getting more and more devious and even abusive.

 

No, we don't have caller I.D. I'm trying to keep our phone bill pared down to the amount that we have to pay.

 

We had the same issue last year. After a dozen calls I told the guy calling I will blow a whistle in his ear as loudly as possible if he bothers me again. If that doesn't deter him, I'll press harassment charges. Enough is enough. (Some guy used our phone number, but none of the other info was accurate. We didn't know him.) Alas, the threats worked. They've not called us in at least 3 months. btw, I would follow through on my threats. ;)

[HootyTooty]

This has happened to us on numerous occasions. The previous owners of this house were less than reliable.

 

The next time they call, tell them it is the X time they have called you, you have told them politely multiple times the person they are looking for does not live at your address and you do not know them, and then demand to speak to the manager on duty. Repeat everything and tell them the next time they call you, you will be reporting them to the proper authorities for harassment.

 

Seems drastic, but it does work.

[LaxMom]

We had that a few years back, a finance company calling and threatening to repo a car that my husband had never owned. After several calls, he would get it straightened out (same name, different middle initial and all other pertinent information) and then, about six months later it would start again because the account had been sold to another collector. It was annoying, but they were never abusive.

 

I would absolutely file a complaint with the phone company, and have their number (or all numbers of that company) blocked.

 

(If it makes you feel better, I am being phoned several times a day by an automated system that keeps telling me my cell carrier does not have an agreement with the LA County Dept. of Corrections and they can't put through the inmate's call...:confused: I'm reasonably sure I don't know anyone incarcerated in California.)

[KidsHappen]

I had the same problem with the PHONE company. It went on for 18 months. I took it as high as I could and they never stopped calling. We finally moved and got a new number. I asked repeatedly if they could not see that that number was not assigned to that person! I had them go through the step of looking up what the name on the account of that phone number was and then pointing out that it was NOT the same name of the person that they were trying to reach but they never seemed to get it. :glare:

 

I have a somewhat similar problem with paypal. I changed my email address 18 months ago. They would not let me change it on paypal because they say that the email address is assigned to someone else. I have pointed out repeatedly that that is not possible. Only one person can have a certain email address. I have tried to have them email the user name and password to that email address but I have to answer the security question which of course I don't know. I finally had to use my hubby's email address and have him forward stuff to me.

[elise1mds]

Ditto the mention of harrassment. My in-laws (and thus, I) have a very uncommon last name. So when my BIL went into arrears on a car loan, they called ME. Knowing full well that I didn't have to give them any information and that it was harrassment if they called me, I told them that and dared them to call back during naptime again. That was the last I heard from them. My BIL still got the car repo'd in the end but I was glad that I didn't have to deal with their problems. I have enough of my own, though luckily debt isn't one of them!

[Melmc]

This recently happened to us. The name was not like ours at all nor was it the person who'd lived here before. I think the person just gave them a bogus phone number. I called the 1-800 number to tell them, but they acted as if I was lying. Then I kept getting calls asking for the guy by his first name. It was another guy and acting like he was his friend. I have caller ID and it was from a different number than the collection agency calls. I said they must have the wrong number. After a couple of times, I got upset. I told them that I had caller ID and I would be reporting them for harassment if they called again. I never got another call.

[SkateLeft]

I have a somewhat similar problem with paypal.

 

I had an issue with Paypal also. When we moved into this house three years ago, we got a new phone number. This number apparently belonged to a Paypal user who owed money and they kept calling and calling. After much hassle, I finally got Paypal to remove the number from his account.

 

This home was pending foreclosure when we bought it, and the previous owners were in considerable financial trouble. Even though we have a different phone number, the collection agencies will use reverse lookup on the address to find the number and call us. Just when we think we've heard from the last of their creditors, someone will call again. THREE years later. *sigh*

 

We also had trouble with the new owner of our previous home. He changed the garbage collection bill to his name, but left our phone number there. Now he hasn't paid his garbage bill in 6 months and Waste Management keeps calling us for payment. And they're nasty! Ugh.

[cjzimmer1]

We get those alot because my husband has a very common first and last name. We one one calling us weekly after we were first married and I kept telling them my husband has NEVER had an account at that place. One day they asked me his social security number. I wouldn't tell them it but asked which one they were looking for. It wasn't my husband's and I told them so and I never heard from them again.

 

One of our funnier mistaken identity phone calls went something like this:

 

I don't know if this is the right number but I'm looking for X(my husband's name) who went to Y High School and graduated in 19??. It took me a minute to process this since I went to Y high school and graduated in 19??. It was a small school with only 76 people in our class so getting a contact out of the blue from that exact place for my husband was so wierd. The caller was updating the alumni database so got my name corrected with a wrong number phone call. She was looking for a classmate but I didn't recognize the name because the classmate was adopted toward the end of our senior year. I always thought of him by his former name and didn't connect his new name as being the same as my husband's name.

[lionfamily1999]

Better Business Bureau, they can fix it, or they can tell you whom to call. We had this problem, with a utilities bill. We called the utilities version of the BBB and they called the company and had us removed immediately. We even got a letter of apology ;)

 

Also, you can try finding an alternate customer service number for the company they're representing. The same person with utility issues had car issues. We actually had a guy show up to repossess a car! When I reached the company that had made the loan, there was a little rigamarole, but they finally got our info off of there too.

[Maria/ME]

I'm in the middle of issues with repeated phone calls for a person who used to have this number.

 

I've had paypal issue in the past. For some reason my email was the same as another persons although I was assured this COULD NOT BE...funny. I keep getting HER emails at my email address. Whatever.

 

Anyway, it's a bummer that the innocent party's are the one's who have to suffer the grief of dealing with the harassment!

[Hillary in KS]

That's happened to us as well. Most companies know that people give out false phone numbers and will apologize and take us off their list.

 

One company was persistent and rude. After weeks of them calling nearly every day, I warned them, and the following day used the whistle.

 

No more calls after that.

 

 

I felt badly (a little), but I'd tried to be polite and understanding for so long....