Phone messages from creditor for someone else

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have been getting calls from various creditors of the prior user of our number for 3 years now. When I get a message, I call back the number and do the automated thing for wrong number, yet they don't remove the number and keep calling back. I'm ready to report them!

This sounds like the people who have been bothering us for years. We are military and move a lot. Apparently a number we had in one city previously had belonged to someone who owed debts. I would explain it was not us and they would stop for a few months. The next year, we moved, and they called us at our NEW number, asking for the same unusual name. This time they did not always stop calling. Then I made the horrible mistake of calling the you-have-thewrong-number line from work and they started calling me there. Got Fairfax county consumer protection division involved and the calls stopped for a few months. They have recently started back up. From what I have read, it costs more to remove a wrong number than to just keep calling. It is possible to sue but seems like it should not come to that. I do report them to the FTC do not call website. If someone has a solution for this they would be a hero.

[Anonymous]

This happened to me a couple times when I had a land line. Apparently the person who had the number before me had owned some debts. I tried ignoring but that did not work. Finally I would just pick up, politely explain that they had the wrong number and I did not know the person they were calling. After a few times the calls stopped. I didn't threaten litigation or anything like that, but I did say they could call the phone company if they didn't believe me. I don't know if they did or not, but they stopped calling.

[Anonymous]

PP, check your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. They can be liable for $1000 per violation, which could make it worth it to sue. Calling someone at their workplace is a violation.

[Anonymous]

This happened to us. It was actually bounty hunter of some type. They said they were going to come over and see if this guy was on our couch. We had never heard of him before, and if you knew us (or even saw us) you would find it funny. Except some callers are crazy and make no secret of it. We dropped our land line and went with cell only. No problems since.

[Anonymous]

We used to get calls trying to find my mother in law. Debt collectors got really aggressive with me on the phone and demanded I answer lots of questions about whether I knew her, had her phone number, was related to her, etc. I repeated that they had the wrong number, that no one by that name lived here, and that they were required by law to stop calling us. When pressed for information, I simply said I will not answer any questions, and repeated that they had the wrong number and no one was here by that name. Really hardball aggressive callers but I stood my ground and said I'd be happy to report them to the AG if they called again.

[Anonymous]

This happened to me so much when I first got my current cell phone number. I got calls from EVERYONE for someone with a last name that sounded like Strudel (NOTHING like my last name). I got calls from Sallie Mae, debt collectors, Walgreens saying "my" prescriptions were ready... either he had the number before I did or he transposed the digits every single time he listed his number somewhere, thus putting down mine and not his. It was odd, but eventually the calls did drop off and I do not get them anymore. Telling them to stop calling actually didn't help; they just accused me of covering for "Strudel."

[Anonymous]

Block the number.

[Anonymous]

I get this from Bank of America about once a year. They're seeking payment from someone with my name on a car I've never owned. I should probably educate myself about how to handle it better when they call. They're always so rude and they just keep calling my cell phone until I answer.

[Anonymous]

We used to get calls every Saturday morning at 8am (this was pre-kids, when we used to be asleep at 8am!) for some woman who had defaulted on her car loan. I told them once or twice they had the wrong number and to stop calling, and the third time I got REALLY stern with them: Look, you are harassing me, I am not that person, I have never heard of that person, I don't own that kind of car, stop calling me immediately, you are waking us up." To my surprise, it worked!

On the other hand, the same woman (she either used to have our number or was just using it) never returned a bunch of DVDs to Blockbuster, and I never did find a way to make the Blockbuster robocalls go away. They just stopped eventually.