Strange Phone Calls

[jackfaire]

I love the "Are you sure I have the wrong number?". When I told them that this phone number belonged to the company I work for at least 4 years they believed me.

For 7 years from age 8 to 15 our phone number was apparently similar to a restaurants so my mom started answering the phone with the weirdest restaurant greetings she could think of.

[blas87]

HYHYBT, I didn't realize it was my responsibility to answer all phone calls to solve "mysteries" like these. You think they don't have to leave a voicemail? True, they don't. And I don't have to answer. I tired of the same old shit every single time, explaining over and over that this was NOT my mother's number. You would think someone would get tired of calling the same number and never getting an answer. So, old people don't use voicemail, and that's why I shoudl answer? I could answer, but yet another Alzheimers case would probably have them calling me over and over again, anyway. That'd probably be why they keep doing it.

No one has to leave a voicemail, yet at the same time, the person who is getting the unknown calls does not have to answer. I don't look up numbers to "solve a mystery" or treat it like one, I do it to make sure it isnt a scam or telemarketer, etc etc. Once I find out who it is or get some info, I don't usually go running with it.

Yesh, glad to know I'm at fault for playing a "game" because I refuse to answer unknown phone calls on my phone. I have to pay for all of them, so I think the fault lies within people who STAY as strangers and won't state their damn business. I do not need to wake up during my sleep to answer and try to get it out of them.

Oh, and finally, yeah, it is an annoyance and that's why I'm posting about it. Don't like it? Don't tell me it's my fault.

[Racket_Man]

GF is seriouisly considering dropping her landline for this reason. aout 99% of the calls the line gets are scammers, old old zombie debt, hangups, bogus car warranty offers, CC scams, "surveys" with "win a free trip" crap, a few legit charity calls for her Mother (who passed on 10 years ago), collection call for one or two of her siblings who gave out GFs number (not with permission) as THEIRS, robo-dialed calls for whatever purpose.

she even has a screen full of similiar numbers (with a 207 area code in Maine) on the reject list on her cellphone. these are mostly "surveys with free trips" type scams. so do not let the "OH telemarketers/scammers/whatever will never ever /not call cell phones" crap lull you into a sense of "security" and anonomosity. the robo-dialers will call you eventually reguardless.

my cell phone has been relatively quiet but that could change at any time.

again there are soooo many spoofed/zombie numbers out there that it is very hard these days to tell the legit from the non-legit.

almost any call that comes into the landline is assumed to be some scam or bogus. Thank GOD for CallerID

[IDrinkaRum]

Last year, I kept getting debt collection calls for some guy. I kept telling them I don't know him, they have the wrong number, and don't call me again as they're barking up the wrong tree. They'd stop for a week to ten days & then the calls would start all over again.

Then I got my new iPhone & the calls stopped. (And I had gotten a phone call fromthis place a few hours before getting the iPhone). So I don't know if they finally figured out my phone number was not this guy's number or the switch to a new phone did it (though I never changed my phone number so I'm guessing latter and not the former).

[Stormraven]

My VM message is very clear. I give the number, our names, and state 'We do not take calls from, nor do we call back, telemarketers - anyone else may leave a message'. And if we don't recognize the number, we don't answer the call. Period.

[HYHYBT]

HYHYBT, I didn't realize it was my responsibility to answer all phone calls to solve "mysteries" like these. You think they don't have to leave a voicemail? True, they don't. And I don't have to answer. I tired of the same old shit every single time, explaining over and over that this was NOT my mother's number. You would think someone would get tired of calling the same number and never getting an answer. So, old people don't use voicemail, and that's why I shoudl answer? I could answer, but yet another Alzheimers case would probably have them calling me over and over again, anyway. That'd probably be why they keep doing it.

No one has to leave a voicemail, yet at the same time, the person who is getting the unknown calls does not have to answer. I don't look up numbers to "solve a mystery" or treat it like one, I do it to make sure it isnt a scam or telemarketer, etc etc. Once I find out who it is or get some info, I don't usually go running with it.

Yesh, glad to know I'm at fault for playing a "game" because I refuse to answer unknown phone calls on my phone. I have to pay for all of them, so I think the fault lies within people who STAY as strangers and won't state their damn business. I do not need to wake up during my sleep to answer and try to get it out of them.

Oh, and finally, yeah, it is an annoyance and that's why I'm posting about it. Don't like it? Don't tell me it's my fault.

Thank you for twisting what I said into something else. No, you don't have to answer your phone. But yes, IF you expect them to know not to call you, you have to tell them... and that would involve answering the phone, unless you think writing a letter would be better. Your first post *sounded* like "These people keep calling me and I don't know why and it's driving me crazy." If you don't believe that, go and read it again. If that's not what you meant *at all* them I'm sorry for having misunderstood.

[blas87]

That is how it sounded. I wonder, and it drives me crazy, why nearly all of the strange calls I get (that aren't for me, and my voicemail clearly states who I am) are repeated calls. How dense are people to believe they can keep dialing the same number every so often, and that they'll get something else? That it was a mistake the past 6 months, but next time they call, they'll get who they are looking for?

You made it out to be that I was playing a game with them simply for fun, or that it was *my* fault these phone calls go on. Guess what? I told already of a few people when I used to answer and try to correct these people, they'd just ignore me and keep calling and asking for my mom anyway. So, it's not even worth it.

[aurelemsrealm]

My simple rule for my own personal phone is that I only answer phone calls from people in my directory. Anyone else whose number I don't recognize can leave a voice mail. Basically anyone who needs to contact me already knows how to contact me.

[Andara Bledin]

I don't have the luxury of letting calls go to voice mail: for whatever reason, I don't have it. And I'm too lazy to call my provider and have it fixed; I'd just as soon answer the damn thing, press 9, and have them never call again.

The beauty of just answering the phone for unrecognized numbers is that if it is spam, you can mark the number as spam and set it to not ring when it calls again. And the whole pressing 9 thing. I can't remember the last spam call I got on my cell phone; it's been years.

Or you can keep letting it go to voice mail and keep getting irritated that they never leave one and then go to your favorite forum and bitch about how they keep calling and keep not leaving voice mail and you keep not answering. But why you would expect them to do something different when you also aren't willing to leaves me at least slightly baffled.

^-.-^

[blas87]

I didn't have voicemail for the longest time, either. I had to call Verizon and have it put on, and then for the longest time after that, I couldn't personalize it. The best I could do was insert my own name (quickly) into an automated message. Finally, their system updated and I got a text from Verizon saying that I'd now be able to have my own personal voicemail. Ohhh boy! So now, it can state, as simple as pie, "This is blas, I'm not here right now, leave a message."

It may elude as to why I won't answer and keep getting upset over it, but it eludes me why a person would continually call the same number, over and over again (well, at least once or twice a month), getting the same voicemail with the same person's name, and not leaving a message, but continuing to try and try and try again. As if the digits stay the same, but the person is going to change if they keep trying. Perhaps in a few years, I may get a new number and it will be someone else. But for 6 years and counting, it's been me. And it's going to be me.

But, like I said, if these are the people I researched, they are older (Mom has a tendency to make friends with people more elderly and less her own age) and perhaps they are just stubborn. But, as I've said multiple times already, I could be "nice" and answer and give them my mom's number, but if they are as stubborn and confused as the others I've dealt with when I used to answer just so they'd stop calling while I was sleeping, they won't listen and just keep referring back to this number over and over again.

Would it hurt to try? Absolutely not. And maybe I should, because technically, I did look them up, so I know it's not a telemarketer or a scam company. I can give them one chance to have my mom's actual number. But after that, I'm not so sure I will ever give a chance like that again if I go ignored.

[HYHYBT]

Until you answer, you don't know for certain they *are* trying to reach your mother...

What is pressing 9 supposed to do?

[Akasa]

My Dr's office calls from an unlisted number, so I never answer and always have to call them back. Fortunately I haven't gotten many wrong numbers, but on occasion I'll get one.

[Andara Bledin]

If you know the number comes from your doctor, couldn't you just add it to your contacts list so that it comes in with a name so you know to answer it?

^-.-^

[the_std]

Usually, an unlisted number is not readable from Caller ID, even if you have it programmed into your contacts.

[blas87]

The number that the clinic calls me from never matches the one that I have saved in my phone to call to have my prescriptions renewed or to schedule appointments. They must have all kinds of different numbers or extensions.

My work calls from blocked/private numbers. In general, I blatantly refuse to answer private numbers.