(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

harrylovesron
2007-01-20 04:41 am UTC (link)

I get calls roughly once every two weeks from people whom I assume are bill collectors looking for someone named Gilford Kinsey, which is nowhere close to my real name. They either have horribly outdated information (I've had my phone for a year and a half) or Gilford Kinsey keeps giving them the wrong number on purpose, and the fuckers simply do not believe me when I tell them they've got the wrong number. If I answer (I usually don't if the number is unknown or from a state I have no reason to be getting calls from) and tell them "you have the wrong number", they hang up on me and call again for the next two or three days until they get the hint. I once had somebody call me every single weekday for three solid weeks (I wouldn't answer because they'd call either when I was asleep or in class) until I finally picked up and said they had the wrong number and told them to leave me alone.

Whenever these people call, I so want to hand them off to my favorite professor, whose mother tongue is French; I wouldn't want him to curse them out, just say something inocuous like "This is Mary's phone, not Gilford Kinsey's, do not call again!" and hear how they react. XD

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

your_face
2007-01-20 06:52 am UTC (link)

Bill collectors never believe they've got a wrong number (and I kind of understand why, but still argh). I think the weekly calls for a Maria something-or-other have only stopped recently, after months of being bothered about it.

I'm a lot more annoyed by regular people who call me over and over, looking for someone else. WTF did I not tell you this wasn't their number the last three times!

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

harrylovesron
2007-01-20 07:28 pm UTC (link)

Oh yeah; I understand why the bill collectors are insistent, but yes, argh. I want to find out who the person is they're trying to call and tell him to learn to give people the correct number.

I'm a lot more annoyed by regular people who call me over and over, looking for someone else. WTF did I not tell you this wasn't their number the last three times!

My dad gets that a lot; he gets both calls and text messages on his cell from people who repeatedly mis-dial and won't take the time to correct themselves. He said every day at work he'd get a call from some company, every day he'd tell the man he had the wrong number, every day the man would apologize and say he'd correct it... and then he'd call again the next day. This happened for about two months before it finally stopped.

I once got a call from somebody who had the wrong number, and was trying to reach the family of someone who died, apparently. I told the man he had the wrong number and I had no idea who he was talking about. He started cursing me out. I hung up, he called me back again so I let it go to voicemail. He left a message in a really snotty tone that said "Well, if SOMEBODY wants to accept my kind condolences, call me back at blah-blah-blah". I was like, WTF dude, it's a bummer that you can't reach the right number to send condolences to, but it's not my fault. That's what 411 and telephone books are for, moron.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

your_face
2007-01-21 06:56 am UTC (link)

WTF mate @ the condolences guy. Why are people mad at YOU for them having the wrong number? I don't get it. (I especially don't get when they won't believe you--one time I kept getting emails for some girl who had apparently given ALL her friends the wrong addy, and even though I repeatedly told them all that I wasn't her, they still insisted that I was just trying to trick them. Eventually I just had to block all the addresses.)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

harrylovesron
2007-01-21 09:27 pm UTC (link)

Why are people mad at YOU for them having the wrong number? I don't get it.

I really don't know- the way the conversation went, it sounded like the guy thought I was somebody else who was deliberately trying to piss him off by saying he had the wrong number (like I was somebody he'd been quarreling with and refused to accept an apology, almost). The first time I told him he had the wrong number, he ignored me and kept on going. I repeated that he had the wrong number, and that's when he started cussing at me. Again, I was like WTF, what do you expect me to do about it? Accept condolences for a dead person I don't know?

I think the same guy actually called me again about two months later, this time looking to reach the family of someone who was in hospital. This time he said "Well, this is the number you gave me..." so I just said "sorry" and hung up. I WANTED to say "Look, dumbshit, if I gave you the number, why the hell am I telling you it's wrong?". Gah. It ain't my fault that he can't dial 411, look in a telephone book, or ask somebody who would know the correct number.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

lexin
2007-01-22 01:12 pm UTC (link)

There used to be a whole family who had taken down my number rather than that of the cardiac ward of the local hospital.

They just did not believe I wasn't Fir Tree Ward (or whatever it was) at the Whipps Cross, and seemed to believe that I was telling them it was a private number and the number they needed was [whatever it was] (because I checked with the hospital switchboard after the first three calls) for my own sick amusement. This went on until their grandfather either died or got better, I never knew which but it took about four weeks of answering calls three or four times an evening and it clogging up my answering machine.

When it happened again with a different family two months later I complained to the hospital administrators and they got the number of that ward changed. I was impressed with their attitude, which was very positive and helpful.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

harrylovesron
2007-01-23 10:05 pm UTC (link)

Wow, they actually changed their number? That was awesome of them. I would have thought they'd be the ones who'd expect YOU to change it.

and seemed to believe that I was telling them it was a private number and the number they needed was [whatever it was] (because I checked with the hospital switchboard after the first three calls) for my own sick amusement.

That's how the misplaced condolences guy seemed to feel. I'm like, dude, it's NOT my fault he misdialed/miswrote the number, and I really was sorry he couldn't find the right person to send his condolences to, but at the same time, it was NOT my fault and I dunno WTF he expected me to do. As far as your situation, did they really honestly think a hospital ward would repeatedly tell them they had the wrong number as a joke? I'd think any employee caught doing that would be fired- and really, if they called 3 or 4 times a day and clogged up your machine, and got told they had the wrong number, shouldn't they have gotten a fucking clue and called the one you gave them? Or if they didn't believe you, checked in the phone book?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

lexin
2007-01-23 11:08 pm UTC (link)

That was awesome of them. I would have thought they'd be the ones who'd expect YOU to change it.

It did take a couple of calls to persuade them that as they were a teaching hospital it would be easier for them to get their on-site telephone engineers to change an extension than it would for me to contact my phone company and change the number - which I'd expect them to pay for. But it was easier than I'd expected it would be.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

v_digitalwytch
2007-01-22 08:38 pm UTC (link)

I'm a lot more annoyed by regular people who call me over and over, looking for someone else. WTF did I not tell you this wasn't their number the last three times!

Best one of those had to be the one that happened to my Dad when he bought his house. Since he'd gotten a new number as well at the time, he expected the first week or so to get some people trying to get the previous folks at the number. Well, there were these couple people who kept trying to get in touch with Mary and no amount of my Dad's brusque "No one here by that name. *click*" seemed to work.

Then he had my Uncle move in with him since the house had been previously owned by elderly people who couldn't handle the upkeep and my Uncle's pretty handy with house repairs, the fun started. Since at this point it'd been about two months of this going on with these people looking for Mary and being repeately told they had the wrong number, my Uncle started replying with "Oh, you just missed her, she left with a couple guys." and when asked who, he'd just pick names out of the air.

My Dad ended up going along with it and the variations of 'Don't know when she'll be back, I think she took a weekend bag with her' or 'Think it was a party since I saw a keg in the back' were tossed in.

This ended up going on for two years before they pretty much stopped. My Uncle figured they either finally caught up with Mary and got the new number, or had at that point completely ruined her friendbase.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	your_face 2007-01-23 05:45 am UTC (link)
	...I've so got to try that next time. Your uncle FTW. (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Read comments) -