Debt collectors, 99% of the time, are scum and will lie and become a-holes so that they can meet theri monthly quota and pad their monthly commission checks. So, the way I see it, as consumers we should fight fire with fire, and this is method is a great way of doing so!

Ah Judge Judy soundboard. I've used it myself to prank. Good times.

http://www.2flashgames.com/f/f-567.htm

eBaum sucks BTW... By posting this I no way condone or endorse his site, or any of the idiots he has working for him.

Damn debt collectors...if I ever have to deal with them, it'll be a fun day indeed.

I had one repeatedly harass me once even though I explained repeatedly that the number he was calling had been reissued. Apparently these people have broken short-term memory.

For some reason, the words "I am reporting you to the state and federal Do-Not-Call list enforcers as well as filing a complaint with the state Attorney General and will consider suing if you do not cease harassing me. Place me on your internal do not call list as well." followed by a hang-up did stick, though.

Asshole.

wow, i've been going through this problem, too. they keep calling and asking for someone who USED to live in my apartment, and my girlfriend has repeatedly told them to 'fuck offfffffff!!!' to no avail.

looks like i might have to try this method.

My wife had her ID stolen about about 4 years ago and we still get calls from Debt Collectors. Many that have her name but the wrong SSN.

Also, this reminds me of the Telecrapper 2000 http://www.pagerealm.com/tc2k/

oh man...that was too funny.

I too had this same problem. I am guessing they just picked the first person in the phone book with my last name, because there was no rhyme or reason to the calls. I choose to record their calls, and my calls to the collection company. They continued to call, so I filed complaints with the Nebraska State Department, the Attorney General of Ohio, The BBB, and the FTC. The calls stopped almost immediately and they had a lot of paperwork to do. It is sad that they were such jerks.

Did he really just "verify" the guy's identity by reading the last 4 digits of his social security number to him ?!

Way to go, debt collector!

I'm just surprised the debt collector continued the call for as long as he had...

I love the part when he stops following his script - once he's been broken he tries to get back on script and fails every time. The fellow who did this deserves a medal/hug/kiss/whatever.

As for the asshat collector, one question? HOW OLD ARE YOU?

Why is it cool to score points with the lowest rung?

Hilarious! Fuck em!!!!!

It is my singular purpose as someone who works (sorta) with speech technology to create apps EXACTLY LIKE THAT ONE.

I love you, intertubez.

"Are you taking any medications m'am?"
*snort*

Do those guys get paid for every minute they talk on the phone? 8 minutes and counting... LOL At least the poor guy got to finish his dinner.
(I *heart* Judge Judy!)

@swalve: Forgive me if I misunderstand you, but: it's better to score points using the lowest rung (of social interaction) because we're the victims in an arms race of massive bureaucratic stupidity.

You tell me what it's appropriate to fight back with - a C.S. Lewis essay, a Kierkegaard excerpt, poetry written in Perl?

No. Judge Judy was perfect for this task.

that was fucking awesome.

We have no clue why several places keep on calling us using Ms. No49's last name - essentially her sister's name but we know this isn't her sister they are calling about.

Her sister isn't even Canadian, let alone living on this coast. Nor have the two women met in the last two decades. So we use that as a reason why not to call us - "Anyone with (Last Name) that is related to us is under 5! Anyone else is fraud."

Its stopped a few problems, but not many.

From what I've been told, the collectors get performance ratings based on the # of accounts touched AND revenue collected. Apparently getting the money in isn't good enough for the collection agencies. In this case, the prankster cost the collector AND collection agency serious money. I think it was a ~$350 debt? If so, the collection agency paid ~$10.50-$35.00 for the debt. Wasting 8 mins of that rep's time is probably worth about $18 (figure salary + overhead). If you do that enough, they won't bother with you. This type of thing works great on telemarketers as well.

God dammit Loch Ness Monster, I ain't gonna give you no tree fiddy!

That was great.

Brilliant. It's sad that we delight in someone who's just doing their job getting such a hard time... At least it would be if debt collectors weren't such scum.

@ EtherealStrife

Now that would have been the soundboard to have... Would have fit perfect!

Reminds me of that scene from Home Alone when the kid was using that gangster movie to interact with people through the door. That was funny.

@EtherealStrife: Is it bad that a South Park quote made my morning?

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I use to do the same thing when collection agencies called, only I used Homer Simpson.

I had an irritating experience with this a few years ago. Moved to a new city, got a new #... shortly thereafter, I started getting debt-collector calls for someone I didn't know. At first I didn't care, I was just getting annoying messages on the answering machine and deleting them. Then they happened to call when I was home, and I politely told the woman that there was no such person at this number, that I had gotten the number a couple months ago and I couldn't help her. 2 days later I start getting messages again, and the next time I was actually home the caller was the SAME woman. When I reminded her that I'd previously told her the guy she was looking for didn't have this number, she claimed I told her that he "wasn't home right now." I asked her for her name, and she promptly hung up, which I'd rate as "BIG MISTAKE." It was then a cause, I wanted to ruin her day. A little traceback of the #s they were leaving found me the company and parent companies, and I sent a few letter with return receipt to executives stating that I'd informed their representative politely that the person they were seeking no longer had this number, and that if I received a collection call more than 1 day after the date on the return receipt, I'd pursue this matter legally.

It worked... I got a call from someone whose name matched an official who'd gotten the letter, apologizing and saying he had personally made sure my number was off the debt-collection record.

"Ma'am, are you okay?"

OMG, I can't breathe. This is so funny.

Judge Judy FTW

If you ever needed any further proof that debt collectors are the dumbest people around, this is it!

Who stupid do you have to be to have a conversation with Judge Judy and not know it is Judge Judy?

Debt Collector Stupid apparently.

that was great...just great...and the South Park quotation above rocked too...everything is great