Reader Rachael wants to know if there’s any way she can get a harassing debt collector to stop calling her 3 times a day — looking for someone else who used to have her number.
My boyfriend and I moved into our apartment about two months ago. When we moved in, we were told by the property management that we had to cancel our RoadRunner service and sign up for an account with the local phone company, Cincinnati Bell, for our phone and internet. No big deal, we initially thought. We signed up, got our (slow) DSL connection and free-incoming-calls-only phone line (we did not sign up for a regular phone plan since we use Skype). The activation of that line is when the trouble started.
In the 2 months of having our phone line we have received more phone calls from debt collectors looking for the people who used to have our number, than I have on my cell phone over the past 4 months combined, and I love to talk! They always ask for either the husband or the wife, and push and try to harass me into “giving them a message” the next time I talk to them, no matter how many times I repeat to them that I do not know these people. I looked up my phone number and saw it listed with these people and sent them a letter nicely asking them to update their information with the people and companies they have associated with because I am so tired of these calls, but nothing has happened as of yet.
I am sorry if this seems rather long, but I am almost at wits’ end with all of these collection calls, and I just received another one while typing this out, bringing the total to 3 today. Is there any way to stop collectors from calling me for these people, or am I stuck wondering if I have to answer the phone to find a rude collector on the other end?
Any advice would be very much appreciated!
Well, what these debt collectors are doing is illegal, so the first thing you’ll want to do is start a journal and make a note in it every time they call you. If you can record the calls, do it. Make sure to write down their information and be as detailed as you can.
Inform the debt collectors that they are breaking the law by continuing to harass you over someone elses’ debt, and that you intend to file a lawsuit. In addition to the harassment, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act also forbids the debt collectors from comminicating details about debt with a third party, which you most certainly are. So if they’re trying to get to you “deliver a message” about the debt, they’re breaking the law.
Hypothetically, that should clear it up. If it doesn’t, you’ll need to either change your number or consult a consumer lawyer in your area for advice. We have the feeling that consumer lawyers would be enthusiastic about representing you.
If you’re not interested in having some fun with our legal system, try changing your number. Some phone companies are sympathetic to customers who are receiving harassing phone calls and are able to waive the fee.
(Photo: Getty)
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Rachael, I feel for you. I had a similar situation with my cellphone – constant calls from an automated system (not even a human!) looking for the guy who had the number in the past. I was going nuts.
I chose the easiest (IMO) route, changing the number. It took less than three minutes. I understand that if you have given the number out to everyone you know, that may not be the easiest for you. I’m afraid that doing it the “right” way, i.e., routing out the harassers and forcing them to stop calling, will take a long time and probably won’t work, since that number is already on call lists.
We are still getting calls asking for my father two years after his passing, because we once gave a correct phone number when ordering some health aid items for him. At least now I know to slam the phone down, because certainly anyone who personally knew my father and had reason to call would know very well that he passed away. They come about three times a week and I’m resigned to the notion that they will never stop. Thankfully, most of the time I’m not home at those hours.
Much as I would love a lawsuit or phone-taunting resolution to this, it’s possible that the deadbeat is still giving out that phone number as his own. I know someone that happened to. The guy hadn’t had the number in years, but whenever anyone asked him for his phone number, he gave out the old one. Just change your number, it’s really the only answer. Unfortunate but everybody has to deal with the deadbeat losers of this world.
@EyeHeartPie: Crap, meant to point to this post:
@MissPeacock:
Dave Ramsey has an amusing approach to this. It basically involves threatening them that you will blast an airhorn into the phone next time they call. More than that, he advocates sending them a strongly worded cease and desist letter. I don’t know if the letter or the airhorn works more, but since the OP has already sent them a letter, I would imagine that now would be the time to talk to a lawyer and/or the FCC.
Cheers!
So, if the OP isn’t quite feeling like following all the good advice for hitting the debt collector’s where it hurts (i.e. the wallet) or changing the number, why not just unplug the phone?
She has a cell phone and uses skype so it seems like the landline is largely just there to provide DSL, why not unplug the phone or set the ringer to silent? They can call all they want but so long as it’s not bothering her, who cares? (I fully realize some folks might want to fight them on general principle, but I’m asking from the pragmatic “I don’t want to waste my time” side of things)
I got rid of my landline about 5 years when I made a similar realization. I talked on my cell phone way more than I did on the landline and of those calls, 99% were telemarketers or debt collectors for other people. I unplugged the phone about a month before I ditched it and I didn’t see any negatives to that course of action so I ditched the line. Now, years later and I haven’t had a single problem without a landline.
I’m not sure how well this plan works for 911 service (I have had to call 911 a couple of times and I still got fast response times), but if that was a concern (e.g. with kids) then a landline with a phone plugged in and the ringer on silent would be a simple enough solution.
@IamNotToddDavis:
I took a moment and read through the Debt Verification letter he posted. Truth be told that is really well written and using Cert Mail with receipt establishes a legal trail. Probably the best route to take. Though there were some amusing ones posted.
Wish I had it back when I suffered from the same sort of issue. some guy Bought 30K worth of Dell servers and never paid them. Kept getting calls but the finally stopped. After the first one I found an address for the guy on google in about 15 seconds. Next time they called I gave em the address and told them they should do due diligence. I was nice to start since it was not their fault the first time. but afterthat I got nasty.
@kewlfocus: Shouldn’t complain. I have Cincinnati Bell DSL like was mentioned. 5mbit down/ 1 mbit up and rock solid. Plus there’s no dealing with comcast or time warner.
It sounds like you don’t actually care about the phone, just the DSL. So unplug the phone and they won’t bother you any more.
@A.W.E.S.O.M.-O: I heard success from debt collectors by trying to annoy them. I esp. like when you keep saying yes.
I’m never lucky enough for this to happen to me.
I used to get a lot of calls because the phone company assigned me a phone number that was previously used by someone with credit problems. Many times I told the collectors that they had the wrong number but they kept calling. Finally because they were so sure that I was who I said I wasn’t I accepted their position and just went along. I just listened to their demands, and told them that I was not going to pay. That got them REALLY angry. I listened to their threats about taking me to court and silently laughed while telling them that I knew the law and I would file bankruptcy and they would get nothing from their unsecured debt. Not only that, but I led them to believe I was continuing to spend money like crazy. When I was in Las Vegas I called them using a pay phone, and I did the same from Hawaii. I would call them then tell them that I was too busy with my vacation to spend time on my debts and besides I spent too much on the vacation and gambling. Even though my alleged name was Johnson I used an accent and got cursed by one of their supervisors for being a damned foreigner. I guess they got so irate that they started investigating in depth and must have figured out that they wasted tons of time and money barking up the wrong tree. The calls finally stopped.
@donopolis: Just like RadioShack?
@Amiga_500: Warnings, or blasts of the horn?
Heh, actually, thinking about the earlier post that delved into the recording conversations issue, I wonder what would happen if you set your phone to play a stock recording:
“Hi, please note that this call is being recorded for use in civil and possibly criminal proceedings. Any caller who violates the FCRA or any other state or federal statute or engages in harassment will have their information and a recording of this call forwarded to the appropriate authorities and my lawyer. Please indicate your acceptance by stating your full name and the company you are representing so that the call will be connected. Thank you and have a nice day.”
Even if someone gave a bogus name/company that would be just more evidence and it should make it easier to get the PD to help initiate harassment proceedings and I suspect a company caught making harassing calls and lying about who they are would be open for some huge losses in court.
I went on a 2 week vacation one time. When I got back, my anwsering machine was full of messages from some collection agency asking about my truck and warning about what would happen if I didn’t call/pay them. The last message on the tape was “you car has been towed and impounded for failure to….”
I did feel really bad for whoever this happened to. But the misanthropic part of me did laugh.
@Caveat: FTW, I’m going to file that one away for future use
.
I had a lot of fun with some collections agents when they started trying to harass me about some loser who used to have my number….
[blog.megacity.org]
It was quite fun, and eventually stopped.
Drive Time does this to me for my neighbor. [www.patentlystupid.com] they call wanting to know if my neighbor is such and such and if he is still there and if we would go next door for them and tell them to call, trying to embarrass them into calling. Their last call was on 5/22 and the next time they call I will be geeting really ugly.
I don’t even understand how you are on the phone long enough for them to curse at you or anything. I used to get these calls for the former owners of my house, and my reply was a very curt “sorry-he-doesn’t-live-here-anymore-please-don’t-call-here-anymore-kthxbai” and then they would hear the dial-tone. Don’t let them get a word in edgewise. Or just make like Gwen Stefani and screen your phone calls.
@Shaftoe: I’ve used that letter before and it works like a charm. The thing about it is that a lot of these idiot collectors are well aware of the laws they are breaking by harrassing you, but they gamble (correctly in most cases) that the majority of the people they are calling don’t know their rights under the law so they do it anyways.
Sometimes they lose, but most times they get away with it. The bigger problem is the fact that the FDCPA doesn’t do a very good job of establishing just what can pass for validation, which is why it’s important to invoke the FCRA as well.
We moved into our house 2 1/2 years ago, and we still occasionally get calls for Adrian Tucker (no one we know.) However, they’re always recordings. Every now and again I get to actually answer one of these, and it gives a series of choices: “If you are this person, press 1. If this person is present, and you need this call to hold, press 2. If this person is not home right now, press 3.” And so on.
Problem is, there IS NOT an option for “If you wouldn’t know this deadbeat from Adam, and want these annoying phone calls to stop, press 14.” And since there’s no actual person to talk to, there’s no recourse. I just hang up now. The calls have been far less frequent recently.
Now we get calls reminding Isabel of her appointments at Memorial Hospital. I call them, tell them they have the wrong number, they thank me, and a few weeks later we get another one. Oh well.
Your only options are:
1. Certified return receipt letter to the telemarketer doing the calling.
2. A phone company with REAL blocking options (I can tell you from experience this does not include AT&T or former Southwestern Bell, but does include Embarq).
3. Change your number. That’s by far the most effective method and once you make all the notifications it’s a done deal.
I’ve never found anything that works outside those 3 options, though for new telemarketing going to my own name, it also helps to get a disposable number (e.g. GrandCentral) forwarded to my home number and give THAT out to businesses, not my actual home number.
Warden’s Office, Valley View State Prison, Captain Jenkins speaking, we currently have 8 slots avaialable, how can I help you?
@kewlfocus: Not in the slightest. Its completely reasonable for the property manager to not want the local cable service cocking up the building with their despicable cable installations, whereas the phone copper is likely already there and solid. Upstate NY Time Warner installs are an absolute joke. They just knock holes in anything, string lines the shortest distance ignoring aesthetics, and frequently don’t even install a wall plate.
@Nick1693: Oops! Three verbal warnings, then 1 blast!
I’m all for having fun with the collectors — they called you, they invited themselves into your home without an invitation, so vent away on/at them. I used to do this with salesholes prior to the do-not-call list. One time a ‘hole got offended at what I was yelling about. “too bad. you called me, I didn’t call you. You can alaways hang up.”
In some ways I miss my nightly vent sessions.
This is an awful position to be in. We moved and started getting phone calls for a Mr. Martinez from debt collectors. I’m Polish, my wife is too, we have Polish accents, we have a very Polish last name, whatever these scum don’t seem to care. This was annoying but then we started getting calls late at night that would simply breathe heavily and then hang-up. So we got the police involved. What you need to do is call the operator and ask for the last phone call made to you be traced. The 911 operator explained what to do. Then the police get a record of that from the phone company and investigate. So a few days later a polic officer showed-up and took down some info from us. Then we received a phone call from him later explaining it was a bad debt collector and that I should not expect any more phone calls. We never even connected the dots ourselves.
Unfortunately later we moved and got a new phone number. The first sign of trouble was when we wanted a pizza delivered and they simply would not deliver to a Mr. Rodriguez. We had many debt collector phone calls, but after a while they died down and no one was so obnoxious this time around.
I had a similar but bizarre problem with I moved to Boston back in 1996. Once the new phone book was printed I started getting debt collection calls for a person with exactly the same first and last name and same middle initial. I got calls from places I never shopped at, much less had credit with. It culminated with a person showing up at my apartment door who was built like a marriage between a bar bouncer and a Boston cop. Thank God he apparently knew exactly who he was looking for, because he took one look at me and took off.
I would get periodic calls and mailings for this guy about his debt for years, even once I moved to Quincy. The strangest was a 5am call from Montgomery Wards asking if I wouldn’t mind paying the $500 I owed. I explained that I wasn’t the same person, and asked why they were calling so early. She apologized and said that she didn’t realize the time difference because she was in Chicago. I’d hung up before I realized that meant it was 3am where she was.
Most recently, I got another call that might have been for the same guy, again at some ungodly early hour (I think about 5am, though now I live on the west coast). They were looking for someone with the same name again who had skipped out on payments for a 2003 Tahoe. I screamed at the person who called (we had an infant and a toddler at the time, and I’d only had about 2 hours of sleep). Then I got the name of the company and called them back and screamed at a supervisor that if I ever got a call from them again, especially at 5am, I was going to call Attorney Generals office and report them. So far, no new calls.
More on topic, shortly after moving to Seattle, I ended up with a second ringer line as part of a package of services with Verizon. I didn’t care about it and didn’t even know the number, but after about a week I realized that someone had previously had the number, named “Bunny”, who was in deep debt. I was able to get that number changed, thankfully, without effecting anything else.
I had Nationwide Insurance calling me on my cell number for someone that had previously lived at my address. We always get mail for this person so I expect that but then they started leaving me voicemail messages. I called them and got a lady who didn’t seem interested in my problem, said she would “research it”. She didn’t seem like she wrote anything down or looked anything up at all and was anxious to get off the phone immediately, even going so far as to thank me before I was finished and wait for me to hang up. Luckily I’ve read the Consumerist a few times. I made her give me a customer service line to call and when I spoke with this next lady, she was very helpful but very clueless as to why they would be calling me. She also said she would “research it”! but she made it sound like they would still call until they found a correct number for this person. I let them know that this would not be happening again. So far it’s stopped.
Try to get them to agree to come meet you in person to give them the money then douse them with a bucket of pig blood.
Stuff like this makes me think most Debt collectors should not be classified as human
@LorneReams: WRONG. Just wrong. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
@IamNotToddDavis: That letter is meaningless and not supported by any law. You can love it all you like, but it doesn’t entitle anyone who sends it to more than the law allows.
Here’s the script to ditch the humans at least:
OP [with monotone/serious drawl]: “Forward assault – Sgt. Jenkins speaking – this is an unsecured line – go ahead”
SCUMBAG: “I’m looking for Mr. X or Ms. X”
OP “This is Forward assault – do you have official business on this line?”
SCUMBAG: Uh.
OP: “This is an assigned number and for official business only. You have the wrong number.” [hang up]
Then just continue to answer the phone with: “Forward assault – Sgt. Jenkins speaking – this is an unsecured line – go ahead” and hang up as soon as the first word comes out of their mouth. Never say another word, just hang up.
After I got my “new” cell number 3/4′s of all of my donation grubbers, harassing calls, dried up for me on my cell phone in a few days by using this tactic. I just had to be consistent. Of course, I worked with the Army for years and know the vocal tone perfectly. When you answer the phone like that for a few years (without the Sgt. part personally) you can do it in your sleep. Nowadays I actually look forward to the donation weasels and car warranty folks that I can see on caller ID. Sgt. Jenkins to the rescue – a Real American Hero!!!
@Bonnet: So I’m NOT the only one who gets collect calls from prison! I feel sort of better now. It’s only on weekends. Stillwater prison in MN, I believe.
What’s really getting me is the automated debt calls at 8am on weekends. That just makes me stabby.
@EyeHeartPie: Really? That is too awesome for words, especially since the reason I’m moving out (breaking a lease and everything) is because the apartment complex is so incompetent and unresponsive. I’ll take any chance I have to treat them like they’ve treated us. I’ll look into that complaint. THANKS!!!!!!!!!
I have had my present phone number for seven years and I am still getting calls from collectors for the person that previously had my number and, surprisingly, from a church group trying to get these people to come back to church. Although I have repeatedly told the callers that the person no longer has this number the calls continue.
on recording calls, whether you live in a “one-party” or “two-party” information state, as long as you INFORM THE OTHER PARTY at the beginning of the call that you are recording, it is legal.
@desertdust: You don’t want to get pink eye!
Perverts-R-US phone sex line, what is your fetish?
If you use skype for your phone anyway then just unplug the other phone from your main line and ignore them.
@Loki_Monster: Um, hello? It most certainly is supported by specific laws. If a collector calls you to harrass you in to paying on a debt AFTER you have confirmed receipt of your request for validation, and the collector has NOT responded with written validation of the debt, he is in VIOLATION of the FDCPA. People can and do sue collection companies for violations of the FDCPA all the time.
Same goes for the FCRA, which is also referenced in the letter.
I’m not sure what you’re trying to say.
I got calls for a person with the same first initial and same last name. They were infrequent, but lasted for years. Finally I got their information and contacted the FTC, BBB and Atty General. It stopped
@Breach: OTOH, I feel the same way about deadbeats.
I used to work for a college agency. Most collection agencies have a Do Not Call database they can add your number to. This will also block your number from being dialed directly from their phone system. I would get the name of the agency calling you, and their customer service or legal dept number. You can either call them or write them (I would do both, since calling will speed the process, and writing to them will give you both parties a physical copy) and have them add you to the Do Not Call database. This has a 24 hour time around time. The actual collectors do not have access to this database and they don’t have permission to block your number on the phone switch.
The collection agency I worked for always fulfilled any requests for blocking number, especially if the people we called were non-debtors. We called this “third party non-debtor”.
If all else fails, get an attorney involved. The collection agency’s legal department will certainly work with you.
In this situation, I would contact the phone company directly and ask that a trap be placed on the line because you’ve been receiving harassing phone calls. The phone company will give you a case number and you can then convey that information to the police.
Once the trap is placed on the line, you’ll be asked to keep notes on the dates, times, and person or company who is harassing you. Even if it’s a hang up call, write it down. You’ll need to contact the phone company after each occurrence. Once they have confirmed that at least three calls originated from the same number, the phone company will pass this info on to the police and it’s a cakewalk from there.
The phone company will contact the harasser on your behalf. The calls will stop. In the unlikely event that they don’t, you’ll be able to use the evidence gathered against the offending company or person with the police in or court.
This happened to a neighbor of mine a few years ago. It turned out one of the psycho Stepford wives in the neighborhood was the one making harassing, 2am hang-up calls to her. The cops rolled up in a squad car in broad daylight and hauled her crying ass to jail! It was one of the most awesome things I’ve ever seen.
Good luck.
When told that you had to change phone services just to move in, I would have personally checked with the local phone company and Time Warner. Then I would have looked to see in the rental contract to see if that is written in there. Landlords know that not all people look at the full contract. If that was in there, I would have brokered a deal with him or have gone somewhere else.
I went through this before and would do three things:
1) Ask what company they are with and their name
2) Tell them that you aren’t the party that they are looking for, to change their records, and that you will report them to the state AG if they call again.
3) Record all information and if the same company calls back, report them to your state AG.
Calls stopped after about a month.
Agree to pay the bill, but only if they fax you a settlement offer. Ask for their fax number to return the form to.
Now, go buy a fax machine and 100 sheets of black construction paper. Everytime they call you, fax them 100 sheets of black construction paper. This will cost at least $200 per instance (thats a dead toner and a dead drum) lather, rinse, repeat.
The short answer is: no! I had a debt collector start calling me last year. I have never even had a late payment, so I guess they were just trolling. They left non-stop messages on my answering machine, at least twice a day, for a while. They would leave messages about me getting a lawyer and so on. They said a name, but it was always slurred, both computer-read and when a person read it, so I could not understand what they were saying. I had not been in debt, so I did some research, and there is a vast underworld of scum in boiler rooms calling anyone and everyone. They won’t stop calling. The best you can do it wait it out — they’ll go on to someone else in a few months. Whatever you do, DO NOT LET THEM KNOW YOU EXIST. They are required by law to put something in writing if it is for you. But there’s almost no chance of getting them to stop calling you. There are many discussion boards on the net about this subject. Look up the phone number they’re using to call you and you’ll find them. I now spend about $100/yr on caller ID just to screen this junk.