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Posted by Fred Atkinson on August 5, 2008, 11:58 pm
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Three nights ago, I got a phone call on my new local VOIP phone
number here in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It was a recorded announcement
from Verizon Wireless. The CID on the call was from the Seattle,
Washington area.
It said that there was an important change of status on my account
(interesting, since I've not used Verizon Wireless in a very long time).
I do currently have a reseller's service that resells Verizon, but I've
no direct account with Verizon and that account is completely current.
It gave me a toll-free number to call and a six digit code to dial
in when I called it.
When I did, it asked me for the pin. I entered it. It asked me if
I was a certain person (it was a female name, I just didn't get all of
it). I selected the option that said that this person was not at that
this number. The recording apologized for the inconvenience. I hung
up.
When I came home tonight, there was another of the same recording on
my voice mail. I called the number and entered the six digit code. I
got the same routine. I accidentally punched the number one (which
meant that she was ready to listen to the phone). It was a collections
call. I hung up. I called back, went through the routine, and pressed
the button to tell them that this person was not at this number.
I called Verizon Wireless and I got this kid named John who could
make no sense out of it. I told him they were calling my home number.
He couldn't find the number and insisted that it wasn't a collection
call but a sales call and he could do nothing about it. He kept asking
me the same questions I had already answered over and over and I admit I
was getting upset with him because he couldn't seem to understand what
was happening or was even paying attention to the answers I was giving
him because he kept asking the same questions again and again.
I demanded to speak to his supervisor. He told me that the
supervisor would only tell me the same thing he told me (which I know
was untrue). I kept telling him to drop the spiel and put the
supervisor on. He just kept telling me there was nothing the supervisor
could do (and we know that isn't true). When I told him to knock it off
and put the supervisor on the phone, he told me I'd have to hold for a
half hour before a supervisor could speak to me.
I told him to have his supervisor call me at home at my cell phone
number. I warned him that I'd make a complaint of telephone harrassment
against Verizon Wireless if the supervisor didn't call me tonight. He
said the supervisor would be calling me tonight (I'm not holding my
breath).
If there is anyone from Verizon Wireless on T.D. that could help get
these collection calls for another person stop, I'd appreciate it if you
could email me.
Regards,
Fred Atkinson
***** Moderator's Note *****
Fred,
IANALB I'd handle it this way:
1. Stop talking to Verizon: they're not listening. Do _not_ address them as
"vaguely humanoid trolls with some resemblance to sentient beings".
2. Write to your state's PUC and complain.
3. Write to the FCC and complain.
4. Write to EVERY newspaper, radio station, and TV station in your area, and
complain.
5. Write to your state representative/assemblyman/whatever, and complain.
6. Write to your state senator. Replay previous tape.
You'll be lucky to get one reply from all this, but some of the people
you write to _will_ call Verizon and ask them to explain, and you're
problem will mysteriously disappear.
Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator
Please put [Telecom] at the end of your subject line, or I may never
see your post! Thanks!
We have a new address for email submissions: telecomdigestmoderator
atsign telecom-digest.org. This is only for those who submit posts via
email: if you use a newsreader or a web interface to contribute to the
digest, you don't need to change anything.
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Posted by Who Me? on August 6, 2008, 10:12 am
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>I accidentally punched the number one (which
> meant that she was ready to listen to the phone). It was a collections
> call. I hung up.
You were VERY close to talking to someone who really knows what is going on
and could help you stop it......but you hung up.
First, the agency making the calls is likely NOT really Verizon but another
company authorized to SAY they are (or speak on behalf of) Verizon. Thus
the real Verizon people were not lying to you when they said there is
(virtually) nothing they can do to help.
Second, regardless of the response to the first call, they often make a
second one on the hope that somebody different will answer/respond and "tell
the truth". If you keep answering "not here" the calls will stop
shortly.............the ones from Verizon, that is.
Fasten your seat belt, though. Your number may have been last used by a
deadbeat. I am STILL getting collection calls for the last "owner" of my
home number.........5 YEARS after I took it over.
Good luck. Be polite but firm. Your beef is with the last owner of the
number, not with the people trying to get money that is owed to them.
***** Moderator's Note *****
You had me until your last sentence.
His "beef" _IS_ with the collection agency that does not bother to
check the easily available, frequently updated, and inexpensive list
of phone numbers and names. If their software doesn't do it
automatically, they need a new IT director.
Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator
Please put [Telecom] at the end of your subject line, or I may never
see your post! Thanks!
We have a new address for email submissions: telecomdigestmoderator
atsign telecom-digest.org. This is only for those who submit posts via
email: if you use a newsreader or a web interface to contribute to the
digest, you don't need to change anything.
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Posted by Geoffrey Welsh on August 6, 2008, 7:49 pm
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Who Me? wrote:
> Fasten your seat belt, though. Your number may have been last used
> by a deadbeat. I am STILL getting collection calls for the last
> "owner" of my home number.........5 YEARS after I took it over.
I have had my home phone number since I moved over four and a half years ago;
the last 'owner' obviously used it for FAXes because I received calls from
FAX machines, sometimes at inconvenient hours.
After a several calls, I installed my old FAX modem and the FAX service on my
PC, and received the FAXes whenever I could. For advertising FAXes, I called
the removal number. For companies that sent purchase orders via FAX, I tried
to get a hold of them and inform them that they had sent the order to the
wrong (or, possibly, right but outdated) number. To my surprise - I didn't
think the advertising people would honour my removal request, since my
responding was proof that their FAXes were being received and read - the
number of FAX calls fell to a negligible level.
However, even after four and a half years (plus however long the number was
'parked' before it was assigned to me), I still get the occasional FAX call.
Is this a case of people still calling an old FAX number, or do advertising
jerks call random numbers hoping they'll find a FAX machine? I.e., does
everyone - even those whose number was not a FAX machine in the past - get
these calls from time to time?
--
Geoffrey Welsh <Geoffrey [dot] Welsh [at] bigfoot [dot] com>
"XP is just a pretty Windows 2000. Vista is essentially the old hooker
with a bad facelift and too much makeup." - John Dvorak, "Microsoft,
the Spandex Granny", PC Magazine, 17 July 2008
.
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Posted by Steven Lichter on August 6, 2008, 8:15 pm
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Geoffrey Welsh wrote:
> Who Me? wrote:
>> Fasten your seat belt, though. Your number may have been last used
>> by a deadbeat. I am STILL getting collection calls for the last
>> "owner" of my home number.........5 YEARS after I took it over.
>
> I have had my home phone number since I moved over four and a half years ago;
> the last 'owner' obviously used it for FAXes because I received calls from
> FAX machines, sometimes at inconvenient hours.
>
> After a several calls, I installed my old FAX modem and the FAX service on my
> PC, and received the FAXes whenever I could. For advertising FAXes, I called
> the removal number. For companies that sent purchase orders via FAX, I tried
> to get a hold of them and inform them that they had sent the order to the
> wrong (or, possibly, right but outdated) number. To my surprise - I didn't
> think the advertising people would honour my removal request, since my
> responding was proof that their FAXes were being received and read - the
> number of FAX calls fell to a negligible level.
>
> However, even after four and a half years (plus however long the number was
> 'parked' before it was assigned to me), I still get the occasional FAX call.
>
> Is this a case of people still calling an old FAX number, or do advertising
> jerks call random numbers hoping they'll find a FAX machine? I.e., does
> everyone - even those whose number was not a FAX machine in the past - get
> these calls from time to time?
>
There is Fax machine hunters out there, when they reach a Fax machine
the number is then recorded and added to a list, from that point on it
is just like a Spammer, he starts using it. I get a few on my old
computer line since it once had a modem on it for my BBS, which is long
gone, but the line still is there. I was told that once I get rid of
that number, that is if I do, then at&t will leave it unassigned for at
least 5 years because it was used for a BBS.
--
The Only Good Spammer is a Dead one!! Have you hunted one down today?
(c) 2008 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Co.
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Posted by John Mayson on August 7, 2008, 1:55 am
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I graduated college in 1992 and set out on my own. Immediately after
getting my new phone number I started getting calls for the
"Peterson's". I assured the callers I wasn't them nor did I know
them. Most gave up, but one national brand-name credit card company
stopped just short of threatening me. At one point they told me it
was a federal offense not to disclose the whereabouts of a person to
debt collectors. I asked just what statute that was which they
couldn't tell me.
Since then I have had perhaps a dozen new phone numbers between home
phone, second lines, cell phones, and work numbers. With the
exception of my work number and the second line that had only a modem
hanging off it, I received calls from debt collectors looking for
debtors for the first few weeks or months of receiving a new number.
I requested a new number on one of my lines (cell phone I think) and
all that did was get me calls for a different person.
I was thinking about this one. Is personal debt so out of control
that odds favor getting the number of a person behind in their
payments? Are people in debt just more likely to swap phone numbers
and/or move to escape their creditors? Or am I just unlucky?
With all of the Big Brother software out there surely creditors could
keep tabs on their debtors rather than continuing to call the same
wrong number.
John
--
Austin, Texas, USA
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