It may be a telemarketer using an automatic dialer. I get those all the time. They dial several random numbers at once until they get an answer then randomly transfer one to a telemarketer while hanging up on the rest.
Ring
Me: Hello
Phone: <silence>
Me: Hello?
Phone: <silence>
Me: HELLO?!?
Phone: <silence> then hang up. Or: "Hi, this is Annoying Man. I’m calling on behalf of Crap Inc. We qould like to offer you a great deal on <insert worthless product or service here>.
I have an interesting phone number which is very similar to a local hospital. You wouldn’t believe the number of misdirected calls I receive. It’s composed of similar digits like so: 727-2826
Recently, I have been receiving a number of hangup calls from an outfit in Kentucky. It’s probably a fax machine. Most calls are usually from Unavailable numbers (grumble). This one shows up on Caller I.D., so I thought I’d have some fun tracing it. No luck. It’s unlisted. I called Verizon and asked them to find the name of the company that owns the number so I could call them and either 1) correct their error, or 2) tell them to bugger off. Apparently, the modern phone companies don’t have the capability to simply “look up” numbers in a fancy “database”, so she put me on hold to place a call with the local authorities in Kentucky. After about 15 minutes on hold, she became frustrated and hung up on me. Oh well.
On #1 - Perhaps poor literacy is to blame, incorrectly set speed dial, stupidity, simple human error, confusion. I have accidently dialled a wrong number only to forget exactly what the number was a moment later. And then I dial it again. Oops.
On #2 - Try *69. If that doesn’t work, install Caller I.D. If you don’t get the number, and the calls occur frequently or at odd hours, keep a log for a week and call the abuse number at your phone company. If it can be considered harassment , they must trace it on your request. (That’s what I was told by Verizon anyway).
Oh, it’s worse than that. They have a whole bank of phone lines attached to each machine, dialing EVERY number in a prefix, 5 or 10 at a time. It is known as “wardialing.” They have a machine dialing all the numbers in a row, and when they get someone on the line, they switch it to a human operator. Or sometimes they have a recording, giving you the pitch and asking you to hold on for a live operator if you’re interested. Worst of all, if you hang up on the recording, it will not hang up and it ties up your line until the pitch is over.
It’s totally illegal to operate this way, but plenty of companies still do it.
Our home number ends in “00”, and used to belong to the local hospital back in the early 80s. We’ve had the number since 1985 or so. When we first got the number, we would get 2-5 calls a week looking for the emergency room; this was before the full implementation of 911, so we had to know the hospital’s real number to pass along in such cases.
We also have the same last four digits as a major department store in the adjacent town; the first three digits are of course different. We still get a couple or three calls a month asking for the store. We don’t know their number, so we just say no and hang up when dumb people ask “Is this [store name]?”
Sometimes kids call again and again and again over a week or so, looking for some other kid, presumably, who does not live at our home. I would guess they do it because they’re dumb, or because they think they misdialed and try the same thing again to make sure, or perhaps because the kid they are calling intends to move into our home at some point in the future and gave out our number ahead of time.
I would say, based on the plethora of examples that have been provided, that any phone number is going to be close to some other, and the wrong number calls will range from mildly amusing to incredibly annoying. Changing your number if you’ve got a mildly amusing problem might net you an incredibly annoying one, so I’d say roll with it unless it gets really bad.
Years ago I kept getting calls for some woman. One time, a little tired, I said, “She’s not here.” (She wasn’t, but…)
–“Where is she?”
–“She left.”
–“When is she coming back?”
–“I don’t know.”
Honestly, I didn’t mean to start, but I couldn’t stop lying.
Recently I’ve left the US for extended periods, and not wanting to pay for the phone when I’m not here, ask the phone company if I can “save” the number for when I reopen my account on my return. No. So some poor schmoe is getting my calls now. Tough.
I thought it was fax machines. The phone would ring. Caller ID would report the caller’s number as “Unavailable.” I’d pick up the phone and hear “beep” (pause) “beep” (pause) “beep” (pause)… for three whole minutes if I let it.
And they would repeat 8 to 10 times in a row, every seven minutes. Like clockwork. These calls rendered my old analog cassette tape answering machine nearly useless. And I was circulating a new resume!
I assumed it was fax machines and that someone had published my number, or one that was just one digit off, as a fax number in an advertisement or directory entry.
At first I’d get several episodes of this a day, every day, and it was maddening. After several maddening months, they tapered off.
But one caller persisted. And persisted. And persisted. Until one day this past January, I got fed up and called the phone company to see what could be done. They set a trap on my line, and I got the local PD to trace it, and guess who it turned out to be?
SBC, parent company of my phone company, trying to sell me local long distance service. Apparently, the computer they were using to dial my number was malfunctioning. Sure enough, all these calls started up not long after I switched my local long distance to local MCI.
So they stopped. For a couple months. And now it’s started up again. Same behavior. Those bastards!
I’ve got the local PD looking into it again, but it’s a phone annoyance case, fergodsake - I don’t expect much.
Not to mention that I’m being harassed by my own phone company!
I’ll second whoever said it’s probably telemarketers speed dialing random numbers…I get those ALL the time. Thank God for caller ID.
In my last house, I had some guy who called several times FOR “Marcia.” Each time I told him this was the wrong number, he would start agruing with me…dammit he had called Marcia, & he wouldn’t accept that she wasn’t there. One day there was a long involved message on my answering machine giving detailed instructions for Marcia on picking someone up at the airport. I’m not sure if the person ever got picked up in a timely manner, but that was the end of those calls for Marcia.
Hey, don’t knock that pregnant pause from computer dialers. I love it. If no one responds to my “hello” in two seconds, I hang up. My friends just call back, the computer dialers don’t, b/c they interpret the hang up as a “not home / answering machine” call. Or if they do, they still don’t answer fast enough.
I must admit, it sure does crack me up when one of those wardialers call, and when I answer I IMMEDIATELY hear their hold routine: “Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line…” Say what? Who, on planet Earth, stays on hold for those guys? I’d like to meet them. I have some laundry balls I’d like to sell them.
IzzyR
“Call Rejection”:
1)Press “star-6-0”.
2)Listen to the instructions.
To cancel “Call Rejection” press “star-8-0”.
Do you have Caller ID?
Do you hate telemarketers?
Do you want to know how to make them go away?
Forever?
Listen Here:
1)Pick up your phone and press “star-7-7”.
2)If you hear a tone hang up. If you don’t, hang up.
3)You should have heard a tone. If you didn’t your phone company doesn’t offer this service. BTW it is a free service.
4)The blocked caller is informed by a recording that they must first hang up and dial “star-8-2”. When they call the second time their name and phone number will be visible on your Caller ID.
5)Ta Daaa