"Don't threaten us, or we'll call you every DAY!"

The BBQ Pit
1

It’s a sorta telemarketer rant. But technically, they’re errant bill collectors who have the wrong number.

I’ve been getting these phone calls for many months now. Not a lot, just every two weeks or so. (Maybe more–I’m not at the phone a lot to hear it ring and I refuse to get an answering machine.) It’s a phone message with a man’s stern, nasty voice telling me that I MUST call this certain number and talk to them.

I am on my State’s “Do Not Call” list, so I know that they have no business calling me. After a few of these calls, I called their 800 number and talk to them. Turns out that they think I am “Jeffrey” something, and I owe them money. I am not Jeffrey. I have only had this number for a little over a year. I ask them to please stop calling me. The first guy says OK.

But the calls persist. Not a lot, but since I shouldn’t be getting them at all, they are pissing me off. So I call their 800 number again today. The first thing I say to the guy who answers is, “You have the wrong number, please stop calling me!” The guy answers, “NO!” and hangs up. Just like that.

I call again. I can’t believe this. I get a little farther with this guy–I am able to tell him that I’m not Jeffrey. But when I say, “If you continue to call me, I will report you to my state’s ‘Do Not Call’ list,” his abrupt answer is, “DO NOT THREATEN US OR WE WILL CALL YOU EVERY DAY!” Slam! He hangs up.

Amazing. So, I call the “Do Not Call” registry for my state and report these suckers. I suspect that at first the lady who took my call didn’t think my complaint was relevant (they are technically bill collectors, not telemarketers) but when I told her how they said they’d keep on calling because I “threatened” them, she instantly took my report.

Damn. I hope they actually are able to do something. This is amazing. The gall of these people.

OK, there are no cuss words in here, but it’s a rant anyway. But I feel good about reporting them. And I’ll keep on reporting them, again and again, if they ever call again.

2

You know, if I were king, you’d be able to instantly track the bandit, and send an electrical charge down the phone lines into his or her ear. A few fried telemarketers, and those bastards will learn, my friend, they will LEARN.

3

Tell them you’re mentally pissing on them.

4

I would tell them that I am indeed “Jeffrey” and I don’t even intend to pay them! Then I’d give em a phony cell phone number and a bogus e-mail adress.

How is Rap like Porn? Both are better with the sound turned off.

5

I feel for ya.

Check out this thread from late last year. There is some good advice about what to do with debt collectors who are hassling you unfairly.

6

YO, are you even the correct gender to be a Jeffrey? If yes, I’ve been under a serious misapprehension about you for quite some time.

If they call again, ask to speak to a supervisor and explain that his or her company’s conduct is in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which provides BOTH that (a) they cannot communicate with a third party other than the debtor – in this case, you – without the debtor’s permission, and that (b) they are expressly prohibited from using harassing techniques in an attempt to collect a debt, which certainly would include threatening to call you every day. You might also remind them they are liable for triple damages for violating the FDCPA. If you want to look at the Act yourself, you can find it [url="http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm#805"here.

Ask for a mailing address to send a letter to the attention of the supervisor to whom you’re speaking, and send them a letter informing them that you are not the debtor and instructing them to cease contacting you immediately. Include the same stuff you told the supervisor on the phone. You might also throw in there how “disappointed” you are at their collectors’ unprofessionalism.

Even if they continue to insist you are Deadbeat Jeff, they cannot continue to call you once you have instructed them in writing to stop.

Oh, and you definitely will want to check your credit report to make sure that it is only the phone number they have wrong, and they are not attempting to stick you with a debt that isn’t in fact yours.

Go get 'em! :slight_smile:

7

FIXED LINK

YO, are you even the correct gender to be a Jeffrey? If yes, I’ve been under a serious misapprehension about you for quite some time.

If they call again, ask to speak to a supervisor and explain that his or her company’s conduct is in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which provides BOTH that (a) they cannot communicate with a third party other than the debtor – in this case, you – without the debtor’s permission, and that (b) they are expressly prohibited from using harassing techniques in an attempt to collect a debt, which certainly would include threatening to call you every day. You might also remind them they are liable for triple damages for violating the FDCPA. If you want to look at the Act yourself, you can find it here.

Ask for a mailing address to send a letter to the attention of the supervisor to whom you’re speaking, and send them a letter informing them that you are not the debtor and instructing them to cease contacting you immediately. Include the same stuff you told the supervisor on the phone. You might also throw in there how “disappointed” you are at their collectors’ unprofessionalism.

Even if they continue to insist you are Deadbeat Jeff, they cannot continue to call you once you have instructed them in writing to stop.

Oh, and you definitely will want to check your credit report to make sure that it is only the phone number they have wrong, and they are not attempting to stick you with a debt that isn’t in fact yours.

Go get 'em! :slight_smile:

8

FIXED LINK

FDCPA here.

9

Actually, even if you were Deadbeat Jeff, they cannot continue to call once you have instructed them in writing to stop.

10

For what it’s worth, here is the text of a letter I sent (on my professional letterhead) to a debt collector - it did seem to stop the calls:

By Fedex

_____Collections

___, Wisconsin
Re: , SSA #,

Dear Sir / Madam:

Please be advised that I have been retained to represent the above-named person in connection with collection attempts made by your organization on behalf of  ____.  Please direct all future correspondence and/or communications to the undersigned.  Further, and without limitation of the foregoing, please CEASE AND DESIST from contacting my client by telephone.  Finally, and without limitation of any of the foregoing, please be advised that all future phone calls by your organization to me or my client may be tape-recorded to the extent permitted by all applicable laws and rules.  Thank you for your attention to these matters.

							Sincerely yours,

							Lucwarm, Esq.
11

Thanks everyone! Thanks Jodi and lucwarm!

Wow. I was just hoping that reporting them to the “Do Not Call” registry will do the trick. I hope it does. They haven’t got a leg to stand on.

I don’t think that they are trying to get me on the hook for this debt; I don’t think they even know who I am. (Well, obviously!) They just want Jeff, and I’m assuming that they think I’m covering up for Jeff since I’ve now got “his” number. I don’t think they’ve affected my credit (I just applied–and got accepted–for a new credit card, not to mention a student loan), but that’s worth double-checking.

I doubt they have my snail mail address, since Jeffrey obviously lived somewhere else, and that’s who they are looking for. And I’m not sure if I want them to know my snail mail address, if it can at all be avoided!

But I will keep up on this. This is bullshit. What an attitude these people have.

12

Take a cue from this guy.

13

I’m not familiar with the national Do Not Call law, but if it’s anything like most state DNC laws, it doesn’t apply to charities or debt collectors.

14

Well, my state’s “Do Not Call” registry apparently thought I had a case, because they took my complaint.

I think what did it for the “Do Not Call” lady that I talked to was when I told her that the debt collectors said they’d continue to call every day, if I “threatened” them.

15

You know, I’d pay Big Bucks to have this option on my phone…if I get a wrong number at an ungodly hour I can just zap the offender. We had a lot of people asking for “Anna” at 3 AM a few months ago. Now it happens that I’m generally awake at 3 AM, but when I receive a call at such a time I panic, thinking that a friend or family member is deathly ill or some such. This would also seriously reduce prank calls.

Sure, this option could be abused, but I think that I should be allowed to have it.

16

I just got a telemarketer in doo-doo! It was kind of fun.

There’s no “do not call list” here in Canada, you have to tell each marketing company to remove you from their list. It’s amazing how many have no idea what the regulations are.

**Teleweanie: ** “Good after Mrs. Crayons.” (I’m not married, that bugs me.) “I’m Teleweanie, calling on ehalf of…”
Crayons: “Hi, Teleweanie. Please put this number on your do not call list. Don’t forget, you only have 30 days to do so.”
Teleweanie: “You are mistaken it takes three months.”
Crayons: “That is false. CRTC guidelines stipluate that you must remove the recipient’s number from you dtatabase within 30 days.”
Teleweanie: “I’m sorry that’s wrong. It’s three months.”
Crayons: “Oh, Teleweanie, perhaps I should make this clear: I am actually reading them to you from the CRTC website as we speak! I don’t think you’re allowed to lie. Please provide me with your supervisor’s name and a mailing address where I can contact your company.”
Teleweanie: “I do not have that information.”
Crayons: “BZZZT! Stee-rike two! (Okay I didn’t say that but I really wanted to.) Oh, now Teleweanie, you’re in trouble now. Telemarketing regulations, as enacted by Parliament stipluate that you must provide the name of a manager and a mailing address upon request by the recipient of the phone call. Your phone lines can be disconnected within two business days if you are found to be in violation of the rules. Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! And that’s wo rules you’re being fuzzy on now, isn’t it?”
Teleweanie: “Please hold. I’ll forward you to my supervisor.”

His supervisor is Steve Gagnon. Steve told me their mailing address. Now I send them a letter that will make them cry. If they call me after Oct. 5, I’m gonna get their phones lines disconnected. Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…!

I’m looking into the legality of taping them (if I just need to inform them immediately or what) because it occured to me that these verbal exchanges might be kind of fun to send to one of our local radio stations. (Except that bitch from the “Newspaper Call Center” that hung up on me when I asked for her supervisor. That was naughty, they are in trouble now.)

17

Now you can tell the caller, “We just put you in collection. If you don’t want to hear it from the feds, stop calling us immediately, amd hereafter.”:slight_smile:

18

Careful, Tom Mabe might sue for stealing his material. :wink:

(see above link for explanation)

19

Something I just learned yesterday, you can ( in US. Don’t know about Canadians, but it’s worht a shot.) call your local phone supplier and tell them you want a Freeze Pick or Pick Freeze ( One or the other.) on your number.

What this means is that your number cannot be slammed by another company. Your number in the master computer list (your local phone company) is frozen by code in the system, so that at the end of the night when info is uploaded into MCI/Verizon/Whomever to go through the changes of " Jane JOnes with ATT agrees to switch to CrapCommm." your number will not be uploaded.

All phone services use the local suppliers data base to do their marketing from. All the records are right there.

This info is uploaded ALOT. Usually nightly, from what my friend told me, depending on the time of year. (She had to do this on all the phone lines at Kmart headquarters…loads of fun.)

If you do end up switching with a pick freeze on the line, you have to fax over to local company to unfreeze it, then after the switch is made, refax over to have it put back on.

This info is about three years old, so it may be obselete. It is worth a shot.

20

PIC freeze.