The only phone I have is my cell phone. Anytime I get a “Unknown Number” or whatever it is, I don’t answer it because it’s usually a telemarketer. For about the past week, I’ve recieved an increased number of these calls, about two or three a day. I decided to listen to it, just in case it was important. The message went.
“Please call 877-123-4567 for a very important message. That number again is 877-123-4567.”
That’s it. So just out of curiousity (and maybe the opportunity to bitch someone out) I called the number. An ESL fellow answered on the phone and in broken english let me know he didn’t know what the hell I was talking about.
This morning, the “Unknown Number” call comes in again. This time, I answer it to make sure I get the number right so I can call Sprint and complain to them. I call the number one more time. . .
“Capital One, what’s your account number please?”
Turns out, there was a slight problem with my account. I don’t mind them calling me but dammit, either say you’re Capital One in the pre-recorded message or leave me a message or something! What, I’m supposed to blindly return every generic call-me-back message I get?
Sounds like a scam to me. If there was a problem, wouldn’t they call and identify themselves first? I would hesitate to give my account number to someone unless I was 100% sure of whom I was calling (as in, I got the number off the back of my CC.) You might want to call Capital One and verify that’s who you really talked to.
It was them. I have an incredibly low credit limit and when I asked how I spent above my credit limit they detailed my last few expenses which were dead on. I had a weird accounting mishap last month and one or two other checks got bounced as well. I’m off to pay the gas company their late money as well this afternoon. :rolleyes: At least they left a note at my house.
Sometimes bill collectors are not supposed to identify themselves as such.
Also, their experience might indicate that the most cost-effective way to get the customer on the line is with automated unidentified messages.
I do know that when you call folks who owe money, more often than not they don’t answer their phone. And they usually don’t return calls from folks they owe money to.
Collector guy checking in. lucwarm is pretty much spot-on. Creditors are very limited in the amount and type of information we can leave in any format other than with the account holder. All sorts of federal regulations dictate how we have to place those calls.
Wow, now I’m paranoid. I occaisonally get those pre-recorded “call us back at this number” calls, and I always ignore them (I figured if it actually was important they’d send me a letter or at least tell me who was calling). Wonder if I’ve ignored anything I shouldn’t have?
Otto, are they at least allowed to identify who they are?
My two cents. I’ve been getting several messages on my home phone recently for someone named Ben with the same last name as mine (though my last name is my ex-husband’s last name, so not my maiden name) from different bill collectors. All of the messages just had someone leaving their name and phone number to call them back within a certain time period. No information as to what company they were calling from or for what reason. I’ve returned the calls and explained that there is no one named Ben at my number, I’ve had the number for over 6 years and I don’t know anyone nor am I related to anyone named Ben. It’s been VERY annoying, but only takes a minute or less to deal with the calls. It’s just that it’s been every week for several weeks lately! Rat bastard Ben, who are you and why are you giving out my number as yours! :mad:
My brother used to get dunning letters and calls from a credit card company for a guy with the same first and last name as his (and we don’t have a common surname!). However, they had different middle initials, as well as different mailing addresses and account numbers, fer crine out loud, and he was just amazed that it took them as long as it did to figure out they had the wrong guy. He finally contacted them when he began to fear this other dude was going to screw up his credit rating.
All you ever wanted to know about debt collection but were afraid to ask
As I understand it, whether they are able to identify themselves depends based on the collector. For example, I can identify myself by name and company because I work for a telephone company and a message from a telephone company isn’t necessarily related to debt collection. Brenda from Debt Collectors of America may not be able to because there’s very little reason why Debt Collectors of America would be calling someone that’s unrelated to collecting a debt.
I take it that’s so that they debtor’s family will never intercept messages like “Hello, Mr. tdn, this is Trudy from Capital Two. We’ve noticed some strange activity on your card. There are daily charges to something called www.goatfelchingteens.com. Could you call me back at 555-123-4567?”
