Over the past week or so, I’ve been getting automated calls for someone else. The call goes “Hi, this is an automated message for <name>. We have important information to discuss concerning pending matters in our office. Please press 1 to speak to a representative now”.
The first time I got it, I just hung up after I realized the name wasn’t mine. Second time, I listened to the whole thing to see if a person would pick up and I could explain they had the wrong number.
Times 3 through 5 are getting annoying.
I get that it is probably a bill collector with a wrong number. I also get that the kind of people that get legitimate calls from bill collectors probably don’t answer their phone until they are called 50 bajillion times and answer just to end it. I would rather not be getting false calls.
However, I have this nagging paranoia that actually answering the call may have negative consequences, like ‘validating’ the number, or twisting a statement I make, or what have you.
Is this just paranoia, and I should just answer/call back to tell them to buzz off (will that work, because it seems like it would be a common tactic for someone that owes money to claim that this isn’t their number?) or is there something else I need to do?
I bet that you are right that it is a bill collector, since they are not allowed to talk about the bill except to the person involved. I’d answer, get their information, and tell them they have the wrong number. I suspect they run into this all the time. If they don’t believe you and keep calling, you have their information to make a complaint.
ETA: BTW, if you are worried that they will do something bad, don’t give your name. They have your number already.
I was getting these calls twice a day, every day, always at the same time. After a couple of weeks I finally hung on the phone to speak to a real person. I told them the person they were trying to contact didn’t live here, and I didn’t know who they were. I haven’t received a call from them since.
Well, I took the advice given. They just called, and after having to ask for the name of the place calling FOUR times (it was a collections company, and the guy kept trying to mumble it fast and move on with his script), I told them I was not the person they were looking for and to remove my number immediately.
I get calls like this all the time, either for the dumbasses who had this number 10+ years ago (yes, I still get calls for them!) or my dumbass ex-tenant who hasn’t been here for over 5 years.
There’s no reason not to press 1 and talk to whoever is calling and tell them to stop. No harm can or will come from it, and they probably will actually stop. Sometimes you need to tell them a few times (like you will get calls for 3 days and you tell them each time) but they will stop.