OT how do I fight back?

Polly, I can sympathize. DH has a very common name, and we've been harassed literally for years by a collection agency for a bank that is trying to recover a truck some jerk bought and hasn't paid for. More recently, he's defaulted on a home, and we're getting calls about that, too. It doesn't matter that the fellow's SS number is different from DH's, either.

We've tried everything we can think of to get the calls to stop; it came to a head one night when two burly men showed up and tried to repossess

*our* truck, which wasn't the right make, color, or VIN number, but which they thought they'd take anyway. Nope. We called the police, but they can't really do anything about the phone calls. The bank in question seems to have tried to help us (it's not our bank), but the collection agency has the bit between its teeth and is continuing to run.

It's infuriating, invasive and a waste of everyone's time. But it continues, and I do sympathize with your predicament.

I found this, Polly:

"Caller is People First Recoveries, a scam/bottom feeding debt collector, according to many reports online. Will not stop calling wrong numbers unless you send a certified mail stop calling letter. If they continue to call over and over, contact the FTC--www.ftc.gov and complain!

This company is the rudest group of people I have ever delt with. Called me a liar because I did not know the person who had my cell number before. Called three times a day at least, one caller named Deb said she will keep calling until I stop lying to her. I have sent a stop calling/wrong number to them, have complained to my states AG and the FTC.

They have finally stopped calling!

They will not give you their address if you ask, they just hang up, but I have found some on the net:

People First Recoveries

2080 Elm St SE Minneapolis, MN 55414-2531

Phone: 612-331-6544"

******************* I don't know if it would do any good to call, but might be worth a try.

Cindy

Hahhahahahha! Kathyl, I think Polly made up the "Polly Aster" persona. I'm pretty sure the name they are asking for is close to Polly's real name.

Cindy

I'm one digit off from the local Walmarts photography studio. Depending on my mood at the time of the call, I've been known to make appointments.

Cindy

Ask what their supervisors' name is and then ask to speak to them. Tell the Supervisor you have kept a LOG of every phone call and are turning them in for harassment Usually stops the calls dead. Especially if it's the wrong number.

HTH Butterfly (who has Caller ID because of it a few years back.)

I'm partial to the literal whislte-blowing in the ear technique. I've used it and it works.

I have seen also in my courtroom where someone sues a company for harassing phone calls. The plaintiff came in with dates/times/length of calls. And won their case.

I have had this phone number for 1.5 years. I continue to get phone calls for a Melissa Ruiz, and her husband. I have done the polite "Who is calling? Can I get the spelling of your name and position, and a return number, please? Now. I am not Melissa Ruiz. I do not know Melissa Ruiz. But I imagine from all the phone calls I am getting, asking for her, she owes a lot of people a lot of money. So, good luck in finding her. Oh, and if you continue to call this number, I will report you first to your supervisor, then to the police." Since I got the contact info first, they usually do not call back.

When I was married to ex, we would get calls asking for [Uncle] John

*******, who passed in 1993. Phone number was in his name in the phone book. We always said we would love to patch the caller through, but Uncle John died in 1993 and we didn't know which direction he went. Morbidly funny, but always worked.

G> hoooooo Boy! is this OT but I need your help.

Several years ago when we got an extra business line, we started getting lots of collection calls for a Mr. X. (Even the library was after this guy!) A few of the collectors weren't put off by the fact that we had just gotten the number and didn't know Mr. X; I finally started telling all of them that the next time they called I would be contacting the police and my lawyer, and would begin proceedings to sue them for harassment. Luckily it worked, because I didn't have any intention of paying my lawyer to do that. :)

Growing up, we were one digit off from the local massage parlor. (NOT the legit kind, either). Drunk guys were always calling looking to make appointments.

If I was feeling nice, I'd give them the right number. Mildly evil, I'd make an "appointment" for them. Really evil, I'd ask them to hang on for a second because their wife had left a message for them. (Funny, they never hung on to hear the message! *very evil grin*)

or.... ask them politely what their name is and which company they represent. THEN tell them that if you get another such call, you will report them to your State Atty. General, and that their phone call has been recorded as proof. Then hang up. (BTDT) -- we also have caller ID - and have a list of "Those" phone numbers, so we can ignore them (they rarely leave a message on the answering machine. Our family knows to leave a msg. and that we'll pick up immediately if we're home.

If they do give you any info (which they are required to do) go to

and do a search. We've recently been getting a lot of calls from a (062) xxx xxxx number - phone book says that originates in Indonesia. There's an awful lot of spammers out there - maybe the whistle or a loud scream would work. Might just try that (except most of the msgs are pre-recorded and there's never a "human" on the other end of the line.

Good luck! ME-Judy

The next time they call, get all teary eyed, sniffling, and tell them she died yesterday, and to please remove her from their list, since she can't answer from her casket! Gen

We used to get calls around 5 AM from some drunk calling the Auto Auction where he worked (the numbers were close). One morning DH had had enough and said "you're fired". Never got another call----wonder if his boss wondered what happened to him? Gen

Welll duh! Why didn't I think of that before posting? I guess the "Aster" twist corn-fused me. I'll crawl back under the covers now.

Gosh....these are all good stories!

Thank you all so very much. I am now well equipped to complain to the right places; even have the forms printed and ready for the nice mail carrier. As ever, I am astounded and delighted at the expertise (and fun) with this group. Polly

We suspect, Kathyl, that being the 'Mother of' is getting to you. Have no fear. In a decade or two you can hope to recover nicely. Somewhat. Polly

Come back out from under the covers, girl. You're entitled to be corn-fused right now with two weddings coming up realllllly soon. I'm amazed you're even half-way sane by now!

That does *not* work with automatic calling collection agencies---at least not with the one Polly mentioned, nor with Wells Fargo, who I just had a go-round with this week (thanks for that link, Jeri: until now I didn't know

*who* I was fighting with---they refused to identify themselves.)

They started calling Wednesday morning at exactly 8 am, and called every half hour until 9 pm. I tried assorted ignore/hang up/etc tactics and it didn't stop them calling every half hour.

By about 7 pm I sat through the thoroughly obnoxious recording ("This is not a sales call, this is an important call, all OUR people are busy, so YOU hold until we get to you") to get to a human. They wanted Jose. Wouldn't tell me why, or what Jose's last name was, or where Jose lived, or......anything. Except that they demanded to talk to Jose.

We went through SEVERAL calls, every half hour, with me telling them this was not Jose's telephone number, how long I've had the number, etc. With each additional call I would point out to them exactly how often they were calling and how many times they had been told Jose is not at this number.

Some sounded disbelieving. Some said they'd remove the number. One dame actually said to me "Yeah, and we will KEEP calling you EVERY half hour, EVERY day, until you PRODUCE Jose." Nine pm, calls stop.

I contact the Indiana Attorney General's office by email to ask what the correct response is.

I block the telephone number they're calling from with my (AT&T) phone service.

Eight am, next day: they call yet *again*. If you block a number, it just rolls over to coming from some other number. I'm sure they have more numbers to be "from" than any phone company allows in someone's blocked list.

This time at least I seemed to get an intelligent person. After several repetitive questions about "Are you SURE you don't know Jose?" ("Lady, given that you all won't give out Jose's last name, I can see where that'd be hard to swear to---but as it happens, I don't know *anybody* named Jose. Not one.") Which is not to say I don't have a number of Hispanic acquaintances: if they'd been collecting on Jesus or Oscar, I'd've been in deep doodoo, knowing multiples of both. :)

She explained that it takes *days* to get removed from their system. But that any individual operator can get it stopped for the remainder of that day, at least, verifying that the previous night's people had simply disbelieved me and not done anything, whether they said they would or not. Apparently that was enough to get rid of it long enough to get out of their system.

I got a number of that sort of call (and easier to get rid of) back in the first couple of months of having the number---leaving me wonder what sort of household has about six differently first-and-last-named Hispanic and two or three differently first-and-last-named black-sounding (first names like DaShawna and Ashanti) deadbeats. But suddenly now fourteen months later, here comes Jose.

Leaves one wondering whether Jose was solvent all this time and never updated his number (are more old credit card holders lurking out there?) or if Wells Fargo's giving out credit cards without bothering to verify phone numbers. (Yes, the phone's not in everybody in the household's name---but if the last names don't match---if one is Hispanic and one is Polish---wouldn't you think that'd at least provoke a phone call? "Mister Slobodka, is there a Lupe Garcia-Lopez living in your household?")

Or maybe even verify that a *listed* telephone number goes to the same

*address* they have in their billing, if not the same name? I don't get Jose's *bills*. Just his phone calls.

By the way, the Indiana attorney general's office wrote back. Told me I could submit a complaint---which must be accompanied by the REQUIRED

*written* documentation of the harassing phone calls---which would be reviewed eventually.

Written documentation? I didn't pursue it, but that sounds like I'm supposed to get some sort of printout from the phone company of all my incoming calls.......I can imagine the joy of trying to get such a thing from AT&T. While still getting phone calls every half hour for 13 hours a day---26 calls a day---in the interim. Then you have to figure out how often is "eventually."

Might be more to the point to tell your friends and rellies to call your cell phone for a couple of weeks......and in the meanwhile, forward all your landline calls to the attorney general's office.

Wonder if they could get it shut off faster---or if they'd consider it better "documented"---then?

--pig

Well smack me on the nose for dropping the plural when I looked them up.

NightMist

Kathyl dear, I thought exactly the same thing? I asked myself the same question - someone bugging the newsgroup, and then getting the name a little wrong >g<

Great minds ... that's all I can say! We have to keep our dignity >g< . In message , KJ writes