Am i the only one who gets strange phone calls??

I get alot of calls with noone on the other end. Sounds to me like someone's dialer went haywire, lol...I almost feel like saying she doesn't live here anymore, she moved, or something to that effect...

A month or so ago, I started getting 3, 4, 5 calls a day for a woman who doesn't even live in my neighborhood (she lives in my town. I looked her up in the phone book). I think she probably signed up for something on the internet and put my phone number in as her own so she didn't get the calls. Highly annoying. I think the next time someone calls for her, I'm going to give them her real number.

We've been getting a bunch of phone calls from our current mortgage company. They are dimwits anyway. We are in the process of refinancing our home with a local bank. Since we requested a pay off amount, they are calling nonstop. They are calling the home number and hubby's cell phone like six times a day without leaving a message. Have they not heard of caller id? I don't know what their problem is and we have had nothing but problems with them. They already got their mortgage payment for June so we wrote them a letter and told them to knock it off! :x

I got a really weird one the other day - kinda freaked me out. This guy left a message saying "Ms. ***** (addressed me by name), we are calling about Amanda ***** - please call us back by 8 p.m...." and left a number.

I called the number - it was Ford Motor Credit - a company I've never dealt with in my entire life. And how the heck did they get my number in association with this "Amanda" person? I have no idea who she is. And my answering machine greeting is generic - no name given. Not sure how they got my name and number in relation to someone I've never even met, regarding a company I've never dealt with. WEIRD.

Most of these types of calls are the result of sloppy/lazy skip traces. Often a collection company will find the closest address of someone with the same last name as the debtor and start calling. Sometimes they even find someone with the same name who does no live anywhere near the debtor and start calling them. Many times the collectors will harass anyone who takes the call, even if they do not owe the debt. I am sure the collectors will read this and scream "unfair", but I have the cases with their settlement checks to prove it.

You know whats really wierd? Last summer, I got a call from one of our local schools. They knew my name and everything and were calling to inform me that my daughter had been injured on the playground and would need emergency medical treatment.....Uhhh what daughter????

wow, Leah - that IS strange - you would think a school would have the correct contact info for a child - not go searching in the telephone book. But, I know people move and forget to tell the schools, etc.

But I sure would hate to think that poor child was waiting for her mom to come to the emergency room when the school called the wrong person. :cry:

That is scary, Leah!! And Texas, you are spot-on as usual about sloppy/lazy skiptracing. These people aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer and probably figure, hey, why not try and get money from the person on the other end of the phone, even if it isn't their debt....oh well....

ok so this morning, on Sunday morning kinda early but i was already awake, i get a phone call. I got a DVR on Friday and this guy calls me this morning, 800 number from Direct TV to ask about the tech that set it up for me. I wasn't very nice to him, i told him the tech was great and did a great job but i can't believe, u, a telemarketer calls people on Sunday's much less this early in the morning to ask these questions!! WTH???
He apologized and said he call during the week when it was more appropriate!
SIGHS!
Ang
P.S. Oh and it was kinda funny cuz a few of us where in chat together and this really nice guy, pay, (NOT!), was in there saying something about calling and bugging us on Sunday so i kept volunteering for him to call me, call me then the phone rang and it was an 800 number! lol ok, so it was funny at the time! ha ha

I get calls alot that say unknown caller, and whether I pick up or let the machine get it, they hang up. Let me tell ya that is annoying and kinda creepy when I am home alone......

dalfire497: One explanation for the hang up calls is that many companies, collectors and solicitors, use autodialers. When you answer, the computer kicks the call to an available person. If all workers are already taking calls, the autodialer hangs up. Very annoying but not so creepy.

I've had the name thing happen to me before. It gets annoying after awhile so I had to send them a cease and desist letter stating I was not that person. I even had to dispute it on my credit report. It was no my debt!

I had to do the same with allied interstate. They weren't on my credit report & the messages were always automated, so we didn't know what they wanted. No more calls after the letter, though.