So we got the package deal from Cox when we moved in, right? Landline, cable TV (which we don't even have the TV hooked up to atm because we wanted the TV on a different wall from the cable so it could sit on an entertainment center and be conveniently hooked to our various game consoles), and high-speed internets.
I hate that landline. First off, it's the basic package: just a phone with call waiting. No caller ID. Second, no one calls it that we want to talk to, except for Abe's mom. No, mostly it's people looking for James Gusman, or his girlfriend or wife or whatever, Samantha. I feel like I know these folks fairly well at this point. I know City Bank wants to get a hold of James; hell, lots and lots of banks want to get a hold of both of them...all the time. Even at 8 a.m. on Saturday.
And at first, I felt bad for him. I figured he was in the same situation most of us are: foreclosure. But, dude, fucking stay on the ball and let these people know the change in phone numbers! I mean, I know if you're foreclosing, you really don't want to talk to your bank. But you have to. If you're not making credit card payments, even, you still gotta talk to them. It's just more hot water otherwise. The only way to truly get away is to die.
So I just keep telling the banks, "Not his number anymore." I chewed one out today, "How often do you get people trying to lie to you and telling you that this isn't their number anymore?" The lady didn't really get me, so she said she didn't know in a confused kinda way. So I said, "So why won't you people stop calling this number? You've heard our answering machine. This doesn't belong to him anymore." It won't stop them, though.
I guess I could get caller ID, but it will cost, get this, a whopping $7 extra a month. Or I could cancel the landline, but then that would push me into the custom bracket and no longer in the package deals, and it would actually up our price to an extra $14 a month or something. I mean....what the hell? Whatever happened to just basic services?
Baldwin and Bot Flies
22 hours ago
3 comments:
Ed and I feel your pain. We got our landline in MAY LAST YEAR, and we still get calls for Georgia and Richard Pearce. We used to get calls for a Michele Something or Other, but those stopped after about six weeks. It doesn't matter how many times I tell people they don't live here, stop calling...THEY KEEP CALLING!! The Pearces apparently rented a car and never returned it so we have Hertz rent a car's automated "please give us our car back" message on our machine EVERY DAY. When I called them to say that this wasn't their number, I was politely told that since I wasn't the one who rented the car, I couldn't modify the reservation, i.e. take MY number out of the reservation so they continue to call. 4 months later. You think Hertz would have figured out that the car ain't coming back, despite your daily phone calls for going on 120+ days and you should seek other methods to get it back. Nope, phone calls still continue.
On top of that, I get angry messages from banks saying "Mrs. Pearce, just tell us where the car is and we'll pick it up. If you are too embarrassed about your situation to speak with us in person, please call us after hours and tell us where the vehicle is and we'll come get it." SERIOUSLY??? Should this be left on anyone's AM? I can handle the messages regarding "an important business matter" which having been in collections work myself, I know is code for collections, but at least it is discreet. I had to call the bank looking for their property and tell them this was no longer the Pearce's number, and that possibly they may want to review the messages they leave on generic answering machines. I mean, I could sort of see if they had gotten a voice message that "Richard and Georgia aren't here" blah blah, but our home phone is the automated computer voice "no one is available to take your call" and they just gave away seriously confidential information to a person not involved in the matter. The rep I spoke to said he would pass the message along to management. I'm sure!
I have gotten calls from doctor's offices regarding changes to appointments which I really hope Mrs. Georgia Pearce made it to, because "Dr. So-and-so is at a new location", and from Fashion Bug that "your sweater has arrived". I wish I could find Richard and Georgia Pearce so I could give them all their annoying bill collector messages who call at 8 am on Saturday morning. I've just stopped answering the home phone which is sad, since we pay for it.
I am at the point where I'm so nasty with the people who call for them. It usually at this point involves profanity, only because I have been doing this 17 times a day for what 7 months now and the people still keep calling. Then the rep on the other end of the phone has the nerve to tell me that "we are still going to call, because this was the number they gave us." REALLY? Are you new to collections? Do you know that professional debtors change their numbers constantly to avoid these phone calls? It's the first best line of defense to stall debt collections.
*sigh* I read an article the other day that because of the horrific economy, companies are taking extra steps to collect on debts that perhaps in better days they would have just written off. So with the massive amounts of bad debt out there in the universe, the third party debt collectors are swimming in opportunity to collect on these people. So they throw the laws out the window (specifically the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which says a company HAS to stop calling you, if you tell them to) and continue to hassle us ordinary bill-paying folk. Hell, I am ALMOST desperate enough to pay the damn bills so the phone calls with GO THE EFF AWAY!!!
We've got this same question. Whoever used to have this number has a son who goes to Silverado High School who ditches all the time. The school always leaves an automated message notifying us of unexcused absences.
We occasionally get an automated message from the Cox cable company telling us (in Spanish) to come pay our bill.
a. We don't have Cox cable; it's not available in our area
b. We don't speak Spanish
My only advice to you is to screen your calls with an answering machine. These people will never get that James Gusman doesn't live there no matter how many times you tell them.
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