I am so fed up!

tabbysia

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I have been getting DAILY cell phone calls from telemarketers and other annoying people. I am on the Do Not Call list, but it does not stop them. I usually do not answer the calls, but I have looked up some of the various numbers on whitepages.com.

One of the culprits is Verizon wireless. This company calls me from various cities all over Texas. I am on an AT&T plan, so I guess they want me to switch--not going to happen, bottom feeders.

There is another company called NCO Financial (I think) that calls me occasionally and leaves voicemails trying to collect on a debt for someone named Jennifer Settler. I have no clue who that person is. I tried to call to gripe at them but just got a recorded message.

There are other various unknown phone numbers that I have not looked up yet that come from all over the country and it will usually just have a state abbreviation followed by USA. I have gotten calls from "FL, USA," "AL, USA," "RI, USA," and a few others. There have also been a couple of calls from Natesville, Ohio.

The most annoying call is the one I get from Los, Angeles, CA at least once a day, sometimes 2-3 times per day. I looked up the number (213-833-2538), and the company is Teleport Communications America. I have tried answering a couple of times to tell them to stop calling, but there is no one on the line-just noise.

Has anyone else dealt with harassing cell phone calls, and how did you handle it?
 

raysmyheart

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I used to get these calls all the time when I had a house phone.  Because of expense, I could not keep the house phone, just a mobile phone.  On the mobile phone, I don't get many calls like this now.

I used to try to look up the numbers and often found that you could not call them back, most, if not all did not have a  physical location, and also, I found that others had complaints on-line about these numbers.

I used to get a call and someone would be saying my name and I would say Yes?? but I read somewhere, I think, that sometimes this is a computer and a scam, because by saying yes, you are acknowledging their solicitation.  After that, I did not pick up the phone.  The times I did say Yes?? there would be no one there.
  

I try to be careful now with the info I give out, because I do not want these folks getting my info connected to my new number.


One thing I did notice is that I signed up for some e-mails for continuing ed, and the calls to my mobile phone were at 9am and 5pm everyday.  When I unsubscribed on-line for these emails, the phone calls did stop.  

I am sorry that you are going through this.  I hope someone reading this can tell you how to stop these calls.
 

Willowy

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Can you block the numbers? Some cell phones let you block numbers fairly easily. If you block the most common callers that should at least cut down dramatically on the number of calls, even if it doesn't stop them entirely.
 

blueyedgirl5946

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My daughter used to read the Bible or a recipe from her cookbook to them when they called. They never called back.
 

muffy

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These phone calls irritate the hell out of me. I have a land phone and I get calls all day long even though I'm on the no call list. The worst two were Verizon and the people claiming to be the police. Verizon finally stop calling after I cussed them out a few times. But the "police" keep calling and calling. This has been going on for over two years. I guess I'll have to start cussing them too or threaten to call the real police and report them.
 
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tabbysia

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Can you block the numbers? Some cell phones let you block numbers fairly easily. If you block the most common callers that should at least cut down dramatically on the number of calls, even if it doesn't stop them entirely.
You can't block numbers on an iPhone unless you jailbreak the phone, which I have heard is a bad thing to do.
 

kittywhiskers

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We were getting tons of calls like these a while back on our landline. We were getting about 3 or 4 every day and that's just when we were home and some were really late at night.

I got so fed up with it that I recorded my own answer message saying that if their number is not recognised then the call will not be answered and if they would like us to call them back they can leave a message.
This worked great and has cut these calls down to about 2 or 3 a week now.

Only thing is that if we have company and they call I cringe when I hear myself talking on the answerphone. Oh well! :lol3:
 

larussa

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I get many calls daily also.  I just let the answering machine pick up and of course they just hang up.  I have cable for my phone, internet and TV.  On the phone site there is a place I can block any phone calls so that is what I do.  If  I don't know the number, I just block the calls.  These people will maybe just change a digit and continue to call and I continue to block them.  I am also on the no call list but that's not working at all.
 

MoochNNoodles

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You can't block numbers on an iPhone unless you jailbreak the phone, which I have heard is a bad thing to do.
I'm pretty sure I blocked a number on my iphone with no issue.  It might have been a text though.  I NEVER use my cell number for things where it could be sold.  So friends, family and doctors/the vet are the only one who have my number; which I've had for many years.  I know some solicitors will randomly make up numbers and call to see if they are legit; so I don't answer ones I don't know.  

Our home phone (with magic jack) gets a ton of calls.  Mostly debt collectors when i do answer. They are also looking for the person who had our number prior to us.  (We've had this number for 6 years.)  A friend of mine worked in collections for a major bank; she clued me in to some things.  She said that basically when things go to collections; the accounts go to a collections company in a big batch.  After a while the company sells off the ones they can't get paid.  So when you get a bunch of calls for a while and then they dwindle; only to start up again, that's what is going on.  It doesn't matter that you've told them the number is new to you; they've heard it and sometimes know it.  But they are going to try.  Partially because people lie.  They get some crazy quotas of how much they need to collect each month too.  It is not an easy field to work in.  You might get praised one month and reprimanded or let go the next for not meeting quota.  


I get calls from the Fraternal order of the state police a lot.  They are sharks when it comes to fundraising.  My step-dad used to donate to them because he has several siblings who were police in various states.  One time he told them off because the more he donated; the more they called!  He refuses to donate to them anymore.  I refuse to donate to anyone who calls unless it's already a group I support.  And then I don't do it over the phone.  I'm picky with who I will give money to; DH and I often decide far in advance who we will be giving to.  

I will look up numbers on the 800notes website and sometimes report companies to the Do Not Call registry.  The problem is if you don't answer you don't always get to know who you are dealing with to file a complaint; and you need that information and to say if you've told them to stop calling.  I've reported some kind of robo-multi-level-marketing solicitation several times.  "Press 9 and you'll NEVER hear from me again!" they say and then they keep calling; sometimes several times a day.  
  The problem I have with not answering is our phones we bought broadcast anything left on the answering machine.  Even the dial tone.  I really do need to see if I can turn that off. 
 

misty8723

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We have TWC phone and they have a feature where you can create a list of 30 numbers you will accept calls from. We have done that, and it works great for stopping the telemarketer calls. It doesn't work so great when we want to give our number to someone like a contractor to call us. So I have to have them call my cell phone and I'm not wild about that, but it's a tradeoff.
 

swampwitch

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We are with Virgin, and our account is in my husband's name. They must know when he is traveling because sometimes when he is on the East coast, I will get "Hey Member!" texts from them as early as 5:00 in the morning (here on the West coast) on Saturday and Sunday too - SO annoying. 

I called them and asked to stop receiving texts from them, and they said they'd oblige. A few minutes later I received a text about my call to them, asking if my concern was resolved. I texted back, "Evidently NO - you are still texting me. Please stop!" but it was ignored. They are still texting me.
 
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jennyr

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We get these calls in Europe, too. I have been getting a bombardment of calls from EDF, the electricity company that always start by asking if I am a house owner under 68, because they have a special offer for me. After three such calls I told them I had asked for them not to call and to take my name off the list as I am 70, but it hasn't stopped. I also get a lot of cold calling offering me advertising for my gite. I can't just block all calls, because I do get genuine people calling me to enquire about renting the gite and I obviously don't want to miss them. I can't just leave them to the answer phone as many people hang up when they get an answerphone message, especially if it is in a foreign language, although I have messages in both English and French. But it is very annoying and I just get ruder and ruder to the spammers. There seems to be no solution to it.
 

denice

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I get really tired of those calls as well.  I used to have a land line and cellphone and I only gave the cell phone number to family, friends and work.  I never answered my home phone, it had voice mail on it and I would go through the voice mail a couple of times a week.  Now I just have a cell phone so when I have to give a phone number it's my cell phone.  Now I get those irritating calls on my cell phone.
 

artiemom

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I am able to block numbers on my iPhone. I have a list of them to block. After a while, They all morph into another number.

My landline is a different thing. I have caller ID and usually do not answer what I do not want. You can block on a landline, but it costs money....sigh....

political calls, survey calls, always go thru. They are exempt from the do not call list. I do not feel that list is worth it....it is worthless....

If you ever give your telephone number to any business, they can use it, or sell it....so we are open market, all victims..
 

angelinacat

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We don't get junk calls on our cell phones, but the house phone is another story.  We also no longer have a land-line.  We got rid of it when AT&T took over Bell South in 2008, and turned our unlimited long distance into a billable event. 

We have Voice Over IP with our Internet provider, and every day we get calls from someone wanting to sell burial policies, health insurance, junk debt collectors for people we don't know.  We haven't figured out how to block them yet.  But if the caller ID gives a name or number that we don't recognize, we don't answer it.  The same goes if the caller ID says 'Name Unavailable'.
 
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Willowy

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Yeah, I don't answer if I don't recognize the number. If it's important they can leave a message.

I never answer the home phone---it's just for emergencies. I check the caller ID to make sure no important calls came in. The FOP call every day, several times a day. It's been at least a year that they've been calling that often. I've never answered even once. Most companies give up after a month or two of not getting an answer. They're persistent, that's for sure.
 

Boris Diamond

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North Carolina's Attorney General office has an active program to go after telemarketers who break the rules.  I have turned several over to them and have gotten good results, including regular updates by letter.  I no longer get junk calls.  I think I might have a bad reputation with the telemarketers!   
 

Maybe there is some government enforcement help available where you are.
 
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Winchester

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I can go into my Verizon Wireless account and block numbers and I will do that if certain numbers keep coming up. Once I blocked a number, they can't call any of the phones under our plan. The block lasts for three months, I think, and then I have to do it again, but it's worth doing.

I've pretty much had it up to "here" with the idiots who kept calling about a time share, the clowns from Microsoft, and now the doofuses who say they're from the IRS. A while back, the Microsoft bozo called. I started to play around with him...."Oh, really? I have a virus? Whatever shall I do?" "Oh, you mean this key? Well, that's my Windows key, right?" "And you want me to do what? Why, sure!" And then I said, "You know, I'm not really in the mood to deal with you  
 
 tonight." And hung up. Went back to the computer, went to Verizon and blocked the number. Haven't had a call from them since. It's just a matter of time before they change numbers again, though.

I did read on another board about a woman who received a phone call from the IRS. They threatened to have the county Sheriff come to her house and she started singing, "I shot the sheriff! But I did not shoot the deputy.." They called her a nasty name and hung up. Another woman said, "Oh, honey, you don't have to call the sheriff; I'm married to him and he's standing right here." Click!

Lately, somebody from 000-000-0000 has been calling my cell phone, pretty much every day. 
 
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angelinacat

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That IRS phone scam is a big one that is going all over the country.  Please warn your friends and relatives that might be easily duped.  The IRS will never call you. 
 
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