Grrrrr!

[REDJOHNNYMIKE]

Okay so a couple months ago I got a cellphone *teh gaspzorz, he is so high tech!* and here's my issue, apparently they give you someone else's number the second they discontinue service and then send out a worldwide email to everyone who never got around to talking to that person, exlaining that they should make up for it by sending stupid texts to their old number...

 

1. If I or anyone else who ever used this number wanted to call you back we would've got in touch.

2. I AM NOT FREAKING DANIELLE!!!

3. No I do not want to scroll down to see santa's "christmass package"!

4. And if I get one more racist joke on my phone I'm going to track down the numbers and stick screwdrivers through people's ears.

 

What I propose!!!

A popup blocker for cell phones!

The way it works is if you get a text from anyone who isn't in your address book then the text is measured against a scale of stupidity and weighed against the screams of a small child to test annoyance.

If the message fails these tests then the senders phone dissolves into Rabid Face-Attack Kittens with adamantine claws, followed by a large cloud of salt.

 

Would anyone like to assist in the development if this ground breaking product?

[Ray Jones]

(A) turn bluetooth off

(B) ye r teh spammed

© get a new number

 

[Jeff]

Yeah I'd say what you need to get is a new number.

[mimartin]

Had a similar thing happen, replaced my existing phone and I wanted a new number. Whoever had the number before me had the same first name and owed Zales Jewelry Stores a little money for an engagement ring. Told them I was not the person they were looking for causing them to double their hashing phone. 10 to 20 calls per day.

 

Called cell phone company and had them change the number, they even waived the fee since it was not my fault.

[JediMaster12]

I feel for you RJM. Occasionally I get people calling for someone else but all I say is that they have the wrong numbe. It's not as frequent as yours so...but you really should consider asking for a new number. Explain the situation to the company. Of course I think the kittens doing away with spam on the texting is cool and I wish you the very best of luck in that endeavor.

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

I snapped my phone in half.

[Mr Roboto]

That happened to me too when I got my newest phone. They kept calling for Angela. I finally change my voice mail to say something along the lines of "This is not Angela, stop calling me!" It may not have been worded as nicely as that, but it did stop the wrong number calls.

[Jason Skywalker]

Same here mate. Although sometimes, i don't mind reading the messages they leave

[milo]

1. Send goatse pix to everyone who texts you thinking you're Danielle.

2. ???????

3. Profit!

[Bob Lion54]

Had a similar thing happen, replaced my existing phone and I wanted a new number. Whoever had the number before me had the same first name and owed Zales Jewelry Stores a little money for an engagement ring. Told them I was not the person they were looking for causing them to double their hashing phone. 10 to 20 calls per day.

Something similar happened to a friend of mine. Actually, someone just gave her number to buy some stuff on credit from Lowes. Anyway, I decided to do some checking on the laws related to this.

 

Basically, you're the innocent party. Once you tell them that the number is no longer for the person they are seeking, your obligation is done. It's their responsibility to verify it and calling the number again is not something they can legally do. If they do call back, you can sue them for an automatic win. All you have to do is show you are not the person they are looking for and it's a done deal. Granted, you can only win $50 plus court cost, but it's a very satisfying $50!

 

The real power behind knowing this is that once you let them know you know, they quit calling. I believe they also get fined by the government, as well, and you can bet it's more than $50. Plus, it looks bad for the corporation and with enough complaints, they will face more action than a small fine.

 

So, in my case, I was at my friend's one night when she got one of the calls. She was on the phone with them trying to explain the situation and after she got off the phone she explained it to me. It didn't seem right to me that they could do that. So, when I got home I did some checking around the internet and found what I was looking for. I made sure it was verified by a few sites and one of them was actually some law schools site. Anyway, armed with this new info, the next time I was over she got another call. I told her I would talk to them. The conversation was pretty much like this: (Names have been changed to protect the innocent. Also, I don't really remember the names, but it's easier with them. heh)

 

"Hello, this Jessica with Lowes. I'm calling to speak with Mrs. Smith."

 

"Hello, Jessica. I know you are just doing your job and it's probably not even your fault, but this is getting ridicules. We have been getting four or five calls a day from your company and each time we have informed you that this is not the correct number for Mrs. Smith."

 

"Well, Sir, this is the number we have on file."

 

"Yea, because you gave credit to someone who knew they couldn't pay and they gave you a fake number. From what I understand, you sold them a washer and dryer? Those are usually delivered, correct?"

 

"Oh, yes, Sir, in fact I have the address on my screen right here. It was delivered on (some date) to (some address)."

 

(I laughed a little here)

"Well, that's easy then! Just look up this number on whitepages.com or whatever. You'll clearly see they are not the same!"

 

"Unfortunately, I am unable to do that. Our internet access is restricted."

 

"Well, I'm sorry to say but that's your problem. I offered you a easy way to verify what I'm saying and you refused. I suggest you send someone out to the address you have and see for yourselves. Repo it or whatever, but you need to stop calling this number."

 

"Well, this is the number we have and there's little else I can do."

 

"Well, I tried to be patient, but if you call again we will take legal action. I've done some checking and I found out that what you are doing is, under the law, harassment. If you call again, we will go to court and there is no defense. Technically, after the first call when you were informed you had the wrong number, you are legally liable for all the calls after that. All we have to do is get the phone records to show how many times you've called and it's an automatic win."

 

(So at this point her attitude changed completely. She was condescending before, but now she was very apologetic.)

 

"Oh, I'm really sorry for all this. I'll talk to the manager and see if we can get this number removed. yada yada yada..."

 

So that was pretty much it. The calls stopped after that. I made sure that she knew I had her name and extension, as well. heh

[tk102]

Would anyone like to assist in the development if this ground breaking product?

I'm sure everyone on this forum would. What's your number so we can get a hold of you?

[Negative Sun]

I'm sure everyone on this forum would. What's your number so we can get a hold of you?

That made me lol!

But I'm in, I'll start on the genetic development of these "Rabid Face-Attack Kittens", I'm sure they'll prove useful for other means as well

[REDJOHNNYMIKE]

You see the main problem is that this is not all one person who consistently sends messages to someone's old number, much of it is random crap that seems to be sent out to any number the sender has ever seen (No, I will not "FWD FWD FWD!!!") and I wouldn't be surprised if people with free messaging are just picking numbers at random.

I don't want to track down every single one and explain the whole thing to each of them (you would be surprised how long it takes to explain to someone that you aren't the person who used to use that number), so I'm sticking with my original plan here.

If you spam the phone we KittySpam your face!

 

Also, I don't feel like changing the number again because then I'll just have to explain that I'm not Joe's old boyfriend Raphael from the gym.

I have plotted a graph where it gets worse with every new number

[Jvstice]

Same thing happened to my wife about once or twice a month for about half a year. The same guy kept calling, and asking for the same lady (neither of us had any idea of who he meant, but if he stalked a total stranger to this degree, I can see why she'd ditch the number after giving it to him.)

 

Most cell phone companies won't charge you for changing your number if you tell them that you have been getting harassing phone calls or have a phone stalker. Make sure that you tell them when you ask for the new number. Cell phone companies can't block specific numbers, or at least they claimed they couldn't when we enquired into it. All they do is offer to change your number.

[Darth InSidious]

9,676,541: Pretend to be Danielle by phoning these persons back in falsetto, and making...indecent proposals, speak rubbish at them, or scream irrationally in terror about something. Preferably something innocuous, like a cucumber.

[JediMaster12]

And what? Become as bad as they are Darth Insidious? RJM would be better off changing numbers or answering the phone and saying I am not so and so. The Kitty Spam should be the last resort like the killer bunnies that are in storage growing hungrier by the minute.

[Darth InSidious]

And what? Become as bad as they are Darth Insidious? RJM would be better off changing numbers or answering the phone and saying I am not so and so. The Kitty Spam should be the last resort like the killer bunnies that are in storage growing hungrier by the minute.

The onyl equally painful alternative is sending them each a bad choir who are all one flattened fifth out of sync with each other, have no sense of rhythm, and who consider "Shine, Jesus, Shine" the height of musical beauty.

 

(It was a joke. )

[PoiuyWired]

9,676,541: Pretend to be Danielle by phoning these persons back in falsetto, and making...indecent proposals, speak rubbish at them, or scream irrationally in terror about something. Preferably something innocuous, like a cucumber.

 

To Be Realistic though, it is quite effective to be insanely nutcase at the phone. This works on anything from persistant telemarketer to these annoying folks.

 

Try reciting lines after lines of play, ask about the guy's personal life(do it like a shrink section too, like "so, how is your childhood" "do you like toothpicks?"), or try selling him random nonexistant objects (like a usb toaster/hairdryer 2-in-1) Reading lines from movies, books (things like hamlet or paradise lost would do also), movie lines, things from foreign language, things are better with heavy/fake accent.

 

Also good is to pretend argueing with your friend (or better yet, you argue with yourself)

 

I mean, if some gy annoys you, its all nice to have some fun out of him. Plus it is dude that is calling you, not the other way around. So they really can't hold you against anything.

 

Oh, last time I did something like that I am trying to teach that person how to disect a rat correctly step by step from the biology book. Whenever he tries to ask me something I just repeat "I told you so, remember to wear gloves, the pink ones from your kitchen will work wqonders"