Paying the cell company to talk to debt collectors

[debtprison]

So I have an ultra cheap VoIP plan with Ooma. Since I'm grandfathered in it costs me about $12 a year. I use this as my landline. Recently I decided to get one of those prepaid tracphones. No one was given the number when suddenly I got my first call -- a robocall from ACS. They seem to be calling every other day including 30 minutes ago, today, Sunday, Mother's Day. When I answer the phone to attempt to tell these jokers they must have the wrong number I get told by the automated system to wait for someone to take my call. The first time I wasted a minute or two but I hung up because, well, I have to pay for these minutes they are using and why should I pay to wait on hold when they have the wrong party?

I would just not answer but the problem is that I am pretty sure each time they call me it costs me 1 minute. I'd like to stop these guys from bothering me. I don't think I should be required to give them ANY of my personal information either. In my view if I state I am not the person they are looking for and I demand they quit calling they should be required to cease immediately. I tried calling back from a landline (So I don't have to pay to speak to these jokers) but upon doing so I am told that they are closed ..... WELL WHY THE HECK ARE YOU CALLING ME 5 MINUTES AGO THEN???

Something needs to be done about these people. I can easily see their calls costing me $10 a month alone if I do nothing. Any suggestions?

[daxtell]

yea that is strange... i do not see how they got your cell phone unless you listed it somewhere or they called someone who gave it to them who knew it. those numbers are not listed anywhere that i know of. are u sure its for you? perhaps its for another person who had the same number with problems of their own... i would guess the only way to get them off your back is to do what you did,,, call them on a business day though and report it.

[IHateToBeEmo]

Something needs to be done about these people. I can easily see their calls costing me $10 a month alone if I do nothing. Any suggestions?

I recommend calling your cellphone provider and requesting a brand new phone number.

[LadyInTheRed]

I would just not answer but the problem is that I am pretty sure each time they call me it costs me 1 minute.

Are you certain about that? On my cell phone, I only pay for calls I answer.

[keepsmiling]

I was told by a bootcamper that these calls to cellphones can be used as fodder in FDCPA violation suits. Food for thought.

[frogger]

yea that is strange... i do not see how they got your cell phone unless you listed it somewhere or they called someone who gave it to them who knew it. those numbers are not listed anywhere that i know of. are u sure its for you? perhaps its for another person who had the same number with problems of their own... i would guess the only way to get them off your back is to do what you did,,, call them on a business day though and report it.

Agreed. Perhaps they are not looking for you, but the person who previously had this cell phone number. Request another number...

[Pandora]

Are you certain about that? On my cell phone, I only pay for calls I answer.

Our cells cost us minutes regardless if we answer or not. It costs when someone leaves us a msg, it costs when we check our voice mail, it costs when the stupid phone auto-updates without us doing anything other than turning it on! Any means they can make money....they will.

I agree with the others - change the number, write a letter, etc if its not you who owes the debt.

[debtprison]

yea that is strange... i do not see how they got your cell phone unless you listed it somewhere or they called someone who gave it to them who knew it. those numbers are not listed anywhere that i know of. are u sure its for you? perhaps its for another person who had the same number with problems of their own... i would guess the only way to get them off your back is to do what you did,,, call them on a business day though and report it.

I'm 99% sure they are calling for someone else. Oddly I called them (from my unlimited phone) today and gave them a little hell about it and they agreed to take my number off the list. I was surprised they didn't insist on getting my name. We'll see now if they really do it.

[debtprison]

I was told by a bootcamper that these calls to cellphones can be used as fodder in FDCPA violation suits. Food for thought.

They should be illegal. Robocalls to cell phones (especially prepaid numbers) should not be allowed. I've now had 3 companies call me since that time and I've called them all. They agreed to take the number off. At the end I just told them that I would be sending them a bill for actual costs plus a mailing fee of $5 if they persist after the period for removal they stated. I'm not sure what the law is but this seemed reasonable to me. I shouldn't lose 10 - 20% of my minutes each month because they are robocalling me looking for someone else.

[debtprison]

I recommend calling your cellphone provider and requesting a brand new phone number.

It's just a prepaid tracphone that I grabbed mainly for emergencies. Overall I paid like $30 for the phone and airtime. Thanks, you might be right. I checked and they apparently do not charge a fee to change the number. I'll keep it in mind if it persists. I'd rather not have to change the number at this point after now giving it out to many people.

[debtprison]

One of the bozos for the ACS for FFEL just called me. I called back and politely explained that it was a prepaid tracphone and that I just got the number recently. The person seemed to be from overseas. At one point they interupted me when I was giving them my phone number and rudely demanded my account number. I had to explain again that I am NOT the debtor and have no account with them. Then they asked for name. I had to then state further that I would not be giving out any further information about myself besides the number they were calling and the fact that I have no business with them and that they have the wrong number. She finally agreed that she would "submit a request to remove the number". I then politely asked how long this will take to be processed. She refused to give me a timeframe to which I replied that I would give them a reasonable 48 hours and thereafter I would start sending them a bill for my airtime plus a $5 mailing and handling fee. That seemed to get her attention.

Robocalls should NOT be allowed to prepaid cell phones. Especially not without an option which allows one to flag it as being a wrong number.