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Blocking Annoying Cell Phone Callers?
RobertB-DC asks: "Twice a week, for the past several months, I receive a call on my cell phone, from a 'Restricted' number. It's always the same: 'Please hold for an important non solicitation message.' It then tells me to call 1-800-842-0640 for further instructions. When I call (from a CID-blocked work phone), all I can get from them is the company name: NCO. They won't tell me more about their company unless I tell who I am. Verizon says they can't block the caller. Short of exposing my own identity to someone I don't know, how can I get rid of these annoying calls?" Are there cell phone carriers who are progressive enough to offer call blocking services of some kind?
all I can get from them is the company name: NCO. They won't tell me more about their company unless I tell who I am.
Short of making up a social security number, I see nothing wrong with making up all the personal info you give them.
You're not alone.
That is a scam to get you to talk to them. From there they get your info and takes your money, it happened to me when they told me it was free and it wasn't free, my mama said nothing was free and she was right, now I coan't afford to post on a real message board, so I post here.
I don't have a link but I thought cold calls to cell phones were against the law.
I've hit Karma 50 and gotten a Score:5, Troll... I win!
That could be the case if this is the "NCO" that is calling you.
They're a credit agency .
...have you tried telling them to put you on their "do not call" list? If they call you again after that, call the police and report them for harassing you over the telephone. If they continue to call you, the police should be able to trace the number.
NCO is a collections company. Odds are they're calling to collect on an outstanding bill; have you tried giving 'em your cell# (since they obviously already have it) to try and find out what the hell they're calling for?
Also, keep in mind, they already have your cell number -- it's not like it'd be all that hard for 'em to get your name anyway. After all, you gave your credit card info to your cell provider, right? Yes? Well, your info's already in the system, then, so quit worrying about what *might* happen, 'cause it already *has*.
Dont ask that they kindly block the number, but instead report it as harrassment and threaten leagal charges. Have Verizon put a trace on the calls (you'll have to work with them on that one) to figure out where they're REALLY coming from, then contact the BBB and your state's Attourney General.
As far as I know, making unsolicited calls to a cellphone is illegal since YOU are paying for them to do this to you. Next time they call you, call that 1-800 number and tell them to remove your information from the database and that if they sell it you will press charges.
I know I'd be really pissed if I were in your position.
Owners of smart phones running Symbian OS can install call-blocking software:
5 0_ software.htm
http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/software/nokia_36
There may be similar software for other phones.
Or you could install one of those Microsoft phones and be free of all incoming calls.
That said, there are a few posts in this thread that say that NCO is a collection agency, in which case just pay up. Either way, find out if they are that NCO before calling the police, because then you'd just look like an idiot and would probably have to pay a fine if you filed false charges.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
As everyone says:
.. probably 3 or 4 calls a week.
NCO is a collections agency.
This means that you owe them money (because someone else you owe money has transferred that to them).
This means that you have a business relationship with them (because your debt was transferred from a company that you did have a business relationship with) and they can call your cell phone.
Note: Verizon cannot block the call because it's not CID available. If it were to show on CID, it could quite probably be blocked at the service level - but it can't.
On the other hand: If it is NOT you that they are looking for (I got to deal with this quite a bit when I first got my new cell phone, with it's new #), such as in the case where you have just received a new cell number, then they don't have a right to call you, however, you need to identify yourself to them before they can discover that!
So, if you're not identifying yourself to them because you're trying to avoid the collections agency, you're gonna continue to get phone calls. If you're not the person that they are wanting to collect from, then you have to identify yourself to them, so that they will stop calling you.
I had every utility company in this state calling my cell phone trying to reach the guy that used to have the number.. and it took a good 3 or 4 months of sending calls to voicemail, with a message saying "This is NO LONGER THE PHONE NUMBER FOR -former owner's name-. If you are looking for him, please do not call back."
"Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
I signed up for MSN .Net alerts....with my last phone...then I switched phone (same carrier) and tried to remove the alerts.
I've tried everything I can, and STILL get alerts on my phone (via SMS) for Hotmail and eBay, and everytime someone on Messenger tries to chat.
Do you think my carrier cares? Nope. Do you think it's easy to get ahold of anyone at MSN? Nope.
Grrrr!
-psy
The problem caused by one unpaid bill is easily solved with a second unpaid bill.
Don't pay the phone bill.
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
Seriously, under no circumstances should you call them back and give them your information.
Once you do that, you then have a "business relationship", and they are free to contact you any time of day, any day of the week.
Chances are, what is going on is they got your information from an old database of "outstanding claims" that they purchased from a company. Even 'tho it might be something a decade old that you've already paid off. It happens a lot.
The best advice would be to call an independant credit bureau and see what you actually have on your credit report through them. If there's nothing outstanding, then don't worry about it. If there is, contact the company and confirm if it was sent to collections, and see if they have records that it was paid off. If no record, sorry to tell you but you're screwed, even if you paid it.
Use a public fax and fax NCO, asking them to send you a copy of the bill via registered mail. That way they will not fudge the amount, something these places do a lot. Then send in a money order for that amount.
A pain in the ass. Yay capitalism!
Very good information to help you deal with collection agencies at:
Freeadvice.com
This is a link to the forums. You can find decent credit and collections-related information off the main site, as well.
There ARE ways to get around ANI though. The fact that you know the difference means you probably know that already but figured that someone here might need to know. A really good publication to read for such things(including the crap that NCO is putting this guy through) is 2600 Magazine: The Hacker Quarterly
0x09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
I'm in the UK and just last week I asked British Telecom if there was a way to block all calls that withheld the caller ID info. I've been getting a lot of nuisance calls lately.
BT: "Yes there is sir! And it'll cost you 40 pounds per year."
That's right, 40 quid to *not* receive nuisance calls.
Always remember when dealing with phone service providers and telemarketing companies that it's in the phone service provider's best interest if the telemarketer DOES call you.
Why exactly would a telecom company want to STOP people from calling you?
#include "no_european_symbols_on_slashdot_complaint.txt"
I have a plan. How about everyone on slashdot phone them similtaniously and Slashdot their phone line?
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Perhaps you should use the following to get them to cease communication via your cell phone. I am convinced that accruing minutes on your cell phone (I know some plans are unlimited, but most aren't) would be tantamount to causing you to incur a charge. In English, that means it's your dime, not theirs. You are paying out money to accept their call. If it was a landline and you were not limited on minutes of usage, it would be an entirely different story. Perhaps you should return their call and insist on alternate means of communication. If it is a collection agency for a debt that you do owe, then you should communicate with them. If you do not owe the debt, then you should notify them verbally and in writing of a dispute.
Here's what the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act has to say about it.
808. Unfair practices [15 USC 1692f]
(5) Causing charges to be made to any person for communications by concealment of the true propose of the communication. Such charges include, but are not limited to, collect telephone calls and telegram fees.
These people are a collection agency, and as such they're exempt from telemarketing call rules. I had a situation with these same people at one point in the past - they were calling my cell phone daily, but with a live person instead of a recording. After telling them to "fuck off" for two weeks, and still getting the calls, I explained that if they continued to call I would start deducting $10 per call from my debt for my phone use and work time, but if they'd stop calling my cell then I might consider starting to pay the debt they were trying to collect. The calls stopped immediately.
BTW - it's exceptionally likely that you phoned them from your cell at some point - that's almost always how they acquire cell numbers. The problem is that they can now propogate that phone number along with all their other records of you. Unless I'm mistaken, that means they can include your cell # when reporting to credit reporting groups... Which would mean that every company with access to your credit record (all current debts and credit sources, etc) will have your cell #.
j
If it's NCO the collections agency, and *YOU* are the debtor they're after, you've probably got them nailed.
Third-Party collections agencies (professional debt collectors) are bound by federal law called the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). This stipulates that they cannot disclose any debt to anyone but the debtor and the creditor; hence, the stonewalling until they find out who you are. Even telling somebody that they know who you are can be a violation, since how would they know you if you didn't have a debt in collections?
This is, however, beside the point. The kicker is that the FDCPA prohibits a collector from incurring expenses to the debtor in attempt to collect the debt -- more to the point, they cannot call collect or on a cell phone. I've done work for collection agencies before and they're very careful to make sure they never contact a debtor on a cellular phone, since that allows a debtor who knows "the act" to create a legal morass that's more trouble than its worth.
You might as well tell them who you are. If you're not the one they're looking for, they'll take your number off the account and leave you alone. If you *are* the one they're looking for, you can make a stink and they may write off the debt as uncollectable.
I called the number and some guy calling himself McBride said I owed him $699.
A) Accounts receivable are an asset. And, like any asset, they can be sold.
Sure, they can sell them. And that has absolutely no bearing on why *I* owe money to. Unless the real debtor has given the collection agency a power of attorney its perfectly save to ignore them until you pay back the original debt. I have done it hundreds of times. They dont have a leg to stand on.
There is a national Do-Not-Call-List now. It works for cell phones as well as land lines. Find the link on Slashdot here(I'm too lazy just now) and sign up. If they call you get $500. Sound good?
"Engineers do the work of man, Physicists do the work of God"
Emmitt Smith.
Calling an 800 number bypasses the caller-id-blocking system. An 800 number can always see your phone number via a system called "ANI" (automatic number identification?)
The theory that I've heard for this is: since the callee is paying for the call, they get to know your phone number.
Anyway, you have no privacy protection when you call an 800 (or 888, or 877, or any of its friends) number.
If it's the debt-collection agency, it's NOT telemarketing or solicitation, so the telemarketing rules do not apply here. Also, the debt-collection rules do apply, meaning they have to know who they're talking to before they can discuss anything, even the fact that they're trying to collect on a debt.
Lie AND call from:
a) A payphone
b) A caller-ID-blocked phone (which the original author said he did)
But you can't block caller-ID to a 1-800 number! Nor 1-888, 1-877, 1-866, the soon-to-be-if-not-already 1-855, 1-900, or 911. They use ANI which is not blockable.
And all the toll-free numbers will get the number on their billing statements too, since they pay for the calls made. (I get detailed billing on my cell phone that lists every number called in or out, but that still doesn't get me CNID-blocked numbers.)
And unfortunately payphones are becoming increasingly rare.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Thank you to all for your help! Here's my action plan:
:)
* I know I didn't have any unknown outstanding debts on my record in April, but there are some medical bills that may have been added since then. I'll get a new credit report and see what's been going on lately. I used myFICO once before, but their price seems to have gone up... I'll have to look for an alternative. Fortunately, I've been turned down enough times while looking for new home financing, that I should be able to get a free report.
* If nothing shows up there, I'll follow up on the company name that this AC managed to get out of the 800 number. NCO Credit Services has three numbers and several emails listed on their "Contacts" page... someone should be able to tell me if they have a gruff-voiced robot that calls and leaves "non solicitation messages".
* Once I feel like I have a clue who's calling, I'll be more comfortable telling them who I am. Your information has been very valuable, especially the part about collection agencies in the US being barred from costing me money when they collect. That implies that these folks *will* care that they're calling on a cell phone.
Thanks again, everyone, for your help. Good luck, and God bless!
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.