Bad Bad Debt Collectors

Because we don't give out our home phone number, almost no calls we receive are "real." Most of them are telemarketers. Today, however, we got one from a debt-collection agency, apparently trying to collect from someone who may have had our phone number sometime before September 2011. Their robocall is pretty dumb. It quickly rattles off a toll-free number and reference number once and then hangs up. No option to speak to someone. No repeat or even a way to repeat the number. By sheer luck, I was able to retain enough of the phone number that I was able to call them back, tell them, "I'm not that person, have never heard of that person, and have had this phone number for more than three years now."

Their system is designed only for leaving messages on voice-mail where people can replay it enough times to get the quickly-rattled-off numbers, not for someone who actually answered the phone.

I suspect, however, that we'll get robocalled again on this, despite what they told me, because they'll assume that we're lying to get the debt collector off our neck.