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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to expect people to apologise for wrong numbers?

27 replies

Bogeyface · 03/02/2012 08:25

Our number is almost the same as the number for a large health centre in town, the same numbers but the last 2 are transposed. So we get a fair amount of wrong numbers, usually from the elderly, I remember one of whom insisted that I was wrong and I must be the doctors as she had dialled correctly :o

Some apologise and thats fine, it happens. But alot dont, they just hang up! I know they are wrong numbers as we have caller display and they are local numbers.

Surely it is only polite to apologise for inconveniencing someone by your mistake? I had one that did it three times in a row before demanding to know my number, without saying hello etc. I said that if they wanted to doctors they should have called 123456, and he went right and shouted the number out to whoever was next to him. I got a bit snotty and said in my best sarcastic voice "Oh sorry, for ringing the wrong number....thank you for helping me!" I got told to fuck off!

OP posts:

TroublesomeEx · 03/02/2012 08:31

I'm always polite if I get the wrong number.

Some people are polite, some just hang up.

I don't see it as apologising for inconveniencing someone (although you might if it happens a lot ) but it is just a little bit of courtesy making the world go round a bit easier.

I think it's rude to just hang up though.

ObviouslyOblivious · 03/02/2012 08:33

We used to get calls for Dial-a-Ride :o

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 03/02/2012 08:35

well, you see, the general public can be quite rude and don't all have your lovely manners (working in customer service is no fun) :)

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 03/02/2012 08:35

but YANBU, you should get an apology!

Scorpette · 03/02/2012 09:15

YANBU. I feel your pain. We are one number different from the local Indian takeaway. People are incredibly rude to us, some even yelling "stop lying, just take the fucking order!", stuff like that, when we tell them they have the wrong number. There's one woman who rings most Fridays and when we tell her we're not the takeaway she just goes "Oh right. Anyway, can I get one Chicken Tikka ... ".

redexpat · 03/02/2012 09:28

I've had this! Someone kept ringing m mobile and asking for the dr. After the second time I told her that all numbers that start 07 are mobiles and she still rang back. Not once did she apologise.

mojitomania · 03/02/2012 09:41

YANBU

I think that sometimes it's down to rudeness and others it's down to embarrassment

FetchezLaVache · 03/02/2012 09:50

I once rang an elderly gentlemen instead of our local M&S, we had a lovely chat. Apparently, pretty much the only time he got to speak to anyone was when someone phoned him in error.

Sorry, tangent!

aldiwhore · 03/02/2012 09:59

I have one old lady who rings regularly. I gently tell her its the wrong number (again) and she always replies "Oh. Well you should change it".

sigh

I'll almost miss her if she starts getting the right number.

OldLadyKnowsNothing · 03/02/2012 10:03

I used to have a number that was one digit different from a local childrens' home, for kids in care. Trying to explain that yes, they had called a home, but not the home they were after was fun.

SuchProspects · 03/02/2012 10:11

We had this with a late night pizza place. Used to get drunk people calling at 2 am trying to order a large pizza and 2l of coke. Most apologized, some hung up, some got shirty. If the rude ones rang back I would take the order, tell them 45 mins and turn the ringer off on the phone.

YANBU although I would point out a few (though I doubt most) of the rude ones may be under a lot of stress if they're calling a health centre. If you're, for instance, trying to get an appointment to find out the results of your biopsy or if you've had to steele yourself to call to try and get treatment for severe paranoia, you may not cope well with the unexpected and be to flustered to beave as well as you might have wished. Most of them will just be generally I'll mannered though.

HugeFurryWishingStool · 03/02/2012 10:22

We occasionally get callers for a local antique shop.
You wouldn't believe the number of times I've had the following conversation:
Caller: "Hello, can I bring in my piano/victorian washstand/stuffed ocelot in amusing posture for valuation?

Me: "This isn't the antique shop, wrong number, sorry."

Caller: "Oh. Are you sure?"

Am I sure? hang on while I go and check, shit, sorry, I forgot that actually I do run an antique shop. What a giddy goat I am! /headdesk

ABatInBunkFive · 03/02/2012 10:24

The best i ever had was someone ringing the wrong number repeatedly who got more and more irate with me every time i answered the phone, choice comments included

'are you sure this isn't Joes'
'what took you so long' after her ringing for the 5th time i tried leaving the phone to ring out. (i have caller id)
'well put me through to them then'
'why do you keep answering Joes phone'

The odd thing was the number she read back to me was mine me thinks someone had slipped her a wrong number on a night out.

Anniegetyourgun · 03/02/2012 10:40

I had someone ring one evening, years ago, asking for a doctor because his son was unconscious. Funnily enough he didn't sound as if he were panicking, just plodded on firmly insisting that this was the number he had been given for the doctor, so I clearly did have a doctor secreted on the premises somewhere if only he could persuade me to admit it. I asked what number he had been given, he said "this one" (helpful). In the end I said look ring it again, and if you get me again I'll try to help you find the right number. He didn't ring back. I sometimes wonder what happened to the unconscious son while his old man was arguing with random strangers on the telephone...

Garliccheesechips · 03/02/2012 10:54

YANBU, some people are just thick and rude.
The next time you get a prick on the line who refuses to accept you're not the health centre, ask them some really personal health questions & then make fun.

OlaRapaceFru · 03/02/2012 11:10

YANBU - a quick apology is the polite thing to do.

Years ago I worked in Mayfair and my direct dial number at work was one digit away from Langan's Brasserie, I frequently took calls from people wanting to book a table. One of my colleagues said I should just take the booking anyway - but I hadn't got the heart to be so mean.

In another job, in London, I answered the phone one day (with our Very English company name) to a woman speaking a language I was completely unfamiliar with (not that I'm any great linguist, but there wasn't one single word that pinpointed what language she might be speaking). I politely said that I was very sorry I couldn't understand her, did she speak English? She answered me in excellent English by saying most indignantly "don't you speak Welsh?" Me : "Erm, no, sorry I don't". She : "Isn't that the XX Welsh Coal Company?". Me : "No, this is company in London". She SLAM

But this one is just bemusing. An old friend of mine left a message on our answerphone asking me to phone her at her father's - number XX - as she had taken her DD there for half term. I phoned the number. Elderly chap answered, I said "hello Arthur, it's Ola". Him : "Sorry, there's nobody by that name here". Me : "I'm awfully sorry, I must've got the wrong number, apologies for disturbing you." So, I tried again using the automatic dial from the caller display unit - same result. So, I tried again using my mobile - same result. Each subsequent time I mentioned his surname, his DD's name and his DGD's name. No, he didn't know any of those people. Finally I sent her a text telling her what had happened. She replied later in the day saying that she'd asked her dad if anyone had phoned for her while she was out, his response "no, but some poor woman phoned here three times, I don't know who she was, but she was very apologetic when she kept getting the wrong number".

MrsBeakman · 03/02/2012 11:22

YANBU. It is rude. It's like when you are out and about and you nearly walk into someone and it is just as much their fault as yours. You apologise and they ignore you and walk off. Would be polite to say "No problem." or apologise themselves or something. Happens a lot in Croydon. Maybe people are extra rude there.

gordyslovesheep · 03/02/2012 11:25

No YANBU

Last week this happend:

ring ring ... 'hello' ... 'yes hello Mrs X'

This is NOT Mrs X .... 'well can I talk to Mrs X?' ... No sh....'MRS X THEN' nooooo 'Well I want to talk to Mrs X' .....I hung up ...

1 min later RING RING

I answered and he shouted 'RUDE BITCH' at me pmsl - what a giant cock!

CremeEggThief · 03/02/2012 11:28

I always make a point of saying you have dialled the wrong number whenever this happens. Usually brings about a mumbled apology! If ever I do it, I always apologise. It is rude to just hang up.

gordyslovesheep · 03/02/2012 11:30

not if they are refusing to let you speak Creamegg - which he was - I couldnlt get a word in to tell him!

ABigGirlDoneItAndRanAway · 03/02/2012 11:31

YANBU to be annoyed but if you have caller display why not just ignore it and let the machine get it if you don't know the number, that's what I do.

Pendeen · 03/02/2012 11:31

" We had this with a late night pizza place. Used to get drunk people calling at 2 am trying to order a large pizza and 2l of coke. Most apologized, some hung up, some got shirty. If the rude ones rang back I would take the order, tell them 45 mins and turn the ringer off on the phone. "

Now that is very, very funny. :)

marcopront · 03/02/2012 12:37

One place I lived, my number was a recycled one from Robert Sangster's old stud farm. I'd get the racing post and the like phoning me for information occasionally.

Living somewhere else my number was very similar to a cat sanctuary - I got some very tearful people calling me. Some would leave messages and I would call back some of them to explain they had called the wrong number and I was sorry their cat was seriously ill.

And living in another place, this one overseas, people would call and when I answered ask who I was and where they were calling. Some would get annoyed with me for answering the phone and demand to know why Carlos had given them that number. I don't know if Carlos didn't know his number or always gave the same wrong number.

complexnumber · 03/02/2012 13:24

^" We had this with a late night pizza place. Used to get drunk people calling at 2 am trying to order a large pizza and 2l of coke. Most apologized, some hung up, some got shirty. If the rude ones rang back I would take the order, tell them 45 mins and turn the ringer off on the phone. "

Now that is very, very funny. ^

We did this as students many years ago, we finished the conversation with "I'm farting on it now", people always said thanx

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 03/02/2012 14:25

I used to get messages left on my answerphone from a care agency obviously thinking it was one of their staff.

They detailed the client that the carer was meant to see, and quite alot of information. One particular message was quite urgent and I rang them to explain that the message re Mr Smiths care had not been received by the right person.

My previous number was very similar to our local Argos, I got loads of calls from people wanting to check stock (pre computer checking)

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