"I'm so sorry, I've got the wrong number."

[MrsRajeshKoothrappali]

How fecking hard is that to say?

I seem to get weirdo calls all day long from companies (I assume) and 9/10 out of ten they just hang up when I say hello.

I'm with TPS, which has prevented some calls but some still slip through the net.

Am stressed today anyway and this has irked me further.

Meh!

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I kept getting messages on my answephone, I worked out they were from some sort of private care angency.
Most time I ignored them- they were the "Betty, phone head office" type of calls..
Then there was one that was quite urgent (regarding a patient being transferred from hospital and things being set up for them)
I did phone them to say the message hadn't got to the right person.(so some poor soul risked being sent home without all the back-up in place )

[PurplePidjin]

I sound exactly like my mother on the phone. Uncannily so. When i moved back after uni, i was treated to all sorts of interesting details about her friends' menopauses lives.

She sometimes gets me to answer her phone just to freak them out comes in handy when i cba to phone the tax people

[mirry2]

I once got a call from someone asking me how much I charged for a certain sexual service. When I told him he must have th wrong number he was very apologetic and hung up. Out of curiosity I dialed 1471 and actually got his phone number! I would have thought he'd have withheld it. Obviously I didn't dial it.

[MrsPoglesWood]

My work mobile number must have been recycled many, many times or it is some weird portal for wrong numbers. I rarely get wrong numbers on the landline so it's very odd.

Amongst the many wrong number calls I've had include voicemails left from a dentist to a Mr X about collecting dentures, a potential employer to Miss X about an interview and from a shop to Mrs X regarding some curtains that were ready to collect. All the numbers were withheld and not left on the message so I couldn't let anyone know. Cos I'm nice, I would have. I'd hate to think of a pensioner without his falsies, someone missing an interview or someone pining for curtains

I also got a series of texts telling me that Paul had sadly passed away and then details of all the funeral arrangements. I did reply and tell them they had the wrong number and expressed condolences for their loss. The funeral service sounded lovely, I hope Paul got a good send off.

[FreshLeticia]

Ahha, Ruby, I know who Eric is! He never answers his phone or indeed takes it with him, nor does he know what it is!
Solesource, can't believe you called your BF 'Wierdo'

[turnipsoup]

On my landline phone you can add numbers to a 'barred' list. We do this to when we get an autodial call. They often come up as 00000 or something like that.

[SorrelForbes]

At my previous house I used to get lots of calls from (what sounded like) an elderly gent calling his son. He'd leave long messages on the answer phone telling him to "unlock the garage, I'm on my way" and "put the kettle on, your mother's coming with me and will make a cuppa whilst we do the lifting". I did manage to speak to him on a couple of occasions and he was most apologetic but I don't think he really understood that he as dialling the wrong number.

[2tired2bewitty]

I was in the lift at work recently when one of those recorded ppi calls called the alarm phone in the lift. I did wonder what would happen if i pressed 5 when requested

[tallwivglasses]

A woman once called my mum and screamed, "you've been going out with my husband". Cool as anything, mum replied, "well, tell me who your husband is and I'll tell you if I've been going out with him." I was rather proud of her.

[MadamePenguin]

I once answered the phone and the woman on the other end said "Who are you?" I asked her to tell me who she was first but she just kept on asking me who I was. We went on quite a while like that (I don't know why I just didn't hang up) until I said quite sternly "I will not tell you who I am until you tell me who you are and why you are phoning me." She said quite huffily "I want to speak to Brian." I said "You've got the wrong number." She said "Oh!" and hung up.

I think Brian must have been her husband or boyfriend and she thought I must be his other woman answering his phone.

Another time I answered the phone and the man said "I need to ask about guns." Feeling a bit disturbed I said "Huh?" He launched into some complicated question. I managed to interrupt to say "You've got the wrong number." He said "You're the gun centre?" "No..." "Are you sure?" "Yes..." "But I phoned your number. Its *." "Yes." "So you are the gun centre." I hung up then. Luckily he didn't call back.

[GoSuckEggs]

these are great

[thebestnameshavegone]

i keep getting wrong emails, which is quite odd. my email address is just my name @ one of the popular email sites with no other punctuation. when other people have a similar email but with . or - or _ in it, if they forget to put the punctuation in, the email comes to me.

If the email looks important, I generally reply and tell them they've got it wrong. there's a woman in Colorado whose family are constantly sending photos to me by mistake. I could start an album. its quite nice to see her kids growing up actually - I feel like I know them. but at the same time, i'm sure she isn't happy about some random person on the internet getting pictures of her family!

[RubberBullets]

We keep getting calls for Mrs Dyer. They are always businesses and I've got so fed up of telling them that they have the wrong number I've started telling them she died. Fingers crossed that will finally make these people take notice and stop calling.

[Kewcumber]

Ex compliance offer for direct marketing company here (though we did not do cold calls ourselves)

TPS only effective with UK based company.
Any UK company with autodiallers has to have a telephone number shown if you redial after a hang up.

Unfortuately can't enforce UK law on non-uk companies operating outside UK.

[Kewcumber]

there have been some hefty fines given out recently for conmpanies not de-duping against TPS and making "nuisance" calls

[Omnishambolic]

My mobile number is obviously close to that of some man (using the term loosely). A few years ago over a period of months I got a lot of late night, long voicemails from a woman who had had her heart broken by him - I think he'd an affair. The messages would go on and on and on. Sometimes she'd be crying, sometimes she'd be saying "where are you", sometimes she'd be yelling abuse at him. Unfortunately her number was withheld so I was never able to let her know she'd got the wrong number - on the other hand, maybe it was the equivalent of writing a letter but not sending it? At least she got her feelings out and maintained her dignity (kind of) by not leaving them on HIS mobile.

More recently on our landline we have a lady who phones regularly asking for Bridget. She phoned several times on Christmas Day, she tried again on Boxing Day, and she's tried several times since. She's always apologises, puts the phone down and dials us again immediately a couple more times, just to check she's got the wrong number I guess. I've started answering the phone "Bridget's house" but she doesn't seem to have noticed.

[QueenStromba]

I signed up for gmail back when you still needed to be invited so got [email protected]. Unfortunately there seem to be quite a few people with my name that haven't realised they don't have [email protected]. I've had personal emails, emails confirming hotel/conference/plane ticket bookings, voucher codes for the Irish equivalent of groupon, loads of emails asking me to confirm someone else's child's membership of various websites, mailshots from beauty salons in Wisconsin etc and even someone's American Express credit card statement. If it looks like something important/personal I email back saying that they have the wrong email address and when they find the myname they're looking for can they ask them to stop giving out my email address please. I had to spend ages on the phone to American Express trying to sort things out because the call centre workers for the UK part of the company couldn't just look up a US customer by email address.

[thebestnameshavegone]

yep, QueenS, i'm with gmail too. I asked them and they said if there are any problems with an email, or if any punctuation is missed out, the email defaults to [email protected]. very helpful!

[QueenStromba]

I've actually registered my.name but get anything to myname - google actually ignores any dots so m.yname would go to me too as would my.....name. I'm just happy that I'm not a John Smith or whatever - I've got a not particularly common Irish surname paired with a first name that hasn't been near the top 100 for decades. I reckon I'd get a hundred times more misdirected emails if I was an Elizabeth or similar.

[M1SSUNDERSTOOD]

I once got an email to the samaritans but based in America. Peggy wanted to know when she should come in. Not sure if Peggy was a client or a volunteer.

[knittingirl]

When I was at uni I got a few voicemail messages and text messages from what sounded like a fairly young girl, along the lines of "thanks for last night, I had a great time, hope your wife doesn't find out" etc. In the end I got my bf to ring her back to tell her she had the wrong number, he said she didn't sound like she really believed him.

I've also been told that x won't make it to her flute lesson tonight, and been asked to pick someone up from the train station.

[Katnisscupcake]

I constantly get calls for the previous owner of this phone number (different address, just recycled numbers).

However, they're not just from companies. We occasionally get text messages over our landline 'Hi Julie, we'll see you at the Dog and Duck at 7.30'.

I just kept thinking, clearly she doesn't like these people much otherwise she would have given them her new number.

Until one day I got a call from British Gas asking for her. They were calling her back about a query she had with her bill and she'd literally just given them our number!

I wouldn't mind but we've had the number for four years!!!

She is still giving it out now...

[Katnisscupcake]

Oh and another one (I think quite funny, although not for the guy concerned)...

Text message on New Years Day:

Him: Hi, thank you for last night, I had a great time. xxx
Me: Hi, I think you've got the wrong number...
Him: Oh, isn't this Sarah?
Me: No and I was at home with my husband last night...
Him: So sorry, she obviously gave me a wrong number. I don't suppose you fancy going out???

[sudaname]

I have fun with these sometimes as my DH has kept the same landline for donkeys years and had it when married to his first wife.

So it goes:

Is that Mrs DH?

Yes,speaking.

Mrs A. DH?

No. Mrs B. DH.

Can l speak to Mrs A. DH?

Not here no.



....and from the top and repeat.

They seem to think my DH is a cult leader with a few wives rattling round the house past and present.