Irritating Repeating PRIVATE Caller - What to do about it?

Posts: 33 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Sep 05, 2005 Posts: 33

Thanks for all the chatter! A lot of interesting stuff.

I came home today. FOUR calls by the same number. The message says..."We have an important business matter to discuss. Please contact Jon Viser (pronounced: Vie-zhur) at 1800.243.0002. Again, that number is 1800.243.0002" So I called it. And it says "National Enterprises". I can't find much online about them, and have no idea what it is. I didn't stay on the line long enough to talk to anyone.

I found out, though, that my roommate DOES have Progressive insurance. I told him that if they call, pick it up. He said he probably knows what it's about.

I'm thinking about using the PhoneTray route though. I have a .V90 modem laying aorund here. But if i've done my google homework correctly, the .V92 spec supports CallerID CID but .V90 doesn't, correct? I don't want to go out and spend my $14 on a modem if I don't need it.

Can PhoneTray filter between ANY numbers? I mean... my work calls with an internal number being displayed, like UNKNOWN CALLER/1270. But I know it's them. Can PhoneTray differenciate between UNKNOWN CALLER/UNKNOWN NUMBER and my work? Can It distinguish between PRIVATE/PRIVATE and OUT OF AREA/18004723000? If it can, I'm all over it.

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:24 am Post subject:

Does anyone know which adapters DON'T support ACR? I believe the Cisco does... and since the PAP2 and RTP300 support it, that covers the Linksys devices...so the only wildcard would be the Motorolas...

Posts: 2252 · Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:49 am Post subject:

VonageTPA wrote:

Does anyone know which adapters DON'T support ACR?...

It is my understanding that:

The TI based devices (RTP300 or WRTP54G) can be enabled.
The Sipura devices (RT31P2 or PAP2) can not be enabled.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 7:56 am Post subject:

maryjane wrote:

...if someone did get a Rep. to set it up for them, and they found out they did not like it. They can't just flip a switch and turn it back off.

Depends on how you got it switched on. VonageTPA posted instructions for getting it set up so it can be turned on and off at will using "*" commands on the handset. If you get a rep who is enough on the ball for that, you can probably turn it on and off at will.

Unfortunately, not all the reps are informed about this feature, obviously, and you may have to make several calls just to find someone who knows what you are talking about enough to open the conversation. Wink

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 9:15 am Post subject:

The PAP2 can do it... which just leaves the Motorola & Cisco devices as the unknowns.

Also, I should point out that this is different than the way some other providers handle ACR. Some of the other providers have messages similar to the landline co's, requiring the caller to push a button or leave their name, then it will forward the call. This requires some sort of IVR system to handle this, and would require a bit of programming to pull off...BUT, other co's have done it, no reason why Vonage doesn't have it, especially after customers have been begging for this feature for so long.

Posts: 33 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Sep 05, 2005 Posts: 33

So I broke down and gave the irritating PRIVATE number a call. They're looking for my brother, not me. he has NEVER LIVED HERE with me! Not in the 6 years I've lived here has he ever lived here. Though, something changed this morning. Maybe after 2 weeks of not answering a repeat recording message, live people start calling you! Today, at 9am i received a LIVE PERSON *GASP* leaving a message to call back. I guess they just irritate and annoy you until you call back. They say I'll be removed from the call list, but we'll see. GRRR.

Apparently, they're National Enterprise Systems, a collection agency. But when I called, I got nothing in terms of good service. "How can I help you" was my greeting, by some hard to understand deep voiced woman. "Name and number we calling you at?" "We're trying to reach [name withheld]". "Okay we'll remove your number. might take 24 hours. thank you." I know they're a collection agency and probably hate calling these people, but they've been annoying me for over TWO WEEKS every day all day, at the wrong number. Certainly an "I'm sorry for the inconvenience" would be basic common sense in their case. Guess not.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:03 pm Post subject:

exitwound wrote:

So I broke down and gave the irritating PRIVATE number a call. They're looking for my brother, not me. he has NEVER LIVED HERE with me! Not in the 6 years I've lived here has he ever lived here.

Collection Agencies frequently don't bother calling the actual person who owes money. If they were easy to reach and paid their bills on time, the matter wouldn't be in the hands of a collection agency.

Most likely, the collection agency has gone into "skip tracing" mode on your brother, which means they will start calling known relatives and friends, and references as entered in credit applications, then if nothing comes of that, start looking up similar names in the phone book that live nearby and calling asking for the person, in the hopes of reaching a relative who will give them a new phone number just to get the damned collection agency off their backs.

Skip tracers are pushed hard to be persistent, and have one of the most emotionally taxing jobs on the planet. They frequently receive poor treatment on the phone, including profanity, screaming, and death threats, both from their attempts to reach the debtor and once they actually reach the debtor. They are also very used to being lied to, and so are naturally skeptical of everything everyone says to them on the phone. Kinda goes with the territory, and politeness on the job gets worn out of them in the first few months, assuming it takes that long.

I've worked at companies that do skip tracing. I'd never, ever do that as a profession unless it was absolutely the only way to put food on my table. I can understand it is necessary, and I can understand and sympathize with the methods used when someone makes off with thousands of dollars in bad credit, but I don't think I could do it.

Posts: 81 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Jan 02, 2006 Posts: 81

Oh man can I relate! This happend to me before I had Voip though. They also were looking for my brother, who not only never lived in my residence, but doesn't even live in the same country.

It started slow at first, maybe one message a week. Then it started intensifing. I finally called them and was told it was for my brother. I told them he doesn't live here and to stop calling. They did.

A couple weeks later I get more calls. This time they are asking for my brother or my dad. I told them neither live here. I gave my dad the info to look into it though (he doesn't live in the US either).

So turns out my brother is a criminal who defrauded lots of people of lots of money. Makes sense why he left the US right? Turns out he also opened up several credit cards with my dad as the co-signer and maxed them out and never paid them. Isn't it lovely what I find out from these people?

So once I got these people working with my dad (who wasn't too pleased about this) then the calls stopped coming in on a regular basis. I occassionally will still get a call from skip tracers who actually lie and say they are from big companies like "American Express". But after several minutes of what seems like an interigation I can quickly determine that they are not. I even had one lady get fairly rude with me asking me about my brother finiances...which I had no clue about.

So I can relate. Hope your brother isn't in as much trouble as mine is.

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 2:05 pm Post subject:

Knowing this, I'm not surprised that they have their outgoing name as "PRIVATE"... If it said "ABC Collection Svc," no one would ever bother to answer it.

Posts: 33 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Sep 05, 2005 Posts: 33

But seeing PRIVATE makes me not want to answer at all. I mean, Progressive gave me their callback number at least. No name but a number.