Irritating Repeating PRIVATE Caller - What to do about it?

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

Every day at 8.03am, I receive the same call. It's an automated recording of "an important business matter". it asks for no one by name, just a recording to call back. I have received this call for the past 2 weeks, EVERY DAY at 8.03am, and again mutliple times during the evening on a few days. I am sick of it really. I have not called the number back for fear that it might indicate that this line IS occupied by someone? I am on the Do Not Call list as well as Vonage, so I am unaware of how I got onto this list , whatever it may be.

There is no current way to block private callers on Vonage? Is there anything I can do?

Posts: 476 · Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:54 pm Post subject:

Until Vonage decides to give us ACB/ACR there's not a lot you can do. You could try calling Vonage CS and find out if they can enable ACB/ACR on your account (there's been rumors that they can do this). Or you could find the number not in service tone and make that the first part of your voicemail message. Sometimes this will cause an automated system to delete your number from its database. Or call the number and tell them to put you on their do not call list and that you'll be reporting any future calls from their company.

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

I just received a call from PRIVATE again. This time, I picked up. Silence. Nothing there. Not the recording.

*sigh* I really wish ACR was implemented. If Vonage doesn't offer it soon, I'll be switching to Comcast Voice when they takeover the Adelphia service in town here.

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

Given that they don't seem to want to stop, I'd return the call. Tell them to buzz off, and then slam them with a don't-call violation.

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

Well, it's happening more frequently than I thought! I've done lookups online searching for keywords that are used in the recording but have come up with nothing. I may call later to see who they are. (blurred areas are real contacts) I don't know who the 800 # is either *sigh*

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 1:03 pm Post subject:

Try calling up tech support & request a Level 3 tech...and see if you can get them to turn on ACR for you. You might have to try a couple of times to find someone who knows how to do it & is willing to do it. Specifically, tell them you want to turn on Block ANC Serv on your adapter if you're using a PAP2/RT31P2/WRT54GP2, or set ANON_CALL_BLOCK = 1 on the RTP300/WRTP54G devices.

If you've got a really swift tech, then go for the gold and see if you can get them to turn on the * codes for this feature.

For the PAP2/RT31P2/WRT54GP2:
Have the tech set: (Under Regional settings)
Block ANC Act Code: *77
Block ANC Deact Code: *87

Or for the RTP300/WRTP54G:
Have the tech set:
FCODE_ANON_BLOCK to *77
FCODE_ANON_UNBLOCK to *87.

If you can get the tech to do this portion, then you'll be able to dial *77 to activate anon call blocking, *87 to disable it, at your will, rather than having to call up Vonage tech support to do it each time.

FWIW, when/if Anonymous Call Blocking is enabled on the device, it WILL NOT ring or produce any indication that you have an incoming call and the call will go straight to voice mail if you have no other call forwarding options configured. Simulring/Call Forwarding will still operate like normal regardless of ACB. . I'm not sure what the behavior on all of the devices will be with this feature. This might also block "Unavailable" CallerID calls as well, which could be quite a few people. If you go this route, I'd HIGHLY suggest that you get the tech to set up the feature codes so that you can enable/disable ACB easily just in case it causes problems.

Posts: 277 · Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:00 pm Post subject:

exitwound wrote:

Well, it's happening more frequently than I thought! I've done lookups online searching for keywords that are used in the recording but have come up with nothing. I may call later to see who they are. (blurred areas are real contacts) I don't know who the 800 # is either *sigh*

Well, out of curiosity, I called the 800 number - its Progressive Insurance, and says "we tried to contact you about an important matter concerning your auto insurance policy..."

As for the anonymous calls, may or may not be true in this case, but in general, a request to return a call about "an important business matter" is generally indicative of a bill collector call, and they're legally allowed to call you during the hours of 8 AM to 9 PM, and all of your anonymous calls in that screen shot were during that time frame. If it IS a bill collector, or course you can't make them quit calling or threaten them with any do-not-call violations either.

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

I don't have Progressive Insurance. And neither does my roommate.

Bill collector? I wish they'd call in person if that's the case. Though, I don't owe anything. I have no bills. They're paid automatically online every month, even down to rent. Unless my roommate is racking up something, I don't think it'd be a bill collector.

It's 2006. I'm wondering why we don't have features like "block this number when it calls" or "block all numbers starting with". Why don't we have control over our own phone lines? It's crazy really. Kinda wish I had control over such things. If i could, I'd get rid of the phone altogether.

Posts: 476 · Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:33 pm Post subject:

Is this a new number that you were assigned by Vonage or did you port your old number over? If it's the former, it sounds like someone had that number before and now you've gotten stuck with calls meant for them. If it's the latter, hmmm. Weird.

Posts: 16 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Mar 05, 2006 Posts: 16

I got some calls like that when I first got my Vonage number, they were for the person who had the number before me. The only way to get them to stop is to talk to a person directly at the number that's calling, ask them who they are calling for, and tell them that person no longer has your phone number and to not call any more. That got the calls to stop for me. Until you do that, they have no way of knowing the person they're looking for no longer has that number.