Oops, looks like the repo man knocked on the door

No, they weren't looking for us...

My wife just called, mentioned that what looks like a PI left a business card asking for a call back - my thoughts immediately went to "that's not a PI, that's a debt collector". And yes, a little Google-Fu confirmed that it's a repo company...

Anyway, my wife called them back, told them we just moved into the house and once they confirmed who they were looking for, basically told them we've never met the people and have no idea where those deadbeats are (nor do we want to know). That said, we're not surprised given that there were a couple of nastygrams in the mail for one of the tenants.

I've let the landlord know about this in case something he stored on the property suddenly grew feet and I'm going to write the company a polite letter pointing out that we aren't the droids they're looking for and are unfortunately not able to assist them in tracking them down.

Any other suggestions?

Ignore them. Don't respond to anything at all. If they call you (and they will, if you have a phone with that address listed) then tell them those people moved. Otherwise everything goes into the shredder.

Too late to ignore them, my wife already called them back so they have our number. Unlisted number, too...

Mail to the previous occupier goes back as 'recipient unknown'.

I had a collection agency call me looking for my ex-wife. I sort of felt obliged to assist. ;-)

There will be more.

That's what I expect - unfortunately it looks like our landlord isn't the only person who got screwed by these deadbeats.

We have the same problem. We've been in this house for five years and still get an occasional call looking for the previous occupants.

My last name is kinda rare. Even in Friesland, it's rare, with only 3 families taking that name when Napoleon forced the Dutch to pick a last name. When I lived in Texas, for a while I was the only person (with my wife) in the state with my last name. There apparently was another one somewhere in Texas that didn't pay his bills. I would get a phone call every few months from a collector looking for him. No idea who he was/is. No kin to me.

Funny thing, up here in Arkansas, I opened the phone book and there were 3 listings for my last name in the local directory.

I had sort of the same thing happen last week.
Only my card was from a constable representing the local magistrate.

Turns out they were trying to deliver a jury duty warrant...to the wife in the couple I bought the house from...three years ago.

Best to ignore them, after letting them know you are someone else. Of course, if they let you know who they are trying to reach and why, they just violated the FDCPA. Unfortunately, you don't have standing to sue them for it.

When I moved back to Ohio in 1998, I occasionally got calls from debt collectors, a sheriff's dept in Tennessee, and an alarm company for the person who used to have my number. Its been about 3 years or so since the last one came in. So, 1.5 years for the phone number to be unused (supposedly), plus 9 years before the calls finally tapered off to nothing. I don't think I ever want to change my number and risk a recurrance.

Moved into the current house in 2004, still get calls for a Tommy Dowdy, no idea who he is..

ring CA; I'd like to speak with Tommy Dowdy.

Me; let me stop you right there. I already know you are with a collections agency or attorneys office because of the name you are looking for. We have lived here since 2004 and have no idea who he is and keep getting collections calls for him.

Usually clears things up as much as can be cleared up. They usually say they are correcting the data so we dont get any more calls.. but we still get several a month.

I have had this problem back in my first house - and really - its not that much of an issue. They call. There isn't anyone here by that name... blah, blah, blah... click. They call back. I exercise patience and explain, click. They call again, just click. Repeat.

Now with caller id... I wouldn't have even need to be rude. Just like the collection agency that calls looking for the person who lived in my current home 7yrs ago. I programmed my voip to fwd all calls from that number to a number that calls me selling E36 M3 even though I'm on the do not call list. Let them work it out.

My problem is one of the local repo agencies goes through the book and cold calls everyone with the last name they are looking for. You'd be surpriced how many millers are up for repos

Cold calls at 2 a.m. when you're off guard.

My son's college roommate didn't pay for his Harley. The repo guys blanket the building knocking on every door knowing that he doesn't live there, but through peer pressure maybe he'll caugh up the money.

He didn't.

eastsidemav wrote: When I moved back to Ohio in 1998, I occasionally got calls from debt collectors, a sheriff's dept in Tennessee, and an alarm company for the person who used to have my number. Its been about 3 years or so since the last one came in. So, 1.5 years for the phone number to be unused (supposedly), plus 9 years before the calls finally tapered off to nothing. I don't think I ever want to change my number and risk a recurrance.

"Hi, you have reached (number). We have had this number since 1997. (name) no longer has this number and has not had it for at least three years. If you leave a message for (name) you will be ignored, we do not have a forwarding number because we've never even heard of the guy before we got this number."

2003: Still getting messages for the guy.

Solution: Disconnect answering machine.

You guys still have home phones?

Newbs.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I programmed my voip to fwd all calls from that number to a number that calls me selling E36 M3 even though I'm on the do not call list. Let them work it out.

This made me smile.

Clem

z31maniac wrote: You guys still have home phones? Newbs.

Kind of hard to ditch the land line when you live in a cellular dead zone. Or, I could walk several hundred feet away every time I want to see if anyone's called...

Move out of the sticks?

When we first moved into our place we constantly got collections calls for one particular woman. I kept telling them, never heard of her. Then one day HER name shows up on my caller ID and she acts like it's a wrong number.

I kept the number and happily gave it out to all the collectors. After about 2 months I never got any more calls...

z31maniac wrote: You guys still have home phones? Newbs.

Agreed. I haven't had a land line for about five years now.

z31maniac wrote: Move out of the sticks?

Thats the sad part. I'm in the burbs. Go a few hundred feet down the road, and reception is just fine. This is the kind of thing that happens when tower density isn't what it should be. Doesn't matter what provider, either.

Doesn't bother me too much, since it seems like half the calls to my cell are wrong numbers, and I tend not to like to talk on the phone much anyway. Still have a landline for ADSL purposes, too. Not willing to give Time Warner another penny.

Been living in a new house for about a year now. 6 months after moving in, some guy was banging on our door one Sat. morning. The previous owners ripped him off for a bunch of cash, and he drove down from somewhere up north (Ohio area?) and then two months ago we had a "collections agent" show up again on a Sat. looking for the same people.

I just answer the door with Mr. Mossberg on the weekends now.

-meaty

It's one job I would love to do.

Wally wrote: My problem is one of the local repo agencies goes through the book and cold calls everyone with the last name they are looking for. You'd be surpriced how many millers are up for repos

Try being a Smith.