About three months ago I got a call from Primary Financial Services. They asked for Joy Erickson. I said this is and so forth. Long story short, they had the wrong Joy Erickson. All the info they had, which was only a birth date and social security number, weren’t mine. Whoever they are looking for owes $10,000 on a Wells Fargo Visa card. Okay, all straightened out right? WRONG!
For roughly all this time, I’ve been getting a call a week. Same old thing. Joy Erickson, so on and so forth and I have to relay all this info again and then there’s kind of a ha, ha element to it. Depending on who’s making the call, I’m on the phone with them for 3-5 minutes. But now, truthfully, I’m getting very tired of it. First of all, it bothers me when I’m doing something else. To take that time, be nice and polite and tell them very nicely, you have the wrong Joy Erickson. Each and every time though they do try to tell me it is me. Whoever is making the call is trying very hard to collect this 10 grand.
Well, Monday I had a very long day with my mom. I had to take her to a retinal specialist and we were there almost 4 hours with her in the office maybe half an hour of that whole time. When I got home I checked the phone and noticed this number that I knew belonged to this collection agency and I was NOT in the mood this time and was ready for it to be over.
I called the number and very calmly told them who I was and that someone called me from there today. They asked if it was about a Wells Fargo Visa and I said it was so she transferred me. A man with a very unique voice came on and said “Mr. Burns, how may I help you?” So, here the fun began.
“Mr. Burns I said, this is Joy Erickson and someone called me today from this number.” He asked for my phone number and I gave it to him. He asked me my birth date and I told him. He then asked me for my social security number and that’s when I asked him if he was nuts. I said “I would never give that out on the phone to someone I don’t know but I’d give him the three numbers at the end.” Then I proceeded to tell him what I’ve been going through. First he lied to me and told me “this collection only came to them 10 days ago.” I told him “NOT”!! you’ve been calling me once a week for 3 months.” Then he said “Oh, I see there have been calls made to this number.” So now the truth comes out.
So basically I asked him what I could do to get them to stop calling me. I asked him if I should just pay this bill that belongs to somebody else. No he said with a chuckle and I said “what do you suggest I do?” “Every person I talk to tells me they are taking my name off this list but so far that hasn’t happened so what MR BURNS SHOULD I DO ABOUT IT?”
You will NEVER believe what he said to me. He told me that I should really take this up with my phone company. They are the ones listing my telephone number! Yes folks, you read that right. Now, this is when I didn’t do so well in the ladylike department. Virgin ears should not read this cause yes, I swore 3 TIMES!! I said “are you F-ing kidding me?” I’ve had this F-ing phone number for 35 F-ing years and you want me to change it because some other person didn’t pay a bill?????? Then he said “Mrs. Erickson, I can hear you are very upset!” REALLY MR. BURNS….WHAT MAKES YOU THINK SO????? I told him he caught right on to things quick. I looked at Paul and he was pale. I never EVER talk to people like this but I’m so sick of it by now. They also call between 1 and 2 when I like to lay with a book or sit and knit and if I can grab 40 winks, this is my time. They are BOTHERING me and it’s not my bill.
So, Paul went to the bank yesterday and told them what was going on and since we are good customers, they were going to try calling the company and see if they can get them to stop. But I need advice. Is this a form of harassment? I would never sue or anything but I’d like to know if I could tell them I’m thinking of it. The audacity of this guy telling me to change my phone number and have it unlisted. FOR THIS??
Help. What would you do? Or, what can I do?
Us Girls..Our Views 
I’m no expert, but I would guess there are laws against this, and these folks are being way negligent.
Also, I’m so glad you didn’t give them your SS number. They are obviously not professionals so who knows what they are likely to do with your info? I wouldn’t give them your birth date, etc., either. I would consider reporting their phone number to the police for possible fraud if they call again. Please start logging the calls if you haven’t already done so, so that you can show that you have given them more than enough chances to stop harassing you.
But I have to say, you had me laughing out loud at this post, and I don’t do that often! I know it wasn’t funny to you but it’s a great post.
I’m glad I could give you a chuckle. I tried making it a little interesting but holy cow, it’s getting to me now. At first it wasn’t so bad, I thought they’d quit calling after a few botched times but they just kept calling every week. I may call my phone company to see if I can block just that number.
I would also like to add that if I ever let the F bombs drop like that on any other unsuspecting person, I’d feel really bad but that guy lied to me and acted all happy go lucky. It ticked me off that he suggested I change and unlist my phone number.
I had this happen to me once, a couple years ago. They were looking for Deb Somebody-or-other, and would NOT believe that I didn’t know who she was or anything about her. Apparently, at some point, the number that had recently been issued to us here in our “new” place (this was back right after we moved in) had been listed by her as one of her numbers.
Well, they kept calling at different times and using different tactics. Sometimes they were all nice, sometimes they were rude, belligerent, high-handed, intimidating… you name it, they tried it.
After a couple weeks of this – on and off calling, never at the same time – I got sick of it and turned the tables on them.
The next time they called, and asked for Deb, I told them that we were having a family gathering and there were three “Deb’s” in the house… which one did they want? They gave me a last name. Then I said, “which one? There are two of them here.” They gave me identifying information. I kept asking leading questions, and finally got them to reveal to me what they were looking for – she hadn’t paid some bill, and they were chasing her down.
Then I told them that I had all this information that they just gave to me, including the operator’s name and the number they were calling from. I said, “There’s no Deb here. You’ve been calling me for weeks, and I’ve been telling you that you have the wrong number. You never believe me, you just keep harassing me, even after I’ve told you to cease and desist. This time, I have all this personal information that you are obligated to keep confidential. I will be turning all of it over to my lawyer. If I ever see this phone number on my Caller I.D. again, or if ANYONE – and I don’t care who it is – calls and asks to speak with this Deb chick, I WILL authorize that lawyer to shut you down. If that means that he brings the FBI down on you, so be it. But you will STOP calling me. Do you understand?”
I never got another call.
That is a great idea Laura. You must have the patience of a saint. I’m not sure I could keep my calm all that time.
Oh, I got furious on a bunch of those idiots, and that didn’t work. I think it’s one of their goals… get the person that they’re dealing with pissed off enough, and they’ll blurt out the truth. It’s a time-honored tactic.
Now that I’m thinking back on it, I do remember somebody in that stack of morons that I talked/yelled with telling me that if I didn’t like it, I could change my number. Uh-huh. And then they’d just find THAT number and be calling me again. I don’t think so. And especially in your case, where the name is the same, what’s going to prevent them from getting your NEW number, if you did end up changing it? No, no, you didn’t do anything wrong, they need to fix THEIR files.
Seriously, if you try my tactic (and I came up with it on the spur of the moment, which is seriously unusual for me – I usually can’t think that quickly on my feet!), be sure to have pen and paper available and write down anything you think important, starting with the name of the caller.
And don’t bother asking for a “supervisor”, because you quickly find out that ALL of these idiots bear the title of “supervisor” or “manager” or “boss” of some sort, because that way, they have deniabililty. “Oh, I AM the supervisor. You can talk to me.” B.S. I’ve tried, “let me talk to the person who signs your paycheck,” “let me talk to the person who hired you,” and other similar tactics, but it seems like the minute you threatened to sic a lawyer on these people, THAT’S what greases the gears.
omg I am singing to laura…
“ddddddddddddiiiid you eveeeeeeeeeer knoooooooooow that you’re mmmmmmmmmmy hhhhhhhhhhhhherro!”
That was f*cking amazing! I am making a note of this to use it next time it happens to me.
*bows low* thank you!
I forgot to mention, some guy named “Antoin” or “Antwan” thinks he has the same number as my work phone number, because I get all these calls for this guy. My work phone is forwarded to my home phone, so I get these calls at all hours of the day and night. Sometimes they sound really urgent. I have actually answered a few and even called back one or two to let them know that Antoin doesn’t live here, I have no idea who he is, but I sure get a lot of his calls. Sometimes the callers sound shady: [urgent tone] Antoin, call me back right away, they got Jamal.” Other times they are angry: “Comeon man, ca’ me back, I need ta talk to you.” Sometimes I can’t even tell what they are saying at all.
Now wouldn’t it be funny if my phone number is the same as the one a drug dealer uses?
That is really weird. That would get really irritating too. Calls like that at all hours of the day and night.
I would have LOVED to of heard this conversation. I’ve never heard you talk to anyone like that…good for you though! Those people are just out for money and couldn’t care less who they piss off while trying to collect it.
I think if they call, after Paul has gone into the bank, some major action needs to take place. That’s harassment, and they can get into trouble for that. Are you documenting every time they call, and what is being said? If not, and they call again, get their name of course and write everything down.
Want to hear something really freaky? I think it’s weird anyway. We have the old number of one of our old friends from back in the day. One day a women called asking for Kristi ____. It caught me off guard, because I knew her but she’s never around so I wasn’t sure why they’d be calling ME to find her. Come to find out we had her old number. It was hard to convince them that it wasn’t her number anymore and we weren’t trying to keep them from talking to her. I never knew what it was about though. I guess they get so many jerks that do lie, that they assume everyone lies.
LOL Nikki. I would have surprised you. I’ve never talked to anyone like that before but he was so arrogant suggesting that we just change our number like we’re nothing but vagabonds who flit from here to there and changing our number was something we did often.
When we moved out here from Minnetonka they gave us the last four digits of our phone number we had and all we had to change was the prefix of the number. Back then we had one digit off of a pizza delivery service. Jason used to really mess with people’s heads. He’d answer “Domino’s Pizza” and the person would hang up and the phone would ring again and he’d say “Pizza Hut” and then the person would know but man, it was funny. Other times it wasn’t so funny but I guess it’s like this, after a while it’s just irritating if you’re doing something else. It’s also another thing when the person starts lying. All the other people have looked and realized they’ve called here before and I’m not the one they are looking for but this guy…..ya, he thought he was wonderful and bright.
I know what you mean about getting really mad and doing stuff you normally wouldn’t do. It takes a lot to get me fuming mad. It probably only happens like once in five years. But believe me, if you are with me at that moment, you will know it.
I think you were perfect. I’m not a huge fan of the “F” word, but I do believe it has a purpose!
It’s more effective when it’s used sparingly. which is why I try to be creative in my swearing.
Poor Joy! I worked for a financial company, and believe me, I know how, yes, how F-ING obnoxious those companies can be… You were doing good, as far as I’m concerned – sometimes they need to hear that you’re REALLY pissed off before they move and do something helpful.
I know how frustrating this must all be, but don’t waste all your energy on them! These stupid people you have to deal with are not worth a moment of your time even though you really do have to deal with them.
I hope the next few days are more relaxing *hugs*
Nikki LOL good for you Joy! That’s funny and Paul loosing color. Oh what a day, Aaaww. Persistent phone calls can really drive a person wild. We have had our share too, it SO frustrating. The lawyer threat seem good. I hope something works. We recently went through this and finally they just gave up. I’m not really sure why or what worked. I hope they give up soon. I wish I did know the answer on how to deal with this kind of a situation. It’s so intrusive! Especially when it’s over and over and over and over and…………..
Oh Joy, that sounds really annoying! Hopefully you’ll figure something out so that they stop calling you!
Did you ever resolve this? The law they are breaking is the FDCPA – Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Document the harrassment then file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. You’ll never hear from them again.
You can google the number calling you and obtain the mailing address in most cases.
Then you send them a written letter- I would suggest sending certified mail.
Under FDCPA if they receive written notification not to contact you they must stop.
Hope this helps
The FDCPA post was correct, the only legal way to get people to stop calling in the act of debt collection, which if primary finical is calling thats what it is, is whats called a formal stop action letter. Certified mail is the only way to have proof that they have received it. Unfortuntially most of the people who work in this field are jerks, but understand they do spend their day reminding people that people owe somebody between 1-25 thousand dollars, so by the time they talk to a helpful, (even if its a wrong party), they’ve been lied, yelled at, and spit on (usually not literally), and have developed a callous to the truth. This isn’t an excuse for people being jerks, just hopefully a little insight.
Joy,
I am very sorry that you had to put up with this company. I have seen some of the things that PFS has done. If they are still calling please let me know. I will help.
Don’t waste your time with the BBB, go straight to the Arizona State Attorney Generals website take a few minutes and file your complaint on their easy to use complaint page and submit. If they get enough complaints that are supported with facts and documentation they will be shut down….then promptly reopen under another name and corporation but it does cost them quite a bit to straighten out after a shut down. Pretty soon their clients (Wells and Dell) etc do get the picture and do not want to be associated with abusive companies that tarnish their reputations too. Well for Wells they do that well enuf on their own….
I have noticed that many people tell you to take down the name of the person calling you. I have tried that and I have told the next person that I just talked to “Joe” and of course their is no joe working there. It is also correct that they love to make you angry so they get you to say that you are the person they are asking for.
I know from experience with this company that that is exactly what it is.. they are out for money and dont care how they treat people to get it- to mke that quota they have- ruthless people- I know from experience- I used to work there- bad management- rules for SOME people but not others- FDCPA violations up the yang yang– tell them that they are violating the FDCPA ( this is the law that protects consumers) and you are going to contact the federal trade commission if they dont stop harrassing you- guaranteed- you mention to them that FDCPA violation- the calls will stop…. good luck to you all.
Thanks for taking the time to comment Elizabeth.