Comments (37)

1. Fortunately, I was given a cell number under a newly approved area code. I’m keeping it for as long as I can!

   posted by Eric on 7-9-2007 at 3:50 am

2. I once got issued the former phone number of a guy named Jeff who seemingly did not call his mother often enough. My phone would ring at all kinds of hours and when I’d pick up, It would go something a little like this:

   -Hello?
   -JEEEEEEEFFF?
   -Um. no?
   -Howcome you don’t call your mama no more, Jeff?
   -This is not Jeff.
   -*click*

   This went on for a good two weeks. here’s hoping mama eventually got ahold of Jeff.

   posted by Frank S. Besner on 7-9-2007 at 5:45 am

3. This sounds apocryphal to me. People in the US have been able to take their number with them when switching carriers for a few years now. I would think someone with a social circle as large as Ms. Hilton’s would choose to keep her old number rather than tell everyone of a new one.

   posted by RSN on 7-9-2007 at 6:58 am

4. I’ve had the same cell number for almost 10 years now. I still get calls for its previous owner - an Italian man named Vinnie. The same people keep calling for him and leaving messages on my voicemail - in Italian. One caller was so excited to speak to me, as he thought I was Vinnie’s new wife. The calls are fewer now, but I still get an occasional voicemail.

   posted by Audrey on 7-9-2007 at 7:09 am

5. My phone number has been the same for eight years however three years ago someone named Nancy started giving my phone number out instead of her own. Nancy’s frinds and family would get irritated with me when I informed them this was not Nancy’s number and I don’t know where she is. Her boss even called me demanding to know why I haven’t been in all week. I especially loved the voice mails that disregarded the, “Hi. This is Casey. Please leave a brief message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.” They were generally long winded and one even asked, “who is that weird lady who keeps answering your phone. She doesn’t seem like a good friend, you could do better”

   posted by Casey on 7-9-2007 at 7:10 am

6. In reply to your thought RSN, I think that Ms. Hilton changed her phone number, not because of her changing service provider, but rather because her number may have been leaked to the general public.

   posted by Mike D on 7-9-2007 at 7:25 am

7. When I got my first private phone line at the tender age of 14, someone kept calling collect from jail for “Rocky”. I certainly didn’t have any middle-aged gravelly voiced inmate cronies, and no one had ever called me Rocky. I kept denying the charges, always insisting that there was no Rocky at this number . . . I would get this phone call once a week or so for several months.

   posted by Mandy on 7-9-2007 at 7:36 am

8. This isn’t a new phenomenon: in college, my apartment phone number used to belong to the city Birth Clinic. Particularly funny because my apartment was also the headquarters of the campus Gay and Lesbian center — we never knew what kind of call we’d be getting.

   posted by Karl on 7-9-2007 at 7:48 am

9. I’ve had the same cell phone number for about 5 years now, and I still get the occasional call for Shelly. The first two or so years with the number, there would be at least one per week–usually debt collectors, and often from a drunk man or men who were convinced that talking louder would turn me into Shelly. I never minded that much, because I knew there was bound to be some confusion anytime someone changed numbers, but it would irritate the crud out of me when these people refused to believe that I wasn’t Shelly or that I didn’t know Shelly.

   I also once got a very weird text message from a number I didn’t know that said, “just stay offline,” which was far more creepy since I had signed off from my computer about 10 minutes prior to receiving the message.

   posted by Cynthia on 7-9-2007 at 8:21 am

10. When I got my phone about five years ago, I would consistently get calls for Sandy. People would call again and again in rapid succession looking for Sandy. The strangest part: the number they were dialing was nothing like my new number.
    After a few weeks I finally got to talk to Sandy’s husband who informed me that Sandy is a small business owner and her cell phone doubled as her work phone. Their son had arranged it so that if Sandy missed a call, rather than going to voicemail the call would be forwarded to her son’s phone.
    Well, the son tragically passed away, the number went back into the system and I had the good fortune to have it issued to me, forwarding feature still intact.
    To this day, I still get calls for Sandy. No one really gets why this happens (we have both tried to cancel the service), but fortunately her friends and family are really good natured about the situation and friendly.

    posted by Amanda on 7-9-2007 at 8:33 am

11. I’ve had the same number for about 3 years now, and I get calls for a Kim quite often. Typical conversation:

    Jason!: Hello?
    Person: Yes, is Kim there?
    Jason!: No. You have the wrong number.

    This is typically followed by them calling me back at least two to twelve more times.

    I guess I’m bad… But I got tired of the repeat redials without them checking the number. So now my typical conversation goes like this:

    Jason!: Hello?
    Person: Yes, is Kim there?
    Jason!: No Kim’s out. Can I take a message?
    Person: Who’s this?
    Jason!: This is Jason!
    Person: Oh. Well tell her (insert message here).

    I’ve been given messages from calling so-and-so back to party invitations to gossip. And no repeated callbacks.

    Occasionally I’m asked what relation I have to Kim, and I joke I’m her answering service. If they ask me where Kim is, I replay, “Who knows? You know how Kim is.” No one ever questions me.

    I’ve noticed that I starting to lose some of the regular callers… I guess they’re starting to realize its not Kim’s number a stop calling…

    posted by Jason! on 7-9-2007 at 8:48 am

12. since i still rock an nyc area code in la (i’m attached to my number), i occasionally get very urgent calls from a small organization of spanish-speaking women who undoubtedly believe (from their chortles) i’m some new gringa girlfriend in cesar’s life. if only. at work we’ve inherited the follow-up calls of a man named barkley who was a big-time customer of a bulk drug warehouse in west bengal. shaking these calls is just included in our job description. when i answer i’m usually a newly declared & highly emotionally unstable scientologist–barkley, of course–who is about to lose his job because of the these incessant drug calls so would you please for the love of god stop tempting me with your bulk drugs thank you.

    posted by becky on 7-9-2007 at 9:04 am

13. When I got my phone number, I would get these really weird phone calls around 2 am from people speaking only chinese. About once a month, I would get a phone call at 2 am. Evidently the woman who had my number prior to me forgot to give her new number to her family back home. After about 6 months of frustrating middle of the night phone calls, the Chinese family hired someone who spoke rudimentary english to call me. That, thankfully was the last time. Once I heard someone speaking english, I told them how I REALLY felt about getting 2 am phone calls!

    posted by Jenny on 7-9-2007 at 9:09 am

14. I’ve had my number for about 5 years and I used to get frequent calls - at all hours, day and night - for “Buzzy”. The callers sounded like they were carrying a bottle in a brown paper bag. Buzzy must have a wide circle of acquaintancesbecause I still get occasional calls.

    posted by Catherine on 7-9-2007 at 9:12 am

15. I’ve had my number for about 5 years and I used to get frequent calls - at all hours, day and night - for “Buzzy”. The callers sounded like they were carrying a bottle in a brown paper bag. Buzzy must have a wide circle of acquaintancesbecause I still get occasional calls.

    posted by Catherine on 7-9-2007 at 9:12 am

16. My freshman year of college, my number was 613-3425. People would call with alarming frequency to let me know that 3425 spelled D-I-C-K.

    One time, I caught a very scrawny, socially inept guy writing “Your number is 613-DICK” on my whiteboard. I’m not one for yelling or confrontation, but I took out months of aggression on him. He apologized and scurried away; the calls continued.

    posted by Jason on 7-9-2007 at 9:27 am

17. My phone is very similar to a local apartment complex, so there are often calls for Susie, or Nancy, or William, none of which who live here.

    I also once got a five minute voicemail that consisted of someone shrieking a message and giggling uncontrollably. I was never quite sure who it was…

    posted by Jenny on 7-9-2007 at 9:40 am

18. I’ve had my number for about 3 years now. But still sometimes I’ll get phone calls for the previous owner of the number. Several text messages about doing hair, random solicitors. Even one time they wanted to deliver furniture! I think one time I got a message from a lawyer or something too..

    posted by Alea on 7-9-2007 at 9:42 am

19. A co-worker of mine kept getting calls from a guy who wanted to order a Q-grill that he had seen on TV. The guy kept calling back daily, unconvinced that he had the wrong number.

    Finally, my buddy took his personal information down, and shipped him a $3 thrift store hibachi. Included in the shipment was a ’shipping receipt’ with the real customer service phone number for the Q-grill in 72-point font.

    The guy never called back, but I would have loved to hear that phone conversation with customer service.

    posted by n2y2 on 7-9-2007 at 9:58 am

20. When I first got my cell number a few minutes ago, I started getting messages from The Gap asking someone named Tiffany to come in to work. Then the messages turned into asking Tiffany why she missed her shift. I suppose this cost Tiffany her job.

    posted by Liz on 7-9-2007 at 10:12 am

21. I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned this incident yet. A woman who got a phone number that used to belong to Chris Rock. You can read about it here: www.laurasnyctales.com/current/chris-rock.html

    posted by CK Rock on 7-9-2007 at 10:19 am

22. When I got my cell number about 8 years ago, it was originally a LAN number…and the previous owner’s friends would call and talk to me in spanish…it stopped eventually, but it was still fun…

    I know the person who had those phone calls from Bruce Almighty a few years ago..she made national news…I dunno if they ever subsided or if she changed her number…crazy…

    posted by donner on 7-9-2007 at 11:26 am

23. This is a little bit off topic, but… I used to have Sprint and my boyfriend had Alltel. About 5 times over the course of a year, this strange thing would happen. If he called me and I didn’t get to answer until right when it was going to voicemail, my phone would starting ringing when I picked up (as if I had placed a call, which I hadn’t), and it dialed some seemingly random number. The reverse also happened. I kept thinking I would have the courage to ask the person my phone randomly called what service provider they had, and explain the situation, but I always just ended up saying I had the wrong number. Has that ever happened to anyone else?

    posted by Molly on 7-9-2007 at 11:50 am

24. I frequently (well, less so now after 5 years with my current number) get calls for a Jerry. I always tell the callers that they have the wrong number, but the same people keep calling. I’ve also received a few voice mails in the middle of the night from someone saying they would be in town at 3:00 am to drop off some cattle. I am always a little scared to look out my window on those mornings.

    posted by Michelle on 7-9-2007 at 12:39 pm

25. I’ve had the same number for about 3 years and about 2 months ago I started getting txt messages from a really angry girl, about some guy named Todd. She would write stuff like: “You jealous Todd loves me and not you? whore.” After about 3 of those my brother decided to write one back. It said: ” well I’m carrying Todd’s child we did it in your bed.” And I never heard from her again.

    posted by Rachel on 7-9-2007 at 1:12 pm

26. Growing up, our home number was one number off of a cab company in town, so we’d sometimes get calls from drunk people on the weekends. Sometimes they’d be too far gone to understand that we were telling them they had the wrong number. They must’ve waited awhile for a cab on those nights.

    posted by Leah on 7-9-2007 at 2:35 pm

27. Not too long ago I had to get a new number because my provider couldn’t fix a service problem. I immediately started receiving calls and an onslaught of texts for someone named Selena. Turns out Selena is popular with a staggering number of men. They don’t seem to mind when I tell them I’m not Selena and I’ve been asked both how soon I could be at their respective residences and if I was “mixed”.

    posted by moranne on 7-9-2007 at 3:30 pm

28. Often, I get phone calls from a very angry or drunk sounding man telling me to “Get yourself down here you … Why aren’t you here? I’m going to tell your mother, and she won’t be happy.” I feel very sorry for this woman the messages are intended for.

    posted by Ki on 7-9-2007 at 6:04 pm

29. My cell is one number off from a local country music station. Late nights and weekends I get plenty of half drunk, half depressed, half angry (I know that’s 3 halves)calls to dedicate a song to someone who probably wasn’t even listening to a radio when it played. And, I knew not to even answer my phone when said radio station gave away Panther Super Bowl tickets a few years ago.

    posted by Mandie on 7-9-2007 at 8:58 pm

30. I changed my phone number last year and kept getting calls for some guy who disappeared off the face of the earth 4 months before. His father and sister left several emotional voicemails before I finally called the father to say he had the wrong number.

    posted by Hayes on 7-10-2007 at 12:43 am

31. When I got my phone back in high school I began getting phone calls for Amanda or Mandy. Her friends didn’t seem to have a problem when I explained that she was no longer at the number; I didn’t know her as I had recently received the number from Sprint. I did, however, get daily calls from a collection agency. They were under the impression that I was Amanda and that I was trying to get out of paying. I explained countless times and the calls continued, so I started letting them ring to voicemail. At that point the collection agency starting leaving multiple messages each day. I finally answered one and explained to the caller in no uncertain terms that I was not Amanda, did not know her nor how to reach her and they were not to call me again. I then asked to speak to the manager, refusing to be put on hold seeing as they had called me. I explained the same thing to the manager, and repeated the process with the manager’s supervisor. I remember someone in the chain tried to apologize and I replied that it didn’t matter if they apologized if they were incapable of communicating within their company that Amanda was no longer connected to my phone number. That was the last time I heard from them, though I would have had a few choice words for Amanda, too had the opportunity come up.

    posted by Liz on 7-10-2007 at 6:25 am

32. On my home phone we get calls/messages about once a month (always when we are not home) from a drunk who asks to speak to Jeerrrrryyyyy (in his nasal whine). The message usually contains a please as to why Jerry never calls him back. Of course he never left his name or telephone number. These calls lasted for about 5 years, until once I actually answered it and explained that this wasn’t Jerry’s number. Then the calls stopped. However last week we got a message from a drunk Lou, who sounded a bit like the caller for Jerry.

    One more story a friends father had a mean streak. One night at about 3 in the morning he got a call for Bob. He told the caller he had the wrong number. 15 minutes later he got another call for Bob. He told the caller, “Wait a minute Bob’s sleeping. (pause) Hey Bob, BOB, BOB!!! Oh my god, I think Bob’s dead!!! I got to go I have to call an ambulance!!!’

    posted by Stew on 7-10-2007 at 7:55 am

33. At one point my phone number was one digit away from the gas station down the street, and I’d get guys calling me and asking what king of oil I had and if I could fix their brakes…

    Another incident happened with my cell phone a couple of years ago when I was in high school. I kept getting calls from this little kid who apparently didn’t know that his mother had a new phone number. The wierd thing was though that the calls would always come during school, which got me into a lot of trouble but made me wonder what this kid was doing all day.

    posted by Sarah on 7-10-2007 at 10:48 am

34. A couple of years ago, when my uncle was a police officer, he told me about a phone call that came into his station house when he was on duty. Apparently, the man on the line was trying to get directions to a restaurant certain intersection (this was before the days of OnStar and personal navigation devices). The only problem was, the intersection that the caller insisted the restaurant was on did not exist in my uncle’s town.

    After a long and frustrating conversation, my uncle told the caller that he had lived in Holbrook his entire life and the intersection simply was not there. To which the caller replied: “I have lived in Holbrook, NY for the past 20 years and I know that it is!”

    One problem, the caller was not calling Holbrook, NY. As it ends up, the area codes for the towns of Holbrook in two different states are off by one number and the phone numbers for the two station houses were the same.

    I don’t know if this has happened again but we had a really good laugh about it.

    posted by Karen on 7-10-2007 at 1:28 pm

35. A couple of years ago I had a Georgia number that was previously used by a guy named Kelly as a “business” number. The only problem was that Kelly happened to be a male escort and the number was listed on a couple of web sites that specialized in that sort of thing.

    The hardest part was getting the number removed from those sites. Whenever someone called and discovered that they called a wrong number, they’d get off the phone real quick. I had to speak quicker to keep them on the phone long enough to tell me where they got the number.

    posted by Jeff on 7-10-2007 at 4:47 pm

36. I got my first cell phone 12 years ago so that I could be in touch with my groomsmen who were coming in from all over the country for my wedding. The very first call I got on my phone was from “Ashley” who was “returning” my call for an “out call appointment.” This was three days before my wedding mind you. Apparently Ashley did not like being stood up by her date and so she proceeded to call me 10-12 times a day to berate me.
    Fast forward to my new wife and me sitting at the airport waiting for our flight to Hawaii and my phone rings. Wife answers my phone and tells “Ashley” that she is my wife, she knows all about her and if she calls me again she will be found in the trunk of a car like the last one. Never heard from “Ashley” again.

    I also got a new number after moving to DC three years ago. Apparently the guy who had my phone before was of Middle eastern decent as I kept getting calls in Farsi. (I know enough Farsi to get a pretzel and find a bathroom.) I got calls all day and night even after explaining I was not Mahmood everytime. I finally started telling them this line was tapped by the FBI and to “use the other number from now on!” It worked.

    posted by Julian on 7-11-2007 at 2:27 pm

37. For a very long time I had constant texts from some girls friends. They usually were extreamly drunk, and when I tried telling them it was the wrong number, they rarely cared, and kept rambling on, wasting my texts.

    While this was simply annoying the best was deffinately when this wonderfull womans gyno called to tell me about some test results.

    posted by Diane on 7-12-2007 at 10:48 pm

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