T-Mobile - I'm Not Michael, My Name Is Kathy, Michael Left You, Years Ago...

VERY good letter! That's all I have to say, really. It's becoming
quite rare to see letters like this.

I wonder if you mention to them that you appreciate the very personal
information on Michael if they will realize they might be violating
some company privacy policy? They do need to fix this.

Great letter :)

Nice letter, I completely feel your pain. Many years ago when I moved
into my first post-college apartment, I got a landline through
Pacbell, with a number belonging to a Monique somebody who had
apparently owed everyone and their grandma money before she changed
numbers, and it took *months* to get people to stop calling me looking
for her. I even left it on my answering machine, at the end of the
message "...and if you're a collector calling for Monique Somebody she
doesn't live here, this isn't her number, please do not leave messages
for her on my machine" and they would *still* leave messages for her
on my machine.

It's strange that it's the phone company still calling, though- my
calls were all from credit card, dept store card, etc type places, but
Pacbell never called me looking for her.

Good letter, and I hope you get this straightened out. I have to laugh
a little over the fact that they're calling Michael at his (former)
T-Mobile number though. Presumably if the guy has not paid them for
the service, they're not letting him use it anymore... which makes
calling him rather dumb.

Collection agencies are a joke, really. I've had so many of them call
me (my name's fairly common), and after going through their Q&A
sessions ("No, I am not a full-time college student, No, I have never
lived at that address, No, I have not even owned a car at that time,
much less had your car insurance, No, I am not only 23 years old
[although I wish I was].") enough times, it's just more productive to
hang up on them when they get belligerent. I'm pretty sure I know who
I am, and I don't have any credit cards other than my visa debit.
It's pure idiocy to link people together simply because they share a
last name. I'm not related to every stinking C******* that has ever
walked the earth. Matter of fact, it's the ex-husband's last name,
just never bothered to get it changed back.

when i first got my current cellphone number, i used to get calls from
a collection agency asking to speak to Heather. After repeatedly
explaining things each time i got a call like this, i finally said,
"I'm sorry, but Heather is dead." Then i hung up. They haven't
called me back.

Is it actually T-Mobile that is calling you, or everyone else on the
face of the Earth?

I feel for you - literally ten minutes after I got my phone I started
getting collection calls for someone named Richard. It was very
annoying, so I feel for you. Just be patient and realize that
eventually, after repeating "please do not call this number again" it
will eventually straighten itself out.

Funny note. We had a client here (who appears to be rather elusive
lately) who apparently changed his cell phone number. We left a
message at the number at which we had previously been able to contact
him, only to get a call back from some VERY irate woman literally
screaming that everyone was calling HER number for this guy and to
NEVER. EVER. CALL. HER. NUMBER. AGAIN! She was very rude and I
realized that I, too, had been a bit abrupt with some of the calls I'd
received for Richard. Please just keep in mind that these collection
people do not have any way of knowing that they're calling a recycled
number.

Have patience. It's frustrating, I know.

Good luck.

I also loved T-Mobile when I had them. Then I had to cancel due to
poor reception at my new house. I called and canceled several times
over a 6 month period, and kept getting the same line over and over
again "It was never noted on your account that you've canceled, let me
do that for you". Of course then I'd receive another bill. It's too
bad they haven't perfected the line of communication between customer
service reps. I really had no problems with them otherwise.

Kathy,

I feel for you - wireless issues are SUCH a hassle, but I had to say,
I wonder if anyone else caught that your letter title needs to be sung
to the country tune, "I'm not Lisa!"

But that bit of humor aside, your letter is great and I hope they
respond and straighten that mess out for you.

They charged you for changing your number? I have Sprint and they
didn't charge me. If this Michael person owes them money.. why don't
they try contacting him a different way I wonder.