"But, I wasn't intentionally trying to steal her identity, officer."
"It just happened accidentally." You know, it's never a good idea to pretend to be someone else, because this might happen to you.....
I recently changed my house phone number and must have picked a...how you say..."fresh" number. Because now I'm getting a bazillion solicitor calls for Mary Allen**. As I was busy reading my chapters and articles for tomorrow's class, I received four or five calls from the same mortgage company, looking for Mary Allen. I tried selecting the option for "this is the incorrect household," but the automated system refused to accept my bid for peace.
Finally, the last time the automated system called to tell Mary Allen to stay on the line for an important call, I decided on a lark to pretend I was Mary Allen:
Automated System: "Please press 'one' if you are Mary Allen."
Me: "Sure, I'm Mary Allen." Presses 'one.'
Automated System: "As confirmation, please enter the five digits of your zip code."
Me: Thinking to myself: "Hey, last time a solicitor called for Mary Allen, they actually said her address to confirm that they had the wrong number. So I know that Mary Allen lives in the same town as me." Presses the five digit zipcode for the town I live in.
Automated System: "To confirm your identity, please press the last four digits of your Social Security Number."
Me: Thinking to myself: "Oops! This is not going to work, but here goes..." Presses the last four digits of my Social Security Number.
Automated System: "I'm sorry that is incorrect. Please press the last four digits of your Social Security Number."
Me: Thinking futilely to myself: "Hmm...maybe if I do nothing, they'll think I'm having problems and transfer me to an operator so I can tell them to stop calling me."
Four seconds later.....
Automated System: "Please press the last four digits of your Social Security Number."
Me: No response
Four seconds later....
Automated System: "Please press the last four digits of your Social Security Number."
Me: "Fine!" Randomly presses four numbers.
Automated System: "Thank you. Please hold while I connect you with a customer representative. This call may be recorded and monitored to ensure the quality of your service."
Me: "Oh my God! I actually pressed Mary Allen's social security number! What are the odds of that happening? Like a million to one??"
Automated System: "I'm sorry. All our offices are closed. Please call back during normal business hours, which are.....and on Sunday from 10:00am to 6:30pm Eastern Standard Time."
Me: Looking at the clock: 7:00pm. "But, you are the ones who called me at this time!!!" Oh, wait! Maybe it is a good thing I didn't end up talking to a customer representative, because I would have had a lot of explaining to do....
So Mary Allen!! You are on notice!! Not only do I know your address, but I now have the last four digits of your Social Security Number!!
Now if only I could guess her mother's maiden name.
**Names have been changed to protect the identity of the persons involved. (Not that I haven't already compromised said identity.)
posted by kiki @ 8:05 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Hah! I have a phone that is similar to yours, except that it is one my work offered me. Basically, I let my cell phone number slip to some staff working at a day treatment program (I wanted them to call me if a certain person began doing badly), which ended up with the person calling me three or four times a day. Anyway, I begged work to buy me a cell phone. Eventually, I got it, and now the only people that call me are from the U-Haul store in a nearby city. Apparently, they need to call each night to let their manager know they were locking up. The problem is, I am not their manager! They won't stop calling me, no matter how many times I have told them to stop! Anyway, I feel for you.
That's so funny! That reminds me of another story. I kept getting calls to my previous cell phone number always asking for the same person. Apparently her number was just two inverted numbers away from mine. But, she kept giving out my phone number instead of hers! I eventually figured it out and would start telling people that they meant to press a different sequence of keys. That drove me nuts, too!
Good luck on your cell phone problem. I hope they finally get the picture and start calling the right person instead of you!
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