More often that not when my cell phone rings I do not answer it and if it’s an unknown or blocked number, I definitely don’t answer it.
I’ve had my phone number for almost two years, but I STILL get several calls per day for the person that had it before me. Apparently, Mr. Freeman owned a business and didn’t pay his bills. So now, two years later, the State of Colorado wants their money. Two different banks call regularly. An attorney’s office calls regularly. And several other random people; all looking for Mr. Freeman.
In the beginning I would answer. But now there are probably a few numbers, or area codes, that are all too familiar. Now, I just don’t answer and the really bad part is that I feel like people around me think that *I* am the one trying to skate something when I don’t answer my phone so often.
The really irritating part is that even when I tell them I’m not Mr. Freeman they want to know where they can find him or how they can get a hold of him! I’ve had some really “tricky” people call too. One lady claimed to be a friend of his that cared a lot about him but hadn’t heard from him in a while. One guy called from Nebraska and said he found a briefcase with important looking documents and this number was listed and was really concerned about finding Mr. Freeman to get him his brief case. It’s AWFUL!
I am not lying when I say there are days that I get four calls a day from people not looking for me!
Unfortunately, the calls didn’t start immediately or I would have changed my number, but at this point my phone is my life line.
I know that there are laws about people calling, right? In addition to the No Call Registry? I just don’t know how to get to them. OR convince the “regulars” that I don’t know how to find Mr. Freeman.
Enter Privacy Star. A smart-phone app that allows you to block callers and also file a report straight from the app! It also has a “group block” feature that allows you to block the most blocked numbers. How cool is that?
I downloaded the app today and it was so easy to block the numbers a few of the callers that call regularly! It literally took me less than one minute. The numbers were already in my call log – all I had to do was add them to my “privacy list”.
Now, I am ready to see well how this app works. Stay tuned for a follow up post in about a month.
Disclosure: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.
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Wow, that sounds like a really helpful product for a situation like you describe! Thankfully, I don’t have that problem. I also almost always answer my cell phone (unless I’m driving) even if I don’t know the number. Why? People don’t always call on the number you expect them to. After learning that people don’t answer numbers they don’t recognize, I got concerned that if I *needed* to get in touch with someone, they wouldn’t answer. And indeed it happened recently. I *needed* to reach someone before they went miles out of their way to do something, but my phone was dead and I had to call on someone else’s phone. It all worked out, in the end (they did check messages before leaving), but I had some tense moments wondering how I could possibly get in touch.
Also, my pediatrician’s calls come from a “blocked” number, always during hours that you cannot call the main office. Even my own office number does not “announce” itself (or announces itself as something else) on other people’s phones. Besides all that, I find it takes twice as long to deal with checking voice mail than to just answer it, say no thanks, and hang up.