I frequently find messages on my home voice mail that are from people who obviously have mis-dialed the telephone.

I used to take the time to phone them back, to let them know they had reached a wrong number. Now I receive an average of one every few days, so I just delete them.

Some of them are so funny that I started to record them for good measure

It seems like touch tone has made people lazier at dialing accuracy.

Are there numbers that are more susceptible to receiving misdialed calls?

Is a not-previously-assigned number any less susceptible to misdialed calls?

I had this problem on my cell phone, I had the same number as a doctors office in a different area code, I got a couple messages for people cancelling appointments, wanting a follow up, but when I answered I polietly informed them that I was not doctor so and so please try another area code. My father used to had close tothe same phone number of the local pizza place, just had to flip the last two digits. I don't know how many times I heard "Order 12 about 15 minutes.. ok...bye"

When I was a kid our home phone was one number away from a funeral home. I wasn't sharp enough to take advantage of this opportunity as a kid!!
Now my number is close to a doctor's office. It's amazing how many people leave a message regarding their doctor appointment which shows they don't really listen to my greeting.
Brian

I have this problem on my fax line. From the first day I got the line, I've gotten at least 3 junk faxes a day for a mortgage broker that I guess had the number before me. I've tried to "unsubscribe", but it doesn't help. I bet it cost me $100 a year for the additional toner and paper.

On junk faxes, you might want to take a look at this:
http://www.keytlaw.com/faxes/junkfaxlaw.htm

I've never tried this out, but it might be enough to get you unsubscribed

-Jon

Here are some from my voicemail:

(I tried to conceal names...)

This is more than I needed to know...

I will [i]not[/i] call you back, baby...

Can't understand this one

I have been getting automated calls from a high school saying my 10th grader hasn't been going to one class or another. This happens about every other day. Some kid probley gave the school the wrong phone number, so his parents wouldn't know when he was ditching.

Shoot, I get those high school calls all the time but I think it is because I actually have a kid that goes there. If you are feeling even slightly benevolent, you might call the school and let them know what is going on. I'm sure his parents would be grateful. I know I would.

Years ago my phone number was 321-2132.
Every time some kid decided to play with the phone or somebody got drunk, they dialed that number.

I used to have a number that must have been quite close to that of a drug dealer.
I would get calls at all hours of the night from sorry-a** individuals at payphones wanting to "get a rock" and such.
I finally got it to cease (pretty much) by telling them that I was a Sheriff's Deputy, and would meet them anyplace they liked...S

An automobile dealer has been faxing me credit apps for his customers. The credit co has last 2 digits of 10, mine is 01.
Rowdy

How many car deals did you approve?

Bjarney:

If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is nearby...or something like that.

My bedside phone number at the hospital at which I had my son musta been dern close to the local pizza place......after the 3rd call I took the order and thanked the guy for calling.

We get calls on our land line at Home, for - believe it or not - HOME DEPOT!!!

Get maybe 3 a week on average.

The H.D.'s last 2 digits are 19, ours = 11.

One Lady called and asked for the "Windows Department". I replied with the same "Sorry, this is not the Home Depot, their number ends with One-Nine - and you dialed One-One" speech.
She either did not hear me, understand me, or was just really mad at H.D., because she kept asking me for the windows dept.

After awhile, she got mad at me and demanded service! By this time, I was curious to what exactly happened, so I asked about it!
Seems the windows were too small for what they were replacing.

I felt bad for the lady, and offered to call H.D. myself to get this rectified! That's when she finally realized I REALLY wasn't a Home Depot Employee, and this was a wrong number!
She felt bad, gave several appologies, and asked if I had the right phone number.

Must have been on the phone for 3 minutes!

My Wife, listening to me on this call, was totally puzzled with this one! Kept giving me strange looks!

Felt like "Twilight Zone" scenario

Scott35

My elderly grandmothers' number is one away from a dive bar. She used to get upset when the surly wives would call demanding to speak to their ne'er do well husbands (or whatever...) Now, after all these years, she has finally taken my advice and says "Oh. he said he was going out into the parking lot with some blonde, to look at something in her car. Said he'd be back in about fifteen-twenty minutes if anyone calls for him."

I have no idea if she has any idea of the ramifications to these poor slobs, but I certainly am enjoying this. She says the calls have been cut in half in two months.

Certain numbers seem to be subject to transposition. About 10 years ago my home number was 441761. A take-out restaurant in town had the number 441671, and it wasn't unusual to field calls for them of an evening.

Back in the early 1960s my mother ran a small diner in London with a friend. Their number was LABurnham 1122, and apparently they often received calls destined for LADbroke 1122, which at the time belonged to a rather large business.

Paul,
Isn't it funny that we should remember these things?
My grandmother's phone# was GEneva 32620.
My home # was HArrison95428. This was in the '50s

If you ask me my own cell# now, I have to look it up, and call you back...S

I still have a sample of the diner's letterhead somewhere in amongst the photo albums!

Certain things sure stick in the mind. I can still tell you the license number of my father's old car instantly: 519 BLB. I rode around in that from birth until I was about 12. Ask me the number of one of my own cars of a few years ago and I'd have to stop and think about it.



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 11-22-2003).]

I can tell you the tag number from the 1969 Plymouth Suburban station wagon my parents drove me around in when I was a kid (that thing was probably recycled into something by now...), my phone number from when I was about 5 years old, and my bank account number from a bank that is no longer in existence!

If somebody asks my age, though, I have to stop to do the math. A mind is a terrible thing, sometimes.