I have just got off of the phone from my FIFTH call to MAB or Mercantile or Mercantile Adjustment Bureau LLC, telephone number on Caller ID 716-817-6409; call back number 1-877-254-0957. Each time after many, many rings the phone was eventually answered by a real live person.
This company started calling my home a little over a year ago. The calls were received from MAB at all hours on all days of the week. When I answered the phone, I heard a voice message tellling me there was an urgent matter that required my immediate attention and I needed to call back "during normal business hours" and speak to Mike Allen / Scott Winston / Scott Windsor.
Soon after the first calls came in, over a year ago, I took the initiative to return the call at the number provided. And have done so four more times since.
In every case, I have been asked to provide my telephone number "so we can look up your record" and was then told they were looking for another person who had a very similar name (different first name; different initials; different spelling; different pronunciation), who lives in approximately (sic) the same geographic area (over 150 miles from my home), but in the same state.
Each time I was asked to provide the last four digits of my Social Security number and how I spelled my last name. I complied and, each time, I was told I am not the person who they are looking for and was assured my telephone number would be removed IMMEDIATELY from the MAB database.
Each time the phone calls stopped for approximately four (4) to six (6) weeks and then started back up again.in each case I listened to the phone ring and listened to the messages that were being left knowing they were not for me. But when the calls persisted, the frequency increased and the times the calls came into my home became more intrusive (as early as 6:30 AM and as late as 11:30 PM, any day of the week and even on holidays) I became convinced that the calls were not going to stop again until I responded.
Each time I call, I am told the same thing. This evening I told them that I had heard that story before and the man on the other end became rude and told me they were just calling the number they have been provided by their client for this person - that they were not responsible for the call and that my beef should be with the person who is giving out my number as their's. I do not believe this is the case. I do not believe anyone is using my telephone number erroneously. After all, how many bad debts can one person have? I think this is a case of skip-tracing gone very wrong and someone (the collection agency or the collection agent) grasping at straws to find the person who has disappeared so they can make a dime on the collection. A different spelling of the last name, a different first name, different initials, a different address in a different town - what does it take to tell you this is not the same person? Right now I wish my name were Jane Smith or something so common that the odds of them calling me looking for anyone with a last name that sounds similar to mine who lives in the State of Georgia would not happen again!!!
Disgusted, Disturbed and Disgruntled in Georgia
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